Supercool Music: A Living Article© Part 18: Supercool December Holidays Music – Part B

Season’s greetings! 🙂 I hope each individual who reads this will enjoy my reviews and, especially, that true joy lives in your heart each day, making your day bright with hope and peace. 🙂

   The first song featured this time will be one that was heard in New York when James Maslow, Logan Henderson, Carlos Pena and Kendall Schmidt brought their amazing vocals to the annual Christmas in Rockefeller Center – and Dustin Belt brought his very cool guitar-playing as well, all-in-all, making it a performance to remember for years to come 😎 🙂 The cheerful, upbeat tune of Big Time Rush’s “Beautiful Christmas”, is so excellent, that I have been known to play it at various times throughout the year – not just around December! 🙂 It tells about filling the holidays with love and cheer – which can and really should be applied to everyday life throughout the year. 🙂 As Big Time Rush’s supercool song, “24/Seven”, says: every day is a holiday. 🙂 It can be in your heart, even if you have other things you must do. Love and cheer are two very great things that every one can use more of! 🙂 “We can make beautiful Christmas – we can make the world shine bright. As long as friends and family are with us – every star will shine tonight.” Snow is pretty, but it isn’t mandatory for a happy Christmas. In fact, Yeshua/Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the land of Yisrael – not a snowy place. 😉 😎 🙂 It isn’t about the weather, what you do or don’t have, money-bought presents, physical location, or even who you are spending it with – even if you are alone. While some of those things can add to the fun of Christmas, the truly most important thing is knowing why the birth of Yeshua/Jesus is celebrated all around the world – it’s because in coming to Earth, He was providing a way for us to have peace with the Creator. 🙂 Love and peace are gifts from the Creator and through Him, we can love our neighbors (that includes everyone in the world) – and also have peace with them, if they are willing to truly make peace, too. 😎 When your heart is full of love, there isn’t any room left for hate. 🙂 May the love and peace that Yeshua/Jesus brings fill your hearts with joy throughout the year. 🙂

   There are many great versions of “Sevivon Sov, Sov, Sov” (The Dreidel Song)! 🙂 😎 I like the upbeat, flowing song. It sounds good from start to finish and catches the essence of the beauty of this traditional tune. 🙂 Spinning the dreidel is a popular game with a very cool-looking game piece. It is a top, often made of wood, with the Chanukah story briefly told by only a small number of Hebrew lettering, which represents the words “A Great Miracle Happened There”! 🙂 In Israel, one of the letters would be different, because it would proclaim, “A Great Miracle Happened Here”! 🙂 Whoever wins the game is usually the proud owner of a nice pile of gelt – chocolate coins! 🙂 🙂 This song is fun to listen to, whether you’re playing the game itself or just enjoying some good music. 😎

   Paul Revere & the Raiders put out a Christmas album in 1967 titled “A Christmas Present…And Past”. Most of the songs were originals to that album, having been written by Mark Lindsay and the exceptional producer of the Raiders, fellow prolific music enthusiast, Terry Melcher. 😎 🙂 The LP included an ongoing skit between each song and they are on the CD now as well. 🙂 One of the songs I most enjoy from this unique seasonal album is “Rain, Sleet or Snow”, which tells about the mail situation with great wit and humor – both authors were well-armed in both of those categories as they wrote this one. 🙂 For example: After the instruments have set the musical hard-rock edge, Mark sings with a powerful edge of his own, “Pardon my inquiry, but I gotta know – what makes all you people send your mail so slow? According to the information I receive – you send all your Christmas cards on Christmas Eve.” 😛 😉 The song title is sung next, which is the mail delivery motto about not letting any inclement weather stop them from getting the mail delivered. Mark shared some information that might prove helpful in everyone receiving their cards in time: “The Post Master General says that we’ll get by – if you send all your cards before the Fourth of July.” 😛 😆 🙂 The lyrics have humor, are sung with perfect, tough delivery by Mark, and the music is supercool. 😎 “Rain, Sleet or Snow” doesn’t have a soft, gentle melody – it’s a hard-rock sound through and through. 😎 It’s in the way the audio was recorded so expertly, how the instruments were played – yes, the Raiders had already “invented” using an orchestra in a strictly rock setting, which is something that some of the cooler bands have been experimenting with lately with great results. Paul Revere & the Raiders introduced a lot of unique elements into the music world; true originals and path-makers. 😎

