A Personal Christmas Collection
Jerry Vale
1995: Sony/Columbia CK 66147
I bought this in the mid-2000s specifically because of one track and to hear a little more of Vale’s voice. I had been a somewhat-smitten fan of it since I was a kid: his recording of “Home for the Holidays” had appeared on Album 7 of the Goodyear Great Songs of Christmas series, and I had long responded to it both as a Christmassy/sentimental touchstone and with regard to his very handsome (if a bit squawky) voice. To this day I have metaphoric impressions of both Christmas cookies and a whiff of cologne when I hear that track…such is the power of music on the psyche. On the other hand, either his enunciation or the limitations of a vinyl LP on my family’s little stereo resulted in me thinking, for many years, that the end of the song stated that “for the holidays, you can’t be home sweet home” (rather than “can’t beat, there) with the side effect of me thinking of the song as far more bittersweet than it actually is. Hmm.
Comments © 2014 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.