One of the best ways to get into the holiday spirit is to listen to Christmas music. Whether you’re singing carols to the neighbors, enjoying a Christmas CD while baking those delicious cookies, or tuning into the radio’s holiday selection while wrapping presents, Christmas music is infectious. You just can’t help but to sing along. However you enjoy your X-mas music, make sure these top Christmas songs are in your repertoire this holiday season.
The story of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was written in 1939 by Robert L. May, a copywriter for the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward department stores, as a promotional gift for the store’s customers. The stores had bought and distributed coloring books every Christmas and saw writing their own story as a way to save money.
Run, Rudolph, Run, sometimes referred to as “Run, Run, Rudolph” is a Christmas song popularized by Chuck Berry and written by Johnny Marks and Marvin Brodie and published by St. Nicholas Music. The song was first recorded by Berry in 1958 and released as Chess Records 1714. It hit number 69 in the Billboard Hot 100 and also made the 1963 UK list, peaking at number 36.
Please Come Home for Christmas is a Christmas song, released in 1960, by the American blues singer and pianist Charles Brown. Hitting Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in December 1961, the tune Brown co-wrote with Gene Redd peaked at position number 76. It appeared on the Christmas Singles chart for nine seasons, hitting number 1 in 1972.
Happy Xmas is a Christmas song by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band. It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October of 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. It features soaring, heavily echoed vocals, and a sing-along chorus. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir and are credited on the song’s single.
Mele Kalikimaka is a Christmas song sung as a warm greeting from Hawaii. The song takes its title from the phrase Mele Kalikimaka, derived from the Hawaiian pronunciation of Merry Christmas. The song was written in 1949 by Robert Alex Anderson who is better known to fans of Hawaiian and hapa haole music as R. Alex Anderson.
Last Christmas is a Christmas song by British pop duo Wham, released on Epic Records in 1984, on a double A-side with Everything She Wants. It was written by George Michael, one half of the duo. The song has been covered by many artists throughout the years. The single sold well over a million copies and became the biggest selling single in UK chart history not to reach number 1.
The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late) is a Christmas song written by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville) in 1958. Although it was written and sung by Bagdasarian (in the form of a high-pitched 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.
Wonderful Christmastime is a 1979 Christmas song by Paul McCartney. It is one of McCartney’s best known solo songs, and it enjoys significant Christmas time popularity in the UK and other English-speaking countries. The notable synthesizer riff was played on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, which was also used on Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes” and the Doobie Brothers “What a Fool Believes.”
This rendition of White Christmas was recorded by Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters in 1953. Their recording of the song peaked at number 2 on Billboard’s R&B chart in December 1954. The Christmas song received a boost in the early 1990s, when it was prominently featured in the film Home Alone during a scene in which the lead character Kevin is applying his father’s aftershave while lip syncing the lyrics.
This song was written by songwriter Johnny Marks, who had already written the Christmas classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, a song that proved so popular the stop-motion animators at Rankin-Bass created a half-hour TV special to expand on the song. Ives was brought in for star power, to play the banjo-playing host and narrator, Sam the Snowman, and take over several songs originally slated for the character of Yukon Cornelius.
Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers was one of the hottest blues attractions on the West Coast when their recording of Merry Christmas Baby reached position 3 on Billboard’s R and B Juke Box chart during the Christmas of 1947. Guitarist Johnny Moore commandeered an impressive lineup of players for the recording session, including bassist Eddie Williams, guitarist Oscar Moore (then of the King Cole Trio), and singer/pianist Charles Brown.
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