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| The Christmas Song Nat King Cole Capitol Records. 1961 Catalog #SW1967 |
“I saw a spiral pad on his (Bob Wells) piano with four lines written in pencil,” Mel Torme recalled. “They started, ‘Chestnuts roasting…, Jack Frost nipping…, Yuletide carols…, Folks dressed up like Eskimos. Bob didn’t think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off. (The song was written during a blistering hot summer.) Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics.” So goes the story, according Mr. Torme, of the birth of the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song ever penned.
At the same time, Nat King Cole was enjoying great success and popularity. Constantly on the go that summer with rehearsals, his own NBC radio theater program, and guest appearances on programs such as Chesterfield Supper Club and Maggie’s Private Wire, Nat King Cole was a busy artist and musician. It was at the Trocadero that Mel Torme came to him in early May with the lovely new holiday song he had written with Robert Wells, “The Christmas Song.” Cole loved the song with its colorful imagery and haunting tune. The King Cole Trio first recorded the song at WMCA Studios, New York City, June 14, 1946. Ironically, because Cole was never happy with this version of the song, it was not issued until 1989 when it was accidentally included on the various artists compilation Billboard’s Greatest Christmas Hits 1935-1954. (Rhino Records R170637).
Nat King Cole, from the start, believed the enchanting lyric of “The Christmas Song” cried out for strings. Before the first recording in June 1946, he had tried to convince Capitol Records executives Wallichs and Mercer to hire an orchesta (The Capitol Records Company was founded by songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, with the financial help of fellow songwriter and film producer Buddy DeSylva and the business acumen of Glenn Wallichs (1910–1971), owner of Music City, at the time the biggest record store in Los Angeles). Over concerns that the King Cole Quartet was veering too far from its jazz roots, Capitol refused and steadfastly held to the straight trio rendition recorded in June. Nat King Cole and his Honduras-born manager, Carlos Gastel, would not be dissuaded. They continued to pressure Mercer and Wallichs until the executives agreed to a new recording putting producer Carl Kress in charge of the session. Kress added four violins and a harp. It was this August 1946 waxing that would be released in November that year as Capitol 311, a 78rpm record, that became a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. (This version was re-issued by Capitol in 1950 as catalog #90036). In 1953, Cole again recorded the song using this same arrangement though with the addition of a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle.
It was in 1961 that the iconic version we know so well was recorded. This release was recorded at Capitol Studios, New York, and was the first sterophonic version. With a full orchestra conducted by Ralph Carmichael, Nat King Cole’s 1961 version is generally regarded as the definitive “Christmas Song.” Mel Torme recorded the song himself in 1954, and again in 1961, 1966, and 1992 but most will always identify the song with Nat King Cole. While Cole’s 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974, in 2004 his 1961 version was the most loved holiday song among women aged 30-49. I guess Nat King Cole was right about the strings.
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