Song Lyric of the Day (Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, With a Xmas Song “In Three-Quarter Time”)

" ‘Merry Christmas, may your New Year dreams come true’
And this song of mine in three-quarter time
Wishes you and yours the same thing, too.”—“The Christmas Waltz,” lyrics by Sammy Cahn (pictured), music by Jule Styne (1954)

At one time, this particular tune was among the most heavily recorded in the Great American Songbook, at least around holiday time. Then, for a number of years, it seemed to fade.

And now? Making a comeback, I strongly suspect. Some fairly prominent performers have covered it over the years, including Peggy Lee, Audra McDonald, Kristen Chenoweth, Barry Manilow, Clay Aiken, the Carpenters and, of course, Frank Sinatra.

But this year it’s being covered in a holiday CD from She and Him (better known as Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward). In this YouTube video from their appearance on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," they show that the secret of the song lies in simplicity: stripped-down arrangements backing utterly heartfelt vocals.

As the song began to be played more recently, my frustration in identifying it grew. No hook gave me a clue as to its title--at least, none that I could hear.

In the end, the person who helped me unravel this mystery was the person who had made me cognizant of this tune in the first place: veteran deejay Jonathan Schwartz. Repeated listenings over the radio—especially Sinatra’s near-definitive version—subconsciously made me aware of its almost Old World appeal. What song form could embrace this?

It was probably after Schwartz played a Stephen Sondheim number—maybe the deceptively lilting “Could I Leave You?” from Follies, or, more likely, the entire soundtrack for A Little Night Music—before I tied the song’s form to the phrase that lingers the most in my mind: “this song of mine in three-quarters time.” At last I understood: Of course—it was a waltz. A Christmas waltz.

By the way, this is one of a very substantial list of Christmas songs written by Jewish composers and lyricists. Where would we be in the holidays without Cahn, Styne, Torme, Berlin, Livingston, Evans, Marks, Parrish, etc.? Musically diminished, that’s for sure. For many of us, Christmas is not only about exchanging gifts (and, yes, people, Jesus' birth), but also about love manifested to us each other, seldom more so than in the joy that bursts out in song--including this one, in three-quarter time.