# Is the "Peanuts" theme (Linus and Lucy) Christmas Music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305 "2013-12-14T15:02:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/41 "2013-12-15T20:06:12Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are we thinking of the same song with the same lyrics? There’s lyrics of “snowing and blowing up bushels of fun”, “dancing and prancing […] in the frosty air,” and “gliding in a one-horse sleigh.” I mean, you don’t need to know the reference of “jingle bells” to know it’s about the winter. I know, right? It even has a line that goes “Voices singing, let’s be jolly. DECK. THE. HALLS…with boughs of hollyyyy.” Um, how is that NOT a song clearly about Christmas? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/42 "2013-12-15T21:06:13Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It was not made for the Christmas special and it was used in almost all of the specials. As well as the TV series. So, yeah, it’s ‘the Peanuts song’, not ‘a Christmas song’. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/43 "2013-12-15T22:14:41Z")
> [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > I know, right? It even has a line that goes “Voices singing, let’s be jolly. DECK. THE. HALLS…with boughs of hollyyyy.” > > Um, how is that NOT a song clearly about Christmas? :dubious: Gee, how best to put this? That lyric is from “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” not “Jingle Bell Rock.” ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/44 "2013-12-15T22:29:43Z")
I think of it as a Peanuts song and not a Christmas song. Kind if weird when I hear it as a Christmas song but I get it. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/45 "2013-12-15T22:36:24Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Linus and Lucy! and Li-nus… > and Lucy and Li-! > (ba ba dum bah) > nus and Lucy and! Linus and Lu-… > cyyyyy and Linus! … Cite? I don’t remember ever hearing it with singing. On the original soundtrack album, and it’s an instrumental. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/46 "2013-12-15T22:47:50Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Actually, no. > > “Named after the characters Linus and Lucy van Pelt, it was released in 1964 on the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s album Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown. A Charlie Brown Christmas introduced the song to a television audience of millions of children beginning in 1965. Since that special, the song has been included in most of the Peanuts specials.” > > [Linus and Lucy | Christmas Specials Wiki | Fandom](http://christmas-specials.wikia.com/wiki/Linus_and_Lucy) > > It was not made for the Christmas special and it was used in almost all of the specials. If all you saw was the Christmas special I can see how you would think it is a Christmas song. If you saw all the other specials it sounds like a tv show theme song. Thanks for the correction, that’s good to know. However, your final sentence is incorrect. I grew up watching all the Charlie Brown specials, and still think Linus and Lucy feels like Christmas music. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/47 "2013-12-15T22:48:13Z")
I’ll be honest, [this](http://www.pennyandaggie.com/index.php?p=504) is actually what it makes me think of. (Hard to tell sometimes with that comic, but it seems to take place in spring, nowhere near Christmas.) ---
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/48 "2013-12-15T22:58:28Z")
In my mind, hell no! But that’s because I didn’t grow up with the Peanuts Christmas special, so there’s no connection for me. The only thing I associate the tune with is the Peanuts section of Universal Studios Japan, where it plays constantly like elevator music. Still better than Wham’s _Last Christmas_. I hate that song. _Jingle Bell Rock_, though somewhat annoying, does at least have a festive feel to it. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/49 "2013-12-16T00:55:27Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Gee, how best to put this? > > That lyric is from “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” not “Jingle Bell Rock.” Oh, yeah…I knew that. I was just seeing if anyone would notice, that’s all. Yeah… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/50 "2013-12-16T01:24:28Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Gee, how best to put this? > > That lyric is from “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” not “Jingle Bell Rock.” > [@Idle\_Thoughts](#): > > Oh, yeah…I knew that. I was just seeing if anyone would notice, that’s all. Yeah… > > :smack: Wait, what? That’s impossible! There’s a glitch in the Matrix! Those are clearly _the same song_. Those have always been the same song, ever since I learned it as a little kid! I would more readily believe that “Dashing Through the Snow” is different from “Jingle Bells.” That “Domo Arigato” is different than “Mr. Roboto.” “Teenage Wasteland” than “Baba O’Riley.” Yet somehow you have managed to edit all the music sites, all the lyrics sites, all the Wikipedia pages. I don’t care what you say! Oceana has _not_ always been at war with Eastasia! There are four lights! “Jingle Bell Rock” is the same as–aaargh! Not the rats! Not the rats! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/51 "2013-12-16T03:58:14Z")
No, “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” are clearly different songs. It’s “Holly Jolly Christmas” that’s the same. And yeah, I’ll concede that there are actual winter-related lyrics in JBR. I guess I’ve done a better job than I thought of purging that song from my memory. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/52 "2013-12-16T12:59:41Z")
