I just sat down to write a farewell post to Andy Williams. Before doing so, I quickly checked e-mail. There waiting for me was a message from my mother. She'd beaten me to it with her own message, titled entitled "RIP, Andy."
Andy Williams was the male equivalent of Karen Carpenter with a voice that was pitch perfect and completely pure. But, before reading his obituary just now, the only song I was sure that Andy Williams sang was "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." Of course, that just happens to be one of the greatest songs of all time, all because of that voice. In fact, whenever I want to demonstrate how completely awesome my own voice is, that's my go to song. It beats out "My Heart Will Go On," "The Greatest Love of All," "Beautiful," and even Ariel's theme from The Little Mermaid.
I'd forgotten all the other Andy Williams songs I used to hear in my house when I was little, songs like "Moon River," "Where Do I Begin," "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You," and "The Impossible Dream." Yes, they were my mother's favorites. But, hey, I liked them, too. It would be easy to say that I ony liked them because I was an impressionable 5-year old. But, I just listened to a couple of them again on YouTube. You know what? They're still good.
Tonight, I'm going to break one of my golden rules. I don't allow anyone in our house to listen to Christmas songs any earlier than the day after Thanksgiving. But, tonight, I'm going to listen to "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." I might even listen to it twice.
This is where the magic happens.
