There Is No Christmas Like a Home Christmas
The Little Drummer Boy
Sleigh Ride
(Everybody's Waitin' for) The Man with the Bag
Marshmallow World
Silver Bells
Frosty the Snowman
It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
Suzy Snowflake
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Santa Baby
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
(There's No Place Like)Home for the Holidays
The Christmas Waltz
Mary's Boy Child
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Mistletoe And Holly
Jingle Bell Rock
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
The Chipmunk Song(Christmas Don't Be Late)
Run Rudolph Run
Dónde Está Santa Claus?
"There Is No Christmas Like a Home Christmas" kicked off the decade with an original version of this pop Christmas song by Perry Como released in 1950. Como's 1968 charted version is a re-recording which peaked at No. 28 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December of that year. It featured orchestration by Nick Perito and the Ray Charles Singers on backing vocals.
"The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. It was recorded in 1955 by the Trapp Family Singers, and further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale. This version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since.
In the lyrics the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the nativity where, without a gift for the infant Jesus, he played his drum with the Virgin Mary's approval, remembering "I played my best for Him" and "He smiled at me".
The song was originally titled "Carol of the Drum" and was published by Davis as based upon a traditional Czech carol. Davis's interest was in producing material for amateur and girls' choirs: her manuscript is set as a chorale, the tune in the soprano with alto harmony, tenor and bass parts producing the "drum rhythm" and a keyboard accompaniment "for rehearsal only". It is headed "Czech Carol freely transcribed by K.K.D", these initials then deleted and replaced with "C.R.W. Robinson", a name under which Davis sometimes published.
http://youtu.be/DT1fA59oH7Q
"Sleigh Ride" is a popular, light orchestral piece composed by Leroy Anderson.
The composer had the original idea for the song during a heat wave in
July 1946; he, subsequentially, finished the work in February 1948. The lyrics, about a person
who would like to ride in a sleigh on a winter's day with another person, were written by Mitchell Parish in 1950. The orchestral version was first recorded in 1949 by Arthur Fiedler and The Boston Pops Orchestra. The song was a hit record on RCA Victor Red Seal 49-0515 (45 rpm) / 10-1484 (78 rpm), and has become the equivalent of a signature song for the orchestra. The 45 rpm version was originally issued on red vinyl.
Leroy Anderson recorded his own version of "Sleigh Ride" in 1950 on Decca 9-16000 (45 rpm) / 16000 (78 rpm). This recording hit the Cashbox magazine best sellers chart when re-released in 1952.
According to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers [ASCAP] review of Christmas music, "Sleigh Ride" consistently ranks in the top 10 list of most performed songs written by ASCAP members during the Christmas season worldwide.
http://youtu.be/vwHEqx_3BYE
"(Everybody's Waitin' for) The Man with the Bag" is a Christmas song written in 1950 by Irving Taylor, Dudley Brooks, and Hal Stanley.
The man with the bag is a reference to Santa Claus who drops off
presents from his sleigh to people who have “been extra special good.”
The song was originally made popular by Kay Starr and regularly appeared on Billboard’s list of most popular Christmas songs. The song has been covered by many artists to include The Brian Setzer Orchestra. The TV show Ally McBeal borrowed the song’s title for a December 11, 2000 episode that featured Vonda Shepard singing the song.
"Marshmallow World" (sometimes called "A Marshmallow World" or "It's a Marshmallow World") is a popular Christmas song that was written in 1949 by Carl Sigman (lyrics) and Peter DeRose (music). Although it has been recorded by many artists, it was first a hit for Bing Crosby
(backed by The Lee Gordon Singers and the Sonny Burke Orchestra).
Crosby's version (recorded in 1950) peaked at number 24 on the pop
singles chart in January 1951. A few years later, Dean Martin's version became a Christmas favourite.
TEvans.This classic was first performed by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in the motion picture The Lemon Drop Kid, filmed in July-August 1950 and released in March 1951. The first recorded version was by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards, released by Decca Records in October 1950. After the Crosby and Richards recording became popular, Hope and Maxwell were called back in late 1950 to refilm a more elaborate production of the song.
"Silver Bells", inspired by a tiny bell Livingston and Evans had on their work desk, started out as the questionable "Tinkle Bells." Said Evans, "We never thought that tinkle had a double meaning until Jay went home and his [first] wife said, "Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word tinkle is?'" The word, as most people today know, is child's slang for urination!
http://youtu.be/sNOLio4i02U
"Frosty the Snowman" is a popular Christmas song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950. It was written after the success of Autry's recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
the previous year. Rollins and Nelson shipped the new song to Autry,
who recorded "Frosty" in search of another seasonal hit. Like "Rudolph",
"Frosty" was subsequently adapted to other media including a popular television special. The song was originally titled "Frosty the Snow Man". The song supposedly takes place in White Plains, NY or Armonk, NY. Armonk has a parade dedicated to Frosty annually.
In 1969, the Rankin-Bass company, in association with Mushi Production of Japan, produced a thirty-minute animated television special of Frosty the Snowman that featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the title character.