I’m very surprised that so many of you are saying yes. If it were just from the Christmas special, I’d get it. But it’s not. It’s essentially the theme song for the Peanuts movies, and a theme song doesn’t become a Christmas song just because there’s a Christmas special. I mean, I guess we can sing the Flintstones theme around the tree this year, but… ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/53 "2013-12-16T16:43:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’m very surprised that so many of you are saying yes. If it were just from the Christmas special, I’d get it. But it’s not. It’s essentially the theme song for the Peanuts movies, and a theme song doesn’t become a Christmas song just because there’s a Christmas special. > > I mean, I guess we can sing the Flintstones theme around the tree this year, but… I agree. If it was a Christmas song shouldn’t people be asking “Why are they playing the Charlie Brown Christmas song in It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown?” ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/54 "2013-12-16T17:33:18Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > You betcha sweet ass it is. Try listening to the opening bars and not thinking of the Peanust Christmas special. I do it all the time. It’s not “Christmas music” IMO. “Christmastime is Here,” yes, but not “Linus and Lucy.” (I consider it more of “the Peanuts theme” than Christmas music. Of course, most people probably don’t watch Peanuts specials besides ACBC and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, whereas some of us can tell you (a) why “Charlie Brown’s All-Stars” is anachronistic, and (b) the first Peanuts special with an actual adult voice:) SPOILER It was made back in the days when Little League specifically banned girls, going so far as to say, “If there is a girl on any team at any level in your league, don’t bother sending a team to the tournament” (b) _Play it Again, Charlie Brown_; at the end, when one of Lucy and Peppermint Patty is stuck without a musical group for the PTA meeting, the other pulls out a spray can and sprays it, and adult voices can be heard; the last line is something like, “PTA meetings now come in spray cans, too.”[/SPOILER]Then again, I keep hearing “I Wonder As I Wander”, and I don’t consider that Christmas music either (the second line makes it sound more like an Easter song than a Christmas one). The same goes for the “Hallelujiah!” chorus of Handel’s “Messiah”; while you can make a case for the whole thing being Christmas music, “Hallelujiah!” refers specifically to his resurrection - again, Easter. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/55 "2013-12-16T18:44:04Z")
Without “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (and it’s massive success) there are no follow-up Peanuts specials (or films). “Linus and Lucy” was written _for_ “A Charlie Brown Christmas”; it does not exist in a universe in which “A Charlie Brown Christmas” does not exist, and its existence as an integral part of this CHRISTMAS special is not diminished by its use in other programs. To say it’s not Christmas music would be as ridiculous as positing a Bing Crosby television sitcom set at a Vermont resort, with “White Christmas” being the theme music, and saying that it makes “White Christmas” NOT Christmas music. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/56 "2013-12-16T19:10:48Z")
I’m surprised by these results. _Linus and Lucy_ is a tune from _A Boy Called Charlie Brown_. It gets its title by being the tune that is played during a scene between (duh) Linus and Lucy. Other tracks include _Schroeder_, _Charlie Brown Theme_, and _Freda (With the Naturally Curly Hair)_. L&L is probably the most popular tune on the soundtrack, and I can believe that it’s reprised in the Christmas special, and probably every other Peanuts cartoon. I don’t how that makes it a Christmas song, but at least it has more connection than _My Favorite Things_. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/57 "2013-12-16T19:13:02Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > Cite? I don’t remember ever hearing it with singing. On the original soundtrack album, and it’s an instrumental. What’s that Yuletide whooshing sound I hear…? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/58 "2013-12-16T19:47:11Z")
It isn’t inherently Christmas music so that if you heard it for the first time you’d say “That’s a Christmas song!” But it’s culturally Christmas music. I haven’t listened to any Christmas music yet this year, but someone mentioned Handel, so I have to listen to “For Unto Us a Child is Born,” which means I’ll be singing it (and trying to sing every part) for days. My husband will hate all of you. HA! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/59 "2013-12-16T21:24:15Z")
I was at _Messiah_ sing-along last night and had a great time. I hope he doesn’t hate me already. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/60 "2013-12-16T21:40:40Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \*\*Without “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (and it’s massive success) there are no follow-up Peanuts specials (or films). “Linus and Lucy” was written _for_ “A Charlie Brown Christmas”; it does not exist in a universe in which “A Charlie Brown Christmas” does not exist, \*\*and its existence as an integral part of this CHRISTMAS special is not diminished by its use in other programs. > > To say it’s not Christmas music would be as ridiculous as positing a Bing Crosby television sitcom set at a Vermont resort, with “White Christmas” being the theme music, and saying that it makes “White Christmas” NOT Christmas music. :rolleyes: Since it’s already been established that your primary argument (bolded) is categorically untrue, do you want to try again? One of my favorite television Christmas episodes was from **MASH**. But that doesn’t make its theme song Christmas music, even if that’s the only episode of the show I ever choose to watch and always associate that music with the holiday. So, no, it is not even remotely “ridiculous” to assert a big NO to the question, and to do so as definitively as you do is, well, ridiculous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305.md?page=4)