I thought it sounded like Rosemary Clooney

That is what I thought at first listen. According to wiki, it could have been anyone singing any version.

I thought it sounded like older Judy, like she must have recorded it again much later.

Okay, is meadow sweet - rue? And is that why you make wreaths out of holly? (Doesn't holly protect from evil?)

Meadow Sweet, Thalictrum rochbrunianium, is also known as Meadow Rue, I do believe, but there's some other plant that is supposed to protect from evil, but it's lost in my head with all the other lore I ever learned (Celtic, mostly. Don't know if it applies to this ep as I have to catch the repeat due to TV scheduling conflicts in my house. Tivo is *so* on my X-mas list).

I just got how Sam says Uncle Bobby gave him the amulet to give to John, and said it was "real special." Hmmm.

I seem to remember reading an article that said when the song was first written the original lyrics were cosidered too much of a downer, so the altered verse was inserted to brighten it up. Honestly, most of the time when I hear the music for that song start up I cringe, because there are so many godawful versions of it out there. (For instance, the one used on the "Bones" Christmas episode made me want to insert an icepick through my ear.)

Hey look -- I garnered a new tagline from the episode. But it's not particularly holidayish, so I guess I should keep looking.

Ooh, I missed that! I was wondering where he got it.

That's right! I'd forgotten and was disappointed thinking it was an ordinary trinket.

Excellent. I hope this means that we'll find out what makes it so special.

Nice little article that makes the song very appropriate for the show.

[link]

"For the now-famous scene in which Garland and her little sister, a 7-year-old Margaret O'Brien, are despondent over the prospect of moving away from their cherished home, he wrote an initial set of lyrics that were almost comically depressing. Among the never-recorded couplets — which he now describes as ''hysterically lugubrious'' — were lines like: ''Have yourself a merry little Christmas/It may be your last.... Faithful friends who were dear to us/Will be near to us no more.''

and

Excellent. I hope this means that we'll find out what makes it so special.

Coming from Bobby, I am thinking powerful protection. And now it is infused with Brother love of Wee!Sam. I bet that at least doubles its evil repellent power.

I didn't process the song the first time, but the fact that they used the more melancholy lyrics just makes it WORSE.

::tears up, some more, again::

Um.

So, they were filming this ep when the guys were in Chicago, right?

So, when the chick asked Jensen about the necklace. Again. To the nth power, and he said, "*I* don't know!" Do you think maybe they never told him, just waited until he saw the whole ep? Because they're so rushed, a lot of times they don't even read the whole script, just their scenes. So, just wondering.

Also, do me a favor. If any of us is ever in a position to ask either JA or JDM one question (hah. as if) I want to know what JDM whispered to JA in IMToD. I want to know if he ordered a pizza, told him he had lettuce in his teeth, muttered a line from the Gettysburg address, or just played telephone. I've always wondered how much the actors knew at that point and what they told them to get that reaction from JA and that performance from JDM.