Well, I hope everyone who celebrates it has enjoyed their Christmas Day. We were just four for lunch this year which is a really easy number to cater for so not too stressful at all. I don’t even feel as if I’ve eaten too much as instead of the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner with a few snacks thrown in, on Christmas Day you just have breakfast, a whopping big festive lunch and then not much else, so it all evens itself out nicely. I realise not everyone is quite so restrained, but it works for me. As for the presents, lots of lovely things as ever and my daughter, who knows me just too well it seems, came up with this very appropriate gift. It is sitting beside me as I type so lets hope I will be inspired by the contents which sadly aren’t of the alcoholic variety as I am on driving duty, but I don’t mind, which is just as well.
It has become my routine of late to post on a Monday so didn’t want to veer away from that pattern just because it’s Christmas Day. Also, the great thing is that we no longer have to share anything Christmassy as a song choice – I don’t know about you but if I ever hear Andy Williams singing It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year again whilst shopping, I will start a petition to have it banned. Unless your life really is on the up, and absolutely nothing bad has happened in the course of the year, it’s tough being constantly bombarded with Mr Williams’ chirpy lyrics. I always feel for those who may indeed not be having the MOST wonderful time. At one point I thought we ourselves might be having a bit of a Blue Christmas (Elvis version) this year as darling daughter is a bit lost spending it without her special someone, my mum is a bit lost without her memories and as regulars to this place know, I myself seem to have temporarily lost my “purpose”. As it turns out however it has been a really lovely day with no “blue-ness” making an appearance at all, for which I am really grateful.
But here I am linking to festive songs whereas the song that has formed an earworm over the last week is something quite different. I have mentioned recently that over the last few weeks I’ve been working my way through all seven series of the television show Mad Men on Netflix. Well here’s a bit of irony – The final season hasn’t fully made it on to Netflix yet so I had to buy back the same DVD I donated to a charity shop earlier in the year after embarking on a bit of decluttering. No matter, all for a good cause, but didn’t realise I would get quite so into it second time around. First time around I hadn’t starting blogging yet whereas this time the carefully chosen songs that feature in each episode are doubly interesting for me as the late 1960s seems to have become my favourite era to revisit. [Spoiler alert: If you haven’t yet reached it, Season 6 is about to be mentioned!]
By the end of season 6, the main character’s wife had moved west to LA in order to further pursue her acting career. Megan Draper, the French Canadian secretary turned copy-writer turned actress, had always been captivating on screen ever since first appearing in season 4 but having set up home amongst the musicians and acting fraternity of Laurel Canyon, she seemed to have found her spiritual home. Her New York based, “Ad-Man” husband Don was suddenly an anachronism and it made for uncomfortable viewing watching the end of a marriage being played out on screen. Right at the end of episode 6 Megan hosts a party at her house in the hills – One of the songs played at the party was this one and although I had heard of the band Blood, Sweat & Tears and even seen pictures of them, they’ve never featured amongst the tracks of my years so I hadn’t realised they were responsible for this gem of a song – You’ve Made Me So Very Happy.
You’ve Made Me So Very Happy by Blood Sweat and Tears:
This beautiful song was written by Brenda Holloway amongst others and was first recorded by her in 1967 on the Tamla label. The song later became a huge hit for jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1969, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 35 in the UK Singles Chart. But the musical surprises didn’t end there in this particular episode as to husband Don’s discomfort, Megan proceeds to entertain her guests with an impromptu dance to Petite Fleur, a jazz instrumental played by some of her musician friends. This piece of music was originally written and recorded by Sidney Bechet in 1952 but became an international hit in 1959 for Chris Barber’s Jazz Band. It was this version with the clarinet solo that provided the inspiration for Megan’s “performance” – Very apt for the petite fleur that was French-speaking Megan Draper (née Calvet).
Petite Fleur by Chris Barber’s Jazz Band:
So, “What’s It All About” – Sometimes we don’t even realise how much time and effort has gone into choosing just the right music for a television show as it just feels incidental, but once you start to take note, as I have done re-watching this award winning drama, it adds a whole new dimension to the experience. The Blood, Sweat & Tears song was the perfect choice for this party in the Hollywood Hills of 1969 but also bittersweet as that evening perhaps marked the beginning of the end for the two main protagonists. Megan had made Don “so very happy” and vice versa, but those days were soon to be in the past. The petite fleur would soon be out of his life for good.
But here I am blogging with my new mug by my side at nearly 10pm on Christmas Day – DD has invited some friends round and by the sound of the laughter from the other room, they seem to be making her “so very happy”. Time to seek out Mr WIAA, as it’s probably time to make him “so very ….. ” – No that all sounds a bit wrong. Time to sign off for today before I get myself into trouble!
Merry Christmas from all of us here at WIAA – Hope you’ve had a good one.
Until next time….
You’ve Made Me So Very Happy Lyrics
(Song by Berry Gordy Jr/Brenda Holloway/Frank Wilson/Patrice Holloway)
I lost at love before
Got mad and closed the door
But you said try just once more
I chose you for the one
Now I’m having so much fun
You treated me so kind,
I’m about to lose my mind
You made me so very happy
I’m so glad you came into my life
The others were untrue,
But when it came to lovin’ you
I’d spend my whole life with you
‘Cause you came and you took control
You touched my very soul
You always showed me that
Loving you was where it’s at
You made me so very happy
I’m so glad you came into my life
Thank you baby, yeah yeah
I love you so much, it seems
That you’re even in my dreams I can hear
Baby, I hear you calling me
I’m so in love with you
All I ever want to do is
Thank you, baby
Thank you, baby
You made me so very happy
I’m so glad you came into my life
You made me so very happy
You made me so, so very happy baby
I’m so glad you
Came into my life
Mmmm, I want to thank you, girl
Every day of my life
I wanna thank you
You made me so very happy
Oh, I wanna spend my life thanking you
(Thank you baby, thank you baby)
What's It All About? 
