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| Christmas Through the Years Readers Digest. Catalog #RDA143. Copyright 1984 |
We have a wonderful job. We travel the country scouring thrift stores for Christmas records which we then clean, record thru a computerized stereo system, digitally enhance, and make available on our website to all those people who have loved them over the years. This has been our full-time business for nine years. As you might guess, it becomes more difficult each year to find something new, but occasionally we do.
Though we have been offering Reader’s Digest’s 1984 recording “Christmas Through the Years“
for several years, we recently purchased a set that included the original 12-page insert. For each song included in the five-record set, Reader’s Digest included a paragraph about the tune. We share those Reader’s Digest Music Program Notes with you in this week’s blog.
Though each of us may have our own reasons for it, one thing is certain: Everybody loves Christmas. Whether it’s due to the Babe in the manger, the beautiful evergreen boughs, the joy of gathering with one’s friends and family, the thrill of seeing gifts piled up under the tree, or simply that wonderful, intangible sense of happiness that seems to take hold of us at this time of year, Christmastide is surely the most beautiful, most festive of all holiday seasons.
Of course, one of the first reminders that Yuletide is not far off is the sound of Christmas music, and what marvelous music it is. “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Silent Night” and those cheerful carols that fill the air with their glorious strains and bring back fond memories and hallowed traditions with each and every note.
This collection, Christmas Through The Years, contains all of these great songs and more: five dozen Christmas classics — original hits and stellar performances that keep the Yuletide bright season after season. In this chronological anthology you’ll find best-loved carols as well as the most popular Christmas songs from the 1940s to today, performed by the stars you’ve always loved to hear. From Bing Crosby and Glenn Miller to The Lettermen and Jose Feliciano, from Kate Smith to Brenda Lee, they’re all here and waiting to brighten your holidays with music and nostalgic good cheer.
Trim you tree to Dick Haymes’ “Christmas Dreaming,” throw another log on the fire while Harry Belafonte sings of “Mary’s Little Boy Child,” have the children gather round as Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians perform their definitive version of ” ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
Here is a rich and varied collection of music and merriment to make this Christmas the happiest ever. So bring out the brimming wassail bowl and start a new family tradition as Reader’s Digest presents Christmas Through The Years. It’s a treasure you will cherish for years to come.
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Record One: Christmas Favorites Forever
Side One
Sleigh Ride (Parish-Anderson)
Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops
Certainly one of the greatest teams in popular symphonic music, composer-arranger Leroy Anderson and conductor Arthur Fiedler left the world a rich and varied legacy of memorable collaborations. Fiedler first engaged Anderson as permanent orchestrator of The Boston Pops in 1935 after hearing him conduct his own arrangement of Harvard University songs, and two years later the Maestro brought out Anderson’s first original Pops composition, “Jazz Pizzicato.” From then on a steady stream of lovable works flowed from Anderson’s pen to the Boston concerts: “Belle of the Ball,” “Blue Tango,” ” The Typewirter” and a host of others. “Sleigh Ride,” a hit for The Pops in 1949, has all the charm of a Currier and Ives print. Horses’ hooves clip and clop, the whip snaps sharply through the crisp air, and, of course, sleigh bells jingle merrily in the wind, enhancing with their silver sounds Anderson’s happy little tune.
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (Martin-Blane)
Perry Como
One of the most pleasant films to come out of Hollywood during the 1940s was Meet Me in St. Louis, a nostalgic vehicle for Judy Garland that gave us several wonderful songs by the partnership of Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Everyone knows “The Trolley Song,” “The Boy Next Door” and of course, the tender “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” In the film, Judy played the daughter of a successful businessman who decides to move his family from cozy St. Louis (where Judy’s “boy-next-door” lives) to New York. Judy sang her touching, melancholy rendition of “Merry Little Christmas” while comforting her sister in the film, Margaret O’Brien, who was devastated at the prospect of leaving their home. This version by Perry Como, recorded in 1968, replaces wistfulness with a jaunty quality that is hard to beat.
The Little Drummer Boy (Davis-Onarati-Simeone)
The Harry Simeone Chorale
Stories and legends abound at Yuletide, but none is more touching than the tale of the little boy who journeyed to Bethlehem on that hallowed night to see the newborn King. Harry Simeone, onetime choral director for Fred Waring, composed this charming part-song for his own group in 1958. With its simple melody and gentle “prrum, prrum, prrum” accompaniment, it became an instant classic, reaching No. 13 on the pop charts that year. In fact, it also made the charts for the next three years, selling more than 6 million copies in the process. Every time you play it, you can almost see the little boy’s face beaming joyously as the baby Jesus accepts his humble gift of music with a gentle smile.
Christmas Eve in My Home Town (Zbaka-Upton)
Kate Smith
“Be it ever so humble,” wrote John Howard Payne in 1823, “there’s no place like home,” and to take Payne a step further, there’s no place as wonderful as one’s hometown. This has always been especially true at Christmas, when the hustle and bustle of daily life can slow down a bit while we spend a few precious moments with our family and friends back home. Kate Smith, whose rich and mellow voice has become a symbol of American hometown traditions, recorded this lovely number in 1966, and you’ll probably agree with her that Christmas Eve is more beautiful in your hometown than it is anywhere else on earth.
Silver Bells (Livingston-Evans)
Perry Como
Now considered a Christmas classic, “Silver Bells” was written in 1950 and introduced by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in the film The Lemon Drop Kid in 1951. Bing Crosby recorded his popular version that same year, and since then the song has been sung at Christmas by pop stars and schoolchildren alike. To what did Ray Evans attribute the success of the enduring song that he penned with Jay Livingston? Was it the charming melody, or perhaps the colorful images brought to mind by the lyrics? Said Evans, “It’s the only song about Christmas in the big city.” Perry Como recorded this version of “Silver Bells” in 1968.
