Writings in the Sand

Christmas Caroling Old and New

Lindsey Stirling's Carol of the Bells is an invigorating example of the current trend to modernize traditional music and make everything more electric and more exciting to a new generation of listeners. It started a long time ago, rememberClassical Gas?. Then the Christmas version of electronic adaptations became popular with the advent of the Trans Siberian Orchestra. But Lindsey Stirling has done something that no one else has done before. She has managed to make the violin sexy. Her videos and her interpretation of famous songs have made her a musical sensation. This new video clearly draws on her dance talents that were previously honed and showcased during her stint on Dancing With The Stars.

But my favorite Christmas album is not sexy in the least. It's the opposite.

When I was young, Saturday night belonged to Lawrence Welk. My father loved to watch The Lawrence Welk Show, though he rarely had a kind word for any of the performers. His favorites were so few, but I think he enjoyed making sarcastic remarks about the performers he didn't care for more than anything. I always watched with him. And sometimes I agreed with his comical critiques.

One performer that we neither loved nor hated was Bob Ralston, who played the organ in the orchestra and occasionally was featured playing the organ solo on the show. He must have been popular, because he recorded a Christmas album. When I say "album", I mean the old vinyl discs that went round and round. Records. Each side of this LP had medleys of several songs blending into each other. I don't know who sang the songs, it was some standard group of carolers. But Bob Ralston played the organ throughout. The music was very old-fashioned, and the singing fairly standard, but this album had a ton of Christmas songs jam-packed . It was the only Christmas album we had and we put it on the phonograph while we trimmed the Christmas tree. I recently found that this entire album is on YouTube. Playing it is like revisiting my childhood, my family, those people I loved and now have lost. This is the most average, boring, standard, dated collection and yet it is the most wonderful Christmas music in the world to me.

Lindsey is a star. She's vibrant and exciting and her talent is amazing. But for me, Christmas will always sound like the guy from Lawrence Welk.