December 1: “Do A Little Good” written by Benj Pasek & Westporter Justin Paul and performed by Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds & the cast of “Spirited”. Happy Birthday to Cyndi Sagullo. xoxo APPLE MUSIC
December 2: “I’ll Take You There” by The Staples Singers (written by Al Bell) LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 3: “I Feel For You” by Chaka Khan (written by Prince). Happy Birthday to Kim Dean! xoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 4: Hopeless against the stream… “Evergreen” by Yebba (written by Yebba and Janée Bennett, aka Jin Jin) Happy Birthday to Leann Duggan and Maya Wergeles. xoxo LYRICS & CHORDS SONG HISTORY APPLE MUSIC
December 5: Let’s go get lost… “Road Trippin'” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Happy Birthday to Olivia Bicks and Sumi Shin! xoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS CHORDS APPLE MUSIC
December 6: “Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day” by Beverly & Betty Prudhomme and sung by Sam Cooke. LYRICS & CHORDS APPLE MUSIC
December 7: “White Winter Hymnal” by Fleet Foxes. Happy Birthday (and wishes for lots of snow) to Jenny Roberts McKenna and Jenny Kaplan. OFFICIAL VIDEO The Pentatonix Version LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 8: “I Wanna Be A Lifeguard” by Blotto. Happy Birthday (and thanks for the song suggestion) to Doug Fried! LYRICS SONG HISTORY APPLE MUSIC
December 9: “Evergreen Tree” by Jerry Estes, inspired by Wilton Singers.
December 10: It’s your time to shine… “Golden Hour” by JVKE. Love and mazel tov to Sadie! xoxoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 11: “Wolves” by Hooray For The Riff Raff. Happy Birthday today to brother Gene Elder & tomorrow to brother Jim Rossman; brother Peter picked this band for you. xoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 12: “Thirteen” by Alex Chilton and Big Star. Happy Birthday, dear Sadie! xoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 13: The light dances off your head… “Afterglow” by Ed Sheeran. Happy Santa Lucia to those who celebrate and Happy Birthday to Jill Odice (thanks for the song suggestion!) and Cheyenne Haslett, with belated good wishes to Deb Thomas and Cindy Dietzel, whose birthdays were yesterday. LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 14: “Io Si” sung by Laura Pausini; written by Diane Warren, Laura Pausini and Niccolò Agliardi. Happy Birthday to Cynthia Gibb (thanks for the song suggestion!), Steve Grune and Dan Seek. LYRICS & TRANSLATION CHORDS SONG HISTORY APPLE MUSIC
December 15: “Come See About Me” by The Supremes. LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 16: “Driver’s Seat” by Sniff ‘n’ The Tears (written by Paul Roberts). Thanks to Jen Dowd for the song suggestion and happy birthday to Kate DeLanney (40 in 2022), Amanda Horowitz, Toby Leavitt, Emily Silverman and Mikell Washington! xoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 17: “Same Old Lang Syne”by Dan Fogelberg. Ready for a fun fact? Today’s song is the 1812th SOTD and I managed to find a December-appropriate song (loosely) based on the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky; according to songfacts.com: The melody phrase at the beginning of each verse (“Met my old lover at the grocery store…”) was taken by Fogelberg from Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” (To get the effect, just sing that lyric twice, slightly speeded up. Maybe add a few fireworks explosions for good measure.) Happy Birthday to Bob Witeck! xo SONG FAQs LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 18: “Hanukkah” by Suzanne Sherman Propp (me!) and sung by the FCCC (Fairfield County Children’s Choir) under the direction of Jacqueline Sugrue-Tait, one of the most talented musicians and music teachers in the world. P.S. I know, I know, I usually won’t repeat a song and here I go repeating my own song for the 4th time, but, hey, folks, how else am I going to get two of my wishes if I don’t put them into the universe? What are my wishes, you ask? Well, in addition to peace on earth and plenty of food, shelter, safety, empathy and kindness for all, I wish that this Hanukkah song is (1) performed at the Candlelight Concert at Staples someday, and (2) in a scene in a movie where kids are singing it at a school holiday concert and the two main characters reunite after, say, maybe, a fight or not seeing each other for many years. Can’t you just see it?? Miracles CAN happen, folks!* 🙂 Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate! May all of your wishes come true.