Silent Night (Mohr-Gruber)
Bing Crosby with The Ken Darby Singers and Orchestra under the direction of John Scott Trotter
Little did composer Franz Gruber (1787 – 1863) think, as he set music to Joseph Mohr’s poem “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” in 1818, that his efforts would result in one of the best known, most beloved of all Christmas songs. With a melody as simple and fresh as an Alpine folk tune and words that immediately conjure up the tender scene enacted nearly 2,000 years ago, “Silent Night” is a deserved favorite. This is the original Bing Crosby rendition, which he recorded in Los Angeles on June 9, 1942. To call it a million-seller is to underestimate the facts: over 30 million copies of this performance have been sold through the years. Bing donated all royalties from the recording to fund American missions in China and later to finance an entertainment unit for the Allies during World War II.
Side Two
(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays (Allen-Stillman)
Perry Como
Similar to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” in its theme, “Home for the Holidays” brings to mind the pleasures of travel and reunion with one’s family when Yuletide rolls around. The fundamental difference between the two songs lies in the fact that “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” was written during a dark time for our country, when war kept many families apart and going home was for many but a poignant daydream. “Home for the Holidays,” on the other hand, sprang from a much more secure era, and to those who first bought Perry Como’s record, the pleasures therein were far more tangible. This is the original hit version that reached No. 18 on the pop charts in 1954.
White Christmas (Berlin)
Freddy Martin and His Orchesta/ Clyde Rogers, Vocal
Bing Crosby first sang “White Christmas” to Marjorie Reynolds in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, and from there it went right to the heart of American popular culture. Irving Berlin’s little masterpiece became not only one of the most popular Christmas songs, but one of the most beloved songs of all time — No. 2 on the list of top songs on the Hit Parade, one of Variety magazine’s “Golden 100” and a classic familiar throughout the world. Proof of its immediate impact on the public is the fact that while Bing’s own 1942 recording of “White Christmas” was a million-seller (and continues to sell well to this day), the demand for this version by Freddy Martin, recorded the same year, was not far behind, and it too sold well over a million copies.
Let It Now! Let It Snow! Let It Snow (Cahn-Styne)
Vaughn Monroe
More of a general winter number than a true Christmas song, “Let It Snow!” is nevertheless a wonderful bit of musical suggestion. While bitter winds blow outside, there’s a cracking fire inviting us to stay in and be comfortable. One of several ’40s hits by the team of Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, this cozy charmer was picked up by singer-bandleader Vaughn Monroe, whose rich-voiced performance became a No. 1 pop hit during the Christmas season of 1945.
The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) (Wells-Torme)
Perry Como
Bob Wells wrote his poem “Thoughts of Christmas” after noticing a bag of chestnuts that his mother was about use use as turkey stuffing for his birthday dinner in 1946. After finishing the verses, he showed them to his friend Mel Torme, who set them to music and introduced the resulti9ng song soon afterward as part of his supper-club act. One sweltering night the following June, Torme brought “The Christmas Song” to Nat King Cole, and history was made. Cole’s recording is the best-known version, but the fact that the song became identified with him didn’t prevent other singers from giving it their own stamp. Here is Perry Como’s 1959 interpretation, which brims over with the relaxed charm that is the Como hallmark.
Jolly Old St. Nicholas (Traditional)
The Ames Brothers with Orchestra directed by Marty Manning
Legends abound concerning St. Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop in what in now Turkey who became one of the most popular saints of Christendom. He is said to have saved three girls from prostitution by throwing three bags of gold through their window as dowry; he is also said to have raised children from the dead, saved unjustly condemned men from the gallows and sailors from the deep, and to have performed various lesser miracles. Clement Moore’s poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” perpetuated the image of the saint coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve, and this may have helped to inspire this fine old song that developed sometime during the 19th century. Here is The Ames Brothers’ version, recorded in 1949.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Marks)
Bing Crosby with Jud Conlon’s Rhythmaires and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
The most consistent income-producing song after “White Christmas,” this classic children’s number started out as a promotional pamphlet for Montgomery Ward in 1939. Ten years later, composer Johnny Marks turned the little story by Robert L. May into a song. Marks first offered “Rudolph” to Bing Crosby, who turned it down. Johnny then gave the song to Western star Gene Autry, who cut a version that reached No. 1 on the pop charts, selling over 8 million copies. Needless to say, Bing changed his mind about “Rudolph” and recorded this version, which reached No. 14 on the pop charts the following year. A third version by Spike Jones and His City Slickers was also a hit in 1950. Then, in 1960, The Chipmunks brought “Rudolph” back up in the charts for a fourth time. According to Variety, the song has sold over 46 million copies in one form or another — not a bad return for two days’ work by Johnny Marks.
Record Two: Christmas in the ’50s
Side One
Mary’s Little Boy Child (Hairston)
Harry Belafonte
This is certainly one of the most tender recountings of the Christmas story ever recorded. Released in 1956, this calypso-type Christmas song reached No. 12 on the pop charts and became a million-seller. it tied in perfectly with the calypso craze Harry Belafonte had kicked off a few months before with his first hit record, “Jamaica Farewell.” The following year, the New York city-born Harry, whose parents were from the West Indies and who himself lived in Jamaica as a child, was to release his all-time best seller, “The Banana Boat Song (Day-O),” which crystallized his position as America’s pre-eminent calypso entertainer.
