A Melancholy Christmas

By: Brandon Brown

Last week I had a Twitter interaction with my new online friend Kevin Nye (check out my review of Kevin's book Grace Can Lead Us Home). We were discussing the amazing soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas and how that soundtrack impacts the beauty and feel of the special. The soundtrack alters how we experience the story and the characters. Without the soundtrack, we would find Charlie Brown and Linus rather sad, according to Kevin. I agree with this idea because it is the music which transforms an otherwise series of sad interactions into a melancholy critique of consumerism.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is my favorite Christmas special and I credit the soundtrack in part with my love of jazz music. The Vince Guaraldi Trio composed or arranged an amazing musical landscape to complement the writing of Charles Schulz at his peak. From the very first bars of "Christmas Time Is Here" to the upbeat "Linus and Lucy" and the swinging "O Tannenbaum" the soundtrack shapes the feel and emotional response to the story. Besides the jazz soundtrack, the special broke new ground by utilizing child voice actors. This lends a credibility and authenticity to the story because we hear the melancholy angst of adults in the dialogue, but it is voiced and acted by children. The entire package is one that insists upon a bittersweet story of the discovery of the true meaning of Christmas for which Charlie Brown is searching.

Yes, A Charlie Brown Christmas is a melancholy tale, but that melancholy drives the beauty within the story. Charlie Brown may not feel Christmas at the beginning, but his heart i[]()s warmed when Linus tells Luke's nativity story and that change is confirmed after disaster when his friends gather to decorate his lonely tree and sing of angels.