{"id":225373,"date":"2023-12-18T12:29:06","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T12:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allworldreport.com\/?p=225373"},"modified":"2023-12-18T12:29:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T12:29:06","slug":"brenda-lee-met-the-beatles-elvis-judy-garland-i-just-loved-to-sing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allworldreport.com\/celebrities\/brenda-lee-met-the-beatles-elvis-judy-garland-i-just-loved-to-sing\/","title":{"rendered":"Brenda Lee met The Beatles, Elvis, Judy Garland – ‘I just loved to sing’"},"content":{"rendered":"
This Brenda Lee story continues to be my favorite for Holiday 2023. Her Christmas classic \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree\u201d reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time since the song was recorded in 1958. After hanging out in the No. 2 slot for the past few years, she finally took the top spot, dethroning \u201cAll I Want For Christmas Is You.\u201d But Mariah Carey isn\u2019t bitter, she sent Brenda congratulatory flowers along with a handwritten note. Now The Guardian has done a profile on Brenda, and my goodness she\u2019s met everyone! Reading the piece was like a who\u2019s who of the mid twentieth century. A few highlights:<\/p>\n
\nThis year\u2019s success has been surreal:<\/strong> Lee delivers the song in her inimitable rasp and it taps into perennial Christmassy themes of togetherness, family and nostalgia, but she is mystified as to why it has proved so enduring. \u201cI\u2019m puzzled,\u201d she admits, \u201cbut it\u2019s a good puzzle.\u201d This year has been \u201csurreal\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m reliving the 1960s. I\u2019m hugely grateful to the fans\u2026 I\u2019ve had the same wonderful record company since I was 10 years old. I was just so blessed to have great songwriters. You can\u2019t keep a good song down.\u201d<\/p>\n
She just loved to sing:<\/strong> Another TV show, Ozark Jubilee, broadcast from Missouri, catapulted her to national attention and led to a contract with the record label Decca. \u201cI don\u2019t know if I realised the scope of all that,\u201d she says. \u201cI never worried about the business end. I just loved to sing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elvis liked her rockabilly quality:<\/strong> Her early fans included Elvis Presley, who loved her mix of rockabilly and country and saw her perform at Nashville\u2019s Grand Ole Opry. She still treasures a photograph she has of them together. \u201cWe had a connection because he wasn\u2019t putting it on,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was a poor boy from the south who loved his mama and wanted to do good for her.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Beatles were her opening act in Hamburg:<\/strong> \u201cI was standing there while waiting to go on and listening to these songs I\u2019d never heard before. When they came off, I asked John Lennon: \u2018Where do you get those songs?\u2019 And he said very nonchalantly: \u2018Oh, we write them.\u2019 I was flabbergasted and asked if they had a tape I could take to my record company. Of course they turned them down [Decca famously told the Beatles, \u201cGuitar groups are on the way out:], but it was obvious that they were stars.\u201d Lennon later described Lee as \u201cThe greatest rock\u2019n\u2019roll voice of them all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judy Garland gave her child star advice:<\/strong> \u201cDon\u2019t let them take your childhood.\u201d But Lee insists she was never waylaid by drink, drugs or scandal. \u201cI was around that stuff but I wasn\u2019t in that stuff,\u201d she says, crediting her humble upbringing and \u201cgood people\u201d around her for keeping her grounded. \u201cMy mama always said: \u2018Don\u2019t get above your raisin\u2019.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor Swift sings Lee\u2019s praises:<\/strong> She continues to inspire younger artists, too. An 18-year-old Taylor Swift wrote a tribute to her titled Rare Peer (later published in the 2017 book Woman Walk the Line). \u201cThere\u2019s a reason she\u2019s been able to move people to their feet for almost 60 years,\u201d Swift wrote. \u201cBrenda Lee is grace. Brenda Lee is class and composure. Brenda Lee is someone I will always look up to because of the way she shines. As Johnny Cash said in 1983, it\u2019s almost like she\u2019s golden.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee returns the favor to Taylor:<\/strong> \u201cI think I\u2019ll put that on my epitaph!\u201d says Lee when I read it to her. \u201cI\u2019m not done yet, but Taylor is a phenomenon. I first met her when she was 11. She was precocious, smart and she had her head on straight. She knew where she was going and boy has she gone there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rockin\u2019 around the altitude:<\/strong> Recently, a video of her singing Rockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree on a flight went viral, too. \u201cWe hit a lot of turbulence and people were uncomfortable,\u201d she explains. \u201cSomebody yelled out: \u2018Brenda, get up and sing.\u2019 So I did.\u201d Such is the potency of Rockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree, you can get a sentimental feeling even when being bumped around at 30,000 feet.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
[From The Guardian]<\/p>\n
Elvis Presley! Judy Garland! The Beatles! I love that she\u2019s this country kid from a very humble background, and the Beatles are the opening act for her<\/em>. And I thought I knew Beatles trivia, but I did not know that baby Brenda Lee took their tape to Decca. What a hoot. Reading the full interview I got the feeling that these were just little snippets of many, many fabulous insider stories she has to tell. I hope she gets the opportunity to share more tales with the momentum she\u2019s riding on. And speaking of ladies with momentum, how much will Taylor Swift love seeing Brenda\u2019s comment \u201cShe knew where she was going and boy has she gone there.\u201d<\/em> And how long until Brenda and Taylor team up for something? It would be perfect for them both right now! Brendanators and Swifties: you have your mission, should you choose to accept it.<\/p>\n
Embed from Getty Images<\/p>\n
Embed from Getty Images<\/p>\n
Embed from Getty Images<\/p>\n
photos credit: Eric Benetti \/ Avalon, Getty<\/small><\/p>\n