Carol of the Bells (Wilhousky-Leontovich)
The Harry Simeone Chorale
Despite the face that the earliest records describing the use of bells in churches extends no farther back in time than the 6th century, there is a Slavic legend that, at the stroke of midnight on the night that Christ was born, his birth was heralded by a miraculous ringing of every bell throughout the world. Based on this legend was the Ukrainian “Shchedryk,” by Mykola Leontovich, later translated and arranged by the American educator Peter J. Wilhousky as the “Carol of the Bells.” The Harry Simeone Chorale included a version of this song in their million-selling album Sing We Now of Christmas which was released in 1958.
Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town (Gillespie-Coots)
Lawrence Welk and His Champagne Music
Though J. Fred Coots was well known as the composer of such Broadway hit scores as Sally, Irene and Mary and Hanky Panky, he was having a tough time finding a publisher for his number, which he wrote in collaboration with lyricist Haven Gillespie. No one wanted to touch an “uncommercial kiddie tune,” until Eddie Cantor’s wife, Ida, took a fancy to it and prevailed upon her husband to include it in one of his radio programs. Always eager to please his “apple cider” sweetheart, Cantor sang it on the air the week before Thanksgiving, 1934. His doubts — and all others — were quickly dispelled by the response, and by Christmas, Coot’s warning to kids of all ages was firmly ensconced in the season’s repertoire. Dozens of artists, from Tommy Dorsey to Soup Sales, have recorded “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” which became a pop hit for The Four Seasons in 1962. This is Lawrence Welk’s bubbly version, recorded in 1956.
Christmas in Killarney (Redmond-Cavanaugh-Weldon)
Dennis Day
A popular singing artist and featured performer on Jack Benny’s radio and television shows, Dennis Day had eight pop hits released between 1947 and 1951. Among the biggest were “Mam’selle” (1947) and “Clancy Lowered the Boom” (1949) and this tune, which made the pop Top Ten during the Yuletide season of 1951. “Christmas In Killarney” was a perfect vehicle for Day’s charming, sweet-voiced style. With its dance rhythms and jig like tune, this thoroughly beguiling song proves that puttin’ on the green at Christmas is a fine thing to do.
A Family Christmas (Burke-Van Heusen)
Gary, Lindsay and Bing Crosby with The Jeff Alexander Chorus and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
Bing Crosby had four Christmas hits on the charts in 1950, including a reissue of his classic “White Christmas.” The others were “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” A Marshmallow World” and his unique medley of Yuletide tunes sung by Bing and his sons. The Jeff Alexander chorus sets the stage with a brief excerpt from “Deck the Halls”; then Gary and Bing chat and sing “That Christmas Feeling.” Next up, Bing and Lindsay swap a few words and offer a few verses of “I’d Like to Hitch a Ride with Santa Claus.” This is perhaps the most unusual of all Crosby’s hits.
Frosty the Snowman (Nelson-Rollins)
Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians/ Kenny Garner and The Lombardo Trio, Vocal
Christmas may be a joy for adults, but for children the holiday has no peer. One of the happiest children’s songs for the season was written by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins in 1940 and turned into a million-selling hit record by cowboys singing star Gene Autry a year later. Guy Lombardo may be associated more with New Year’s Eve, but that didn’t stop him from interpreting “Frosty” in his own distinctive way. Guy’s version, recorded in 1950, emphasizes the brass and includes an almost scientific description of the snowman’s appearance by Kenny Gardner and The Lombardo Trio.
A Marshmallow World (De Rose-Sigman)
Bing Crosby with the Lee Gordon Singers and Sonny Burke and His Orchestra
Peter De Rose, who also wrote the lushly romantic “Deep Purple,” Turned to another facet of his talent for the sparkling melody of “A Marshmallow World.” Carl Sigman contributed a delicious lyric about what makes a white Christmas white — though it may seem to be all marshmallows and whipped cream, it’s actually a blanket of fresh snow, with more flakes falling all the time. Bing Crosby had the big hit version of this song — No. 24 on the pop charts in December 1950.
Here Comes Santa Claus (Autry-Haldeman)
Eddie Fisher
Gene Autry, who enjoyed phenomenal success as a singing cowboy on radio, TV, recordings and in movies — and continued his success as the owner of a publishing company and a baseball team — teamed up with Oakley Haldeman to write “Here Comes Santa Claus” in 1947. His recording became a Top Ten pop hit that year, inspiring dozens of other artists to try interpreting the song. Among those versions was this one, cut in 1952 by Eddie Fisher. Eddie had a boyish charm that obviously impressed millions of teenage girls, who helped make him one of the most prolific hit makers of the early ’50’s.
It’s Beginning to Look Like Christmas (Willson)
Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters
After addressing Tallulah Bankhead on the air as “Miss Bankhead, sir,” Meredith Willson, who was conductor of her radio program The Big Show, wrote a closing signature tune for Tallulah that became as inspirational hit in 1950: “May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You.” Seven years later, Willson achieved Broadway immortality with The Music Man. Between those two highlights came this bubbling holiday piece filled with all the sights and sounds of the season. Perry Como, who recorded several hits with the Fontane Sisters in 1950 (“Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,” “Hoop-Dee-Doo” and “You’re Just in Love”), cut this version of “It’s Beginning To Look Like Christmas” with them in time for the 1951 Christmas season, during which it reached No. 23 on the pop charts.
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Connor)
Spike Jones and His City Slickers/ George Rock, Vocal
This Song was written by Tommie Connor, the British lyricist who supplied English lyrics for “Lilli Marlene.” In 1952, it became a million-seller for Jimmy Boyd, as 12-year-old country singer who later became a TV actor. At the same time, this version by Spike Jones and His City Slickers also became a top hit. Spike and his band of musical satirists were then riding high upon a wave of silliness that had originated during World War II and swept a relieved America Following the end of the conflict. Spike’s parodies of pop songs and his crazed stage show were immensely popular — and so totally bizarre that no other artist ever tried to copy him. That left the “comic cover” field to Spike Jones alone, and he filled it with such million-sellers as “Der Fuehrer’s Face” (1942), “Cocktails for Two” (1945), “The Glow-Worm” (1946), and “(All I Want For Christmas Is) My Two Front Teeth” (1948).