"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" is a classic Christmas song written in 1951 by Meredith Willson. The song was originally titled "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas". The song has been recorded by many artists, but was a hit by Perry Como and The Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra on September 10, 1951, and released on RCA Victor as 47-4314 (45 rpm) and 20-4314 (78 rpm). Bing Crosby recorded a version on October 1, 1951, which was also widely played.
"Suzy Snowflake" is a song written by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, made famous by Rosemary Clooney in 1951 and released as a 78 RPM record by Columbia Records, MJV-123.
The song describes a scene where a child walks downstairs from his/her bedroom on Christmas Eve to see his/her mother kissing "Santa Claus" (presumably his/her father in a Santa Claus costume) under the mistletoe.
Boyd's record was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church in Boston when it was released on the grounds that it mixed kissing with Christmas, ignoring the fact that mistletoe, under which many couples kiss, is traditionally hung in many homes during the Christmas season. Boyd was photographed meeting with the Archdiocese to explain the song. After the meeting, the ban was lifted!
http://youtu.be/tieqz7JSYm8
"Santa Baby" is a 1953 Christmas song written by Joan Javits (the niece of Senator Jacob K. Javits) and Philip Springer. Although Tony Springer is listed as co-writer, he was a legal fiction created for purposes of membership in the performing rights organization BMI.
The song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list sung by a woman who wants extravagant gifts such as sables, yachts, and decorations from Tiffany's. It is one of only two hit Christmas songs written by a woman. (The other one is Carol of the Drum by Katherine K. Davis, more often called The Little Drummer Boy.)
"Santa Baby" was originally recorded by Eartha Kitt with Henri René and his orchestra in New York City on October 6, 1953. It was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-5502 (in the USA), and by EMI on
the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 10728. The song was a
huge hit for Kitt, and she later said that it was one of her favorite
songs to record; she reprised it in the 1954 film New Faces. Kitt also re-recorded the original song in 1963 on Kapp Records, with a more uptempo arrangement. Madonna's popular rendition for the 1987 charity album A Very Special Christmas was based on this latter version.
"I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" is a Christmas novelty song written by John Rox (1902–1957) and performed by Gayla Peevey (10 years old at the time) in 1953. The song peaked at number 24 on Billboard magazine's pop chart in December 1953.
The best-known recordings were made by Perry Como, who recorded the song twice. The first recording, done on November 16, 1954, was released as a single for Christmas, 1954 by RCA (catalog number 20-5950-B on 78rpm and 47-5950-B on 45rpm). The flip side was "Silk Stockings" (which appeared in the Cash Box magazine top 50). "Home for the Holidays" reached #8 on the Billboard magazine chart in the United States. The next Christmas it was released again, with "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" as the flip side, as RCA 20-6321-A and 47-6321-A.
Como's second recording of the song, in stereo and with a different musical arrangement, was made on July 15, 1959. It was released as a 33rpm single (RCA catalog # VP-2066), with flip side "Winter Wonderland" in the US.
http://youtu.be/yHDgzQ6eQw4
Cahn recalls, "One day during a very hot spell in Los Angeles the phone rang and it was Jule Styne to say, 'Frank wants a Christmas song.'" Cahn resisted, explaining that any notion of attempting a holiday hit so closely on the heels of Irving Berlin's hugely successful "White Christmas" was "ridiculous", but Styne was emphatic. "'Frank wants a Christmas song.'"
The two met in Styne's apartment to begin work on the project, and Cahn asked the composer, "'Hey, Jule, has there ever been a Christmas waltz?' He said no. I said, 'Play that waltz of yours.' He did so," and Cahn began work on the lyrics of "The Christmas Waltz", which many other artists have also recorded.
http://youtu.be/cGaPDWMzYGw
"Mary's Boy Child" is a 1956 Christmas song, written by Jester Hairston. It is widely performed as a Christmas carol.
The song had its genesis when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend. The friend asked him to write a song for a birthday party. Hairston wrote the song with a calypso rhythm because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians.
Some time later Walter Schumann, at the time conducting Schumann's Hollywood Choir, asked Hairston to write a new Christmas song for his choir. Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm from his old song and wrote new lyrics for it.
Harry Belafonte heard the song being performed by the choir and sought permission to record it.
It was recorded in 1956 for his album An Evening with Belafonte. An edited version was subsequently released as a single, reaching #1 on the UK charts in 1957.
http://youtu.be/UZ4FK1uXm_U
One of the best-known covers of the song was performed by the disco group Boney M. from 1978 - "Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord." This version returned the song to the top of the UK charts. It is one of the best-selling single of all time in the UK and had sold 1.85 million copies by November 2012. The version by Harry Belafonte sold 1.18 million copies in the UK.
"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is a Christmas carol based on the 1863 poem "Christmas Bells" by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The song tells of the narrator's despair, upon hearing Christmas bells,
that "hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to
men". The carol concludes with the bells carrying renewed hope for peace
among mankind.
