Footnotes to the TV series
This song is playing in the background at Emily and Richard’s Christmas party when Rory arrives.
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is a Christmas song written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie in 1934. First recorded in 1934, it has been re-recorded over 200 times, and sometimes charted as a hit.
The version used on the show is by crooner Tony Bennett, from his 1968 album Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album, which was re-released in 1994.
RORY: Fine, forget it. Should I put your name on Grandma’s present?
LORELAI: Yes, sign it the inn keeper formerly known as her daughter.
Lorelai is making a reference to the American pop singer Prince (1958-2016). In 1993, after a battle with Warner Bros., who refused to release his huge backlog of music at a steady pace, Prince changed his name to a symbol which combined the symbol for male with that for female, and which he later copyrighted as Love Symbol #2 – it had already featured on his 1992 album The Love Symbol Album (it has to be called that as the actual name cannot be said).
Because Prince’s new name was unable to be spoken, he was referred to as “The Artist Formerly Known as Prince” until May 2000, when he reverted to his real name of Prince (he was born Prince Nelson).
Lorelai is saying that her relationship with her mother has come to a complete and bitter end, much like Prince’s relationship with his record label – although in fact Prince was to re-sign with Warner in 2014.
Lorelai refers to herself as an innkeeper rather than an executive manager because she is still thinking of the Christmas pageant, where the innkeeper refuses entrance to Mary and Joseph, forcing them to spend the night in the stable, where Jesus is born. She likewise doesn’t feel like admitting her family into her life.
INN ASSISTANT (looking through Christmas ornaments): So this isn’t a fairy?
MICHEL: That is Little Bo Peep.
Little Bo Peep is a well known nursery rhyme, in which the character of Little Bo Peep is a shepherdess – hence the staff that the ornament carries, which the assistant thinks is a fairy wand. The song dates to the 19th century, but bo peep was known in the Middle Ages to mean that someone was being punished in the pillory, and the link with sheep is also very old.
LORELAI: Find the arm?
RORY: Nope.
LORELAI (sourly): It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. [pan to dog with doll arm in mouth]
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (originally titled It’s Beginning to Look like Christmas) is a Christmas song written by Meredith Wilson in 1951. It was a hit in 1951 for Perry Como & The Fontane Sisters, and has been recorded numerous times.
This 1972 pop ballad by American rock band Big Star is the song that plays while Rory and Dean walk through Stars Hollow drinking coffee.
It is from their debut album #1 Record, and although never released as a single, is recognised as one of the greatest songs of all time. Thirteen is about adolescent love, and even mentions getting tickets for a school dance, just as Rory and Dean did.
The lead singer of Big Star was Alex Chilton (1950-2010), who was a cult rock hero in the 1980s and 1990s, due to Big Star being named as a major influence by bands such as R.E.M. and The Replacements, and championed by Rolling Stone. Is is possible that Rory’s school was at least partly named in his honour?
This 1994 song by Scottish alternative rock band The Jesus & Mary Chain plays while Paris confronts Rory about the Jacob situation, lasting through Tristan’s fight with Dean.
The song is from the band’s album Stoned & Dethroned, and it is a duet between lead singer Jim Reid, and Hope Sandoval, who is the lead singer of American band Mazzy Star, which also featured in this episode. Sometimes Always peaked at #22 in the UK, but didn’t chart in the US.
This 2000 funk rock song by American singer Beck is the song that plays when Paris’ escort/cousin Jacob hits on Rory and tries to get her number.
The song is from Beck’s 1999 album Midnite Vultures. It went to #36 on the alternative music charts in the US, but was more successful in the UK, peaking at #34.
This 1993 song by American alternative rock band Mazzy Star is the “slow song” which plays at the dance, the first one that Rory and Dean dance to. During it they have an encounter with Paris and her escort, and a jealous Tristan watches them while they kiss.
The song is from Mazzy Star’s album So Tonight That I Might See. Released as a single, it reached #44 in the US, the band’s only single to get into the Top 100 – it was #3 in the alternative music charts. Although other of their songs gained some mainstream success, none ever did as well as Fade Into You. It has often been used on film and television soundtracks.
This 2000 song by English rock band XTC is the song which is playing when Rory and Dean first arrive at the dance and survey the room, lasting all the way through Louise flirting with Dean.
It is another track from their album Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2), earlier discussed. It is at this point that you realise the DJ at the Chilton school dance is, by an astounding coincidence, playing the sort of alternative rock that Rory, schooled in Lorelai’s tastes, most wants to hear. Let’s face it, her earlier guess of 98° was much more realistic.
Lorelai jokingly tells Emily that if Rory grows up bitter and filled with regrets, she could become a crazy Oscar Levant type of celebrity.
Oscar Levant (1906-1972) was an American pianist, composer and comedian. A serious composer who wrote numerous film scores for Hollywood and appeared in several films as a pianist, he was famous for his eccentricity and acid wit. He was a panellist on radio and TV for many years, and was open about his many neuroses.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 