Jingle Bell Rock (Beal-Boothe)
Bobby Helms
This upbeat number, written by public relations man Joe Beal and ad writer Jim Boothe, has nothing to do with the old wintry chestnut “Jingle Bells.” Nevertheless, it has sold more than 10 million copies over the years. The song was recorded in 1957 by country star Bobby Helms, who had racked up two giant hits, “Fraulein” and “My Special Angel,” just a few months before. “Jingle Bell Rock” proved to be the high point of Bobby’s career — and one of the best-selling hits of the 1950s.
Nuttin’ for Chrismtas (Tepper-Bennett)
Stan Freberg
While on the staff of Mills Music, the well-known publishing house, Sid Tepper (“Red Roses for a Blue Lady”) and his co-writer Roy Bennett came up with this charming novelty. Inspired by an accident one of Bennett’s daughter had (she spilled ink on a carpet and was threatened with a spartan Christmas), the authors added a bit of embroidery to the facts and came up with “Nuttin’ for Christmas.” Five-year-old Barry Gordon introduced the song on the Milton Berle Show in 1955 and had a giant hit with it. Overnight, it was successfully “covered” by four other artists — Joe Ward, Ricky Zahnd, Stan Freberg, and The Fontane Sisters. Incredibly, all five versions became chart hits in 1955! We’ve chosen the zaniest recording — by Stan Freberg — to include here.
Record Three – Christmas in the ’60s, ’70s, and 80s
Side One
O Holy Night (Dwight-Adam)
The Lettermen
Best known to balletomanes for his romantic Giselle, which was the talk of Paris in 1841, Frenchman Adolphe Adam (1803 – 56) was a prolific composer of operas and dance music, as well as a critic, theater manager and professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory. His “Cantique de Noel,” one of the most beautiful seasonal classics ever written, has been performed in virtually every kind of arrangement and by virtually every major artist from Enrico Caruso to Jerry Vale. A track on the Lettermen’s 1966 album For Christmas This Year, Adam’s song is performed with the characteristic richness and closely woven bled of vocal harmony that made the quartet a favorite vocal group during the 1960s.
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Forever (Perito-Matheson)
Perry Como
Perry Como is the only recording artist in history to have racked up top-selling hits in four decades – the ’40s, the ’50s, ’60’s, and ’70s. His first Top Ten record, “Long Ago (and Far Away),” was released in 1944, and his most recent, “It’s Impossible,” in 1970. Along the way, Perry’s easygoing style has made him one of America’s favorite all-time singers, an esteem he continues to hold today. He introduced “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Forever” in 1982, on his annual Yuletide TV special. The success of this song is a testament to the durability of a remarkable recording personality — one who has made the art of understatement one of his personal trademarks.
Medley: Deck the Halls (Traditional)/ Joy to the World (Watts-Mason)/ It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (Sears-Willis)
Kate Smith
Christmas celebrations through the ages are represented in this wonderful medley recorded by Kate Smith in 1966 as the high point of her best-selling Christmas album. One of the most familiar of old Welsh carols is the evocative “Deck the Halls,” a sprightly secular carol that enumerates many of the Yuletide symbols associated with festivities in the British Isles, including boughs of holly and the traditional Yule log. From the 18th century comes the majestic “Joy to the World,” the poem by Isaac Watts (1674 – 1748) and the familiar melody arranged as we know it today by the Boston composer and teacher Lowell Mason (1792 – 1872). A touch of Victorian sweetness is added by Richard Storrs Willis’s lovely hymn, “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” a setting of verses by Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810 – 76). Sears composed his poem in 1849, and it was set by Willis (1819 – 1900) the following year.
Away In A Manger (Traditional)
Ed Ames
Ed Ames, who began his career as one of The Ames Brothers, was the only member of that group to go out on his own as a singer after their breakup in 1960. Besides his success as a vocalist, Ames also achieved fame as the Indian “Mingo” on the Daniel Boone television series in the mid – ’60s. “Away in a Manger,” which he sings here, is often mistakenly attributed to the 16th century religious reformer Martin Luther. It actually came into wide use only in the 1880s. Ed recorded this version during the height of his solo success in 1967, the year he had two major hits, “My Cup Runneth Over” and “Who Will Answer.”
Do You Hear What I Hear? (Regney-Shayne)
Bing Crosby
A perennial favorite, “Do You Hear What I Hear?” has made its way onto the Christmas specials and albums of all the great singers. This 1963 recording shows Bing Crosby singing as fresh and potently as ever. He brings his own warm, down-home style to this inspiring modern carol that tells the Nativity story. Accompanied by the steady beat of the drummer boy’s drum, the music builds, stanza by stanza, to a heartfelt and moving conclusion.
Side Two
Christmas Wlatz (Styne-Cahn)
The Lettermen
Usually the waltz is though of in a 19th-century context. And usually Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn are thought of as a veteran Tin Pan Alley team responsible for such hits as “It’s Been a Long, Long, Time,” “Three Coins in the Fountain,” and “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” The polished musical style and nostalgic lyric of the “Christmas Waltz” are enhanced here by the rich sound of The Lettermen, who are best known for such romantic hits as “The Way You Look Tonight” (1961), “When I Fall In Love” (1962), the medley “Goin’ Out of My Head/Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (1968) and “Hurt So Bad” (1969). They recorded this version of the “Christmas Waltz” in 1966.
