Linus and Lucy
The Charlie Brown Christmas classic
It’s my favourite gif, the happy dance from the Charlie Brown specials. Anyone who interacts with me knows I send this gif to any good news people share. It’s a beautiful interaction of animation and music. You can tell that it’s a small sliver of animation that loops but it doesn’t matter because the song is so much fun. As the commenters on the video said, the kid in orange is killing it.
But what about the song? Turns out it wasn’t written specifically for A Charlie Brown Christmas, but rather for a documentary called A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Vince Guaraldi was approached by television producer Lee Mendelson to produce the soundtrack but Mendelson wasn’t able to raise all the money needed to produce it.1 Not wanting the music to go to waste, the soundtrack was released as an album in 1964 as Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown.
Guaraldi had created tracks to introduce various characters, and this one highlights the brother and sister Linus and Lucy.2 Monty Budwig is on bass and Colin Bailey on drums on this version. When the he song was re-recorded the following year for the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, they were replaced by Fred Marshall (bass) and Jerry Granelli (drums). This is the version everyone knows and loves now.
It was recorded again as a sextet for the opening of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, featuring Budwig and Bailey, as well as trumpeter Emmanuel Klien, guitarist John Gray, and flautist Ronnie Lang. The flute is used as a counterpoint to the main melody and this version became the signature sound for all the rest of the Peanuts specials.
It’s safe to say that this song was the introduction to jazz for millions. To me, it still sounds as fresh as when it was written. American Songwriter has a great piece on how it became a standard that I highly recommend reading.
As for its status as a standard, I came across this version of the song using banjos instead of the distinctive piano. The video is a great nod to the source.
Enjoy this joyous song of the day!
The groundwork Mendelson did directly led to A Charlie Brown Christmas being greenlit so it wasn’t a complete waste.
Why it’s not Lucy and Linus when Lucy is the eldest I’ll just chalk up to sexism.
It brings back so many memories from childhood. Love Snoopy playing the red guitar.
I adore that banjo version. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!