The argument was driving me into sputtering
incoherence.
Many fans and I were overjoyed, back in late
summer 1998, with the unexpected arrival of Fantasy’s Charlie Brown’s Holiday Hits: the first collection of (mostly) new
Vince Guaraldi Peanuts themes in 30 years. And, like many of those same fans, I
was puzzled by the CD’s first track: a cue titled “Joe Cool,” which most
assuredly was not the iconic tune
that boasted Vince’s richly expressive vocal. This new disc’s so-called “Joe
Cool” wasn’t even close to the actual item: clearly, a mistake. One of two
unfortunate things had happened: Either somebody had put the wrong track on the
disc, intending to lead off with the actual “Joe Cool,” or the existing track
had been mis-labeled. The former seemed unlikely, because the disc’s entire
purpose was to present previously unreleased tracks (aside from the final
three, lifted from A Charlie Brown
Christmas). But the latter hypothesis also didn’t feel right, because the
mysterious Track #1 didn’t sound like
Guaraldi. A close approximation, perhaps, but not the real deal.
But that was 1998, years before I even considered
writing Guaraldi’s biography, and therefore years before I established
contacts, colleagues and friends at Fantasy/Concord. I filed the matter as a
vexing conundrum, and forgot about it.
Now, however, it was early 2010; I had just been
hired by Fantasy/Concord to write liner notes for the impending release of a
new Guaraldi anthology, the character-themed Peanuts Portraits. A few days earlier, I had been sent the track
list and corresponding music files. There were ... issues.
Three biggies, to be precise:
1) One Guaraldi track, “Jennie L,” was lifted from
the 1975 prime-time special Be My
Valentine, Charlie Brown. It’s a lovely little tune, but the Peanuts
neighborhood never featured a character named Jennie, with or without the “L.”
Guaraldi frequently gave his cues unusual, whimsical and even puzzling names,
and I’ve never been able to source the reason behind this particular title.
2) Charlie Brown’s sister Sally was represented by
a track titled “Sally’s Blues” ... but the corresponding music file was not the
cue of that title found within the 1974 prime-time special It’s a Mystery, Charlie Brown. Frankly, the track didn’t even sound
like Guaraldi.
3) To my horror, they also lifted the same bogus
“Joe Cool” track from Charlie Brown’s
Holiday Hits.
Additionally, I spotted some lesser issues
concerning the cue titles “Charlie’s Blues” and “Blue Charlie Brown,” but
Guaraldi himself bears some of the blame there, because of the numerous variant
cues he delivered with different combinations of the words “Charlie” and “Blue”
in the title. (For a more detailed explanation of those two tracks, see my
Guaraldi discography.)