An Old Christmas Card (Horton)
Jim Reeves
It’s sad to reflect that Jim Reeves recorded this touching ballad in 1962, only two years before he was killed in an airplane crash. The song itself is full of those wistful thoughts that always seem to gather round at this time of year. We rummage through the attic to get out the decorations, and suddenly an old packet of letters, a party favor or just an old Christmas card catches our eye, and a warm, wonderful flood of memories cascades around us.
Christmas Is (Faith-Maxwell)
The Fireside Singers
Although he was best known for his lush arrangements of other people’s tunes, Percy Faith was also a successful composer of many original works. In 1966 he collaborated with lyricist Spence Maxwell to write this touching holiday song. This rendition of “Christmas Is,” recorded by The Fireside Singers in 1979, recalls all the special qualities of the season and is as warm and wonderful as the holiday season it so vividly describes.
Pretty Paper (Nelson)
Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison drew from many sources in wiring and singing the songs that made him a legend among performers. During the 1960s, Roy established himself as a rock balladeer without peer, thanks to an absolutely majestic voice and his soulful songs. They included “Only the Lonely” (1960), “Running Scared” (1961), “Dream Baby” (1962) “Blue Bayou” (1963) and “Oh, Pretty Woman” (1964), among others. One of the few Orbison hits that Roy didn’t write was “Pretty Paper,” his 1963 Christmas single that reached No. 15 on the pop charts. (The composer was a then-little-known Orbison friend, Willie Nelson.) Like all of Roy’s hits, the instrumental backup was performed in a style then called “the Nashville sound.” Little did Roy’s fans know that this particular track was recorded in England — using British musicians.
Jingle Bells (Peirpont)
The Singing Dogs
This canine rendition of James Pierpont’s masterpiece is probably the most unusual track in this collection. It was created in Copenhagen by Danish producer Carl Weissman, who worked professionally as Don Charles. What he did was record, separately, the voices of five dogs, all of whom barked at a different pitch. He cut the tape-recorded barks apart and then reassembled them according to a musical sequence — the sequence of notes that make up the melody of “Jingle Bells.” By combining that tape with an instrumental version of the song, Charles was able to invent one of the strangest — and funniest — singing groups of all time. With a canine version of “Oh! Susanna” on the flip side, The Singing Dogs’ single was released in 1955, and “Old Susanna” ascended to No. 22 on the U.S. pop charts. After the novelty subsided, the record was forgotten until 1970 when New York deejay Howard Smith of WPLJ happened to play “Jingle Bells” on his radio show. Delighted listeners flooded the switchboard, many noting that their own pets like to bark along with the Singing Dogs. RCA reissued the disc the following Christmas and was amazed when sales of the 16-year-old recording exceeded 1 million copies! And it continues to sell year after year.
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree (Marks)
Brenda Lee
If it hadn’t been for the remarkable success of Connie Francis, Brenda Lee would have gone down in history as the most prolific hit-making female soloist of the ’60s. She racked up 29 Top 40 hits between 1960 and 1967, including such million-sellers as “Sweet Nothin’s,” “I’m Sorry,” “All Alone Am I” and “Losing You.” Although her forte turned out to be sad ballads (“Fool No. 1,” “Break It To Me Gently,” “Everybody Loves Me But You,” etc), Brenda actually began her career as an up-tempo rockabilly singer, cutting her first singles at the tender age of 11. She was only 13 in 1958 when she recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” a tune composed by Johnny Marks, the same fellow who gave us “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” As Brenda was still an unknown singer at the time, most deejays ignored her record then. But two years later — after five major hits by Brenda (including two No. 1 songs) — they dug “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” out of the reject box and watched it zoom to No. 14 on the pop charts. Reissued every year since, it has now sold over 6 1/2 million copies.
Feliz Navidad (Feliciano)
Jose Feliciano
“Take the most talented single performers in folk, pop, rock, soul, underground, rhythm and blues, or any form of music. Put them all together and you get Jose Feliciano.” So raved The Cleveland Press of this unique artist. Blind from birth, Feliciano ignored his handicap and went on to win two Grammy Awards — one as the Best New Artist of 1960 ant the other for Best Vocal Performance (Male) for his sensitive reinterpretation of The Doors’ “Light My Fire.” Feliciano (whose last name means “the happy one”) was once quoted as saying, “The only thing I enjoy about this business is being able to make people happy.” He certainly succeeded with this delightful Christmas song, “Feliz Navidad,” which was the title track on his 1970 Christmas album.
Record Four: Christmas in the ’40s
Side One
Adeste Fideles (Oakley-Reading-Wade)
Bing Crosby
John F. Wade was an 18th-century Englishman who went to live in a Roman Catholic community in France, where he eked out an income by copying and selling music and by giving music lessons to children. Perhaps he himself wrote the Latin stanzas beginning “Adeste fidelis”; perhaps they were a text he was called on to translate. In any case, he combined the text with music, probably by John Reading, and published the resulting hymn around 1750 in his collection Cantus diversi. Frederick Oakeley (1802-80) made the familiar translation beginning “O come, all ye faithful,” to which several other authors contributed additional verses during the 17th century. In this classic version of the hymn, recorded in Los Angeles on June 8, 1942, Bing Crosby sings the lyrics in Latin and English, supported by The Max Terr Choir. This recording has sold more than 30 million copies over the years, making it one of the best-loved Yuletide performances in history.
O Little Town of Bethlehem (Brooks-Redner)
Dick Hames and The Song Spinner Choir with Jesse Crawford at the Organ
Phillips Brooks (1835-93) wrote the poem in 1868; organist Lewis Henry Redner (1831-1908) set it to music the same year, and the world has loved their little masterpiece ever since. A favorite hymn of church choirs and strolling carolers alike, it has also been a Christmas standard in innumerable arrangements for popular artists. Crooner Dick Haymes recorded the familiar version with The Song Spinners Choir in 1947.
