Along with Volume 6, it’s sister, Goodyear’s “Great Songs of Christmas” Volume 5 is one of the most popular Christmas releases we sell on our site (http://www.christmaslpstocd.com/). In fact, we began our Christmas lp to cd business seven years ago when we saw how many Goodyear Great Songs of Christmas Volumes 5 and 6 that customers were sending our transfer business to have converted to cd.
For its 1965 addition to the “Great Songs of Christmas” holiday series, Goodyear and Columbia Special Products produced nearly three million records. As with years past, Goodyear’s retail stores sold every album. As with the previous four releases, Goodyear compiled a collection of wonderful performances of classic Christmas songs by popular artists of the era.
Read below about the Goodyear “Great Songs of Christmas” Volume 5 collection as printed in 1965 on the back of the vinyl lp record album jacket.
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| Goodyear Great Songs of Christmas. Volume 5 |
“Like the festivities, customs, and observances of the Christmas season, our album this year is a careful blend of old and new. Many of the carols included here date back to the year 1500, and even earlier. Still others were written within recent years and quickly have become widely-loved classics.
One song is brand-new; it was commissioned by Goodyear especially for this album, and is our special Christmas gift to you.
Thirteen of the twenty-one selections were recorded especially for us, and are available only on this album.
When you have many, many stars participating in a project and they all are equally great, one customary way to list them is alphabetically. That is what we have done here.
When you create an enchanting starring role on Broadway, and appear regularly on all the big television programs, you become as famous as the “Carnival” girl — Anna Maria Alberghetti.
For our album, she recorded two of the famous Burt carols. Alfred S. Burt was a minister’s son, and a jazz musician, who each year wrote a song to celebrate Christmas — and sent it as his family’s Christmas card. Burt died at the age of 34, just 11 years ago; and in the short time since his death, his legacy of songs have become more and more widely known. They have the quality — not of modern music — but of traditional Christmas carols, and performers of the stature of the late Nat “King” Cole and Tennessee Ernie Ford have helped make them famous. “Caroling, Caroling” is a happy, festive carol which reflects the happy sounds of Christmas, while the “Star Carol” tenderly tells the Christmas story.
Diahann Caroll is the girl who so impressed Richard Rodgers with her talent that he wrote“No Strings” for her. For us she recorded the ancient “Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming” –a Twelfth Night carol which originated in Cologne around 1600. The carol is typical of many which use a flower blooming in the snow as a symbol of the birth of Christ. A version of this carol appears in the “Musae Sionae” collection of Michael Praetorius, dated 1609.
Miss Carroll’s second selection is the beautiful Burt carol, “Some Children See Him.”
Maurice Chevalier recorded for Goodyear in Paris two selections that give his fans a fresh, new facet of Chevalier’s talent. The first is “Jolly Old St. Nicholas,” the delightful little song in which a youngster tells Santa what each one in the family dreams of getting, on Christmas morning.
Chevalier’s second seletion is a unique, reverent recitation of “Silent Night” — two verses in English, one in French.
“Silver Bells” is a modern Christmas classic. It was written for the Bob Hope film, ” The Lemon Drop Kid,” which was adapted from a Damon Runyon story, and introduced in 1950. This gala holiday song never has been so gaily sung as it is here, by Doris Day.
“Golden Boy” Sammy Davis Jr. brings a special new excitement to our album series. He recorded the song which was written especially for this album, and is heard here for the first time. “It’s Christmas Time All Over the World” was written by Hugh Martin, who also wrote “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,”, “The Trolley Song,” “Meet Me In St. Louis,” and numbers of other hits.
Sammy Davis’ second selection is “Jingle Bells,” one of the relatively few traditional Christmas songs originating in America. It was written by John Pierpont, in the early years of the 19th century.
