Song: Let it Snow! Artist: Various Year: 1946 (original) Album: Various Language Feature: Linking and Adjectives
Episode Description
Winter is on its way, and not everyone is a fan of the cold! In this episode, Ece and Heather are discussing the traditional holiday song, “Let it Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” The language focus for this episode is linking words and descriptive adjectives.
Come join Ece and Heather in a winter wonderland! Grab a cup of hot chocolate, pull up a seat by the fireplace and enjoy Episode 9!
Episode Transcript
<intro> H: Hi! I’m Heather. E: And I’m Ece. We’re the hosts of the ESL podcast, “English as a Singing Language.” H: Can you believe that we released the first episode of the podcast six months ago? E: It’s hard to believe. The time really flies. H: It sure does. In fact, we released our first episode on a warm, sunny day, and now here in the northern part of the world it’s already getting pretty cold. E: I feel like maybe today’s episode will be related to that theme somehow. H: I think maybe you’re right! And this episode will include rhyming words and a useful strategy for linking words together smoothly. E: That sounds great. I can’t wait to talk about this song! H: Neither can I! Let’s get started. <end intro> E: (Humming, “Let it Snow!”) Hi Heather! Are you ok? You look absolutely miserable! H: I am m-m-m-miserable today. E: Why? Have you looked outside? It’s a beautiful snowy winter wonderland! H: That’s why I’m miserable! It’s SO cold today! Everywhere I look it’s just snow, snow, snow! E: You know, you sound a bit like the song I was just listening to. H: What song is that? E: It’s the popular winter-themed song, “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” H: That’s a lot of snow! E: That’s true. Most of the time, people shorten the title to one, “Let it Snow.” H: I feel like that’s still too much snow! E: I know you are not a big fan of cold weather and snow, but look at the bright side, we have finished grading all of our papers and preparing lessons for tomorrow, and we don’t have to go anywhere today. We can just stay inside where it is nice and warm and enjoy the snow from here. H: I guess you’re right. As long as I stay here with my blanket and my hot chocolate, it’s not so bad. So, Ece, what do we know about this song, “Let it Snow”? E: I think you will enjoy the origin story of this song. H: Oh yeah? Why is that? E: Well, in the summer of 1945, the writers, Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, were in the middle of a heatwave, a period of extremely hot weather, in Hollywood, California. H: That sounds wonderful. E: Well, they were as miserable in the heat as you are in the cold. In fact, writer Sammy Cahn said, "'Let It Snow' was written on Hollywood and Vine on the hottest day of the year. I said to Jule Stein, 'Why don't we go down to the beach and cool off?' He said, 'Why don't we stay here and write a winter song.' I went to the typewriter. 'Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful, and since we've got no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.' Now why three 'let it snow's'? Why not two or four? Because three is lyric." H: I think I would have probably decided to go to the beach! But I do agree with him, three ‘let it snows’ is just right, and it is very lyric. Lyric means light and fitting the melody of the song. E: Do you know what else it is? H: No, what? E: It’s a great example of how to link words together when one word ends in a consonant and the next word begins with a vowel. H: Can you explain that a bit more? E: Sure. Think about the word “let.” It ends in a consonant, ‘t’, right? Let. H: Yes. I think I see where you’re going with this. And the next word, “it,” starts with a vowel sound, [I]. It. E: Yep. So the final “t” from “let” just links naturally to the “i” in “it.” So we don’t say or sing, Let. It. It just naturally becomes, “letit.” H: That makes it a lot easier to sing and to say. Are there any other examples of this kind of linking in this song? E: There are plenty! How about, “show signs of stopping”? The final ‘s’ of “signs” links to the ‘o’ of the word “of.” H: Or, “And I brought” has the linking between “and” and “I.” It’s “andI.” E: This is a fun one, “The lights are turned” has the final “ts” linked to the vowel “a” in “are,” so it’s pronounced, “lightsare” instead of “Lights. Are.” H: There’s “out in the storm.” “Outin” E: And there’s also, “But if you really” with the link between “but” and “if.” H: Thinking about linking words together this way with a consonant ending plus a vowel beginning really makes it easier to speak more fluently. E: So I can say, “I ate an apple and I drank a glass of orange juice.” H: Yes! That sounds great. And I can say, “I read a book about an interesting event.” E: That’s another good example. This is the easiest kind of linking, where we link the final consonant sound to the next word that begins with a vowel. Linking words together in English can be challenging, especially if you speak a language that doesn’t have consonants like [p], [t], [k], [b], [d], [g], for example, at the end of a word. H: It’s easy to just leave them off and not pronounce them at all. So, you might say, “I have fie of