This Simple Phrase.


As I popped into to Wilkinson today to buy some scales for a baking emergency (we’ve all had them) Nat King Cole’s Christmas song was being piped into the shop - one of the few festive records it’s practically impossible to object to - and hearing it brought back memories to one of my favourite moments in the Buddy Holly Christmas show when I used to do it.

The show’s script was made up of various bits of business that had been handed down from cast to cast through the years, with the Christmas tour inevitably containing extra festive songs and banter. Each band member got to sing a Christmas song and Buddy’s was the Nat King Cole one.

The second half of the song descended into end of the pier comedy with the rest of the band coming on as a faux choir singing backing to me while wearing Christmas jumpers, but the first half felt quite special as it was just me in a spotlight with an acoustic. It was the loosest arrangement in the whole show but it was a nice moment of connection with the audience.

It wasn’t particularly faithful to Nat King Cole’s original and it’s not even a song connected with Buddy, but it worked within the context of the show; it was one of those things where I could just relax and enjoyed it as it unfolded. It was an intimate moment I was lucky to get to experience it; all this and I’m not even into Christmas.

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