Blue Christmas (Hayes-Johnson)
Russ Morgan and His Orchestra/ Russ Morgan and The Morganaires, Vocal)
Songwriters Billy Hayes and Jay Johnson wrote “Blue Christmas” in 1945, but it didn’t become a pop hit until four years later, when rival versions were recorded by bandleaders Russ Morgan and Hugo Winterhalter. Russ Morgan’s wistful rendition turned out to be the most popular, rising to No. 11 on the U.S. hit parade. Over the many Christmas seasons since then, the song has been performed in many different styles, by artists as diverse as Dean Martin, Ernest Tubb, Billy Eckstine, Jim Reeves, The Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, Johnny Mathis, and Elvis Presley. None, though, could match the special poignancy of Russ Morgan’s version, which was recorded in 1949.
Winter Wonderland (Smith-Bernard)
Perry Como
Felix Bernard’s story is proof of the power of patience. He and lyricist Richard Smith wrote this favorite standard as a sort of muscal genre-piece in 1934. Brimming with quaint images of new-fallen snow, a bird singing love songs, two lovers sitting by a blazing fire repeating vows they made while strolling through a “winter wonderland,” the song quietly entered the marketplace without making much of a splash. However, when it was given an up-tempo swing arrangement, its fortunes began to soar. Twelve years after the tune was written, rival versions of “Winter Wonderland” were recorded by Perry Como and The Andrews Sisters, with Perry’s rendition entering the Top Ten in time for Christmas, 1946. Although many fine singers — including Como himself — have recorded versions of this song in the years since, it is this 1946 performance by Perry that remains the all-time classic.
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Darby-Moore)
Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians with Glee Club and Orchestra/ Teen Trio with Gordon Goodman and Jack Best, Soloists
The fame of Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) rests today not on his excellent work as a biblical scholar but on this splendid poem, which he composed for his own children in 1823. Originally called “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” it was published anonymously that year in the Troy (N.Y.) Sentinel and reprinted in Moore’s collected Poems in 1844, by which time it had already become widely popular as ” ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Hollywood composer-arranger Ken Darby (who created, among other things, the Munchkin voices in The Wizard of Oz) wrote this colorful setting of the poem that became a million selling recording with Fred Waring and The Pennsylvanians in 1942.
Side Two
I’ll Be Home for Christmas (Gannon-Kent)
Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra
Going home for Christmas has always been a strong tradition in America, but in 1943 the war had turned tradition into a wistful memory for thousands of servicemen on active duty. That year Kim Gannon (who wrote Glenn Miller’s hit “Moonlight Cocktail”) and Walter Kent (the composer of “The White Cliffs of Dover”) collaborated on this tender ballad that tugged at many a heartstring stateside and abroad. Bing Crosby recorded this sentimental beauty in Los Angeles on October 1, 1943, and watched it soar to No. 3 on the Hit Parade later that year. It was another Crosby classic — and, needless to say, another million seller.
Christmas Dreaming ( A Little Early This Year) (Gordon-Lee)
Dick Haymes with Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra
Christmas is a perfect time to sit before a crackling fire and look back on the events of the past year. Lester Lee’s “Christmas Dreaming” is the perfect song to accompany your tinseled reverie. Lee, whose busy career included writing scores for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1942 and various Hollywood films, is also known for such songs as the popular “Pennsylvania Polka.” Stars as diverse as Dennis Day and Frank Sinatra have recorded “Christmas Dreaming,” but we think you’ll agree that Dick Haymes’ version — first released in 1946 — is one of the very best.
Jingle Bells (Pierpont)
Glenn Miller and HIs Orchestra
We owe this bit of classic Americana to James Pierpont, the son of a Unitarian minister from Medford, Massachusetts. He wrote it during the 1850s and played it soon after for a cultivated neighbor, Mrs. Otis Waterman, on one of the few pianos in Medford at the time. She was immediately taken with the piece, and in her delight called it “a merry little jingle” — thus contributing something to its title. (The tune is also called “The One Horse Open Sleigh.”) Although Pierpont composed nothing else of note, his spirit must certainly rest easy in the knowledge that he gave the world one of the most beloved songs of all time. This unique interpretation by Glenn Miller’s orchestra, with Tex Beneke, Ernie Caceres and The Modernaires on the vocal, was recorded in 1941 and reached No. 5 on the pop charts during the Christmas season of that year. Later versions became hits for Bing Crosby (1943), Primo Scala (1948), Les Paul (1951), Perry Como (1957), and The Singing Dogs (1971). You can hear The Singing Dogs’ rendition of Record Three, Side Two of this collection.
(All I Want For Christmas Is) My Two Front Teeth (Gardner)
Spike Jones and His City Slickers)
Spike Jones, the immortal musical bedlamite, had already given the world several uproarious classics — “Cocktails For Two” and “Der Fuehrer’s Face” among them — when he loosed his devilish talents upon Don Gardner’s arch comedy number “(All I Want For Christmas Is) My Two Front Teeth.” Written in 1946, the song was introduced to a coast-to-coast radio audience by The Satisfiers, Perry Como’s nominal backup group. On December 4, 1947, Spike and his gang recorded their own version, featuing the kiddielike novelty voice of George Rock. It was too late to release the song for the 1947 holiday season, so it was held over for the next year when it became Spike’s first and only No. 1 smash hit. Reissued in 1949, it became a giant pop hit all over again! That kind of success was enough to inspire Spike to make Christmas parodies a regular part of his band’s annual repertoire — as such later hits as “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1950) and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” (1952) were to prove. And — as you’d expect — this classic was a million seller.
