Here the Title is more like a Refrain than is typical in an AABA song (I define a refrain as a short mini-Chorus). As is common with that form, the Title is at the end of every ‘A’ section. There’s also a rhyme ( ‘go/Snow’) to add emphasis and pop to the Title, another strategy that’s very common… because it’s usually effective. In this case, as with so many other good songs, the surrounding lyrics give the Title meaning by setting it up with a specific, clear story: So, as is true of most title-based songs, any feeling and resonance has to come from the way the Verses and Bridge lyrics set up the Title. The words ‘Let It Snow’ don’t tell us anything… or even suggest much (if you’re not Sammy Cahn). Like a lot of songs, ‘Let It Snow”s Title is a commonplace phrase that in itself is pretty meaningless. Today we’ll be looking at Sammy Cahn’s lyric. The joyous melody is great, but we’ll save that for another day. It illustrates some common approaches that are useable in almost any style of song. It’s not only one of most popular and successful songs of all time, it’s a model of good songwriting. Cahn started with the first line of the lyric, Styne responded with the beginning of a melody, they went back and forth for a while… and ‘Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It Snow’ was written. Instead, let’s jingle all the way.In the summer of 1945 in Los Angeles, on one of the hottest days of the year, composer Jule Styne and lyricist Sammy Cahn, first generation Americans born of Jewish immigrants, wrote a Christmas song. Yes, this is much more realistic, as I recall from my dating years. And when the Jingle Bells guy tries to get some (from Miss Fanny Bride) the sleigh tips over right as he is about to shyly make his move and they end up in a snowbank. The people in that song go out and play in the stuff, laughing all the way. If you look outside on a snowy morning and are excited about the weather, do not sing “Let It Snow.” That song hates snow. And all this time I was basically singing “Snow Sucks But I Hope I Get Lucky Because of It!” I can see why, lyrically, Sammy Cahn did not go with this wording as it does not roll off the tongue like “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” But I had no clue what he really wanted rolling off of his tongue when he wrote the words. Honestly, how I can sing this song anymore as I am out playing with my kids? It has always been my go-to opening snow song for throwing snowballs, building snowmen, or sledding down gentle hills of packed powder. Now start canoodling! Although, aren’t you on your way home? Who is driving? Aren’t the roads snowy? I feel an accident coming on… Maybe he’ll freeze to death if you do not snuggle him! And do you want his death on your conscience?! I didn’t think so. In fact, he asks her (or him, I have no idea who lyricist Sammy Cahn was currently into as gender is not specified in the song) to hold him tight all the way home so that he will be warm. He starts with a fire (delightful!) and then starts making popcorn, that most romantic of aphrodisiacs (hopefully with movie theater butter flavor), and then moves in for the kissing. While nowhere near as creepy as the terrifying “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” this song is basically one long pick-up line to someone that can no longer avoid you due to the presence of that most foul white powder that has arrived to wreak havoc in your neighborhood. So why does this song sound so joyful and exultant? Well, because thanks to the snow, you might be getting some hot lady action. There go my happy childhood memories, crushed beyond recognition. The only good thing about snow is staying inside to avoid it. We move on from calling the snowy weather “frightful” to saying “I hate going out in the storm.” According to this song, snow sucks. You know, frightfully awesome! But no, the snow is not a good thing in this song. “Oh the weather outside is frightful.” Frightful! How did I not pick up on that? I guess I thought it meant frightful in the same way that Count Chocula cereal is frightfully delicious. The clues were all there, right from the very first line. The song does not mean what I think it means. It’s snowing, and so to celebrate this first “walk to school in the snow” moment of the year I broke out my favorite anthem of snow celebration, that classic winter song of joy, “Let it Snow.” And never before today had it occurred to me that I’m using it incorrectly.
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