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Christmas in Berkshire
c/o LiaiseOnline Limited
1 Clewer Hill Road
Windsor
Berkshire
SL4 4BU
Tel: 01753 852904
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c/o LiaiseOnline Limited
1 Clewer Hill Road
Windsor
Berkshire
SL4 4BU
Tel: 01753 852904
View map
Christmas Songs Trivia
In our recent article ‘Who was Good King Wenceslas?’ we put together some stories and trivia about our most popular Christmas carols. This week we’ve done the same with popular Christmas songs. You can probably guess which is the most popular song (clue: it has ‘White’ in the title...) but did you know it had to be re-recorded when the master copy wore out? Read on to find out more...
‘White Christmas’ is the most-recorded song in history. The most familiar version is Bing Crosby's which has sold over 31 million copies to date. His original version was recorded in 1942 for the film ‘Holiday Inn’ and proved so popular that it had to be re-recorded 5 years later when the master copy (used for pressing the records) literally wore out. The 1947 version is the one we’re all familiar with. The song was written by Irving Berlin in December 1937 whilst staying in Beverly Hills, homesick for his family back in New York. Hot on the heels of White Christmas, ‘The Christmas Song’ (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) is another contender for the most-played Christmas song trophy. It was written in 1945 by 19-year-old Mel Torme and collaborator Bob Wells during a swelteringly hot summer day in Palm Springs. They decided a way to cool down was to write a Christmas song, which they apparently dashed off in a mere 40 minutes. Many of our best-loved Christmas songs made their debut during wartime, capturing the feelings of longing for home. ‘I'll Be Home for Christmas’ is a great example, as is the classic ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ performed by Judy Garland in the 1943 movie ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’. As written, the song originally began with the grim lyrics ‘Have yourself a merry little Christmas. It may be your last.’ She changed the line to ‘Let your heart be light’. Nonetheless the song remains one of the most poignant Christmas songs ever written. Songwriter Johnny Marks presented ‘singing cowboy’ Gene Autry with a novelty Christmas song in 1940. Autry hated the song, initially refusing to record it, and finally giving in and rushing through it in one take. The result, ‘Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’ went on to sell over 2 million copies in its first year alone. He followed up in 1947 with his self-penned ‘Here Comes Santa Claus’, also recorded 10 years later by Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley’s 1971 Christmas LP ‘The Wonderful World of Christmas’ was recorded in the height of summer. To get the musicians in festive mood, the studio erected a 12” Christmas tree complete with lights, tinsel, and wrapped Christmas presents (actually empty boxes).
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