Cheri Emahiser
We hope you are looking forward to a wonderful afternoon of festive cheer at DesertView Performing Arts Center when the SaddleBrooke Singers present their concert titled “A-Caroling We Go!” What a fantastic way to get into the holiday spirit. Mark your calendars. You absolutely don’t want to miss this show. And it’s a bargain. Tickets are on sale at www.dvpac.net and are only $25 for the Sunday, Dec. 7, performance at 4 p.m.
Carolers Singing
This holiday season, the SaddleBrooke Singers present “A-Caroling We Go!” Audience members will experience a festive journey that follows a group of carolers bringing music from porch to porch. With moments of joy, laughter, and playful fun, alongside tender songs of comfort and peace, including a moving stop at a soldier’s doorstep, this program blends the sparkle of familiar carols with the warmth of community. Join us as voices come together in song and celebration, sharing the true spirit of Christmas.
Music from Christmas Films
One highlight of the program is the beloved classic “The Christmas Song,” with its iconic opening line: “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire ….” Written by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells on a sweltering summer day in 1945, the song was born from a desire to imagine winter’s chill. Mel, hoping to escape the heat, arrived at Robert’s home in Toluca Lake, Calif. There Tormé found Wells’ piano pad with four lines penciled in: “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, And folks dressed up like Eskimos.”
Wells had written them not as lyrics, but as a mental escape from the heat. “It’s so damn hot today,” he told Tormé, “I thought I’d write something to cool myself off.” Inspired by the imagery, Tormé sat at the piano and began composing. Within 45 minutes, the two had completed what would become “The Christmas Song.”
The line about chestnuts roasting came from Wells’ childhood in Boston where vendors sold roasted chestnuts in paper cones during the holidays. The song’s cozy imagery and gentle melody captured the essence of Christmas so perfectly that it quickly found its way to Nat King Cole, who fell in love with it.
Cole recorded the song in 1946 with his trio and later re-recorded it with a string section—against his label’s initial objections. That version became a massive hit and now is considered the definitive recording. Cole would revisit the song multiple times, including a lush orchestral version in 1961, which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and preserved by the Library of Congress for its cultural significance.
Do plan on attending. You’ll feel the joy of Christmas as we sing “The Christmas Song” and other beloved holiday songs.
If you have any questions, call Claudia Kistler at 520-306-2113 and check out our website at www.saddlebrookesingers.org. We look forward to seeing you in the audience!