Holiday Music Favorites (Addendum 2)

I’ve prepared another new Christmas arrangement. This one is “The First Noel” and is done is a sort of “Smooth Jazz” style:

The First Noel

Stream

Mp3

If it seems familiar, it could be because I based the arrangement on “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, which was a hit for Bonnie Raitt in 1991. Here is the video:

I think this is a great tune and wonderful performance, greatly enhanced by Bruce Hornsby’s piano work.

As there often is, there is an interesting story behind this song. The song “I can’t make you love me” was written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin. Those of you who are serious (and old) football fans might remember that Mike Reid was an all-pro defensive lineman for the Cincinatti Bengals. He played his college ball at Penn State, won the Outland Trophy, and was drafted 7th in the first round in 1969. He was all-pro in 1972 and 1973. He was a music major at Penn State.

He left pro-ball to pursue a music career and I guess he didn’t do too badly. He is best known in country music circles. “I can’t make you love me” certainly has a country feel to it.