Do you make a point of listening to any songs on Thanksgiving?
Nope. Not me. For some reason, don’t know what or why, when I think of Thanksgiving I don’t think music.
Maybe it’s because I’m thinking instead of turkey and pumpkin pie and stuffing and corn and pecan pie and wine and zucchini pie and ice cream and sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce and green beans and ham and mashed potatoes and gravy and chocolate silk pie and Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider and baked beans (WITH BACON!) and black olives and …
One reason why I don’t equate music with Thanksgiving is that there were never any good musicals or movies about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is about food and football and family. And giving thanks for our many blessings.
The only song I can think of that is a Thanksgiving song is Over The River And Through The Wood. The thought of singing or listening to Thanksgiving songs never crosses my mind, though. So… What?
Yeah, that’s the song that I associate with Thanksgiving.
From Planes, Trains and Automobiles, this song reminds me of Thanksgiving like none other.
I want you to go over and sit down on that bench that says ‘Group W’. NOW, kid!
My parents are old hippies so we’ve been raised on “Alice’s Restaurant” (a local station plays it every Thanksgiving at noon, too).
Being that we already had one Thanksgiving song, Adam Sandler’s song was a welcome addition. But it doesn’t have the same impact as Alice, so we don’t sit and listen as a family. I will probably find it on YouTube tonight, though, and all day tomorrow be thinking in my head “THANKSgiiiiiiving is a special night…”
The first song that comes to mind is Over the River and Through the Woods, as it is for others; the second is We Gather Together. Neither Alice’s Restaurant nor Sandler’s song ever entered my mind. I’ve only listened to the former all the way through once, which was plenty.
I’ll take this one by The Dixie Hummingbirds
I had no idea there were Thanksgiving songs. I’ve never associated any song with Thanksgiving. I voted “What?”
Over the River is the only one I know.
Yep, ‘We Gather Together.’ I like thinking about the very cool rhyme scheme, and speculating about how the writers’ and singers’ pleasure in rhymes and rhythm closely reflects early hip-hop and both populations’ lack of access to other musical instruments and outlets.
Over the River, too, I associate with Thanksgiving.
Over the River and Through the Woods
We Gather Together
Evening Prayer Song (from “Hansel and Gretel”)
Turkey Lurkey Time (from “Promises, Promises”). Actually a Christmas song, but it works for Thanksgiving too.
Stan Freberg’s “Take An Indian To Lunch” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EgjwYR4bYU. In the lyrics are such gems as “Let him share our Quaker oats/'cause he’s useful when he votes”.
And the surrounding material is great.
I, too, voted What?
Remember Alice? The song’s about Alice!
The hell it is, but I was born in 1954, so I’ve been listening to Alice’s Restaurant ever since it first came out in the late 1960s. I’ve still got my LP from back in the day, so I can toss that on the phonograph (yes, I still have one of those) any time today that I’m in the mood.
I’m a couple years younger, and my turntable got destroyed in the big '89 earthquake here in CA, but I listen to it every T-day. KFOG, the local “grey hair, pony tail” radio station plays it twice on that day, so no turntable required!
Also under the “no turntable required” heading, there’s YouTube, which is how I listened to it about an hour ago.