Pine Cones and...Really??!

As long as I'm posting "Great Songs You Don't Know" from Broadway musicals, I figured I should take a slight detour on occasion, since 'tis the season, and post a few unknown songs from Broadway musicals that deal with Christmas.  Not all of them are great songs, but they're all enjoyable -- and amid all the Christmas songs we do hear every year, it's odd to come across some notable Christmas songs you haven't heard.

I want to start with a song that blends both worlds -- totally unknown, yet hugely-well-known and wonderful.  How can that be, you ask??!  I'll explain.

This is a song from the musical, Here's Love, by Meredith Willson, who of course wrote "The Music Man."  It's based on the classic film, Miracle on 34th Street.  The show wasn't terribly successful, though didn't flop and had a respectable run of 334 performances -- just under a year -- in 1964.  The score is inconsistent, but half of it is quite wonderful.  (I've actually tried, half-heartedly, I must admit, to get a TV production of it made for several years.  I think it would be a terrific Christmas special.  Hey, who knows, maybe next year NBC will do it live...

I was going to play a couple of other songs, but then I realized that this one would be a far better place to start.  The song is called "Pine Cones and Holly Berries," sung by Laurence Naismith who plays Kris Kringle. It's very charming and is make a lovely Christmas holiday song, though is unknown.

Now, as you may recall, Meredith Willson likes counterpoint.  He used it a great deal, to much good effect in The Music Man, most notably with "Lida Rose" sung counter to "Will I Ever Tell You?", but also famously with "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a Little," sung in counterpoint with an already-existing song, "Goodnight, Ladies."

Well, he used the technique again in Here's Love.  He created "Pine Cones and Holly Berries" to be sung counter to an already existed, very famous Christmas song -- one which (I think most people will be shocked to learn) he himself wrote.  When I say it's very famous and completely well-known -- trust me on this.  And yes, it's written by, of all people, Meredith Willson.  I won't tell you want it is, but let you have the fun of discovering it when it comes in halfway through.

The counterpoint, famous song is performed by Janis Paige and -- are you ready? -- Fred Gwynne!   Though he utterly hated being typecast in the role, since it almost ruined his career (I worked with him on the movie, Pet Sematary, and we briefly talked about), I feel compelled to identify him in this context for the sheer incongruity of it, as yes, 'Herman Munster,' whose TV series came along soon thereafter.

So, here then is a lovely, sweet Christmas song you don't know, sung in counterpoint to a famous one you do, both by Meredith Willson.