While the left continues its attempts to eradicate the word “Christmas” if not the celebration itself, it has yet to make a dent in Yuletide songs, if radio airplay is any indication.  Perhaps where you live there is at least one radio station that plays Christmas music from the day after Thanksgiving, if not sooner, until December 25.  It has become a big ratings boost for many radio stations across the U.S.  Stations that don’t go all-Christmas music usually mix some in with their regular formats.  There are some songs in particular that lift our spirits or touch our hearts year after year, including these:

“White Christmas” is generally considered the granddaddy of all seasonal songs.  Introduced in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, it was written by Irving Berlin and is the most recorded song of all time.  The Bing Crosby version alone has sold over 30 million copies.  It has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra and Doris Day to Elvis Presley and Kiss.  Berlin so hated Elvis’ version he demanded that RCA remove it from sale, which they refused.

In addition to what it has done to boost the enjoyment of Christmas celebrants, its contribution to the spirits of our troops overseas during World War II is inestimable.  Brought to the troops in the form of 78 r.p.m. records contained in military-supplied “recreation kits,” heard on Armed Forces Radio and played on jukeboxes at PX stores and USO halls, it was a powerful reminder of why they were fighting.  As expressed by author Jody Rosen in his book, “White Christmas, the Story of an American Song,”  “While the song never mentioned the war it was a powerful wartime anthem inciting patriotism in its most potent form:  homesickness.”

On overseas trips to perform at USO shows, Crosby was always asked to sing his signature song.  Rosen tells of a Crosby appearance before a paratroop unit in France where a gruff sergeant approached him before the show and asked if he was going to sing “White Christmas.”

When Crosby said he would the sergeant said he’d have to duck out.  “I’ll listen from behind the portable kitchen,” he said.  “Not good for the men’s morale to see their sergeant crying.”

Other Christmas songs that debuted during wartime were the longing-for-home “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” by Kim Gannon, Walter Kent, and Buck Ram in 1943.  “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin was first sung by Judy Garland in the 1944 movie “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

As originally written the lyrics started, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.  It may be your last.”  Garland so hated those five words they were replaced with, “Let your heart be light.”  The original Garland version included, “until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.”  But when recorded by most singers over the years those lyrics were changed to “Hang a shiny star upon the highest bough,” although Frank Sinatra has recorded both versions.  Whichever version, it is still one of the most poignant Christmas songs ever written, with an undercurrent of melancholy that captures the conflicting feelings many have at this time of year.

When Bob Hope wanted a Christmas song for his 1951 movie The Lemon Drop Kid, he turned to songwriters Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans.  As Hope tells it, the pair balked at first, calling it an almost impossible task because, they said, all the great Christmas songs had already been written.  What they eventually came up with added another great one, “Silver Bells.”  Hope sang it on every Christmas TV special up to his last one in 1994.

“The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire”) was created by 19-year-old Mel Torme and Bob Wells during a sweltering summer in Palm Springs in 1945, hoping it would help them cool off.  They dashed it off in a mere 40 minutes.  When they brought it to Nat King Cole he immediately embraced it as, “My song.”

The singing cowboy, Gene Autry, almost passed up a Christmas song that has become a classic.  When first presented with “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” by writer Johnny Marks, Autry called it the silliest song ever.  He had to be cajoled into recording it, doing so in one take and washing his hands of it.  He may have changed his opinion when the royalty checks came in after the record sold 2.5 million copies in its first year, 1949, and eventually 25 million. Marks also wrote “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “Holly Jolly Christmas” and others, although he was Jewish and did not celebrate Christmas.

On December 9 this month "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, 65 years after Brenda Lee first recorded it.  Lee, now 79, recorded the Christmas classic when she was just 13.

In 1947 Autry recorded a song he had co-written, “Here Comes Santa Claus,” inspired by the anticipatory shouts of children lining Hollywood Blvd. as he rode just ahead of the Santa float in the Hollywood Christmas Parade.  To say the song must be anathema to the Left is an understatement as it contains the lyrics, “Santa knows we’re all God’s children,” “So let’s give thanks to the Lord above” and “Hang your stockings and say your prayers.” 

Autry had a third seasonal hit in 1950 with “Frosty the Snowman.”

According to the American Society of Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) the most played Christmas song as of 2022 was “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” returning to the top for the first time since 2019.  It was written by Meredith Wilson of Broadway fame and was a 1951 hit for Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters. On December 9 this month "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, 65 years after Brenda Lee first recorded it. Lee, now 79, recorded the Christmas classic when she was just 13.

The themes and lyrics of many Christmas songs beautifully express the way of life we hold dear, and serve as a temporary respite in troubled times.  When it comes to music that touches the emotions this is indeed, as Andy Williams sang, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”  Our country is blessed to have so much creative talent with the ability to capture and convey the rich sentiments of the season in music that endures both here and around the world.

Doug Gamble was among Bob Hope’s last team of writers from 1993 to 1994 and also contributed speech material to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush

Image: British Library