Must Be Santa
Please Come Home for Christmas
Baby's First Christmas
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Do You Hear What I Hear?
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
That's What I Want For Christmas
Pretty Paper
Little Saint Nick
The Man With All The Toys
A Holly Jolly Christmas
Christmas Time Is Here
My Favorite Thing
Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy
We Need a Little Christmas
Snoopy's Christmas
Old Toy Trains
What Christmas Means To Me
"Must Be Santa" is a Christmas song written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks and first released in November 1960 by Mitch Miller. A cover version by Tommy Steele reached Number 40 on the UK Singles Chart in the same year.
Based on a German drinking song, "Must Be Santa" is structured as a call and response, with the lead singer posing the question of who has a certain feature, with a chorus responding that Santa Claus has said feature. After every other verse, the list of features mentioned up to that point is reiterated, followed by the chorus of "must be Santa" repeated three times and ending with "Santa Claus."
http://youtu.be/k1vf1DYJphA
In November 2009, Bob Dylan covered Brave Combo's version of the song in a polka style for his Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart. The New York Daily News described Dylan's version as such: "It's sort of unclear if Dylan (...) was aiming to celebrate the holiday, or gently poke fun at the music's Norman Rockwell-esque simplicity." Dylan's version has the names of several USA presidents mixed in with the list of Santa's reindeer--only one of the mentioned presidents had served in the White House when the song was originally published. The song is one of two by Dylan that includes a raucous party in the background.
http://youtu.be/a8qE6WQmNus
"Please Come Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song, released in 1960 by the American blues singer and pianist Charles Brown. Hitting Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in December 1961, the tune Brown co-wrote with Gene Redd peaked at position #76. It appeared on the Christmas Singles chart for nine seasons, hitting #1 in 1972. It includes a number of characteristics of Christmas music, such as multiple references in the lyrics to the Christmas season and Christmas traditions, and the use of a Church bell type sound, created using a piano, at the start of the song. It is sometimes referred to as "Bells Will Be Ringing", which are the first four words of the song.
http://youtu.be/itdNoGtPQ3I
"Baby's First Christmas" peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Middle-Road Singles chart and at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in December 1961; and No. 13 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1965. It was initially recorded by Connie Francis and features the Don Costa Orchestra.
Unfortunately, sometime this past year, YouTube has rendered all copies of Connie's song unavailable! The link I have provided is to the audio file in my Dropbox. Here's hoping you can d/l it for a listen!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bj7091sljq7fudh/Connie%20Francis%20-%20Baby%27s%20First%20Christmas.flac?dl=0
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is a Christmas holiday song originally sung by Darlene Love and included on the 1963 Christmas compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. The song was written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry along with Phil Spector, with the intentions of being sung by Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes. According to Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector was not able to put as much emotion into the song as needed. Instead, Love was brought into the studio to record the song which became a big success over time and one of Love's signature tunes.
In December 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" first on its list of The Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs, saying that "nobody can match Love's emotion and sheer vocal power."
http://youtu.be/4EvZOXEoJ84
Darlene Love has performed the song every year since 1986 on the final new episode before Christmas of Late Night with David Letterman (NBC 1986-92) and the Late Show with David Letterman (CBS 1993–present). One exception was 2007, when Love was unable to perform due to the Writers' Strike, with a repeat of her 2006 performance shown instead. She performs the song with Paul Shaffer and the show's house band (The World's Most Dangerous Band at NBC, now the CBS Orchestra). The band has been augmented over the years by additional strings and other instruments, as well as a full choir. In 2000, the US Air Force Singing Sergeants were the choir.
http://youtu.be/rkaWqneQ0Tg
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a Christmas song written in October 1962 with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne Baker. The pair were married at the time, and wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists.
Regney wrote the lyrics for the song, while Gloria Shayne composed the Christmas carol's music in October 1962. This was an unusual arrangement for the two writers. Usually it was Shayne who wrote the lyrics for their songs while Regney composed the music, as they did when they wrote a song based on the classic children's song "Rain Rain Go Away".
