BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS MONTHLY MEETING THIS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 11th 2:00 PM HOMEWOOD LIBRARY Next Meeting - January 8th, 2012 - 2nd Sunday

THIS MONTH

It's time for our annual 'Dirty Santa' game so wrap up that 'gift' and bring it to this month's meeting and enjoy the fun. If you'd rather not bring a gift and still want to come and enjoy the fun that's great. Playing the game is not required, just your presence. And since the season is about giving it has also become a custom at the December meeting for members to bring those records they don't want or need and let the members look through them and take what they want. So don't miss out on all the action, free stuff, and the good times we'll be having - and yes, Tom's food as well. Hope to see you there.

BIG THANKS TO OUR NOVEMBER GUEST

Thanks to Sylvia Parker for being our guest at the November meeting. Sylvia not only provided us with some info about her hobby - Alabama music and musicians - but got us to thinking about how we as BRC can help provide and share the info we have and musicians we know so their stories and music can be preserved and passed on. Hopefully this will lead to a project that will make sure that as many songwriters, performers, and musicians from our state as possible will be included. Something like this is not easy and may take some digging around but I feel confident the BRC gang will step up.

Sylvia also DJ's at Egans on the strip in Tuscaloosa on Friday nights, playing nothing but vinyl. Thanks again, Sylvia, and keep those vinyl treasures alive.

LOCAL SONGWRITERS You may not know the song from the movie in which Judy Garland introduced it, but I bet you have heard the song, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" many times during the Christmas season. Garland sang the song in the 1944 movie, 'Meet Me In St. Louis' along with two other songs written by this month's featured local songwriter.

Hugh Martin was born in Birmingham, Alabama on August 11, 1911. He began studying the piano at age 5 and attended the Birmingham Conservatory of Music and Birmingham Southern College. Listening to the music of composers such as Gershwin gave Martin the encouragement to head to New York seeking work on Broadway. He found work there as an arranger and performer. Early plays he had a hand in were Cole Porter's 'DuBarry Was A Lady' and Vernon Duke's 'Cabin In The Sky'. It was in 1943 that Martin was hired by MGM to work as a song writer. His first assignment was to write 3 songs for "Meet Me In St Louis". Along with Ralph Blane, Martin composed "The Boy Next Door", "The Trolley Song", and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".

Our featured song has become a Christmas standard ever since it was first heard in 1944 and ranks as the 6th most recorded holiday song of all time by The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers. Some of the most famous covers of the song are by Frank Sinatra, Jackie Gleason, Connie Francis, and Ella Fitzgerald. If an LP of Christmas standards is recorded, chances are Martin's song is on it.

The song has gone under some lyric changes over the years at 2 prominent performers request. Judy Garland asked that the line "Have yourself a merry little Christmas/It may be your last/Next year we may all be living in the past..." be changed to take out some of the bitterness. Martin did that making it "Have yourself a merry little Christmas/Let your heart be light/From now on our troubles will be out of sight..." Later on before recording it Frank Sinatra would ask that Hugh give it an even lighter feel. It was while visiting Birmingham once again and walking down Highland Avenue that he was looking up at the trees and came up with the line "Hang a shining star upon the highest bough."

So the next time when you hear the song and that line you now know a little about the history of it. The song itself was written in Birmingham by Martin while he was visiting. He was staying in a small cottage his dad had built for his mother and the place where Hugh was raised. Although the cottage served as an gallery in later years today it is The Hugh Martin Cottage and is an Historical Landmark.

Later in Hugh Martin's life he had a religious conversion and once again did some rewriting of his famous song and changing the title to "Have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas". In 1983 he was inducted in to the Songwriters Hall of Fame and in 2001 into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. He died at the age of 96 in California in 2011.

 Judy Garland - 'Have Yourself A Merry little Christmas' (click to hear)

I hope you've enjoyed our year long trip down Birmingham music history. Each month except the one dedicated to our 2011 HOF inductees we looked at a different local songwriter/performer that had a song reach national prominence either on the charts or as a favorite cover song. I know there's some more I didn't get to but this gives you an idea of the talent that has come out of our area over the years. Let's review the list.

1. Baker Knight - 'Lonesome Town'

2. Henry Strzelecki - 'Long Tall Texan'

3. Terry fell - 'Don't Drop It'

4. Hardrock Gunter - 'Birmingham Bounce'

5. Erskine Hawkins - 'Tuxedo Junction'

6. Hank Ballard - 'The Twist'

7. Johnny Smith - 'Walk Don't Run'

8. Bill Justis - 'Raunchy'

9. J R Cobb - 'Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy'

10. Andre Williams - 'Shake A Tail Feather'

11. Hugh Martin - 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas'

Merry Christmas &Happy New Year,

Charlie