Happy Christmas, Alyson. I love your new coffee mug. Also, I like when you write about “Mad Men” We are on season 6 right now so it’s cool to see your insights on it soon after I’ve seen the episode in question.
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Happy Christmas to you and your family too Rick.
As for Mad Men, I did consider inserting a spoiler alert but decided against it – Hope I haven’t indeed “spoiled” the anticipation of what is to come for you. If you’ve watched that particular episode already, probably not.
Glad you like my mug – Wasn’t easy for Santa to source it apparently!
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First time I heard Blood, Sweat & Tears was on the very 1st bargain sampler LP – the mighty “Rock Machine Turns You On”, released in 1968. That album changed my outlook on rock music with 15 tremendous tracks (seriously, not a duff track on it and it’s worth checking out the tracks available on Youtube) including “My Days Are Numbered” by Blood, Sweat and Tears. That one sampler album definitely made a huge impact on me and my chums.
As for “Petit Fleur”, it’s a lovely tune, so sweet and mellow. Hope you had (are still having) a great Christmas and I look forward to reading more from you in 2018. All the best!
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For some reason, although I knew this song and have no doubt heard it performed by other people over the years, I didn’t associate it with the band called Blood, Sweat & Tears. There were an awful lot of three word band names in those days (Crosby, Stills & Nash, ELP, Creedance Clearwater Revival) and I think I just lumped them in with those others not realising their sound was right up my street!
Yes, hope you had a lovely Christmas too. Hopefully I’ll keep going into the new year.
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Yes, many three-word band names (and two-word band names: Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and, a bit later, Iron Maiden—very practical for bands with double bass drums), but “Crosby, Stills, and Nash” was different. Someone said “it sounds like a law firm”. The point is bringing the names to the fore. The previous supergroup, Cream, hid behind a moniker. (Clapton also left Cream at 23, which puts some things into perspective. I’m not a huge fan—I like mainly his stuff with Mayall and Cream—but thought it would be nice to see him in concert. 50 years later, at least all the good seats (and thankfully there are seats) were gone in a few minutes, before I could get one.)
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You are right – Crosby, Stills and Nash does sound a bit like a law firm. Got even more complicated when Young joined. In Mad Men at one point they became SCDPCDC or some such thing, when the two firms merged!
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Hello there, Alyson.
That mug (eat, sleep, blog) is totally fantastic!
A very happy new year to you and your family.
Neil
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Yes at times my family must have felt as if all I do is eat, sleep and blog but I do fit in other things as well, honest.
A happy new year to you and Sandy too.
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Love the mug Alyson; sorry, I had to stop reading half way down – we’re only about 4/5 episodes into Season 2. I’ll come back to this one when I’ve scaled the north face of Season 6!
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Hi there – Sorry about that, hope you didn’t read too far and have had some of the future “goings on” spoiled for you. I’ve now inserted a spoiler alert, as you are not the first person to mention that they haven’t quite reached the end of season 6 yet. Needless to say there are is an awful lot of drama to be fitted in between season 2 and the end game, plus an awful lot of good music which is why I’ve had to set up a new category for Mad Men. I think I’ve actually enjoyed it even more second time around which is saying something as I was pretty hooked after the first viewing but of course a year between each season back then which means you lose the continuity sometimes.
Yes I love my new mug and will save it especially for my blogging activities.
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“Sometimes we don’t even realise how much time and effort has gone into choosing just the right music for a television show as it just feels incidental, but once you start to take note, as I have done re-watching this award winning drama, it adds a whole new dimension to the experience.”
Indeed. Another good example is The Wonder Years.
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So many aren’t there, especially when set in the past. Takes you right back to the time more than the fashions or house décor.
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Are they the only rock group named after a Churchill phrase?
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Didn’t know that before but just looked it up – Doesn’t work as well if “Toil” is added though – Definitely had to drop that one!
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Haha, love the mug! Glad you had a good Christmas Alyson – we took the same sort of approach here re. the food as I just can’t handle over-indulgence these days (to be honest, never have been able to!). Just having a few extra drinks on Christmas Day, even spread slowly throughout the day, resulted in me having a terrible night’s sleep later, I woke around 4ish and lay there with a busy mind and a restless body until 7.30am, whereupon I finally fell asleep again just as it was getting light…
Anyway hope you enjoy the rest of this funny little limbo period between Christmas and New Year. I have a deadline looming so I worked some of yesterday and more again today – to be continued as normal now ’til I finish the book – but to be honest I don’t think I could watch any more TV anyway 😉
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You too then – I just can’t eat as much as I used to at all so really pace myself over the festive period otherwise it can make for quite an uncomfortable time. As for the sleepless night, I think the same happened to me last week after a meal with family – A few red wines (well, quite a few) and I was awake at 4am feeling very hot and bothered!
I treated myself to a glossy mag for this limbo period and laughed when I read that those in the biz now call it the festive perineum! Sounds about right. Think you are quite lucky to have work on at the moment as puts some structure into the day – Hopefully one day we will see some of your work but respect that you may want to keep that side of your life private.
Hope you got some nice things from Santa. I got a few nice books which I might well be using as source material for this blog – Watch this space!
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