Winter Wonderland

Pop Christmas song hits seem to have become a thing of the past. They went out with the 45 rpm record and live local radio not subjected to the tight constraints and alternative reality of political correctness. Once upon a time things were very different.
Early popular Christmas music existed as carols and hymns, their growth and popularity spread by mouth-to-ear and by published scores (aka sheet music).  
With the arrival of commercial radio and distributed mass-produced recordings in the 1920's, the recording industry thrived and there was always a demand for new songs and writers were always in search of something to write about.
Thousands of new "Christmas songs" were written and recorded, particularly in the 40's, 50's and 60's.
Most of them were easily forgettable, but every now and then a classic seemed to be born and would return to the airwaves and record shops every Christmas season.
Hopefully, between now and the end of the year, we can take a closer look at some of those songs.

Let's begin with a song that technically isn't even a Christmas song, but it always has been identified with the Christmas season.

Winter Wonderland was written in 1934 by Richard B. Smith (lyrics) and Felix Bernard (music). At the time, Smith was hospitalized in Scranton, Pennsylvania, suffering from tuberculosis, and would die from it within a year. 

We know that during the 1934 Christmas season at least three recorded versions made an impact with airplay and sales.

The first recording was done in New York City by Richard Himber & His Ritz-Carlton Orchestra featuring Joey Nash on vocals. 

On 11 November 1934 the song was recorded by Ted Weems & His Orchestra with Parker Gibbs on vocals. Personally, I feel this is the most significant of the early recordings as it was the first to perform the song in an up tempo festive manner, which is how it is best known today.

 

The most successful recording of Winter Wonderland in 1934 was the one done by Guy Lombardo and his orchestra, The Royal Canadians.

 

The song enjoyed renewed interest during the 1946 Christmas season, with hits by 3 different artists.

The first one was by, once again, Guy Lombardo....sort of. It was done by The Andrews Sisters with music provided by Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians.

 

Perry Como released his first recorded version of the song in 1946.

 

 

The biggest hit of Winter Wonderland in 1946 was recorded by famed songwriter Johnny Mercer. Johnny was on Capitol and their muscle-bound distribution network might have had something to do with that as, to me, the recording is painfully slow.  

 

So, by the 1950's, Winter Wonderland was a well-established Christmas pop song that was regularly recorded. From the late 40's to the early 60's there were some nice versions that stood out from most of the others, but I'm going to skip over them and jump ahead to 1963 when, in Los Angeles,  Phil Spector put together a classic LP of secular Christmas songs using several of the artists in his stable along with the famed Wrecking Crew group of LA studio musicians. The LP was released 50 years ago yesterday...the same Friday of the JFK assassination. Several songs from that LP have enjoyed many years of radio popularity. Darlene Love was selected to sing Winter Wonderland.

The days of vinyl pretty much came to an end during 1986 and with it the whole concept of Christmas novelty singles. In 1987 an assortment of American (Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, The Pointer Sisters, Whitney Houston, John Mellencamp, Run DMC, Madonna, Bob Seger, Bon Jovi), British (Eurythmics, The Pretenders, Sting, Alison Moyet), Irish (U2) and Canadian (Bryan Adams)  musicians submitted Christmas song recordings for a charity CD called A Very Special Christmas. (The first of many.) Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox (Eurythmics) submitted their recording of Winter Wonderland and according to the one of the two major performance rights organizations, this version is still running strong 25+ years later and is the most popular version of the 21st century to date.