   Yasmin Levy singing “Ocho Kandalikas” (“Eight Candles”) is Ladino music most beautiful! 🙂 The instrumentation catches the attention, grips the heart and touches the soul all at once. When Yasmin Levy begins singing, the songs enters new depths that are seemingly almost tangible. Hebrew and Spanish flavors blend together in the melody, expressed so clearly by both the instruments and Yasmin Levy. This song is five minutes and one second of heartfelt, soul-felt music. 😎 Each of the eight candles are counted as the song continues, showing the importance of each one. 😎 Each day was a miracle. 🙂 Each day is a miracle. 😎 We have so much to be thankful for – no matter how much we may feel we have to complain about in daily life. There’s lots of stuff we have to deal with in our everyday lives that we’d just as soon not have to be bothered with, right? And some things are way beyond irritating, maybe even very extreme problems – but there are still things for which to be thankful. All you have to do is give it a moment’s thought to find many such things. If you can walk, you can be thankful for that – not everyone can walk. If you are in a wheelchair, you can be thankful for that – not everyone can sit in one – some are stuck in bed. If you are stuck in bed, you can be thankful for that – some are in the same position, but cannot move. If you are in bed and unable to move, you can be thankful – you still have the power of the brain the Creator gave you. You see? 🙂 Thankfulness is something we can feel despite circumstances. Blessings abound and the Creator continues to bless us with miracles every day – never give up, never stop hoping, never stop praying, never stop trusting in the Creator. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask. Sometimes you ask and wait. “But I’m still waiting!” you say? You’re still here; there is time enough. 🙂

   “Sleigh Ride” is one of my favorite songs on the radio this time of year; it sounds so happy, cozy and cheerful! 🙂 One of my favorite renditions of the song is by The Ronettes. 🙂 A good imagination is all you need to go on a fun sleigh ride like they sing about in the song. 🙂 😎 If perhaps you have never had the pleasure of hearing this song, I will tell you a little bit about it. The setting is a snowy, wintry night with the stars shining up above, maybe some moonlight filtering through the trees in a soft light. A guy and a girl who are sweethearts are snuggled up next to each other, sitting in a wooden sleigh which is pulled by a fine horse, sleigh bells attached to the reigns ringing prettily in keeping with the horse’s brisk, clip-clop pace. 🙂 Enjoying the pleasant solitude on the country lane with snow sparkling all around you in the moonlight as you sing “a chorus or two” of a happy song like this one, your voices blending together harmoniously. Comfy and cozy sitting next to your sweetheart, you enjoy the ride regardless of the cold, wintry air. 🙂 Of course, sitting in front of a nice fireplace indoors afterwards with cups of hot cocoa is a good idea, too. 😉 🙂

   One of the most beautiful renditions – and most melodic – of “Away in a Manger” is the gentle and reverent singing of Celtic Thunder. You can easily see the scene the lyrics sing of the sweet preciousness of the babe, Yeshua/Jesus, as He lifts his sweet head from His lowly cradle. His big eyes looking up toward the Heavenly Father. It’s an amazing thing. 🙂 Whether you are a descendant of Isaac or not, you can be a child of the Creator. He chose Israel to be His people and through their line provided a way for all the nations of the earth to be blessed. He offers eternal life through the promised Mashiach/Messiah, Yeshua/Jesus, to not only the Jews, but also to all nations – every person, regardless of your location, ethnicity, religious practices, current beliefs or where you stand on various issues debated in this world: the Creator Who made you, gave you life on Earth, offers you peace with Him so that you may have everlasting life in Heaven with Him. 😎 He loves you. He is perfect; mankind is not. So He made a way to reconcile the two, by coming down to Earth in the form of man, born to Mary, lived as a man, taught and performed miracles for those who put their faith in Him, allowed Himself to be betrayed and killed by man and died on the cross, taking on all of our sins that mankind has been born with since Adam and Eve first sinned in Eden, Yeshua/Jesus died especially for each human being who ever lived or ever will, and then rose again and walked among mankind before returning to Heaven until the day He returns for us. The Creator of the universe did that for you. For me. For each person that ever was or ever is. All any of us have to do is to believe He did that for us, put our faith in Him, ask Him to forgive us and save us – and He will. He gave us that promise, just like He promised to never flood the Earth again even though mankind does very bad things sometimes – that’s why we get to see that beautiful rainbow in the clouds. He kept that promise, He kept His promise to send a savior, and He will keep His promise to forgive you, save you and give you eternal life if you put your faith in Him to do so. I hope you will. 🙂 I’m praying for you, for joy always. 🙂

Jean247

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