Merry Christmas, Baby

From Blue Christmas to Christmas blues........

Merry Christmas, Baby has been recorded a surprisingly number of times in the first dozen years or so into this century. I'm not sure who inspired the flurry of activity, but it may have been the recording released by Bruce Springsteen back in 1978.

The song was first recorded in Los Angeles in 1947 by Johnny Moore's Three Blazers featuring Charles Brown on vocal.

 

 

 

It remained popular over the next several Christmas seasons and as one record label was bought out by another, the recording appeared on several labels.

On 27 October 1950, the Lionel Hampton Orchestra recorded it with Sonny Parker on vocal.

 

Johnny Moore wasn't done with the song and neither was Charles Brown.
Around 1952 Moore recorded it again when he was with Modern Records and had his common law wife, Mari Jones, do the vocal. I don't believe this recording was ever issued until 2007.

 

By the 4th of September 1956, Charles Brown was performing on his own and was doing a recording session in New Orleans with many of the legendary NOLA studio musicians and he recorded the song again. This time it was released on Aladdin Records, and 5 years later on Imperial after they acquired Aladdin.

 

Up to this point the song had remained outside of the mainstream pop market. All that changed on the 19th of November 1958 when rock 'n' roll hero Chuck Berry recorded it in Chicago. Chuck's recording, with some great ivory tinkling by Johnnie Johnson, is well known so below is offered an alternate take recorded at that session.

 

The following year, 1959, finds Charles Brown still in New Orleans and still recording Merry Christmas Baby. This time it came out as a single on Teem Records.

 

In fact, Charles would go on to record the song several more times. In 1968 new recordings were issued by both King and Kent Records and in 1970 another version came out on Jewel and he didn't stop there. If you do happen to hear Charles singing Merry Christmas Baby on the radio, it is most likely one of these later recordings, but we're going to leave Charles in the 1950's.

Just as Chuck Berry exposed the song to an entire new market in 1958, in 1964 Ike and Tina Turner turned it into a soul blaster! I was undecided whether to feature the mono version or stereo version of this. The stereo mix somewhat diminishes the backing vocals by The Ikettes, but the mono version compresses the horn section to the point they almost sound like they're in the next room, so the stereo won out. This version of the song even inspired 73 year old Mae West to record a rousing rock 'n' soul version of it in 1966. I thought about adding that to this post, but decided against it. It has nothing to do with the evolution of the song.

 

 In 1967 newly crowned international soul king Otis Redding recorded his own upbeat version of the song with the backing of Booker T. & The MG's. Unfortunately, just as the 1967 Christmas season was getting underway, Otis was killed in a plane crash. The song hit the airwaves at Christmas 1968.

 

Bruce Springsteen tours were a huge event in the late 70's, as they remain all these years later, and Christmas season performances always included some Christmas songs. In 1978 he released a live recording of Merry Christmas, Baby that is an unabashedly tip of the hat to Otis Redding and also opened the song up to yet another semi-generation.

 

Blue Christmas

Blue Christmas has been recorded by hundreds of people since Elvis' Christmas Album came out in 1957. However, as you may suspect, the song was around before Elvis included it on that LP.
Elvis didn't do too many original songs and it's difficult to tell who inspired him to record Blue Christmas. His version was quite unique and remains the benchmark of the song 56 years later.

Blue Christmas was written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson and was first recorded by western singer Doye O'Dell in 1948.

 

 

The following year several recorded versions became hits. The first one, and biggest hit while remaining within the Country & Western circuit, was by Ernest Tubb.

 

Trombonist and orchestra leader Russ Morgan hit the charts with his version, on which he also did the vocal. Russ took the western type song and turned it into a very sappy and souless tune in the style very typical of the early 1950's. There were hundreds of great recordings made during the early 1950's, but they were all outside of the pop mainstream market. If necessity is the mother of invention, then rock 'n' roll was destined to happen by mid-decade. How much is that doggy in the window, indeed! (Of course, rock 'n' roll was around long before the mid-50's, but you know what I mean.) 

 

Russ wasn't the only muzak master of Blue Christmas in 1949. Band leader Hugo Winterhalter recorded it twice. First during his brief stay on Columbia, from which he quickly jumped ship to Mercury where he recorded it again.

 

 

The following year, 1950, Hugo was involved in a third recording of Blue Christmas when his orchestra backed Billy Eckstine doing the song.

 

On the 5th of September 1957, Elvis recorded his version and most likely saved the song from historic obscurity.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This Christmas song has been recorded by hundreds of people (in this century alone). With a wide range and many sustained notes, it gives a singer a good opportunity to show off their chops.

Written by Hugh Martin for the 1944 film Meet Me In St. Louis, it made its public debut on 29 November 1944 sung by Judy Garland.

 

Needless to say, there were many people away from home during Christmas 1944 and the song made a larger impact than the film itself. 

Frank Sinatra recorded the song, for the first time, on 26 June 1947 in Hollywood. The recordings from that session were scrapped for some reason and were all redone on July 3.

 

Ten years and 13 days later, 16 July 1957, Frank recorded it again in LA, and this recording was certainly one of the most popular recordings of the song you'd hear on the radio for quite a few years.

 

There have been so many recordings of this song made in the past 60 years, it really doesn't make much sense to even try to note them. Let's close out the post with two recordings that received a lot of airplay for a number of years after their release. The first one is sung by Karen Carpenter....from 1978.

 

and this one by Chrissie Hynde in 1987.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town was written by Haven Gillespie (lyrics) and J. Fred Coots (music) in 1932. (Gillespie also wrote the lyrics to That Lucky Old Sun which appeared on this blog in an earlier post.)
The song was first recorded by banjo player Harry Reser & His Orchestra with vocals by Tom Stacks for Decca Records on October 24, 1934. However, before the record was released the song was performed by Eddie Cantor on his radio show sometime in November, which resulted in orders for about 100,000 copies of the sheet music the following day.
Since then it has been recorded hundreds of times and is a very recognizable Christmas song.
The song hasn't evolved much in the past 79 years. It's always been a very uptempo song. As musical styles have come and gone it has been adapted to fit those genres. From big bands to crooners to vocal harmony groups to pop groups to rockers. Some of the earliest recordings rocked. I wouldn't want to try and nominate any particular recording as the definitive one. I know in my younger days you heard the 1959 Perry Como recording a lot on the radio, then in the mid-60's the recording by The Crystals was popular for a time. Bruce Springsteen brought it back in the mid-70's.
I've selected several recorded versions to illustrate its beginnings and sustainability through its first 50 years. 
Sorry, but I don't have time to track down any label shots or photo's tonight.

Harry Reser & His Orch. (Tom Stacks - vocal) 

Recorded 24 October 1934

 

 Tommy Dorsey & His Orch. 

(Cliff Weston & Edythe Wright - vocals)

Recorded 26 September 1935

 

Woody Herman & His Orch.

from 1942

 

Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters

Recorded 29 September 1943

 

Perry Como with The Satisfiers from 1946

This has not been re-issued in any form in over 60 years.

 

Frank Sinatra

Recorded 28 December 1948

 

Patti Page

from 1951

 

Perry Como....again

from 1959

 

The Harmony Grits

from 1959

 

Ella Fitzgerald

from 1960

 

Skip Jackson & The Shantons

from 1960

 

The Crystals

from 1963

 

The Supremes

from 1965

 

The Jackson 5

from 1970

 

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band

at Hofstra University 12 December 1975

unreleased - promo copies given to radio stations

 

The Pointer Sisters from 1987

sounds like the above Springsteen recording minus the vocal

 

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.