[78-L] Danny Boy - a Christmas tune? Really?

[David Lennick]

On 12/22/2012 9:36 PM, David Breneman wrote:
>
> --- On Sat, 12/22/12, Rjholtin<rjh334578 at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>
>
>> This has always struck me as odd.  If ol' Dan is a
>> Christmas tune, my education is lacking something.
>> Anybody know what the story is here or should I start
>> programming Danny Boy with our neighborhood caroling group?
>
> And when did "My Favorite Things" become a Christmas song?
> As I recall there was no mention of Christmas in The Sound
> of Music.
>
> ___________________________________________

If you've ever worked in music programming, you'll know how ANYTHING that isn't 
one of the standard 4 Christmas tunes adds freshness to the mix. We'd stretch 
with anything that was vaguely connected with gift giving (referred to in the 
song), cheeriness at a specific time of year, an adaptation of something 
classical with a Christmas connection (Ray Conniff's "Dance of the Sugar Plum 
Fairy" on Concert in Rhythm II was a great one to add)......all of these fit 
the mix far better than instrumental versions of Greensleeves without its "What 
Child is This" lyric.

18570 was a single, not added to an album till 1945. "Danny Boy" was in the can 
from 1941. "I'll be Home for Christmas" was recorded in October 1943, very soon 
after the end of the ban (for Decca), along with Jingle Bells and Santa Claus 
is Comin' to Town. They did indeed need a filler, so Danny Boy was it. How it 
got into the Christmas album is anybody's guess, but it was gone a  even listed 
in the 1948 Decca catalog and didn't resurface till it was reissued in 25415, 
backed with Dear Little Boy of Mine.

dl