them,” instead of, “I have five of them.” I imagine we’ll talk about other types of linking in future episodes, but this is a great one to start with. You know, I haven’t even thought about the cold weather since we started talking about this! E: Well, the lyrics of the song will definitely keep you warm, too. The whole song is about two people who prefer spending time together and don’t want to go out into the cold. H: That’s right. The first two lines of the song, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful,” really paint a picture for us. E: I especially like the two rhyming adjectives, “frightful,” and “delightful,” comparing the terrible or, “frightful,” snowstorm with the lovely or, “delightful,” fire in the fireplace. That sounds wonderful. H: There are two more rhyming words that really help describe the winter scene. “It doesn't show signs of stopping, and I brought some corn for popping.” The snow is continuing to fall, it isn’t stopping and corn for popping sounds perfect. I would love to have some popcorn to go with my hot chocolate! E: Me too! You know popcorn is my favorite snack! H: I think the next lyrics are especially cute and descriptive. “When we finally kiss good night, how I'll hate going out in the storm; But if you really hold me tight, all the way home I'll be warm.” E: You have the rhyming of “night” and “tight” and “storm” and “warm,” and it really creates an image of two people who are enjoying their time together and don’t want it to end. H: And finally, at the end of the song, they sing, “The fire is slowly dying, and, my dear, we're still good-bye-ing.” It’s the end of the evening and the fire is ‘dying’ while the couple is ‘good-bye-ing.’ E: Wait a minute. Can “good-bye” be a verb? Can we say, “I good-byed my friend yesterday”? That doesn’t sound right. H: No, “good-bye” can’t be a verb in regular conversation, but here it rhymes with “dying” and it fits the rhythm and melody of the song. It just adds to the general cute, romantic feel of the song. E: I like that. So, what do you think? Do you still hate the snow? H: Maybe not so much now. As long as I’m safe and warm inside, “🎶 and since we’ve no place to go . . .
H+E: Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!”
E: Ok. It definitely sounds like we’re ready to sing! Who sings this song?
H: Actually, so many artists have recorded this song, that there are many versions of it from over the years. Out of all of them, we’ve chosen our top 10 favorite versions of Let it Snow!
E: Ten versions?!?
H: There are actually many more versions than that, but we’ve chosen a variety of different artists from the original recording by, Vaughn Monroe with the Norton Sisters in 1946 all the way up to the Goo Goo Dolls cover of Let it Snow! in 2020.
E: And everything in between. Take a listen to all of them and see which version you like best.
H: Don’t forget to sing out loud to all of them and try linking the words together. There are links to our top ten versions in the episode notes.
<conclusion>
E: Thank you so much for joining us for this cozy, winter-themed episode of “English as a Singing Language.”
H: I enjoyed this episode so much it has made me forget how much I really dislike a cold, wintery day!
E: I didn’t think that was possible! Make sure you check out the English as a Singing Language website for extra information like the song lyrics and a transcript of the episode so you can read along while you listen.
H: Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @singinglanguages. You’ll get clues about upcoming episodes, and you’ll be the first to know when each episode is released.
E: You should also click, “subscribe” wherever you listen to the podcast so you’ll be notified whenever there’s a new episode.
H: Until then, have fun, stay warm, and…
H+E: …just keep singing!
YouTube Video of the Original 1946 Song - Vaughn Monroe with the Norton Sisters
Official Youtube Video of 1950 Version by Frank Sinatra
Official YouTube Video of 1959 Version by Dean Martin
Official YouTube Video of 2004 Version by Jessica Simpson
Official YouTube Video of 2012 Version by Lady A
Official YouTube Video of 2012 Version by Rod Stewart
Official YouTube Video of 2014 Version by Darius Rucker
Official YouTube Video of 2016 Version by Pentatonix
Official YouTube Video of 2016 Version by Sarah McLachlan
Official YouTube Video of 2020 Version by Goo Goo Dolls
Complete Original Lyrics
Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the fire is so delightful,
And since we've no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
It doesn't show signs of stopping,
And I brought some corn for popping;
The lights are turned way down low,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
When we finally kiss good night,
How I'll hate going out in the storm;
But if you really hold me tight,
All the way home I'll be warm.
The fire is slowly dying,
And, my dear, we're still good-bye-ing,
But as long as you love me so.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Songwriters: Jule Styne / Sammy Cahn
Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! lyrics © Producers Music Publ. Co. Inc., Cahn Music Co., Cahn Music Company, Quaytor Productions Llc, Wonderland Music Company Inc., Producers Music Publ. Co., Inc.