xoxo *Click here to hear the Sheet Music on the Hal Leonard Website
Some of Suzanne’s Songs (but not this one) on APPLE MUSIC
December 19: There is magic in the air… “It’s Almost Christmas” by Ingrid Michaelson and A Great Big World. LYRICS APPLE MUSIC
December 20: “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” by Irving Berlin and sung by Rosemary Clooney. Happy Birthday to my beautiful mom, Ruthie Sherman, and my friend, Anne Leonard Hardy. I count my blessings every day. xoxo LYRICS & CHORDS SONG HISTORY APPLE MUSIC
December 21: We remember thee… “The Waters of Babylon” sung by Don McLean, written by Philip Hayes (in 1786) and arranged by Lee Hays of The Weavers and Don McLean. Good luck to the GFS Chorus today; I know you’ll sing this one beautifully! Happy Birthday to Shauna Flaherty! xoxo LYRICS & CHORDS APPLE MUSIC
December 22: “Breaking Us In Two” by Joe Jackson. This has been one of my earworms since I first heard it in 1982, though it’s apropos of nothing in my life. I missed posting it on 2/2/22 so this is my last chance to use the song in 2022 and have it make any sense at all. LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 23, 2022: Doing Christmas right this time… “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses. Yes, another repeat, but this one’s a special sixth night of Chanukah gift for sweet Pete, aka Mr. Sing Daily, who is so supportive that he should get whatever he wants. xoxoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 24, 2022: “White Wine In The Sun” by Tim Minchin. Happy Birthday to Traci Provost and Marcia Goldberg and thanks to Peter Morse for the song suggestion! LYRICS & CHORDS SONG HISTORY APPLE MUSIC * SOTD 1819!
If there’d been a lyric video for “Long Ago, in the valley of Chenango, gathered 13 – ba-da-da-ba-da-bum! Funds were low, but abundant was their pluck in 1819…” it def would’ve been today’s SOTD! Go ‘Gate!
December 25, 2022: “The Christmas Letter” by Cherish The Ladies featuring Don Stiffe. No lyric video (I can’t find the lyrics anywhere!), but this music is my gift to all of you. Happy Birthday to Jeff Weitzman! SONG HISTORY APPLE MUSIC
December 26, 2022: How strange the change from major to minor… “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” written by Cole Porter and sung here by Ray Charles & Betty Carter (the latter is one of David Sedaris‘ favorite singers, and since David Sedaris is one of my favorite authors, I posted this song for him on his birthday; if you know David Sedaris, please pass along my good wishes.) Happy Birthday, also, to Carla Imperial, who could probably arrange this one beautifully for the Swinging ‘Gates! xoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS HISTORY APPLE MUSIC
December 27, 2022: “22 (Over Soon)” by Bon Iver. Happy Birthday to Tracy West Barlok and thanks to Bennett for introducing me to this album! xoxo LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 28, 2022: “Hold Me” written by Christine McVie (who wrote many songs we love to sing, but died last month) and Fleetwood Mac. LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 29, 2022: Sing a misbegotten long forgotten chord like an eidolon… “The Wrong Year” by The Decemberists. LYRICS & CHORDS APPLE MUSIC
December 30, 2022: “Hymn For The Weekend” by Coldplay with Beyoncé. Happy Birthday to Kathy Reale (thanks for the song suggestion!), Sandy Sullivan Wu, Becca Goldman, Ilene Frost, Jenny Bentley Charmichael, Carrie Mascaro and Devin Morse! LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC
December 31, 2022: “Midnight Rain” by Taylor Swift (written by Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff). Happy Birthday (and thanks for the song suggestion) to my beautiful niece, Ariana Sherman. LYRICS & SONGFACTS APPLE MUSIC