48 plays
december 7
Dean Martin - It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas
Today’s track is curated by Simon Mainwaring (@simonmainwaring)
How could anyone not love Dean Martin’s It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas? Few voices are so evocative of a feeling and a time of year. From the glazed ham to the bacon-basted turkey to the chinking of the ice cubes against a glass as we sway our way through Christmas sing-a-longs, Dean Martin captures that fireside, wooly-sweatered, laden-tabled feeling of Christmas. The very fact that he doesn’t rush the lyrics but rather wanders through each of the notes captures that rare time of year in which we can all linger a little bit longer at the family table or in front of a fire rather than rush headlong to the next ‘To Do’ that, like seconds on a clock, mark the rests of our year.
Dean also evokes what is, perhaps, a now lost time of Christmas when the world was, consciously or not, a little more naïve, a little less transparent, a little less fearful of harsh realities. It was an ideal time, or at least idealized, but still safer in the way that Christmas makes us feel safe.
The rich texture of his voice captures the ornate experience that is the Christmas ceremony. His inimitable style speaks of classy affairs and his ever-present wink reminds us that, ultimately, Christmas is always just about good times with friends, family and people we love.
To me, this song epitomizes that familiar, comfortable and lazy haze that overwhelms us all after a great meal, a drink or two and the company of family spending meaningful time together.
