The creation of a timeless holiday classic can sometimes be a matter of minutes, not months. This was precisely the case for 'Christmastime Is Here', the beloved theme song from the perennial favourite, 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'.
A Last-Minute Lyrical Emergency
In 1965, as producers finalised the now-iconic animated special, they hit a snag with the opening sequence. The show's producer, Lee Mendelson, and jazz composer Vince Guaraldi had crafted a beautiful, waltzing instrumental score. However, Mendelson's son, Jason, recently revealed to People magazine that the piece felt a little too slow for the introduction. The team decided it urgently needed lyrics to give it the right pace and feeling.
What followed was a frantic search for a lyricist. "My dad went and called everybody in Los Angeles, asking if anybody could write the lyrics, and nobody could do it. Nobody responded or could do it," Jason Mendelson recalled. Faced with a deadline and no willing writers, Lee Mendelson took matters into his own hands.
The Envelope That Held a Classic
In a moment of inspired pressure, Mendelson sat down and, on the back of an envelope, penned the now-famous words in just five minutes. The simple, evocative rhymes—"Christmastime is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all, what the children call their favorite time of year"—flowed out almost instantly.
The process from there was remarkably swift. Mendelson sent the hastily written lyrics to Guaraldi, who loved them. "They went over to the local church, they got the choir to sit down and sing those words," Jason explained. "And it was done in a rush, with no plan, in an emergency, and that became the lead song for the whole show and has lasted forever."
A Lasting Legacy of Collaboration
The special, first aired in 1965, was the product of a powerful creative partnership between Mendelson, Guaraldi, director Bill Melendez, and Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz. This collaboration continued for decades, only ending with their passing. Guaraldi died in 1976, Schulz in 2000, Melendez in 2008, and Lee Mendelson himself on Christmas Day in 2019.
The song's enduring charm is cemented by its unique presentation on the original album. Guaraldi was so pleased he included it twice: once as an instrumental and again with the children's choir. For Jason Mendelson, now a producer for Peanuts records with his brother Sean, hearing 'Christmastime Is Here' is a deeply personal experience. "I hear my father's voice again," he said.
He believes his father and the team understood they were creating something special—a piece of art that would outlive them all and become a cherished holiday legacy for generations to come. What began as a five-minute solution on scrap paper has indeed become a permanent fixture of the Christmas season.
