Tonight's the night that Darlene Love will be on Letterman, for the 26th
consecutive year, singing "Christmas, (Baby Please Come Home)." Think
about that, for twenty six years she's appeared on Letterman's last
show before Christmas, through network changes, time slot changes, and
everything else. There's a number of reasons why it's special. First
and foremost is that is the closest you or I will ever be to seeing a
Phil Spector produced classic, done up live in all it's glory. They pull
out all the stops; strings, brass section, choir, bells, the whole nine
yards. And, to these semi-trained ears, it sounds like they're using
Spector's original charts as well. As you can imagine, after all those
years, it's pretty well rehearsed. (I went to the trouble of playing
videos of a couple different years performances simultaneously, and they
synched up almost perfectly. They have it down.) In short, the whole
thing is three and a half minutes of cynicism busting pop perfection.
Love had a string
of Spector produced hits in the sixties, some with the Blossoms, and some without lead
vocal credit (the Crystals "He's A Rebel" and "He's Sure the Boy I
Love." and Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"). She's
also sang backing vocals for Sam Cooke, the Beach Boys, Dionne Warwick,
Elvis, Sonny & Cher, Tom Jones, among many others. She is royalty.
Love, with the Blossoms, 1965
Though I obviously haven't seen tonight's performance,
I can tell you exactly what will go down. Letterman will introduce
her, and then they'll cut to the stage. Every year it's a different
set, but Love usually is off camera for the intro. (During the intro,
they may cut to the
sleigh bell guy, who figures big in the overall sound.) She'll come on,
with a different look than previous years, and undoubtedly a different
hairstyle. Because every years appearance is Darlene Love's night to
shine, it's like her own pop music prom, and every year she looks happy,
healthy, and young for her age (74). She'll go through the first few
verses and choruses, and the song will continually build. When the song
hits the sax solo, that sax player will appear, usually in cornball
fashion (one year he flew in, one year he was pulled in on a sleigh by
elf-ish vixens, and another year through a cloud of smoke). As corny as
the sax player's arrival usually is, it worth noting that you're pulled
in so much at that point, that it doesn't derail the performance (and
that's something to say). Towards the end of the song, fake snow will
begin falling. They'll pan the audience. And every bit of Grinch that
you have in you will be momentarily eliminated. After Letterman greets
her, there will be a reprise of the chorus, just to make sure you're
satiated.
For the life of me, I can't explain why Love's annual appearance on
Letterman gets to me; and I've spent quite a bit of time trying to
figure it out. The only thing I've been able to discern is that it's
because Love's performance on Letterman transcends rock n' roll, pop
music, Phil Spector, Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame, Christmas, gift giving,
religious preferences, Letterman and Darlene Love herself. It is one of
those very rare moments when a song is so intrinsically perfect, in
words, music, performance and instrumentation, that for three and a half
minutes nothing else matters. (Note: This is updated from earlier post. I'm that lazy.)
Added 12/22/2012:
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:
Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) mp3 at AM Then FM Simulated stereo
Video:
Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) 2011, Letterman at YouTube
Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) 2010, Letterman at YouTube
Darlene Love - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) 2009, Letterman at YouTube
Darlene Love - Saved (1965) at YouTube
Darlene Love - Christmas Time For The Jews (claymation) video at Hulu.com (from Saturday Night Live)
Visit:
Darlene Love Official site
Darlene Love at Wikipedia
