“Red Sled” from the Pinelands series. By Paul Goldfinger. 12/17/13
SHE and HIM: “The Christmas Waltz”
Editor’s note: I enjoyed this Wikipedia account regarding the writing of this song:
“The Christmas Waltz” is a Christmas song that was written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne for Frank Sinatra, who recorded it as the B-side of a new recording of “White Christmas” in 1957 for his album “A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra.”
Cahn recalls, “One day during a very hot spell in Los Angeles the phone rang and it was Jule Styne to say, ‘Frank wants a Christmas song.'” Cahn resisted, explaining that any notion of attempting a ho liday hit so closely on the heels of Irving Berlin’s hugely successful “White Christmas” was “ridiculous, but Styne was emphatic, “‘Frank wants a Christmas song.'”
The two met in Styne’s apartment to begin work on the project, and Cahn asked the composer, “‘Hey, Jule, has there ever been a Christmas waltz?’ He said no. I said, ‘Play that waltz of yours.’ He did so,” and Cahn began work on the lyrics of “The Christmas Waltz”, which many other artists have also recorded.”