Winsome Wisdom: What’s Your Favorite Thanksgiving Song? By Steve Chappell
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And so it begins for another year. The Spiderman costumes and Donald Trump masks are put away and the rotting pumpkin carcasses long discarded. Then, without missing a beat, the garlands of fake holly and mistletoe are now on display accompanied by the sounds of Burl Ives, Bobby Helms, Elvis, and the Chipmunks. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. But...what about Thanksgiving?
Did you ever wonder why the attention given Thanksgiving seems to have waned through the years and now attracts only token media or public attention for the holiday season? To your humble yet Euterpean-inspired correspondent, the answer is obvious. It’s because, unlike Christmas, Thanksgiving doesn’t have any cool songs.
I can’t think of a single song that celebrates Thanksgiving, other than perhaps the old Dutch hymn "We Gather Together." And that was written over 400 years ago by some obscure Dutch poet named Adrianus Valerius. The poem was a tribute to the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. But that was then... and that’s about it when it comes to songs of Thanksgiving.
On the other hand, notice how recording artists of all stripes scramble each year to release a Christmas album, typically filled with some proven standards plus a few contemporary offerings. Why? Because there’s good money to be made in Christmas music.
An example is song I wrote with Ed Penney entitled "When the Rain Turns to Snow," recorded by Lee Greenwood and included on his debut Christmas album released in 1985. Even after 30 years, the song still gets played on radio stations and airline flights around the world. So, you’d think Thanksgiving-themed music would be just as popular. But when is the last time you heard of
any recording artist releasing a Thanksgiving album?
Now, with this little insight into the oversight of Thanksgiving, lies a challenge: how to restore the day of thanks on a return path to prominence. Perhaps some visionary Nashville tunesmiths like Dennis Morgan, Rosanne Cash, or Richard Leigh can craft out a few moving and memorable Thanksgiving songs. Something along the lines of... "Rockin’ Around the Gravy Boat"... or "Turkey Wonderland"... or maybe... "Grandma Got Run Over by a Glazed Ham"...
Oh, well! Cool songs or not, let us all gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing. Happy Thanksgiving.
Did you ever wonder why the attention given Thanksgiving seems to have waned through the years and now attracts only token media or public attention for the holiday season? To your humble yet Euterpean-inspired correspondent, the answer is obvious. It’s because, unlike Christmas, Thanksgiving doesn’t have any cool songs. I can’t think of a single song that celebrates Thanksgiving, other than perhaps the old Dutch hymn "We Gather Together." And that was written over 400 years ago by some obscure Dutch poet named Adrianus Valerius. The poem was a tribute to the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. But that was then... and that’s about it when it comes to songs of Thanksgiving.
On the other hand, notice how recording artists of all stripes scramble each year to release a Christmas album, typically filled with some proven standards plus a few contemporary offerings. Why? Because there’s good money to be made in Christmas music.
An example is song I wrote with Ed Penney entitled "When the Rain Turns to Snow," recorded by Lee Greenwood and included on his debut Christmas album released in 1985. Even after 30 years, the song still gets played on radio stations and airline flights around the world. So, you’d think Thanksgiving-themed music would be just as popular. But when is the last time you heard of
any recording artist releasing a Thanksgiving album? Now, with this little insight into the oversight of Thanksgiving, lies a challenge: how to restore the day of thanks on a return path to prominence. Perhaps some visionary Nashville tunesmiths like Dennis Morgan, Rosanne Cash, or Richard Leigh can craft out a few moving and memorable Thanksgiving songs. Something along the lines of... "Rockin’ Around the Gravy Boat"... or "Turkey Wonderland"... or maybe... "Grandma Got Run Over by a Glazed Ham"...
Oh, well! Cool songs or not, let us all gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing. Happy Thanksgiving.