Danny Kaye took time to record two traditional carols for us. There are many stories about the origins of “O Come All Ye Faithful”; one old Latin version is attributed to St. Bonaventura. It was preserved in the collection “Cantus Diversi” by the English copyist John Francis Wade, dated 1741. Wade attributed the Latin verses to John Reading, but many believe that Wade himself wrote both the words and music. The English words we know were written by the Rev. Frederick Oakeley in 1841.
Danny Kaye’s second carol is “The First Noel.” The words and music first were printed in 1833 in a collection by William Sandys, but this lovely shepherd’s carol is at least 200 years older, and may have originated in France.
Versatile Andre Kostelanetz is equally at home with opera, military marches and current popular tunes. For us, he has given fresh interpretations to three traditional carols. The words to “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” were written by Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears, and published in 1850. Though Sears sent the lyrics to a friend to set to music, the melody most favored today is by Boston composer Richard Willis, who saw the lyrics in a later reprint. This carol is another of the few traditional Christmas songs of American origin.
The words to “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” were written in 1739 by Charles Wesley, brother of the founder of the Methodist Church. The melody was written in 1840 by Felix Mendelssohn, as part of his “Cantata Festgesang.” Fifteen years later Dr. W.H. Cummings, the organist of Waltham Abbey in England, combined the words and music, and the new carol was presented for the first time on Christmas Day.
The French title of “Angels We Have Heard On High,” the third Kostelanetz selection, is “Les Anges dans nos Campagnes.” Most authorites feel it dates back to some time in the 18th century.
Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme are that rare phenomenon, a husband and wife who both are stars of top stature. And we are fortunate to have them both — exuberantly performing a rollicking, happy song of the season.
“Sleigh Ride” was written by Leroy Anderson. Since its introduction in 1948, it has been a favorite in the repertories of groups like the Boston Pops, and a popular hit as well.
Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra perform a carol which might be called an instantaneous classic. The tender “Little Drummer Boy” — which tells the story of the little boy who has no gifts to bring and therefore plays his drum for the newborn Jesus — has the sound of an ancient carol, but was introduced by the Harry Simeone Choir only in 1958, and has enjoyed fantastic popularity ever since.
Mr. Ormandy’s second selection, “We Three Kings of Orient Are,” was written by Dr. J.H. Hopkins, Rector of Christ’s Church in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, in 1857. This carol, which tells of the slow, patient caravan weaving its way over “field and mountain, following yonder star” has verses for each of the three kings: Melchior, Gaspar and Balthesar.
Dinah Shore recorded her fun-with-music version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” especially for Goodyear. The carol is an old English song, long a special favorite among carollers’ it refers to the 12 days between Christmas and Epiphany — the actual time of the arrival of the three Kings. It’s interesting to realize that our practice of gift-giving at Christmastime stems from the practice of gift-giving at Christmastime stems from the fact that the Wise Men brought gifts to the manger. And the reason so many of the gifts in ‘Twelve Days’ are animals is in remembrance of the animals kneeling and being given the power of speech.
Metropolitan Opera star Richard Tucker provides a very special musical experience in his recording for us of “The Lord’s Prayer.” The music for this beautiful religious work is only 30 years old, and was written by Albert Hay Malotte, who died only last year. It probably is the best selling religious work in the country.
Mr. Tucker’s second selection is “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” The story of this carol is a particularly touching one. A young rector, Philips Brooks, was inspired during a ride on horseback from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, in 1865, to write the verses. Three years later, Louis Redner, the organist of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia, the church of which Brooks was the rector, wrote music for the verses — at the urging of the Sunday School children. The story is that on Christmas Eve, Redner still did not have an idea for a melody, but inspiration struck, the carol was written on Christmas Eve, and performed for the first time the next morning.
Andy Williams’ moving performance gives extra distinction to one of the loveliest carols of the season — “O Holy Night.” Know also as “Cantique do Noel,” this carol was written by Adolphe Adam — the French composer who is best known for the ballet “Giselle.”
And once again we are delighted to have this opportunity to wish you all the richness, the festivity, the reverence, and the warmth of the Holy season.
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