Let It Snow!

Let It Snow!
Princeton's Blair Arch in the snow. The Nassoons are Princeton's oldest a cappella group — they are world-renowned. They often do "step sings" on the Blair Hall steps, or smaller, more casual "arch sings" under the arch itself — for acoustics and shelter from the elements (when that is possible). The Nassoons are mentioned (with my apologies!) in my (revised) intro to Let It Snow.

About This Song | Lyrics | Additional Notes

Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Let It Snow!

ABOUT THIS SONG

release date: July, 1945
length: 2 min 6 sec
music: Jule Styne
lyrics: Sammy Cahn
vocals: Chris Tong
musical arrangement: Chris Tong
instruments: piano roll, violin, toy glockenspiel, electric guitar, brass ensemble, upright bass, bell synthesizer, sleigh bells

I created this cover of the holiday classic, "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" for my Princeton class's 2020 virtual holiday party. Enjoy!

P.S. The recording is only two minutes long. But it's packed with musical delights — repeat listens reward the discerning ear.

LYRICS

The Nassoons in the yard
are frozen hard —
they're a sorry sight to see.
A Blair Arch bid to sing
could hardly swing. . .
They'll soon be indoors
just like me.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful.
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

It doesn't show signs of stoppin',
So I brought some corn for poppin'.
The lights are turned way down low...
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

When we finally kiss goodnight,
How I'll hate going out in the storm.
But if you really hold me tight,
All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dying.
And, my dear, we're still good-bye-ing.
But as long as you love me so,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

When we finally kiss goodnight,
How I'll hate going out in the storm.
But if you really hold me tight,
All the way home I'll be warm.

The fire is slowly dying.
And, my dear, we're still good-bye-ing!
And as long as I love you so,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

SONG INTRODUCTIONS: Classic songs from the 1930's and 1940's often began with an introduction, in which the words set up the rest of the song, and during which the instrumentation tends to be very simple. Let It Snow was written in 1945, so it had the usual introduction. Song introductions fell out of popularity in the 1950's and 1960's. Singers covering songs from the earlier times often would simply drop the introduction and start with the first verse. It made sense, because those introductions often didn't match the quality of songwriting that made the rest of the song a classic. Nonetheless, a few singers always sang the introduction, with a kind of reverence for the entire original creation — Tony Bennett and Johnny Mathis come to mind. But I've also noticed how Tony Bennett dutifully soldiers through a less-than-stellar introduction, to get it out of the way (like, say, the intro to "Fly Me To The Moon", which talks about poets using many words to say something, and then the songwriter does exactly that in the introduction!). I'm taking a different approach: I feel completely free to re-write a poor introduction! "Let It Snow!" is a great song, with just such a not-so-great introduction:

The snowman in the yard
is frozen hard —
He's a sorry sight to see.
If he had a brain,
he'd complain. . .
I'll bet he wishes he were me!

The problem is. . . a snowman frozen hard is your ideal snowman! A warm, melting snowman is the guy we should feel sorry for.

So rather than anthropomorphizing snowmen in a way that doesn't make sense, I've re-written the introduction to put actual human beings — the Nassoons — out in the freezing cold. (See the comments below the picture at the top of the page.) It was also a great way to tailor the song to my audience (my fellow Princeton classmates).

The Nassoons in the yard
are frozen hard —
they're a sorry sight to see.
A Blair Arch bid to sing
could hardly swing. . .
They'll soon be indoors
just like me.

My apologies to any actual members of the Nassoons, who I certainly don't wish to have freezing out in the cold! The reference was actually a left-handed compliment: the Nassoons' singing (especial the intimate "arch sings" under Blair Arch) was one of my favorite Princeton memories — which is why they sprang to mind when I was looking for a way to "tailor" the introduction to a Princeton audience.

PIANO ROLL: I was part way through arranging this song when I realized I might not finish it in time for our virtual holiday party. So I started thinking of timesaving ways to to complete the arrangement while still making it unique. . . and the idea of using a ready-made "piano roll" version of Let It Snow as a piece of my arrangement came to mind. While a lot of piano rolls sound mechanical or too fast because they are playing just the literal notes to the song, without any personal "style", the best "piano roll" versions of songs literally captured great pianists playing the song. Here, for example, is a stylish piano roll rendition of Let It Snow on a YouTube video. Interestingly, the very same musical information captured by a piano roll (recording which note, how long to hold it, and how loud to play it) is captured these days in a digital format called MIDI, which can be directly imported into my musical arrangement software. So what I really was looking for was a MIDI file translation of a beautiful, old "piano roll" recording of Let It Snow — and I found a gorgeous one! There were no credits, so I don't know who to thank, but a big "thank you" anyway to the anonymous pianist.

Of course, making a piano roll part of one's musical arrangement brings further musical challenges. . .

Piano rolls were designed to be "one man bands" with very full arrangements. Often they would have more notes than humanly playable with just two hands, because — beyond what the actual pianist played — the technician creating the piano roll would add his own further embellishments; all it took was making more marks in the right places. With such full arrangements, typically, you'd either just listen to the piano rolls alone (like a jukebox), or the family might gather round the player piano and add their voices.

In order for any other instruments to play along, they have to be brassy or sassy enough to match the power of the piano roll. Hence I chose instruments with "punch" — like horn, electric guitars, and upright bass — that can be heard over the piano.

EASTER EGGS: While "Easter egg" may be a funny phrase to use when talking about a December holiday song, I have hidden some Easter eggs here! One is the famous guitar "twang" from Bobby Helms' 1957 release of Jingle Bell Rock.

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