White Christmas Bombshell

25^th December – A Very happy Christmas to you all.

Songs, like plays, books or films, will always find resonance with someone; I mean, let’s face it, whether it’s Blasted, Sarah Kane’s bleak play about human brutality of the physical, sexual and emotional kind, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis’ work about a serial killer or Martyrs, Pascal Laugier’s revenge film, each have their champions. It’s the price we pay for espousing to live in a society that gives the individual the right to freedom of speech or expression within the bounds of socially acceptable norms, just ask the makers’ of The Interview.

The numbers of appreciative readers or viewers lessen as the subject becomes more polarised in either its content or context, and this is perfectly understandable. My guess is there are many who would enjoy watching three of the four of Andy Warhol’s series of films called, Kiss, Eat or Sleep. I’m not one of them, as I figure would be the same for probably 95% of the populace (unless they were trying to appear cool). The fourth in the series, Blow Job, however, does have a certain attraction; not for me, you understand, just I think there would be a bigger audience for it than, say, Sleep which is five and a half hours of watching someone sleep…suddenly Blow Job becomes more interesting mainly ’cos it’d be over in, like, a minute and a half tops.

There are, however, certain artistic endeavours that tap into the world’s consciousness and become indelibly imprinted on the psyche; one such was White Christmas recorded by Bing Crosby in 1942 and entering the top ten on this date five years later. At the time of its first airing in 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour precipitating America’s involvement in WW2 (late) and this involvement laid a foundation for the song’s success. It has just about everything a song needs in order to become what it has; a route back into nostalgia and fantasy that we would all wish was the norm. Written by Irving Berlin it’s ranked number two in the Songs of the Century listings and has sold 50 million copies worldwide (up to 2009). It’s the perfect matching of voice, sentiment, time and orchestration that have enabled it to endure so long. Childhood memories are stirred with innocence and the power of dreams is conjured up, transporting anyone with a soul back into a simpler time. This yearning for peace was uppermost in the ordinary US citizens for the duration of the war, a lesson they failed to learn because within twenty years they were making a hash of Vietnam; not in the minds of arms manufacturers of course, but certainly in the minds of anyone with half a brain and a scintilla of a social conscience. The end of major hostilities (WW2) was brought about by the dropping of two A-Bombs on Japanese cities causing the conservatively estimated deaths of 150,000 in Hiroshima and 75,000 in Nagasaki, the overwhelming number of victims being non-military.

This quintessentially American song, White Christmas, which gained much of its popularity for its lyrical imagery of mom and apple-pie and is also reminiscent of the flaky white-grey fall out post the bomb exploding, has been recorded by over 500 other artists and in many different languages. One of those releases was in Japan, sung in Japanese; the song became a huge hit there…

I leave the final words to Harry S. Trueman:

I realize the tragic significance of the atomic bomb ... It is an awful responsibility which has come to us ... We thank God that it has come to us, instead of to our enemies; and we pray that He may guide us to use it in His ways and for His purposes.

Read ’em and weep.

EIGHTH DESERT ISLAND DISC – Not in any particular order and as at 15/10/13

8) Landslide – Fleetwood Mac – From the album Fleetwood Mac – Recorded 1975 – Songwriter/ Stevie Nicks – Vocals/Stevie Nicks/ Guitar/ Lindsey Buckingham – Keyboard/Christine McVie

Nothing finer exists in the pantheon of self-realisation than this song. Volumes, nay libraries have been written about the same subject matter, this composition condenses it all down to three minutes twenty seconds. Place it together with Ms. Nicks’ tobacco-and-honey vocals, her ability to put over a song’s meaning (an echo of everyman’s explanation) and we end up with the key to the real doors of perception.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM7-PYtXtJM