Grandpa Was A Lion
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
GWAL

Just for the season's holiday comes a X-mas single from Grandpa Was A Lion (GWAL), a.k.a. Justin D'Onofrio. I've just been through his album from last summer, and all of a sudden it's time for a little musical X-mas gift. From GWAL. To us.

It's of course a traditional song, an old classic he's been gift-wrapping. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (by Hugh Martin/Ralph Blane) was written in the early 1940s, and the song was introduced by Judy Garland in the musical Meet Me in St. Louis (1944, directed by Vincente Minnelli). Some years later, in 1957 Frank Sinatra recorded and released the song, and this has become the most common version of it. After Ol' Blue Eyes numerous artists have recorded this song (Connie Francis in 1959, and Ella Fitzgerald in 1960 to name a couple). And now, when X-mas 2012 knock on the door, Justin D'Onofrio choose to make his version, which of course is done GWAL style: laidback, chilled and relaxed. The happy-go-lucky song works fine done in a sadder style as well, but it's not a classic piece of work. Nevertheless, Yuletide is here, and "from now on, our troubles will be miles away". We even survived the doomed Maya calendar. Cheers! And a happy new year!

Copyright © 2012 Håvard Oppøyen