I imagine a video of young children, awakening in their beds, running down the stairs, and tearing into their presents on Christmas morning. This song has that kind of happy sound to it, as if it's a sunny Christmas morning and everything is buried under snow outside. It is simply one of my favorite Christmas songs and I don't have a lot more to explain about it than that.
Johnny Mathis' version is my favorite because his song appeared on one of my favorite Christmas movies, Home Alone 2. That was probably my first exposure to the song and it has reminded me of that movie and my childhood at Christmas ever since. I haven't seen either Home Alone in their entirety yet this season, but I hope to remedy that before next Sunday (Christmas Day, for those of you not paying attention!) :)
The first video below is the full song. The second video is a 10-minute clip of the movie, with this song beginning exactly at minute 2:00.
Johnny Mathis - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas (as heard on Home Alone 2)
(click here to view video)
Johnny Mathis' version is my favorite because his song appeared on one of my favorite Christmas movies, Home Alone 2. That was probably my first exposure to the song and it has reminded me of that movie and my childhood at Christmas ever since. I haven't seen either Home Alone in their entirety yet this season, but I hope to remedy that before next Sunday (Christmas Day, for those of you not paying attention!) :)
The first video below is the full song. The second video is a 10-minute clip of the movie, with this song beginning exactly at minute 2:00.
Johnny Mathis - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
(click here to view video)
Jesse's top 12 favorite Christmas songs (vocal)
1-
2-
3-
4-
5- Johnny Mathis - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
6- Jimmy Eat World - Last Christmas
7- Brandon Heath - The Night Before Christmas
8- Perry Como - Home For The Holidays (There's No Place Like)
9- Matthew West - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
10- Bing Crosby - White Christmas
11- Nat King Cole - The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You)
12- Celine Dion - Don't Save It All For Christmas Day
How do you go about choosing the best Christmas song from Mannheim Steamroller? Their work spans 40 years and encompasses 12 Christmas albums. Eight of those albums sold over a million copies (platinum) and four were certified multi-platinum. The 3 top-selling albums accounted for over 16 million copies. No other artist has come close to selling more Christmas albums in the past 20 years (i.e. my memorable lifetime) than Mannheim Steamroller.
Even without those stats, I knew it was going to be hard to choose my favorite from their Christmas songs. Mannheim Steamroller was another Christmas artist I remember growing up listening to as a child. Their music not only reminds me of Christmas but of Christmases during my childhood. It's hard to top that excitement and wonder that Christmas brought as a child. And it was from the songs I knew the best, songs I remember from my childhood, that I began narrowing down my favorites. I narrowed it down to my top 5 and from those I made the tough choice of choosing one - this song. Though not planned, this song (a different version) also appeared in Home Alone 1.
So, for the third time on my instrumental countdown, Carol Of The Bells has claimed a spot. Spoiler alert: this is the last time Carol Of The Bells will appear on either countdown. All three versions were on the countdown early on and I never was able to replace any of them, a decision I still wouldn't change. Perhaps Stacie's most disliked Christmas song...is my favorite? I guess opposites really do attract!
The video below is of Christmas lights programmed to the tune of Mannheim Steamroller's Carol Of The Bells. While making these countdowns, I have found that homemade videos of Christmas lights synced to Christmas music, are a dime a dozen. There's nothing special about this one, but it was sadly the best I could find for this song. It has amazed me how few LIVE versions of these great Christmas songs I have been able to find. I initially did not think I would have to settle for so many amateur videos to use on my countdowns. But like I said in my introductory post, the music is what counts!
Even without those stats, I knew it was going to be hard to choose my favorite from their Christmas songs. Mannheim Steamroller was another Christmas artist I remember growing up listening to as a child. Their music not only reminds me of Christmas but of Christmases during my childhood. It's hard to top that excitement and wonder that Christmas brought as a child. And it was from the songs I knew the best, songs I remember from my childhood, that I began narrowing down my favorites. I narrowed it down to my top 5 and from those I made the tough choice of choosing one - this song. Though not planned, this song (a different version) also appeared in Home Alone 1.
So, for the third time on my instrumental countdown, Carol Of The Bells has claimed a spot. Spoiler alert: this is the last time Carol Of The Bells will appear on either countdown. All three versions were on the countdown early on and I never was able to replace any of them, a decision I still wouldn't change. Perhaps Stacie's most disliked Christmas song...is my favorite? I guess opposites really do attract!
The video below is of Christmas lights programmed to the tune of Mannheim Steamroller's Carol Of The Bells. While making these countdowns, I have found that homemade videos of Christmas lights synced to Christmas music, are a dime a dozen. There's nothing special about this one, but it was sadly the best I could find for this song. It has amazed me how few LIVE versions of these great Christmas songs I have been able to find. I initially did not think I would have to settle for so many amateur videos to use on my countdowns. But like I said in my introductory post, the music is what counts!
Mannheim Steamroller - Carol Of The Bells
Jesse's top 12 favorite Christmas songs (instrumental)
1-
2-
3-
4-
5- Mannheim Steamroller - Carol Of The Bells
6- Michael W. Smith - It's A Wonderful Christmas
7- James Horner - A Change Of Heart
8- Celtic Woman - Carol Of The Bells
9- David Foster - Carol Of The Bells
10- Vince Guaraldi - Christmastime Is Here (Instrumental)
11- Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve
12- Boston Pops Orchestra - Sleigh Ride
0 comments:
Post a Comment