On Thanksgiving Day

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Whilst we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving Day as a holiday here there are many who live in the UK for whom this is a special occasion. For example, I saw on the tv news yesterday that there are around 70,000 Americans living in the London area, and no doubt there are quite a few from other countries who celebrate, such as Canada. But then again, they do it on a different day, just to be awkward! In the past I have written about the day and in recent years I have shared some songs about being thankful, so it seemed a good idea to play some of them again. No surprises here, as almost all of these have been played before, but they are still good songs that I like.

I started playing music on this day in 2020, and opened with this one. It strikes me as being a pretty basic reason for being thankful:

Andrew Gold, with Thank You For Being A Friend. I bought the album that came from – All This And Heaven Too – at the time of its release in 1978. You may well recognise it as the theme tune from the long-running tv show The Golden Girls, although they used a cover version by Cindy Fee for that. And as I said, if we are going to be thankful for anything on any day – not just today – friends and family top the list for me.

I think I have played this next one every time I have done this for Thanksgiving Day, but as it is one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite bands I’m going with it again:

To my mind, Thank You is one of the most beautiful love songs ever recorded, and I think the imagery of the lyrics is wonderful. It is the closing track to side one of Led Zeppelin II, back in the days when everything came on vinyl. The album was released in October 1969 and, unsurprisingly, was #1 both here and in the US. The album has sold upwards of 20m copies and it probably doesn’t need to be said that my Mum didn’t like it! She just couldn’t understand my excitement when a friend managed to get us tickets to see the band live: they played a series of warm up gigs at smaller UK venues early in 1971, as preparation for a forthcoming world tour, and I was among 1,300 who saw them at the University of Kent, Canterbury, one cold March evening. Stairway To Heaven was announced by Robert Plant in throwaway fashion as ‘here’s a song off our new LP.’ Happy days!

This next one isn’t a thank you as such, but it feels right. I played it for the first time in 2022 and in the years since then. It is about families, memories, and what our childhood home can mean to us. This is, I think, perfect for a family get together to share, to reminisce, and to remember those who may no longer be with us:

The House That Built Me was the third single to be released from Miranda Lambert’s third album, Revolution: it was the first single of hers that she hadn’t been involved in writing, as it was by Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin, and reflects the latter’s annual trips back to the house in which he grew up. The video was shot in a house which looks very much like the one in which Miranda was raised, and the scenes there are interspersed with old home movie clips from her childhood. Call me an old softie, but this one really gives me the feels.

In complete contrast, here’s one that I’ve played before that takes a rather different approach:

I’ve played that just once before, four years ago. Is That The Thanks I Get? was on Rod Stewart’s album Blondes Have More Fun, which was released in 1978, peaking at #3 in the UK and #1 in the US, as it also did in Australia and New Zealand. That was the time of the crest of the craze for disco music, and Rod, never one to miss a trick, jumped on the bandwagon with this album. It is some way short of being my favourite of his records, but this track was, for me, the best one on the album, by miles. The hurt, bitterness and anger that come out of it are powerful – I wonder who it was about? Wikipedia and Google aren’t telling, but as Britt Ekland dumped him in 1977 over his alleged infidelity she looks to be the prime suspect. And as I say, it makes a good counterpoint to remind us that ‘thanks’ aren’t always welcome!

Rather surprisingly to me I’ve never played this one before. Given how much music I share I really should be grateful for it, shouldn’t I:

Thank You For The Music was a track on ABBA’s fifth album, ABBA: The Album, which was released in December 1977, and peaked at #1 in the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and New Zealand, and at #14 in the US. It sold more than 1.3 million in the US and a million in the UK, plus a phenomenal 750,000 in their Swedish homeland – a much smaller market. The track was released as part of a Double A-side single with Eagle, in May 1978, which only got to #33 here in the UK but still managed sales of 80,000 to qualify it for a Silver Disc. ABBA are at the pop end of music I like, but you have to admire their ability to write brilliant, catchy songs.

I’m closing today with the one I always finish my Thanksgiving sets with. After all, it is the only one of these specifically about today and what it means:

I know there are other songs by American singers about today, but anything by Mary Chapin Carpenter is going to be high on my list. The warmth and beauty of her voice and her lyrics give me comfort, and the video that someone has made for this song is a perfect fit. You can find this one on MCC’s 2008 album Come Darkness, Come Light, a fabulous collection of songs for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year: highly recommended, and you will hear more from it next month when my seasonal offerings make their usual takeover.

That’s all for today. If you are celebrating I hope you have a wonderful day, full of love, friendship and happiness. And if you aren’t, just feel free to enjoy the music!

See you again for Song Lyric Sunday 🎶🦃

 

The First Thanksgiving, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris

 

36 thoughts on “On Thanksgiving Day”

  1. Yes, here in Canada we have Thanksgiving prior to those in Canada, and it is held on the second Monday in October. It all comes down to the rhythm of our northern seasons. With an earlier harvest and colder climate, Canada pauses to give thanks before winter begins to knock.

    Thank you for linking to SSPS 389. See you again on Monday

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  3. I always have liked Thankyou for the Music , catchy cheerful tune and what could be better than music about music. Anyone who loves music is thankful every day.

    I haven’t seen any turkey jokes this year, I always love them. But Thanksgiving is not about turkeys, I think it is about home and family looking at all the pictures!

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    • That’s what they were so good at, isn’t it. My ex-wife loved them and had all of their albums, so I heard them a lot!

      I think most of the turkey jokes this year will be about governments, both here and in the US!

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      • I’m not big on stuffing, and can’t stand pumpkin pie! Nor do I see macaroni cheese or mashed potato as something to eat with roast turkey. We don’t have Thanksgiving so everything here is geared to the Christmas meal – and that includes pigs in blankets, Christmas pudding, brandy butter and mince pies!

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      • (You’re making me hungry, Clive!) We actually had pigs in blankets yesterday as an appetizer. Mashed potatoes are also popular here. And since I also hate pumpkin pie, there was apple pie for me and my eldest granddaughter. My son-in-law loves anything pumpkin, including pumpkin-flavored beer (of all heresies). But since he also loves American football, he can be ruled out.

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      • Sorry! But I think I’ll stay with our Christmas meal. Good to know you are another that hates pumpkin – and whoever thought of putting it in coffee should be slapped!

        Apple pie is a good alternative. My daughters didn’t like Christmas pudding so we always had to do chocolate pudding for them. It was while we were doing that one year that they set the table alight!

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    • I’m a Yank, so maybe I can help. It began here in the 19th century, after our civil war, to help with establishing a national “identity.” Political leaders chose the 1621 Pilgrim (English separitist Protestant) harvest feast, with local Wampanoag Indians joining in, the Pilgrims offering “thanks” to God for their food and survival. However, these days – because of reassessment of our ethnic cleansing of the Indians (and to a lesser degree the repressiveness and hypocrisy of the Pilgrims) the day is more about being thankful for family and friends, consumption of roast turkey being the symbolic ritual act. Our American football NFL has done a real good job of co-opting the holiday. Despite the bombastic NFL and repressive Pilgrims, though…for many of us it’s a great holiday of love and togetherness.

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  8. Although we are not celebrating Thanksgiving today, it is a good occasion to hear a lot of great songs (again). The ABBA song brings up a lot of memories since that song was part of the repertory of our formation (between 2004 and 2010).

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