If you enjoy Steyn's Song of the Week at SteynOnline, please note that there'll be a live stage edition during the 2025 Mark Steyn Cruise - along with many other favorite features from SteynOnline and The Mark Steyn Show. More details here.
~For those who missed today's Serenade Radio edition of our Song of the Week, here's a chance to catch up. Today's episode tells the story of a certain reindeer and the brothers-in-law who made him part of the American holiday season. Along the way we'll hear music from Gene Autry, Harry Connick Jr, Brenda Lee, Michael Bublé, Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, the Ink Spots, Glenn Miller and Harry Belafonte - and a few other numbers by a Jewish songwriter who wrote more Christmas songs than anyone else, including "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" and "A Holly Jolly Christmas". And we'll end with a special live performance: Dorothée Berryman, star of the Oscar-winning movie Barbarian Invasions, and Monique Fauteux, who's sung with everyone from Charles Trenet to the Quebec progressive rock band Harmonium, join Mark for a bilingual sleigh ride with Rudolph and his nez rouge..
Click above to listen.
This airing of Steyn's Serenade Song of the Week is a special presentation of The Mark Steyn Club. Thank you for your kind responses to this series. After "Try a Little Tenderness" last week, Christopher, a North Yorkshire Steyn Clubber, writes:
Fantastic episode, thanks Mark. I would love to hear that secret Sinatra version, but the 1979 Egypt one is good enough to have stopped me in my tracks for 2 and a half minutes or whatever it was. I reckon Otis knew the Brook Benton version too.
I have a request: would you one day do a Serenade episode on Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness Of You"?
We'll add that to the list, Christopher. David Kelley-Wood, a First Day Founding Member of The Mark Steyn Club, says:
Those Otis Redding and Three Dog Night versions seem way over the top to me. Really like the 'tenderer' renditions. Maybe a cappella might work nicely. Interesting insight on the trickiness of tenderness, the trying of it, that is. Give tenderness a shot, or take a flier on a little tenderness once in a while, but not so often as to create expectations! Could it be worded any differently to more accurately convey being sincerely tender, and still fit neatly into the song? "Show a little tenderness?" Eh, maybe it all comes down to the sincerity of the singer.
Olga, a Steyn Clubber from Arizona, adds:
That Harry Woods story absolutely never, ever, ever gets old.
It took me a minute to remember his name, but now I never miss an opportunity to re-tell the tale. Thanks, Mr. Steyn!
The Commitments is a delightful movie. Alan Parker's work doesn't always sit well with me ~ what's with all the Madonna bits?? ~ but Bugsy Malone is a gem, & Fame is rollicking good fun.
We do enjoy your comments on the show. Steyn Club members are welcome to leave them below - or anybody can leave them over at Serenade Radio, where they love hearing from listeners.
Steyn's Song of the Week airs thrice weekly on Serenade Radio in the UK, one or other of which broadcasts is certain to be convenient for whichever part of the world you're in:
5.30pm Sunday London (12.30pm New York)
5.30am Monday London (4.30pm Sydney)
9pm Thursday London (1pm Vancouver)
Whichever you prefer, you can listen from anywhere on the planet right here.