It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas was written in 1951 by Meredith Wilson and became a hit in the same year for Perry Como. It’s a classic Christmas song that just about everybody ‘sort of’ remembers the tune to. Why ‘sort of’? Because it’s a tricky tune that’s hard to remember and to sing. It’s also a classic example of compositions from the early to mid 20th century.
Here’s a reminder:
Here’s an extract from the first verse, which includes many of the interesting features of this song. Press the Play button to hear it played through.
For what appears to be a simple example of a Christmas song, the chord progression is not that simple. For example, G B7 C E7 (II III7 IV VI7) is a really effective chord sequence but by no means usual. Typically, the non-key chord B7 is going to take you, at least temporarily, to Em. Instead, here, the same two-tone uplift as the G B7 is repeated on the C chord with really pleasing effect. From the E7, another non-key chord, the result is more predictable with progression to Am.
If you look at the score, you’ll see accidentals (sharps, flats and naturals to indicate non-key notes) in bars 1, 5 and 6. Sometimes these are needed to make sure that a melody stays in harmony with non-key chords, like the B7, E7 and A7 that appear in this example (the B7 includes a D#, the E7 a G# and the A7 a C#, none of which are in the G major scale). However, no adjustment was needed to the melody in bars 3, 4 and 7 where the non-key chords appear.
Accidentals can also act as in-betweeners to make a smoother and more interesting bridges between notes. For example, in bar 5, you see E to F to F# and then in bar 6 you get D to D# to E to F and finally F# in the following bar. These chromatic runs are highly effective, creating delicate and rather whimsical melodies that are highly typical of songs in the early and mid twentieth century. Unfortunately, they are not that easy to sing because of the fine intervals.
Where you find chromatic runs, you also often find triplets (rhythms in which three notes play in the space of two). They occur in bars 1, 5 and 6, in each case just before the chromatic runs, adding further to the rather playful feel.
Another interesting trick occurs in the 8th bar. After the A7 chord, you’re expecting to go straight to the dominant seventh for G major, the D7. But, the composer instead first creates tension by switching the A chord from major to minor.
As the song progresses, there are many more wonderful examples of melodic techniques that remind us of show tunes and music hall; techniques that we can still use today with a little effort.
