Thanksgiving Songs?

So, last week I ranted a bit about background music. I don't like background music, for the simple reason that I don't find it to be in the background. I hum along with the muzak at the grocery, in elevators, at the fabric store, wherever. Music is never in the background for me. (Do you think that being a musician has anything to do with that?)

Anyway, I complained about the presence of Christmas music in the stores just after Halloween. I still contend that this is a cynical ploy on the part of the management to make us feel in the Christmas spirit and spend more money. And I'm sure that for some people it works. Me, it just annoys and makes me want to shop on-line. No background music at home.

But, I got to thinking: why can't they play Thanksgiving Music? Grocery stores could start piping in all the lovely Thanksgiving carols and make us buy bigger turkeys and more stuffing mix (for those out there who don't make their own cornbread!) Hmm. . . Thanksgiving Music. Is there any?

Over the River and Through the Woods  This is the first song that occurs to me. I'd hoped to find a better version of it than this one, but sadly, many of them turn it into a Christmas song.  In giving this song to one of my students, she argued that even though it mentions Thanksgiving Day, it has to be a Christmas song because of the snow. Here in Albuquerque, we don't see that much snow on Thanksgiving. We don't see that much snow on Christmas, either, but in her mind snow equates Christmas, not Thanksgiving. But, in other parts of the country, there is snow for Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and New Years, and Valentine's Day, and even Easter. Oh, yeah, and it's usually snowing in those places before Halloween. (Trick or treating in the snow - what memories!)

Of course, there are many hymns that qualify as Thanksgiving songs: Come, Ye Thankful People Come, We Gather Together, and Give Thanks;  lovely songs all, but not what I'm looking for. I want to deal with secular music right now. 

I found an interesting number performed by Johnny Cash, Thanksgiving/I Thank You. Johnny's not wearing his usual black, but wearing overalls.  But, still, the song is overwhelmingly sacred. He may do some of his best singing on the chorus. I've always had a sneaking fondness for the "man in black" but, I've never thought he was a good singer.

I found Mary Chapin Carpenter's Thanksgiving Song. Wow. Where to start with this one? I'm sure that this song means a great deal to someone out there, but not me. The lyrics seem to consist of a list of things to be thankful for:  no real point, just a list. But the lyrics are brilliant compared to the stultifyingly boring melody. There seem to be only 4 notes in the whole song! (OK, I know there are several more, but that's how it seems to me.)  And the tempo . . . it's definitely not what we would call up-beat.

There's Natalie Merchant's Kind and Generous. Once more, I'm at a loss. I'm not familiar with Ms Merchant's other works. And this (follow the link) is at the end of a concert, and live, so perhaps she was tired and her voice was shot. I'll be generous and hope that was the issue, because there are a LOT of notes that she almost hit. (And if I'm feeling generous, perhaps she should be thankful.) Most of them were just enough under the tone that you could tell what note she meant to sing. Painful. And then there are her lyrics. She's not just rambling off a list of things to be thankful for;  she's apparently thanking a specific person for services rendered. But she runs out of lyrics before the song is even half over; she just keeps repeating herself. I got kind of bored. At least the song is upbeat, unlike Ms Carpenter's opus.

(You may notice, I'm not giving you a whole lot of videos, just links. That's because there haven't been any songs that I've liked yet. The only reason I gave you the video to Over the River is because it gave you the lyrics as proof that it's a Thanksgiving song.)

Natalie Cole did a song called, Be Thankful. Once again, I'm not a big Natalie Cole fan. I've always thought that she was riding on her father's coat-tails. (Nat King Cole, if you're too young to remember. If you don't, look him up on YouTube. Voice like velvet, so warm and smooth.) I will say that this song is upbeat, but it struck me a being somewhat shrill. (That could also be the headache that our weather has brought on.) But, I didn't like it. 

And, still in the realm of songs I don't like, I give you the link to Adam Sandler's Thanksgiving Song. I REALLY don't like this one. I only mention it because the title does lead one to think it's a song about Thanksgiving.  And it is.  I just really don't like it. The content is often rude, but my biggest dislike is reserved for his singing. Or screeching. I only like him on occasion: the Wedding Singer and Happy Gilmore. That's about all that come to mind. And in the Wedding Singer he proved that he CAN sing. To an extent. So, I get even more angry with what he does the rest of the time. . . 

But enough of that rant.

Hmm, are there any good Thanksgiving Songs? There have to be some. But, we may have to get a little tricky here. Let's start with Louis Armstrong. How can I complain about Adam Sandler's singing and yet enjoy Satchmo's? That's a good question. For one thing, Satchmo is a part of my childhood. He died in 1971, when I was 10. And I remember seeing him in movies like Hello, Dolly, and on TV, and the whole family liked to listen to his trumpet. I think it has to do also with his enthusiasm and his heart being in the music. It's there for all the world to see, with nothing held back. Compare that to Mr. Sandler just trying to be funny. What a wonderful world.

No mention is given of being thankful for these things, and like Ms Carpenter's song, a lot of it is just a list. But the emotion here (and the fact that I think it's a better song) make all the difference. I just wish he'd played that trumpet in his hand.

If we expand giving thanks to thanking someone, not a big leap, then we can have Bette Midler and The Wind Beneath my Wings. The Nameless Cynic does not understand why I like the Divine Miss M, but a lot of it, once again, has to do with the emotion poured into her singing, with nothing held back. This song was horribly overplayed when it first came out, but it's been awhile, and so I can like it again.

These are a few Pop songs. What about Broadway? Does no one there have anything to be thankful for? 

The first Broadway song that comes to mind actually breaks my own ban on sacred music. It's from Godspell, but that's another blog. (Stay tuned!)

The next song, though, doesn't break my own ban. Irving Berlin, an icon of American music, wrote the score of "Annie, Get Your Gun."  I sang some of the music from this with the Cheyenne Symphony when we lived there. And while I had fun, it's not my usual style. And I may annoy some Bernadette Peters fans, I actually prefer Reba McEntire. I think the country sound fits this part. And this song is about being thankful for what we have. (Although, the evening gowns and tuxes imply that they still have quite a bit!)

I'm saving my favorite Thanksgiving song for Turkey Day, itself. In the meantime, what are your favorite Thanksgiving songs?