“White Christmas” - Bing Crosby (1942) #1 (Pop Singles; 30 weeks)

Prolific songwriter Irving Berlin wrote the song in early 1940 while sitting poolside at the Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix, Arizona. The original opening verse pokes fun at a well-off Los Angeleno who, amid orange and palm trees, longs for a traditional Christmas “up north.” Berlin later dropped the verse but kept the now-famous chorus. The “There’s never been a day in old L.A.” verse regarding Los Angeles can be heard on the famous 1963 album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector in a soulful rendition performed by Darlene Love. Bing recorded it for the 1942 movie musical Holiday Inn with the Kim Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra on May 29, 1942 in 18 minutes (Crosby starred in the movie with Fred Astaire.) In the film, he sings it in a duet with Marjorie Reynolds. Though Reynolds was the actress playing Linda Mason, her voice was dubbed by Martha Mears for the movie, and in the script as originally conceived, Reynolds, not Crosby, was to sing the song. Bing’s record producer Jack Kapp thought that original opening verse about the sun, the palm trees in Beverly Hills, and it being December the 24th, would be meaningless outside of the film and persuaded Bing not to release it, and he never did. The song went on to win the Best Song Academy Award of 1942. “White Christmas” was also reprised as the title theme for the 1954 musical White Christmas, starring Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen. In spite of its similarity to the earlier film, this was the highest-grossing film of 1954. (more…)

“Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” - Vaughn Monroe (1945) #1 (Pop Singles; 5 weeks)

Lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne wrote the song in 1945, and baritone singer/trumpeter Vaughn Monroe first recorded it in 1946. Although this song is associated with Christmas, there is no mention of the holiday in the lyrics. It’s about making the most of a snowy day by spending it with a loved one by the fire. One of the best-selling songs of all time, and has since become a standard, with Patsy Cline, Martina McBride, Garth Brooks, Herb Alpert, Chris Isaak, The Carpenters, and Carly Simon just some of the artists to record it. Dean Martin’s 1959 version from his album A Winter Romance is probably the best-known version. Frank Sinatra’s performance of the song was the 25,000,000th download from Apple’s online music service I-Tunes. Jessica Simpson’s version, recorded for her Rejoyce: The Christmas Album in 2004 and produced by Billy Mann, was the album’s first single, and made the top 20 of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The Italian singer Irene Grandi recorded in 2008 a personal version, sung in English. (more…)

“Snoopy’s Christmas” - The Royal Guardsmen (1967) #1 (Christmas chart; 5 weeks)

“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” co-writer George David Weiss wrote this third song in a trilogy of “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron” songs for the Florida band The Royal Guardsmen in 1967 (the other two were the 1966 #2 Billboard Hot 100 hit “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron” and the 1967 #15 hit “The Return of The Red Baron.”) It continues to be played as a holiday favorite on most oldie radio stations, however is also often played on radio stations playing a Hit Music format as well as Adult Contemporary format stations. While these stations wouldn’t normally play music from this era, radio stations will make exceptions to mix certain Christmas songs with the usual playlist during the Holiday period. The song is about how Snoopy had to go out and fight Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. “The Red Baron,” on Christmas Eve, and the two enemies set aside their differences for that night. At the end, they share a holiday toast and then Snoopy and the Red Baron fly their separate ways, “each knowing they’d meet on some other day.” (more…)

“The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” - David Seville & The Chipmunks (1958) #1 (Hot 100; 4 weeks)

Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville) wrote the song in 1958. Although it was written and sung by Bagdasarian (in the form of a chipmunk voice), the singing credits are given to The Chipmunks, a fictional singing group consisting of three chipmunks by the names of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. The song is technically the first song sung by The Chipmunks (Bagdasarian had another Billboard #1 song in 1958, “Witch Doctor,” which used the same sped-up vocal technique, but the “witch doctor” was not a Chipmunk.) The inspiration came to him from his youngest son, Adam, who had a habit of asking in September if it was Christmas yet. He figured if his son was already asking about the holiday so early, other kids probably were too. Alvin was named after Liberty Record’s president Al Bennett, Simon after owner Si Warnoker, and Theodore after the engineer on duty when it was recorded, Ted Keep. The song was very successful, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming The Chipmunks’ first (and only), as well as David Seville’s second and final, #1 single. It has the distinction of being the only Christmas record to reach #1 on the Hot 100 chart. The single sold 4.5 million copies, according to Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. Ironically, before the song’s success, it was featured on “American Bandstand’s” “Rate-A-Record” segment and received the lowest possible rating of 35. (more…)

“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” - Jimmy Boyd (1952) #1 (Pop Singles; 2 weeks)

British songwriter Tommie Connor wrote the song for 13-year-old singer/actor Jimmy Boyd, which reached #1 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in 1952. Conductor/Columbia Records company executive Mitch Miller had him record the song. The song was commissioned by Neiman Marcus to promote their Christmas card for the year, which featured an original sketch by artist Perry Barlow, who drew for The New Yorker for many decades. When first released, Jimmy’s record was banned in Boston by the Roman Catholic Church on the grounds it mixed sex with Christmas (a closer listen implies that Santa Claus is actually the child’s father.) Boyd made worldwide news at thirteen years old when he went to Boston and met with the leaders of the Church to explain the song to them. The Catholic Church lifted the ban the following Christmas. (more…)

“Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” - Elmo & Patsy (1979) #1 (1984 re-issue on the Christmas chart; 2 weeks)

Written by friend Randy Brooks, the song was originally performed by the husband and wife duo of veterinarian Dr. Elmo and his wife Patsy Shropshire in 1979. In the lyrics, the grandmother of the family gets drunk from drinking too much eggnog and decides to return home to retrieve her forgotten medication. In the course of her walk, she is run over by Santa and killed (however, the music video of the song has her fall down the chimney, covered in soot…but she’s alive.) The song was originally self-released in the San Francisco area by the Shropshires in 1979 on their own record label (”Elmo ‘n’ Patsy”), with the B-side called “Christmas.” By the early 1980s, the song was becoming a seasonal hit, first on country stations and then on Top 40 stations. In 1982, the “Elmo ‘n’ Patsy” record label changed its name to “Oink” when the song was re-recorded. Oink Records, still based in Windsor, California, continued distribution of the 45 rpm record in the Western U.S., with “Nationwide Sound Distributors” of Nashville, Tennessee pressing and distributing the song on its Soundwaves Records in the Eastern U.S. In 1984, with the song now a big hit nationally, CBS Records was interested and signed Elmo & Patsy to Epic Records. A new recording was made with a new B-side (”Percy, the Puny Poinsettia.”) The 1984 re-recording can be distinguished from the original 1979 & 1982 versions by the emphasis placed on the words “You can say…” in the chorus. (more…)

“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” - Gene Autry & the Pinafores (1949) #1 (Pop Singles; 1 week)

Robert L. May created the character of Rudolph in 1939 as a poem in a coloring book as part of his employment with the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward department stores. Character Arts, LLC manages the licensing for the Rudolph Company, L.P. The stores had bought and distributed coloring books every Christmas and saw writing their own story as a way to save money. Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of the Rudolph booklet in 1939. Six million copies had been given out by the end of 1946, even though wartime paper shortages restricted printing. The poem was about Santa Claus’ ninth and lead reindeer that possesses an unusually red-colored nose that gives off its own light, powerful enough to illuminate the team’s path through rough foggy weather. The poem was based on May’s own childhood difficulties as the smallest boy in his class. May’s brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, wrote the lyrics and melody inspired by the poem. Autry first recorded Marks’ musical version in 1949, selling 2 million copies that year. It is the second best-selling Christmas song of all time (behind “White Christmas.”) (more…)

“All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)” - Spike Jones & His City Slickers (1948) #1 (Pop Singles; 1 week)

Music teacher Donald Gardner wrote the song while teaching music at a public school in Smithtown, New York. He asked his class what they wanted for Christmas, and noticed that almost all of the students had at least one front tooth missing as they answered in a lisp. Gardner wrote the song in 30 minutes. In a 1995 interview, Gardner said, “I was amazed at the way that silly little song was picked up by the whole country.” Spike Jones & His City Slickers originally recorded the song on December 6, 1948, with lead vocal by George Rock using the falsetto voice of a little boy unable to pronounce words with the letter “S.” That version reached the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart in early 1949 (it entered the chart during the 1948 Christmas season.) (more…)

“Merry Christmas, Darling” – The Carpenters (1970) #1 (Christmas chart; 1 week)

Richard Carpenter and Frank Pooler wrote the song and originally recorded in 1970 for he and his sister Karen’s group The Carpenters. At the time, it was only available on a 7″ single from A&M Records. Later it was reissued in 1974, again in 1977, and again in 1991. Pooler was choral director at California State University at Long Beach in 1966 when he collaborated with his student Richard on a song that the director had originally wrote for an ex-sweetheart in 1944. Four years later, it became The Carpenters’ first and most successful Christmas song. A rerecording appeared on their first Christmas album, 1978’s Christmas Portrait. (more…)

“Blue Christmas” - Elvis Presley (1957) #1 (1964 re-issue on the Christmas chart; 1 week)

Written as a country song by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson in 1948, and first a #2 country hit for singer Ernest Tubb in the same year. It ranks as the all-time #1 Christmas single of Billboard’s Country Singles chart. In 1957, Elvis Presley effectively made the song a steadfast rock-and-roll holiday classic by recording it in his signature style. Presley’s famous recording of the song appeared on his 1957 LP Elvis’ Christmas Album. Tubb’s version of the song included an extra verse not used by Elvis’ later version. It wasn’t released as a single until 1964, when in the US it was backed with “Wooden Heart” from Elvis’ soundtrack to his film G.I. Blues, but from 1965 and on, it was backed with “Santa Claus is Back in Town.” After going to #1 on the Christmas chart initially in 1964, it has re-charted several times on that chart in the years since. (more…)