Standards to Love: Thanksgiving Blessings

I had not intended to do another post before Thanksgiving, but as I’ve been preparing Thursday’s menu, I realized that there’s one element of Thanksgiving I haven’t touched on: music. Being that I tend to spend an ample portion of my Thanksgiving day in the kitchen, rather than have the television commentators drolling on about the football game, I’ll mute them and put on some great music for company instead. (That way I can get periodic updates on the game while also enjoying the airwaves around me.)

I’ve compiled a playlist: Whiskers on Kittens Thanksgiving over at Youtube, but I’m highlighting just a few songs that are particularly perfect for getting us into the thankful spirit for which this holiday was original instituted.

I may have mentioned this in one of my Standards to Love posts, I can’t quite recall, but Irving Berlin is one of my favorite composers in the Great American Songbook. Berlin was able to distill his emotions down to the simplest of lyrics, however, he never forfeit the strength or truth of those emotions in conveying them simply in a song. I think this juxtaposition of simple expression with profound sentiment is what makes his songs so lasting.

Count Your Blessings is just such a song. You might be familiar with it as it comes from the Christmas classic film White Christmas. Sung as a duet between Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby, Count Your Blessings plays perfectly into the theme of intentionally stepping back from the small frustrations the beset the day and instead of complaining, finding blessings in your life to be thankful for. But, while the song was popularized in the 1954 film, Irving Berlin actually wrote it two years earlier for a more personal reason. Apparently, in 1952, Irving Berlin suffered from horrible bouts of insomnia. After one particularly harrowing night, he called his doctor to his house. After much complaining and self-pity from Berlin about not being able to sleep, his doctor turned to him and said, “speaking of your insomnia, did you ever think about counting your blessings?” From that small parting kernel, this song was birthed. And while there are many wonderful versions out there, I can’t help but hear Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney crooning this one.

Here’s another Irving Berlin song. It follows very much in the vein of Count Your Blessings. In fact, I would say Plenty to Be Thankful For follows well in the previous song’s footsteps. Where Count Your Blessings is an exhortation to do so, Plenty to Be Thankful For is the result of someone actually counting those blessings. In fact, the lyrics include a list of common, everyday things that we can be grateful for. What I also appreciate about this song is that it highlights something we all tend to do that robs us of our joy: compare. You’ve hear the proverb- comparison is the thief of joy, right? Well, when we are continually looking to what others are blessed with that we don’t have, it can shift our attitudes into bitterness and depression. However, if we step back and refuse that sort of comparison, we can find joy in the gratitude we have for the simplest of things in our lives.

Plenty to Be Thankful For was written for the 1942 film Holiday Inn, which also includes such famous Irving Berlin hits as White Christmas and Easter Parade. Starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, Plenty to Be Thankful For is sung by Crosby as he’s celebrating his first Thanksgiving in his country home. But, unlike the song would suggest, Crosby’s character is really hitting the skids in life. Everything he’d planned for has gone completely awry and he’s actually rather unhappy with his lot in life. That’s another reason I like this song. In the context of the movie, it shows the importance of refusing to give up hope and having faith that by staying positive, positive things will come your way. And, as the film progresses, you see his stoic optimism is rewarded thusly.

I’m including the Bing Crosby version as it’s one of the only ones that I could find. However, if you’re looking for a little slice from the past, check out this recording from November 23, 1944 AFRS Thanksgiving Radio Program. The lyrics are changed up, but the piece of history is enjoyable nonetheless. You’ll find this version on the YouTube Playlist.

Here’s another song that was first introduced to me through a film, this time starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. By the Light of the Silvery Moon is a sweet, silly family story centered around 18 year old Marjorie Winslow and her newly discharged fiancé William Sherman- the boy who lives across the street. While the plot could be considered corny and the costume design is pretty horrific (at least, Doris’ dresses are bad), there is a lot of great music in the movie. It’s hard to have a bad musical when Doris Day and Gordon MacRae helm most of the singing.

There’s a particular scene in By the Light of the Silvery Moon where the Winslow family is preparing the Thanksgiving meal. And, like every good musical, there’s a fun song that carries us through pie making and turkey stuffing- Ain’t We Got Fun. The song walks you through ordinary life- unpaid rent, lack of transportation, tax collectors, etc.- and makes the declaration that in spite of these downs, there’s still fun to be had. Originally written in 1921 with music by Richard A. Whiting and lyrics by Gus Kahn and Raymond B. Egan, Ain’t We Got Fun has somehow become synonymous with the Roaring Twenties. In fact, if you’ve read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, this song actually had a shout out. I include it here today because it’s a rousing little foxtrot that doesn’t shy away from the bad times, but sees them honestly and still decides to stay positive and embrace happiness regardless of the external circumstances.

I’ve selected a duet of this one with Bob Hope and Margaret Whiting singing. Margaret Whiting is Richard A. Whiting’s daughter, by the way.

Honestly, Irving Berlin must have taken his doctor’s words to heart because he wrote a lot of songs that are finding their way onto my Thanksgiving list. Of course, I jest as I Got the Sun in the Morning was written years before Berlin’s doctor gave him that advice. It was written in 1946 for the Broadway musical Annie Get Your Gun and sung first by Ethel Merman.

The song leads in with a question- taking stock of what I have and what I haven’t, what do I find? From there, the lyrics leads into a vivacious song that chronicles all the things we tend to strive towards- bank accounts, diamonds, yachts, etc.- and ends with the joyful conclusion that while we might not have those things, we have the sun in the morning and the moon at night. What more do you need, right?

It’s a positive, peppy tune and I love is sung best by Dean Martin. (Well, Nancy LaMott is a close second here for me. Her version is on the Youtube playlist.)

Wonder what all this positivity will do for you? When you’re intentionally being thankful, something interesting will begin to develop in you- you’ll find your worries and anxieties will begin to dissipate. I think Jay Livingston and Ray Evans knew that truth when they wrote Haven’t Got a Worry in 1953. The song is all about what happens when you catch that contagious bug Happiness.

My absolutely favorite version of this song is sung by Rosemary Clooney. However, it’s not the version that debuted the song in the 1953 musical The Stars are Singing. Rather, it’s the version she recorded much later in her life. From her 1996 album, Dedicated to Nelson, here’s Rosemary Clooney singing Haven’t Got a Worry.

I find that I could go on and on with all the American Popular Standards that embrace the spirit of Thanksgiving. However, I’ll just let you explore the playlist for yourself. It’s my hope that you’ll have this playlist playing the background while you travel to or prepare your Thanksgiving meal. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, dear readers. And please know that one of the things I am most grateful for is you. Happy Thanksgiving!