The Merry Christmas Polka (Webster-Burke)
Freddy Martin and His Orchestra
Imported from Bohemia during the 19th century, the polka has always been one of the liveliest and most infectious ballroom dances, and a great favorite at weddings and parties of every type. Joseph Francis (Sonny) Burke, a onetime Jimmy Dorsey associate, became in turn a leader of his own orchestra and a successful recording executive. In 1949 he collaborated with the Hollywood songwriter Paul Francis Webster on his jaunty polka with a Yuletide flavor. Over the years it’s been recorded by a wide range of artists, including Tex Ritter, Diana Shore, and Lawrence Welk, but the two best-known versions were those of The Andrews Sisters and Freddy Martin and His Orchestra. We’ve included the Freddy Martin version here, which was recorded in September, 1949. And yes, that’s talk-show host Merv Griffin — as he sounded in his Big Band days — handling the lead vocal.
I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas (Stewart)
Yogi Yorgesson with The John Duffy Trio
Certainly the “season to be jolly” has inspired a wealth of jolly music, none of which is more rib-tickling than this hilarious number, which reached No. 5 on the pop charts in 1949. A pseudo-Swedish novelty, “I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas” was written by Yogi Yorgesson, whose real name was Harry Stewart. The success of this traack was enhanced by the popularity of the original single’s flip side, “Yingle Bells,” which also climbed the pop charts, peaking at No. 7. Apparently America could not get enough of Yogi Yorgesson in 1949, when this remarkable record sold well over a million copies.
Record 5 “Beloved Carols”
Side One – all with the John McCarthy Chorale
Here We Come A-Caroling (The Wassail Song)
The word wassail is derived from wes hal, an Anglo-Saxon term meaning literally “to be whole, or in good health”; hence, wassailing is in essence drinking one’s health. In the north of England (where this song originated) and elsewhere in the British Isles, strolling singers often carried a wooden bowl or cup adorned, perhaps, with colored ribbons and a gilded apple on its cover, which they expected their wealthier listeners to fill with drink (references to wassailing are usually found in the less ecclesiastical carols). Mulled wine or cider was frequently the beverage, but more commonly the favorite wassail liquor was a heated combination of ale, spices, sugar, and toasted apples. In some areas it was customary to break pieces of Christmas cake rich with lemon peel, currants, raisings, and nutmeg into the wassail bowl and pour hot ale over them; the wealthy often substituted spiced wine for ale, mixing it with cream and eggs. But whatever the recipe, wassailing always contributed deliciously to the Christmas revels.
What Child Is This? (Dix)
We know that the famous melody of this carol was not only popular in Shakespeare’s day but sung at a faster clip than we are accustomed to employ, for in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Mrs. Ford observes that Falstaff’s words and deeds “do no more adhere and keep peace together than the Hundredth Psalm to the tune of “Green Sleeves.” “Green Sleeves” was first published in 1580 as a “new courtly sonnet.” Sixty-two years later it became a carol — for New Year’s — beginning “The old year now away is fled.” The words we sing today were composed by William Chatterton Dix (1837-98), an English hymnist whose other works include “Alleluia! Sing to Jesus,” set to music by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, and “To Thee, O Lord, Our Hearts We Raise,” set to music by Sir Arthur Sullivan.
Angels from the Realms of Glory (Montgomery-Smart)
James Montgomery (1771-1854), an English journalist and religious tractarian, first printed this hymn in his newspaper Iris on Christmas Eve, 1816. His verses were obviously inspired by, if not actually translated form, the old French carol “Les anges dans nos campagnes” (which supplied the melody for “Angels We Have Heard on High,” which appears on Side Two of this collection.)
The dignified melody here, called “Regent Square,” was composed by Henry Smart (1813-79), organist, composer and member of a prominent English family of musicians, whose many cantatas, operas, cathedral services (such as Service in F) and part-songs were a staple of Victorian musical life.
O Christmas Tree (Traditional)
Greenery — fir, laurel, holly, ivy, mistletoe, rosemary — has been associated with celebrations, religious and secular, throughout the ages. Is it any wonder, the, that evergreen trees would enter into our Christmas traditions? The earliest record of a fully decorated Christmas tree is found in the notes of an anonymous citizen of Strassburg, written in 1605: “At Christmas they set up fir trees in the parlours…and hang thereon roses cutout sweets, etc.” The Weihnachtsbaum was a central feature of German Christmas celebrations throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, but it wasn’t until the 1840s that the custom was adopted in England and, later, in America. It was in 1841 that Queen Victoria’s new husband, the German Prince Albert, set up a Weihnachtsbaum at Windsor Castle, and thereafter no English Yuletide was complete without one. It’s quite possible that Prince Albert, an accomplished musician, played and sang this lovely old German carol with his royal wife during their first Christmas together so many years ago.
I Saw Three Ships (Traditional)
This sprightly, lilting carol was obviously very popular in England at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, for it was published in numerous broadsides (single-sheet editions of songs or poetry) that were hawked in the streets for a penny. The three ships of the title all sail to Bethlehem, and touching upon the legend that inspired “The Carol of the Bells,” they are heralded by the sound of all the bells on earth ringing, as well as the universal song of all the angels in heaven and the souls on earth.
The Holly and the Ivy (Traditional)
“The Holly and the Ivy” is a traditional English carol, with symbols — holly and ivy — that probably predate Christianity and were simply modified to serve it. In this way, the red berries of the holly became Jesus’ blood; the thorns, His crown; the bitter bark, His Crucifixion. The ivy perhaps symbolizes the feminine elements of Jesus’ birth. A precedent for the “merry organ” cited in the refrain is found in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Nonnes Prestes Tale,” where we read that the “Chauntecleer’s crowing had no peer –/ His voice was merrier than the merry organ/ In Mass-days that in the churche gon.”
