A Polish Christmas with T.Love

T.Love: To Chyba Miłość Jest / To Chyba Miłość Jest (Instrumental)
(Polydor, 588 252 0, Poland, 2023)

Movies and Christmas music have always been interconnected. Sometimes a Christmas classic was written for the soundtrack of a movie. It could be a Christmas movie, like Home Alone 2 (‘All Alone At Christmas’) or even a non-Christmas movie, like Meet Me In St. Louis (‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’). And sometimes a song inspired the filming of a movie named after it (like the 1954 movie White Christmas). All these examples are from the USA. But also in other countries, Christmas themed movies are filmed, and come with songs especially written for the film. This year, a new Christmas comedy was released in Poland, Uwierz w Mikołaja (Believe in Santa Claus). Thematically, it is similar to the British Christmas classic Love Actually, with several storylines about different people interwoven into the film, which is set around Christmas time, with love connecting all the stories.

To promote the film, the Polish rock band T.Love released the single ‘To Chyba Miłość Jest’ (‘I Think It's Love’). With a name like T.Love, it was the perfect choice to record the theme song for a movie about love. T.Love was first formed as Teenage Love Alternative in the Polish town of Częstochowa in 1982, more than 40 years ago, when Poland was still part of the communist bloc. Initially inspired by punk rock, they later incorporated other influences into their music, such as reggae, rock & roll, glam rock and pop rock. Vocalist Zygmunt "Muniek" Staszczyk is the only member left from those early days. In 2017 the band disbanded, but five years later T.Love came back with four members who were also part of the band in the early 1990s: guitarists Jan Benedik and Jacek "Perkoz" Perkowski, bassist Paweł Nazimek and drummer Sidney Polak. ‘To Chyba Miłość Jest’ was written by Muniek (lyrics) and Benedik (music).

The song was accompanied by a video featuring many short scenes from the movie. It was also released as a 7" vinyl single on translucent red vinyl, with an instrumental version of the song on the B-side. Like the movie, the lyrics revolve around love. They are full of imagery, comparing love to all kinds of things. I couldn't put it better than the promo: “'I Think It's Love is' warms you up like a winter tea and a wool blanket. This song is an anthem in honor of love in all its facets - both the sweet and the less cheerful. Besides, there is no denying that long winter evenings and the atmosphere of the holidays are more conducive to showing love to each other than any Valentine's Day. As Muniek sings - "When it snows, you cuddle like a baby"”. These lines in the chorus are also the only reference to Christmas or winter in the song.

Even if you don't understand the Polish language, you will easily recognize ‘To Chyba Miłość Jest’ as a Christmas song. Not only because of the church bells that ring throughout the song, but also because it has just the right mix of melancholy and joyful spirit associated with Christmas, while Muniek's voice is also perfectly suited for a Christmas song. And the cute artwork of the sleeve leaves no doubt that this is indeed a Christmas single.

Watch the video on Youtube:

If you want to order a copy, you can do so through Gandalf, as they also ship outside of Poland.