The unwelcome intrusion of sounds of fireworks -- in case you hadn't heard, I hate fireworks -- reminds me how delinquent I am in posting to Benzene. I suppose I could resolve to get back on track with my once-a-week plan. I started several long posts over the past month, but I never quite finished any of them. Part of the purpose of the once-a-week rule is to encourage me to post short items that I can actually get done in 10 minutes or less.

Ericka loves Christmas and we both love to sing. This year we bought a Christmas songbook that includes a lot of the newer, pop-ballad type Christmas songs (and not-quite-Christmas songs), some of which I had heard and some of which I hadn't. (Ericka knew almost all of them.) I found a few interesting surprises looking at the names of the composers.

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" was written by Meredith Willson, best known as composer of The Music Man. (I know him also as the author of "May the good Lord bless and keep you".) "Baby, it's cold outside" is by Frank Loesser, best known for Guys and Dolls.

I know Jay Livingston and Ray Evans as the songwriting team who wrote a zillion pop standards. Somehow I missed that they did "Silver bells", too. (I also didn't know they wrote the theme for Bonanza.) "Santa Claus is coming to town" is by an even older songwriting team, Haven Gillespie and J Fred Coots, whom I know best for "You go to my head".

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