SILVER BELLS - A Favorite Christmas Song

It's December--and the time when radio stations are belting out Christmas songs in an attempt to get people in the holiday and spending spirit. There are many wonderful old-fashioned songs that have survived the ages and are performed by various artists in a multitude of versions each year. My favorite of all the carols is Silver Bells. It regularly ranks in the top Christmas songs heard on the airwaves.

The words, the melody, and the Christmas images it invokes are traditional and unforgettable. This Christmas classic was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the 1951 Bob Hope movie The Lemon Drop Kid. Livingston provided the melody, Evans the words. It was sung by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell; and the first recorded version was sung by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards with John Scott Trotter and his orchestra and was released by Decca Records.

According the American Songwriter Magazine in its July/August issue, Livingston originally had the title of Tinkle Bell, referring to the tinkly bells you hear at Christmas from the Santa Clauses and the Salvation Army people. But once he took it home and played it for his wife, she informed him that the word had a bathroom connotation.

Livingston then went back to Ray Evans and told him they would have to throw the song out. However, as they continued to work on the Christmas song needed for The Lemon Drop Kid, they found themselves taking many of the lines and part of the melody from their "Tinkle Bell" song. In the end, they used the original song, except for substituting the word silver for tinkle, and the song became Silver Bells.

The song, now timeless, has been sung by famous artists like Elvis Presley, Andy Williams, Frank Sinatra, Karen Carpenter, Michael Buble, and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, to name a few. 

What is your favorite song during the Christmas season?

JUNE~ The Pianist   ADELENE ~ The Violinist

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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thanksgiving, a national holiday in our United States, originated as a harvest festival. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621. As a farmer’s kid, I especially like the idea of celebrating the fall harvest. It means all the hard work in the fields is done for the year.

Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the last Thursday of the month since the time of Abraham Lincoln. In 1941, President Roosevelt made the final permanent change by signing a bill making Thanksgiving Day fall on the fourth Thursday of November, regardless of whether it is the last Thursday of the month or not. This year it falls on November 28^th.

I’m a fan of Thanksgiving. It’s a day of celebration where gifts are forgotten and the food is plentiful. I love the smell of a turkey roasting with the scent of sage and spices filling the entire house. And I am a huge fan of pumpkin pie piled high with whipped cream.

In the northern states, Thanksgiving also is a reminder that Old Man Winter is on his way with flying fat snowflakes and sparkling white snowbanks. For many, the national holiday also heralds the start of the holiday season as stores and shops blare carols, hymns, and contemporary songs of Christmas from their speakers.  And Christmas music is something I can get behind, even if I dislike shopping for presents.

This year, I created a “Musical Christmas Series,” consisting of three novellas. My first one, JUNE ~ The Pianist, was released the end of October. Each female main character plays a musical instrument and has a story to tell. I’m excited to say that ADELENE ~ The Violinist is also releasing at the end of this month in time for the Christmas season. LUCY will be released next year. What is her instrument? It’s a secret. [wink, wink]

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the holidays. 

JUNE ~ The Pianist

Adelene ~ The Violinist

  

For more books by Judy Ann Davis visit her: 

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: 

https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Ann-Davis/e/B006GXN502/

Two New Novellas for Christmas

JUNE ~ The Pianist

I admit that I enjoy holiday stories, especially the ones around Christmas with the "happily ever after" (HEA) and lots of cheer, snow, and music. And my enthusiasm for the season is the reason I planned "A Musical Christmas" with three novellas and three female main characters who find romance at last. I also admit that I played the violin in high school like my second character Adelene, and briefly played the piano, like June in "JUNE ~ The Pianist."  

So sit back this season and enjoy the first novella. "ADELENE ~ The Violinist" will be released in December.                             

                                      Just released

 JUNE ~ The Pianist

The first novella in

 THE MUSICAL CHRISTMAS SERIES

Kindle and eBook - $1.99

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZRY8QSV/

A sweet novella to warm your heart.

When concert pianist June Westberry inherits her late grandfather’s music shop, she returns to her small hometown in New York to renovate and run it. But she never expects to clash with the town’s ornery old music teacher, Nettie Jones who demands she find a lost, fifty-year-old holiday musical score.

Single parent and contractor, Leo Ciaffonni, enjoys restoring old buildings, and the A# Music Shop with its pretty new owner is no exception. When he’s injured, June finds herself caring for Leo and helping his little daughter bake cookies for her class.

As the holidays close in and the shop’s renovations continue, the problems June tries hard to solve only seem to become more chaotic. A# Sharp Music Shop is broken into. A harvest recital for her new students requires multifaceted planning. And the perpetrator and the lost musical score have not been found.

Will she be able to find peace and order in her new life this Christmas—and the love she’s always dreamed of?

For more books by Judy Ann Davis visit her: 

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: 

https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Ann-Davis/e/B006GXN502/