Originally posted in December 2013.
Here’s Carole King singing “Christmas Paradise,” an original Christmas song from her 2011 album “A Holiday Carole.”
You’ve decorated the halls, now the tree!
Originally posted December 2016.
Let’s hear Nat King Cole sing O Tannenbaum in German. As far as I can tell his accent is pretty good. It’s from “The Christmas Song”, first released in 1960 as “The Magic of Christmas.”
The song didn’t start out as a Christmas song when first written in 1824; as the Christmas tree evolved into a tradition in the 19th century, so did this song. It was originally a celebration of “the fir’s evergreen quality as a symbol of constancy and faithfulness.”
Decorate the house!
Originally posted December 2018.
Julie Andrews sings “Deck the Halls.” The melody was written in 15th-century Wales, and the original lyrics had nothing to do with Christmas or decorating, but were well wishes on the New Year. The English lyrics were written in the 19th century by a Scotsman named Thomas Oliphant and were first published in 1862. You can hear the Welsh lyrics and melody here.
As a bonus, here is Eddie Kamae and the Sons of Hawai’i singing the same song in Hawai’ian:
Rain and snow and cold and…yuk!
First posted in December 2015.
Given the major storm system moving from west to east on the Mainland, Judy Collins (with Tyne Daly!) singing about the bleak midwinter seems appropriate. This is from her 2007 “All On A Wintry Night” album. It’s pretty spare; the only instruments are piano and possibly harpsichord, but with Collins’ beautiful voice why throw a bunch of lush string arrangements into the mix?
Christmas Transport
Originally posted December 2017.
All these folks promising to come home for Christmas have to get there somehow.
Here are The Andrews Sisters singing “Sleigh Ride.”
It’s not clear when this was first recorded, but it appeared on the 2004 compilation “Songs for Christmas”.
The sisters had an incredible career. It began in the 1930s in the Midwest, first in vaudeville and then touring with big bands. They recorded hundreds of songs as a trio and with other singers, most notably Bing Crosby. During World War Two they toured military bases both domestic and overseas; they also found time to make 17 mostly-B movies between 1940-1948. They cut back on recording and touring in the 1950s, preferring to perform in nightclubs. Their last album appeared in the early 1960s. Patti, the last of the sisters, died in Los Angeles in 2013 at 94.
Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme
This was originally posted in 2016.
Here are Steve (Lawrence) & Eydie (Gorme) wishing you “Happy Holidays.” They married in 1957 and performed together until 2010 when Eydie retired for health reasons. She died three years later. It’s unclear whether Steve is still performing; he announced in 2019 that he was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s but treatment was ameliorating the symptoms.
This is yet another beautiful Christmas evergreen written by a nice Jewish boy, this one named Irving Berlin. It’s from their 1964 album “That Holiday Feeling.”
A Capella is alright
A kind thought goes a long way
Originally posted December 2017.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leslie Odom Jr., singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” from his “Simply Christmas” album. If you’re wondering who he is, he won a Tony as the first Aaron Burr in Hamilton. The song has had several iterations of its lyrics since it was written for the Judy Garland film Meet Me in St. Louis. It was sung by Garland’s character Esther, a girl in her late teens, to her five-year-old sister, and its original lyrics were pretty sad.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Pop that champagne cork
Next year we may all be living in New York
No good times like the olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us no more
But at least we all will be together
If the Lord allows
From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Garland and the movie people asked that they be lightened up some, as did Frank Sinatra when he wanted to record it for his “A Jolly Christmas” album in 1957. These are the lyrics Sinatra sang:
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles, will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles, will be miles away
Once again, as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more
Someday soon we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now
Mr. Odom sings the updated lyrics here.
A Ukrainian Carol
The origin of “Carol of the Bells” was known before but it has recently gotten a lot of attention, no doubt partly due to the invasion of Ukraine by its larger neighbor. The music was written by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych and the lyrics were written by a Ukrainian-American named Peter Wilhousky. From Wikipedia:
The song was first performed by students at Kyiv University in December 1916, but the song lost popularity in Ukraine shortly after the Soviet Union took hold. It was introduced to Western audiences by the Ukrainian National Chorus during its 1919 concert tour of Europe and America, where it premiered in the United States on October 5, 1922, to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall.
NPR has more about the song here.
Mannheim Steamroller first appeared on the holiday music scene in 1984, although founder Chip Davis had been making records beginning in 1975. They’ve produced several albums of Christmas music. This is “Carol of the Bells,” from their 2004 compilation album “Christmas Celebration.”
Two bits for your song, Mister?
Originally posted December 2015.
I never knew much about Perry Como other than he was an old-timer on TV. He was a lot more interesting than I knew. It seems his biggest ambition growing up was to own his own barber shop, and in fact he was good enough that he actually did by the time he was 14. He took music lessons from a very young age and became proficient with trombone, guitar and organ. He never took vocal lessons, but he sang at weddings as a teenager. At 17 he moved to his uncle’s barber shop in a bigger town, was invited on stage by a bandleader named Freddy Carlone and was offered a singing job almost immediately. He had to take a pay cut from $125/week barbering to $28/week singing, but he did.
Later, of course, he hosted weekly TV shows, first on CBS and then on NBC until 1967. After that he hosted Christmas specials for years; the final one was in 1994. He died just short of his 89th birthday in 2001.
Here’s one of the songs he sang for those Christmas specials.