<!–

–>

December 25, 2023

While the left continues its attempts to eradicate the word “Christmas” if not the celebration itself, it has yet to make a dent in Yuletide songs, if radio airplay is any indication.  Perhaps where you live there is at least one radio station that plays Christmas music from the day after Thanksgiving, if not sooner, until December 25.  It has become a big ratings boost for many radio stations across the U.S.  Stations that don’t go all-Christmas music usually mix some in with their regular formats.  There are some songs in particular that lift our spirits or touch our hearts year after year, including these:

‘); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1609268089992-0’); }); document.write(”); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener(‘slotRenderEnded’, function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == “div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3028”) { googletag.display(“div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3028”); } }); }); }

“White Christmas” is generally considered the granddaddy of all seasonal songs.  Introduced in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, it was written by Irving Berlin and is the most recorded song of all time.  The Bing Crosby version alone has sold over 30 million copies.  It has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra and Doris Day to Elvis Presley and Kiss.  Berlin so hated Elvis’ version he demanded that RCA remove it from sale, which they refused.

In addition to what it has done to boost the enjoyment of Christmas celebrants, its contribution to the spirits of our troops overseas during World War II is inestimable.  Brought to the troops in the form of 78 r.p.m. records contained in military-supplied “recreation kits,” heard on Armed Forces Radio and played on jukeboxes at PX stores and USO halls, it was a powerful reminder of why they were fighting.  As expressed by author Jody Rosen in his book, “White Christmas, the Story of an American Song,”  “While the song never mentioned the war it was a powerful wartime anthem inciting patriotism in its most potent form:  homesickness.”

On overseas trips to perform at USO shows, Crosby was always asked to sing his signature song.  Rosen tells of a Crosby appearance before a paratroop unit in France where a gruff sergeant approached him before the show and asked if he was going to sing “White Christmas.”

‘); googletag.cmd.push(function () { googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-1609270365559-0’); }); document.write(”); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.pubads().addEventListener(‘slotRenderEnded’, function(event) { if (event.slot.getSlotElementId() == “div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3035”) { googletag.display(“div-hre-Americanthinker—New-3035”); } }); }); }

When Crosby said he would the sergeant said he’d have to duck out.  “I’ll listen from behind the portable kitchen,” he said.  “Not good for the men’s morale to see their sergeant crying.”

Other Christmas songs that debuted during wartime were the longing-for-home “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, and Buck Ram in 1943.  “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin was first sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 movie “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

As originally written the lyrics started, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.  It may be your last.”  Garland so hated those five words they were replaced with, “Let your heart be light.”  The original Garland version included, “until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.”  But when recorded by most singers over the years those lyrics were changed to “Hang a shiny star upon the highest bough,” although Frank Sinatra has recorded both versions.  Whichever version, it is still one of the most poignant Christmas songs ever written, with an undercurrent of melancholy that captures the conflicting feelings many have at this time of year.

When Bob Hope wanted a Christmas song for his 1951 movie The Lemon Drop Kid, he turned to songwriters Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans.  As Hope tells it, the pair balked at first, calling it an almost impossible task because, they said, all the great Christmas songs had already been written.  What they eventually came up with added another great one, “Silver Bells.”  Hope sang it on every Christmas TV special up to his last one in 1994.

“The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”) was created by 19-year-old Mel Torme and Bob Wells during a sweltering summer in Palm Springs in 1945, hoping it would help them cool off.  They dashed it off in a mere 40 minutes.  When they brought it to Nat King Cole he immediately embraced it as, “My song.”

The singing cowboy, Gene Autry, almost passed up a Christmas song that has become a classic.  When first presented with “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” by writer Johnny Marks, Autry called it the silliest song ever.  He had to be cajoled into recording it, doing so in one take and washing his hands of it.  He may have changed his opinion when the royalty checks came in after the record sold 2.5 million copies in its first year, 1949, and eventually 25 million. Marks also wrote “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Holly Jolly Christmas” and others, although he was Jewish and did not celebrate Christmas.