O Sanctissima (Traditional)
More of a humn than a carol, “O Sanctissima” has come down to us with a pedigree that is exceedingly vague. The melody, widely known as “The Sicilian Mariner’s Hymn,” was first published with a Latin text in 1794. However, most Protestant congregations sing it with English words attributed to John Fawcett (1740-1817), beginning “lord, dismiss us with thy blessing.” Whatever its origins, it remains a simple, sincere expression of thanks and happiness that is a joy to sing at Christmas and, for that matter, throughout the year.
We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Traditional)
The origins of this carol have become lost beneath the shifting snows of Christmases long gone. In England of yore, before household timepieces were common, town watchmen known as “waits” proclaimed the passage of the hours and any additional news. They also provided the hours and any additional news. They also provided music for social gatherings and civic events, and at Yuletide they passed through the streets of towns and the snows of rural areas proclaiming the festive season as well. Upon “wishing a merry Christmas” at each house, they might be invited to partake of some plum or fig pudding, mulled ale or cider to warm them on their frosty nocturnal rounds. Certainly the tune of this carol has undergone a great many changes since the Middle Ages, but we think you’ll agree that this performance displays both its timeless appeal and the case with which it fits the contemporary holiday spirit.
Side Two – All with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus/ Peter Knight, Conductor
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Wesley-Mendelssohn)
The particular dignity that characterizes this fine Christmas humn is due surprisingly to its somewhat round-about origin. The Reverend Charles Wesley (1707-88), brother of John, the founder of Methodism, wrote these now-famous verses in 1739. They form but one of his more than 6,500 surviving religious poems. Nearly a century later, in 1840, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47) composed a Festgesang for male choir and brass band for the Leipzig Festival honoring the invention of modern printing by Johannes Gutenberg. The melody of one of the choruses, “Gutenberg, der deutsche Mann,” was soon fitted to a slightly altered version of Wesley’s poem, and a new Christmas tradition was born.
We Three Kings of Orient Are (Hopkins)
Musically, this carol is particularly rich, with, in its original form, solos for each of the three kings — Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, who traveled from the East to bring rare gifts to the newborn Jesus — followed by the refrain (“O Star of wonder, star of night”). John Henry Hopkins, Jr. (1820-91) wrote both the words and the music to this wonderfully evocative carol that is intended for the Epiphany, January 6, which celebrates the visit of the Three Kings to Bethlehem, though nowadays the song is a part of the Christmas repertoire.
The Twelve Days of Christmas (Traditional)
This famous old English carol draws a detailed picture of the presents that many would have fancied during the Renaissance, if only they or their loved ones had the money. Given the fact that each succeeding day of Christmas brings the heroine of the song not only a new gift but an additional set of all previous ones, her eventual collection includes a veritable aviary as well as a teeming crowd of musicians, balletic ladies, athletic noblemen, industrious milkmaids (and their cows), not to mention a small grove of pear trees and 40 gold rings (which alone would run a modern swain a tidy sum at today’s prices). What is most surprising about this gallant inventory is that it runs to exactly 364 separate items, animate and inanimate, or a gift for every day of the year but one. Perhaps he forgot her birthday.
God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (Traditional)
The most popular of all English Christmas carols, according to some authorities, this one takes its title from the old expression, “God rest (i.e., keep) you merry.” Because the comma in the first line is often placed improperly after “ye” instead of after “merry,” the meaning is often rather ambiguous. The hope implied is not that the merry gentlemen should get some blessed rest but that the gentlemen should be kept merry. There are other tunes in these famous verses, but the best-known one (presented here in a superb orchestral fantasy that will have the very ornaments vibrating on your tree) was published in London during the second half of the 18th century.
Angels We Have Heard On High (Traditional)
This is another carol suitable for performance on more than one feast 00 in this case, Christmas and the Epiphany, January 6. The melody is that of an old French carol, “Les anges dans nos campagnes” (the probable source of James Montgomery’s verses beginning “Angels from the realms of glory,” the famous setting of which can be heard on Side One of this recording.) It was first published in England in 1855. The arrangement here is quite majestic, featuring prominent parts for the full choir, boys’ choir, brass choir, and organ.
** A Note On Carols – Although we now think of carols as exclusively related to the celebration of Christmas, they actually comprise a body of music that can be applied to festivals and happy occasions throughout the year. The world carol is though by scholars to be derived from carole, which was the Medieval French name for round dances, danced in a closed circle, and this older name itself was derived from Latin and Greek words related to circles and dancing. Our ancestors of the Middle Ages probably associated the carole with dance-songs that were performed in pagan celebrations of the winter solstice, which had gradually merged with Christmas as Christianity became more widespread throughout Europe after the 6th century. This pagan dance association gave the carole a bad name among the straitlaced churchmen of the 7th century, and we find them condemning people for wanting to dance and sing on saint’s days, especially Midsummer’s Day. By the 14th century, however, the word carol had come to mean something more respectablel — Dante eve refers to a band of dancing saints in the 24th canto of the Paradiso. Even so, the earliest examples of authentic carols — that is to say, devotional songs of a joyous nature — are no older than the 15th century and are distinguished from other liturgical music by their characteristic form of verses sung in alternation with a refrain.
There were all sorts of carols during this period: Easter carols, May carols, Annunciation carols and Ascension-tide carols, spring, summer, fall and winter carols, carols for saings’ days and other feasts, and, of course, Christmas carols. It was during the 16th centruy, however, that Christmas carols began to overshadow the others. By the later 1800s the influence of Charles Dickens’ writings and of Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, who popularized the Christmas tree of his native Germany in England, had contributed to the style of Yuletide observances thaqt we love so much today. And among the most popular of these customs has been — and we trust will always be — the performance and enjoyment of carols.
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