For this year I ‘ve extended my Christmas songs playlist on YouTube! min jul-lista – YouTube I had planned to include 20 songs this year, as we have an old saying and a tradition here in Sweden that goes “På tjugondag Knut dansas Julen ut” that would maybe translate “on the twentieth day of Knut, Christmas is danced out”. On that day when Knut has his Name Day all the Christmas decoration was taken down and the Christmas tree was thrown out. But after checking if my Friend Frank Buhrman had a few tips on some Christmas song I throw in a couple of bonus tracks for you and me to enjoy, and if there’s a song that you just can’t stand hearing just skip to the next one.
I was thinking about making some kind of a season review about for 2022, with the new car taking to the tracks but I’m not going to say too much about that, we all know about the mess with lose wheels and so on. Instead of a long rant I would like to point to a few things that was high light for me! In my opinion we have seen a couple of really good Cup races and also a few quite boring once. After all a Race you watch on TV never gets better than what the broadcasters let you see. Here a few of my highlights:
As some of you may know when I started out watching NASCAR my favorite driver was Ward Burton. By the time Ward wasn’t able to get a ride I also had started trying to follow the Truck Series and one of my favorite drivers was Travis Kvapil and the thing that Really excites me is the progress of Travis Kvapil’s two sons, Carson and Caden, and one absolut high point this autumn was when Tim Leeming did an interview with Carson, ICYM it here it is; ▶ October 25, 2922/Carson Kvapil in The Racing Spotlight | Spreaker
Looking forward to 2023 there’s a few things that needs to happen in order to improve racing mostly on short tracks and on road courses. Below is one of the things I really looking forward to when the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series race in Rovaniemi Finland
So, to wrap up these few lines I hope you enjoyed the mixed Christmas music and IF anyone wonder why on earth O Holy Night occurs three times, in different versions, on the playlist it’s simply because I just love it and have done so ever since singing in the school choir back in the late sixties. So, Me and the rest of PTR Crew want to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!
Take Care – Stay Safe
Bernth, Vivian, Frank, David, Tim and Dave
Merry Christmas, Berra!
And a Merry Christmas to you Dave and all yours
Take Care
//B
Thanks Berra and Merry Christmas to all!
Merry Christmas to you David and to your Family!
Stay Warm
//B
Thank you, Berra and Merry Christmas to you and all of your Family.
Merry Christmas to you and yours also!
Stay Safe
//B
Merry Christmas, Friends. (Hard to believe it’s 3 degrees outside as I write that.) Hope everybody enjoys a fantastic 2023, on the track and in all aspects of life.
Merry Christmas Frank! Around 7F over here! Let’s hope 2023 will be the best year in many years at least the best in the twenties. BTW Frank We had a small discussion leading up to the Christmas Music playlist about O Holy Night where you told some of the story about how the so much loved song came about, I just feel I have to share some of it;
I’ve always liked the story of O Holy Night: A French priest commissioned a local poet to write the words, and he asked a friend to come up with a tune. Everybody loved the result, except for the church hierarchy, because the poet was an atheist (and socialist), and the songwriter was a Jew.
There are other stories about it, too. Apparently, it became popular in the U.S. before out Civil War when anti-slavery leaders promoted the second verse: “Chained shall He break, for the slave is our brother.” Another claims that German and French armies agreed to a Christmas cease-fire during World War I after a French soldier began singing it during a quiet moment on the front lines, and a German soldier responded with song. Finally, because he was an atheist, the author of the words had to read the Bible Book of Luke before writing, to make sure he got it right.
The church tried to ban the song, but the people knew what their leaders didn’t: that God can work through anyone.
And to maybe illustrate that just listen to this version; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr_GvVy4mvs
Before I could read, I could pick out the yellow label with a lion of Mom’s & Dad’s 1947 (I was born in 1948) MGM 78rpm recording of “O Holy Night” by the great Danish-American opera star Lauritz Melchoir. I literally wore that record out playing it over and over on our huge living room Stromberg-Carlson Radio-Victrola. The center hole got bigger & bigger until the record wobbled. Then I cracked the record, but would still play it crack and all. If you never heard Lauritz Melchoir sing that wonderful son, here is a link to the exact m78rpm record, yellow MGM label, lion and all!
<a href="https://archive.org/details/78_o-holy-night_lauritz-melchior-georgie-stoll_gbia0011182b