Met My Old Lover at the Grocery Store…
I love Christmas music. I try to soak in as much as I can between the day after Thanksgiving, all the way up to 11:59 p.m. on Christmas Day. (I am a stickler for keeping Christmas-things at Christmas-time). I get roughly one month to enjoy my favorite tunes, and I try to make that month count.
Of course, I love the standards…White Christmas, O Holy Night, Happy Holidays, Silver Bells, and the list goes on.
While there will never be anything that can come close to the excellence of Bing Crosby or Nat King Cole…there is one song that has quietly jumped to the top of my holiday listening.
“Same Old Lang Syne” by Dan Fogelberg.
This song has it all…old lovers, checkout stands, spilled purses, architects, record stores, and snow turning into rain. It’s one of those songs that seems cheesy (my brother and I love to belt out the line “who kept her warm and safe and drrrryyyyyyyy”), but in the right mood, seems profound (I will not confirm or deny, but there might have been a Christmas of yore when I cried at this song while thinking about some old boyfriend).
It’s not necessarily a “Christmasy” song, but somehow the holiday doesn’t feel quite right until I hear it. I never seek the song out, but instead, wait for it to show up on my radio. This year I began to worry that I would not hear it…but I finally did on December 18th around 5:30 p.m., as I was driving home from work.
This time, happily, there were no tears…only smiles…and a rousing sing-a-long.
Ah, wonderful song. Until now, I’d never thought of it as Christmasy. But now that you’ve brought it up, I think I’m going to have to listen to it now. Who knows, maybe it will end up in my yearly Christmas playlist. Thanks for reminding of a great tune from the past.
Glad to help you revisit!
I will now forever think of it as Christmasy
Awesome!
Emily Anne – Fogelberg has an excellent Christmas album, the songs from which are never heard on the radio. This song is not on that project, but if you use elevators or grocery stores this time of year, you’re bound to hear Same Old Lang Syne multiple times. It’s a classic, and you have excellent taste if you like it!
Thanks!