Programming note: If you missed today's audio episode of Steyn's Seasonal Song of the Week on Serenade Radio, you can catch the re-run at 5.30am Monday GMT, which is 9.30pm Sunday on the North American West Coast and a pleasant Monday afternoon listen in Australia. Wherever you are on the planet, simply click the button at top right here.
Last week on telly I talked to Mike Batt, the prodigious multi-talent - composer, lyricist, singer, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, novelist, poet, artist... We chewed over his big Christmas hit for The Wombles, "We Wish You a Wombling Merry Christmas" (not to be confused with Cary Katz and Blaze TV's "We Wish You a Cockwombling Merry Christmas"). But we didn't get to discuss his other great seasonal song.
So here's a reprise from half-a-decade back of a special video edition of Steyn's Song of the Week, in which I'm joined by Mike's co-writer, one of the most successful lyricists of our time, the multi-Oscar- and Tony-winner Tim Rice.
Tim doesn't write a lot of lyrics that aren't for films and stage shows. But this one became a Top Five single for the team of Batt & Rice, even if the finished record didn't come out quite the way Tim intended, as he explains. So Mark invited Tim's chum and sometime Chess star Emma Kershaw along to sing "A Winter's Tale" with its correct rhymes, and previously unheard third verse:
"A Winter's Tale", by Mike Batt and Tim Rice, was arranged for Emma and the band by Kevin Amos.
I'm delighted to say that Miss Kershaw will be back with us a little later this Christmas season.
The great Clive James, whom I miss so much, enjoyed the above - well, except for me.
~If you enjoy our Sunday Song of the Week, we now have an audio companion, every Sunday on Serenade Radio in the UK. You can listen to the show from anywhere on the planet by clicking the button in the top right corner here. It airs thrice a week:
5.30pm London Sunday (12.30pm New York)
5.30am London Monday (2.30pm Sydney)
9pm London Thursday (1pm Vancouver)
If you're a Steyn Clubber and regard the above tale as a big fail, feel free to give it your best in our comments section. As we always say, membership in The Mark Steyn Club isn't for everybody, and it doesn't affect access to Song of the Week and our other regular content, but one thing it does give you is commenter's privileges. Please stay on topic and don't include URLs, as the longer ones can wreak havoc with the formatting of the page.
