The festivities are filled with joyful emotions and time-honored traditions, including the playing of songs about snowmen, Saint Nicholas, evergreen trees, and gifts wrapped with big, pretty bows. No matter how you celebrate the season, you’ll hear these songs on the radio, on TV, at the mall, at the office, and just about anywhere music is played.
If you think the same songs are played over and over again, you’re right, but if this bothers you, consider the alternative: Christmas carols were banned in England between 1649 and 1660. Oliver Cromwell, serving as Lord Protector of Great Britain , believed that Christmas should be solemn and parties were also prohibited, limiting the celebrations to sermons and prayer services.
Many Christmas songs are festive, many have spiritual overtones, and all are played with such frequency that they are familiar no matter what your faith. But what do you know about how these songs were created and the people who wrote them?
There are some fascinating facts behind this memorable music. So, throw a log in the fireplace, pour yourself a hot toddy or some cold eggnog, and sit back as we reveal the secrets behind many of the tunes you’ll hear dozens of times throughout December.
“The Christmas Song”, Mel Torme and Bob Wells, 1944.
On a sweltering July day in Los Angeles, 19-year-old jazz singer Torme worked with 23-year-old Wells to create this beautiful tune. Filled with wintry imagery and an enchanting melancholy for all the delights of the season, the song became a huge hit for Nat “King” Cole the following year. In Torme’s autobiography, he says that Wells was not trying to write lyrics, but simply jotting down ideas that would help him forget about the heat wave.
“The First Christmas”, Traditional, 16th or 17th century.
Some say that this is a song of British origin, while others insist that it has French origins. So far, no one has any definitive proof. Two things are certain: first, it is very popular if two countries claim it; and second, counting the title, the word “Noel” appears in the song 30 times.
‘Listen! The Herald Angels Sing’, Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Wesley and William Cummings, 1739-1855.
Wesley’s first line was “Hear how all the welkin sound” and he protested when a colleague changed it. Wesley wanted a slow, solemn hymn for his song, but William Cummings set the lyrics to the soulful music of Felix Mendolssohn (from a cantata about the inventor of movable type Johann Gutenberg). For his part, Mendolssohn specified that his composition only appears in a secular, not a spiritual, context. So the wishes of both original authors were rejected in the creation of this glorious song.
“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1943.
The songwriting team of Martin (music) and Blane (lyrics) worked together for five decades, producing Oscar and Tony nominated songs. This hauntingly beautiful tune was made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 film, “Meet Me in St. Louis.” While the song is a bittersweet gem, the original lyrics were actually darker and not to Garland’s liking. Since she was a huge star at the time and was dating the film’s director, Vincent Minnelli (she married him the following year), the changes were made.
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, Kim Gannon and Walter Kent, 1942.
Gannon (lyrics) and Kent (songwriter) often worked together, but even with their three Academy Award nominations, nothing was as successful as this wartime song. By taking it to Bing Crosby, they secured huge sales even though it competed with Crosby’s recording of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.” The song is an all-time favorite and is often featured in movies, including “Catch Me If You Can” and “The Polar Express.”
“Jingle Bells”, James Pierpont, 1850s.
Starting out as a spirited celebration of Salem Street sleigh racing, the song called “One-Horse Open Sleigh” made a quick transition to the more sober atmosphere of the church social and became known as “Jingle Bells”. While there are four verses, usually only the first one is sung due to the lyrics of the remaining three verses. A woman named Fannie Bright appears in verse two, which also features a sleigh accident. The third verse features an anti-Samaritan laughing at a fallen sleigh driver and leaving him lying in a snowbank, while the last verse offers lines like “Do it while you’re young” and “Take the girls tonight.” Oh yeah, just good clean mid 19th century fun.
‘Joy to the World’, Isaac Watts and Lowell Mason, 1719 and 1822.
The words, inspired by Psalm 98, were penned by Watts, a British pastor, preacher and poet. Over a century later, banker and choral teacher Mason composed the music for the piece, but credited it to Handel, presumably to make the hymn more popular. It took another century to discover the deception.
“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, Johnny Marks, 1949.
Beginning as a coloring book written by copywriter Robert L. May in 1939, the story of an unloved caribou who triumphs over adversity was a promotional item for Montgomery Ward department store. May’s Fairy Tale was enormously popular, made even more so when May’s brother-in-law, composer Marks, composed the music and lyrics and gave the composition to singer Gene Autry. That version sold 2 million copies in the first year alone. While most other reindeer names were invented by Clement Moore in his 1822 poem, “The Night Before Christmas,” the hero of the May story was named Rollo. Wait, that name was rejected by the store executives, so he became Reginald. Whoops, that was also downvoted. Finally, May’s daughter suggested Rudolf.
“Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”, Haven Gillespie and J. Fred Coots, 1932.
After countless covers by stars as varied as Bruce Springsteen and Perry Como, it’s hard to believe that the Gillespie and Coots song was rejected across town because it was “a children’s song.” Although Coots was a writer on Eddie Cantor’s radio show, Cantor initially passed over the song, only agreeing to do so at the urging of his wife. Now it’s so successful that there’s even a Bob Rivers (Springsteen-esque) parody version called “Santa Claus is Foolin’ Around.”
‘Silent Night’, Joseph Mohr and Franz X. Gruber, 1816-1818.
There are numerous fanciful stories and speculations about the origin of this beautiful song. Creepier stories aside, we’re left with this: The poem, “Stille Nacht,” was written by Mohr, who became assistant pastor of St. Nicholas Church (really!) in Oberndorf, Austria. Mohr delivered the poem to Gruber, the church organist, supposedly on Christmas Eve 1818, and it was performed that same midnight. Curiously, the first version did not include an organ, but was arranged for two voices, guitar and chorus. Both Mohr and Gruber created manuscripts with different instrumentation at various times between 1820 and 1855. The tune first made its way around the world as a “yodeling folk song” before gaining enough fame to be instantly recognized with its first two or first four words. grades. . The Silent Night website (www.silentnight.web.za) claims that there are over 300 translations of the song and provides links to 180 versions in 121 languages.
“The Twelve Days of Christmas”, Traditional, 16th Century.
Well, let’s put the two most popular myths aside: the twelve days are from December 26 to January 6, and there is no hidden religious meaning in the lyrics. It is simply a song that is also a memory game. Little brother sings one line, you sing two lines, Aunt Lucy sings three lines, and so on across the room. This went on for quite a while in 1590. The “four songbirds” are another popular misconception. They are actually “four collie birds” (or blackbirds). Besides the seven swimming swans and the six lying geese, there are more birds in the lyrics than you might think, since “five gold rings” actually refers to ring-necked birds, such as pheasants.
“White Christmas”, Irving Berlin, 1942.
Sometimes considered America’s most popular Christmas song, Berlin composed it for a motion picture soundtrack (“Holiday Inn,” starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire). With its quiet power and graceful nostalgia for the simple pleasures of the past, it was the perfect song for the gloomy months of mid-World War II. Songwriter Berlin was not positive about the song when he first pitched it to Crosby, but Bing’s confidence was well founded. Spawning a movie of its own (1954’s ‘White Christmas’ with Crosby and Danny Kaye), the song hit the Top 30 nearly 20 times and has now sold more than 30 million copies. There are reportedly over 500 recorded versions of the tune in two dozen languages.