It was not until 1872 that the poem is known to have been set to music. The English organist, John Baptiste Calkin, used the poem in a processional accompanied with a melody he previously used as early as 1848. The Calkin version of the carol was long the standard. Elvis Presley, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, MercyMe, Steven Curtis Chapman, Johnny Cash, and Jimmie Rodgers have recorded this version.
Johnny Marks, known for his song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", set Longfellow’s poem to music in the 1950s. Marks' version has been recorded by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians, Ed Ames, Kate Smith, Frank Sinatra, Sarah McLachlan, Harry Belafonte, The Carpenters, and Bing Crosby. Marks' composition is now commonly used for modern recordings of the carol, though Calkin's version is still heard as well.
Johnny Marks (November 10, 1909 - September 3, 1985) was an American songwriter. Although he was Jewish, he specialized in Christmas songs and wrote many holiday standards, including "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (a hit for Gene Autry and others), "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (a hit for Brenda Lee), "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (recorded by the Quinto Sisters and later by Burl Ives), "Silver and Gold" (for Burl Ives), and "Run Rudolph Run" (recorded by Chuck Berry).
In 1956, the Crosby version (released as a single), reached #55 in the Music Vendor survey.
"Mistletoe And Holly" is a 1957 Christmas song recorded and co-written by Frank Sinatra. It was released as a single on Capitol Records.
"Jingle Bell Rock" is a popular Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas time since then. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal (1900–1967), and James Ross Boothe (1917–1976).
Despite being titled a Jingle Bell "Rock", Helms' version of the song was performed in the crossover style known as rockabilly.
Bobby Helms' original version on Decca 9-30513 from 1957, was re-recorded by him on Kapp K-719 in 1965 and yet again in 1967 on Little Darlin' LD-0038. In 1970, Helms recorded an entire album titled "Jingle Bell Rock" on Certron C-7013, releasing from the album the title track on Certron C-10021 with a picture sleeve. In yet another re-recording, Helms released a version on Ashley AS-4200 (year unknown). In 1983, Bobby Helms released his last recording of "Jingle Bell Rock" on Black Rose 82713.
Helms's original version charted at No. 13 on Billboard's Most Played C&W by Jockeys chart, a predecessor to the Hot Country Songs chart. After it was featured on the soundtrack to the 1996 film Jingle All the Way, the original version returned to the country charts in late 1996-early 1997, reaching a peak of No. 60.
http://youtu.be/JBjN7qVFcrY
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958 on Decca 9-30776.
Despite her mature-sounding voice, Lee recorded this song when she was
only 13 years old. Although there is a "rock" reference in the title, the song's instrumentation also
fits the country music genre, which Brenda Lee more fully embraced as
her career evolved. The recording features Hank Garland's ringing guitar and Boots Randolph's swinging solo sax break.
Although Decca released the single in both 1958 and again in 1959, it
did not sell well until Lee became a popular star in 1960. That Christmas holiday season, Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. It continued to sell well during subsequent holiday seasons, peaking as high as No. 3 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1965.
"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is a 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 fictitious singing group consisting of three chipmunks by the names of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. The song won three Grammy Awards in 1958: Best Comedy Performance, Best Children's Recording, and Best Engineered Record (non-classical).
The song was very successful, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100
Pop Singles chart, becoming The Chipmunks' first (and only), as well as
David Seville's second and final, No. 1 single. It has the distinction
of being the only Christmas record to reach No. 1 on the same chart. The
single sold 4.5 million copies in seven weeks, according to Ross
Bagdasarian, Jr. Ironically, before the song's success, "The Chipmunk Song" was featured on American Bandstand's "Rate-A-Record" segment and received the lowest possible rating of 35 across the board.
"Run Rudolph Run" is a Christmas song popularized by Chuck Berry and written by Johnny Marks
and Marvin Brodie and published by St. Nicholas Music (ASCAP). The song
was first recorded by Berry in 1958 and released as a single on Chess
Records (label no. 1714). It has since been covered by numerous other
artists, sometimes under the title "Run, Run, Rudolph". The song is a 12-bar blues, and has a clear musical parallel to Chuck Berry's very popular and recognizable song "Johnny B. Goode", and is also melodically identical to Berry's "Little Queenie", released in 1959.
"Dónde Está Santa Claus?" (Spanish for Where is Santa Claus?) is a novelty Christmas song. Twelve year old, Augie Rios had a hit with the song in 1959 which featured the Mark Jeffrey Orchestra. The 45 record single was backed with the song "Ol' Fatso (I Don't Care
Who You Are Old Fatso, Get Those Reindeer Off My Roof)." Written by
George Scheck, Rod Parker, and Al Greiner, and copyrighted in 1958, the
copyright was renewed and is owned by Ragtime Music. The song "Dónde
Está Santa Claus?" has now been immortalized in a toy called "Animated
& Musical Singing Puppy", made in Hong Kong, China, and distributed
in the U.S. in 2011. The song was originally released on MGM Records' Metro label. It can now be found on various YouTube videos.
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