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" was released shortly after Thanksgiving in 1962. The song was originally recorded by the Harry Simeone Chorale, a group which had also popularized "The Little Drummer Boy" back in 1958. It went on to sell more than a quarter-million copies during the 1962 Christmas holiday season.
http://youtu.be/JmYIbKqH45A
Bing Crosby made the song into a hit when he recorded his own version of it on October 21, 1963, with the record being released as a single on October 26. Crosby also performed the song on a Bob Hope Christmas television special on December 13 of that year. Over the years, Crosby's recording of the song has been widely played on the radio, and has been available on numerous compilation Christmas albums and compact discs put out by Capitol Records. It is perhaps the most often-heard version of the song.
http://youtu.be/cB2rsF8EgEY
"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is a popular Christmas song written in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle. It was recorded and released that year by pop singer Andy Williams for his first Christmas album, The Andy Williams Christmas Album. However, the song was not released as a promotional single by Williams' record label (Columbia Records) that year, as they instead opted to promote his cover of "White Christmas" as the official promo single from the album.
The song is a celebration and description of activities associated with the Christmas season, focusing primarily on get-togethers between friends and families. Among the activities included in the song is the telling of "scary ghost stories," an activity that is more commonly associated with Halloween than Christmas (although one such story, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, is indeed told most often around Christmas). Other activities mentioned include hosting parties for friends that come to call, roasting marshmallows (presumably over a fireplace and not a campfire as in the summer), and singing Christmas carols.
In a 2005 interview, Williams discusses how The Andy Williams Show figured into his recording of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year": "George Wyle, who is a vocal director, wrote all of the choir stuff and all of the duets and trios and things that I did with all the guests, he wrote a song just for the show - I think the second Christmas show we did - called "Most Wonderful Time of the Year". So I did that, you know, every Christmas, and then other people started doing it. And then suddenly it's become - not suddenly but over 30 years - it's become a big standard. I think it's one of the top 10 Christmas songs of all time now."
In the issue of Billboard magazine dated November 28, 2009, the list of the "Top 10 Holiday Songs (Since 2001)" places the Williams recording of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" at No. 5. 2001 also marked the first year in which the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (also known as ASCAP) started compiling data regarding the radio airplay of holiday songs, and although the Williams classic started out at No. 25 of twenty-five songs that were ranked that year, it gained steam over the next ten years, reaching No. 18 in 2002, No. 13 in 2003, and eventually getting to No. 4 in 2010.
The song was also selected as the theme song for Christmas Seals in both 1968 and 1976.
http://youtu.be/73UqDX_quk0
"That's What I Want For Christmas" was originally recorded and made popular by Nancy Wilson in 1963. The song peaked at No. 6 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1963 and at No. 26 on the same Billboard chart in December 1964.
Once again...YouTube has deleted all of Wilson's versions of the song. In its place here is a link to Deja Hall's take on this 60's classic:-
http://youtu.be/i-9DeMnTofc
Here is another version by Wilson in my Dropbox:-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vltiw9dw6vzqrdt/Nancy%20Wilson%20-%20That%27s%20What%20I%20Want%20For%20Christmas.mp3?dl=0
"Pretty Paper" is a pop Christmas song, written by country singer Willie Nelson, which was a hit in 1963, when it was recorded by Roy Orbison. It peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 10 on Billboard's Middle-Road Singles chart in January 1964. It also charted on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1964, peaking at No. 27.
http://youtu.be/jOgsyNAsoWc
"Little Saint Nick" is a Christmas song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love and originally performed by their group The Beach Boys. It was first released as a single on December 9, 1963, and peaked at No. 3 on Billboard magazine's special seasonal weekly Christmas Singles chart, while also reaching No. 69 on the regular weekly sales chart surveyed by Cashbox magazine. Despite a media-hushed Christmas in mourning for recently assassinated President John F. Kennedy, the single went into the Top Tensof several major radio markets. Eventually, over several more Christmases, it was credited as an unofficial (non-RIAA audited) million-seller. The song borrows its rhythm and structure from the group's 1963 hit "Little Deuce Coupe".
http://youtu.be/P-vAZabkn3U
"The Man With All The Toys" is another Christmas song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American rock band The Beach Boys. It was released on their 1964 album The Beach Boys' Christmas Album. As a single that year it had limited success (No. 6 on the Billboard Christmas chart), but built sales over successive Christmases and is listed by Billboard in the Top 100 selling Christmas songs in history, though well below their 1963 Christmas single "Little Saint Nick".
http://youtu.be/-_vY9S_LCTk
"A Holly Jolly Christmas" was a huge Christmas hit for Burl Ives in 1964. It peaked at No. 13 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1964, and charted again on the same Billboard chart in December 1968 (peaking at No. 29). Written by Johnny Marks in 1962, and first recorded by The Quinto Sisters, it was made famous by Ives in the 1964 holiday television special Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The song subsequently appeared on the album Have a Holly Jolly Christmas released by Decca/MCA Records in October 1965.
http://youtu.be/6ucFNY-1ns0
"Christmas Time Is Here" is a popular Christmas song written Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi (Hal Leonard Publishing Co.) for the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas, one of the very first animated Christmas special produced for network TV in the United States. Since the song had become a hit, it was then released on the album A Charlie Brown Christmas as two tracks: an instrumental version by the Vince Guaraldi Trio and a vocal version as sung by the cast of the television special.
http://youtu.be/GPG3zSgm_Qo
"My Favorite Things" is a popular show tune, originally from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. In recent times, due to the winter-related imagery in the lyrics, it has become popular as a Christmas song.
The song was first introduced by Mary Martin and Patricia Neway in the original Broadway production and sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film.
In the musical, the lyrics to the song are a reference to things Maria loves, such as "Raindrops on roses and Whiskers on Kittens, Bright Copper Kettle and Warm Woolen Mittens". These are the things she selects to fill her mind with when times are bad.
http://youtu.be/t-cLMYWdgiE
"Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy" is a country-flavoured Christmas song co-written and recorded by Buck Owens. After its recording in 1965, the song has been covered by several country music artists, including Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, and Brad Paisley.
The song was released on November 8, 1965, with "All I Want for Christmas, Dear, Is You" on the B-side. It placed at number 2 on the yearly Christmas singles chart issued by Billboard at the time.
http://youtu.be/1XdnA2DVp5M
"We Need a Little Christmas" is a popular Christmas song originating from Jerry Herman's Broadway musical, Mame, and first performed by Angela Lansbury in that 1966 production.
In the musical, the song is performed after Mame has lost her fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and decides that she, her young nephew Patrick, and her two household servants "need a little Christmas now" to cheer them up. The original lyrics include the line, "But, Auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now!" Since the time the song was written the phenomenon of Christmas creep has resulted in the normal holiday season beginning much earlier than it once did, which has led to more recent recordings changing the line to, "But, Auntie Mame, it's one week from Thanksgiving Day now!"
http://youtu.be/_FB3h8IFCro
"Snoopy's Christmas" is a song performed by The Royal Guardsmen in 1967. It continues to be played as a holiday favorite on most "oldie" radio stations, however is also often played on radio stations playing a Hit Music format as well as Adult Contemporary format stations. While these stations wouldn't normally play music from this era radio stations will make exceptions to mix certain Christmas songs with the usual playlist during the Holiday period. Due to a chart department policy instituted by Billboard magazine, the "Snoopy's Christmas" single never appeared in the Hot 100. It was, however, shown at #1 on a specialty list called "Best Bets For Christmas". Cash Box magazine peaked the song at #10. The publication Record World peaked the song at #17.
http://youtu.be/ruirnUfaC5U
"Old Toy Trains" is the title of a Christmas song written and recorded by Roger Miller. It was released in late 1967 as a single for Smash Records. Miller wrote the song in 1967 for his son, Dean Miller. Released on Smash Records late in the year, the song ended an eight-year ban on Christmas single releases by the label. An uncredited review in Billboard gave Roger Miller's original version a positive review, saying that "Miller has composed one of his most moving and touching ballads for all ages which he performs to perfection."
Once again, copyright laws have made it virtually impossible to provide a link to original material! Here is a decent cover:-
http://youtu.be/dKAem0FgwFo
"What Christmas Means To Me" is the name of several different Christmas songs. The most-covered version was written by Allen Story, Anna Gordy Gaye, and George Gordy. It has been recorded by many artists, including the original version from 1967 by Stevie Wonder on the album Someday at Christmas.
http://youtu.be/qW9HxycgYlg
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