This is a seasonal classic written by a Jewish songwriter (Irving Berlin) for a Catholic crooner (Bing Crosby). Written in Los Angeles in 1940, it was first performed on the radio by Bing on Christmas Day 1941. It is the best selling single of all time.
I start with the California prelude because I live in Southern California. Here we don’t have white Christmases. We have to dream about them.
Not The Mall was the first song of mine I heard played on the radio. Others have since been broadcast in several different countries. But I was driving down the freeway when Not The Mall made its debut. I had no idea it was coming. What a thrill!
I’m not sure how much mall traffic there is nowadays. To update the song, I’d have to switch it to Oh, No. Not The Online Shopping Site.
But it’s good to have a little during this time of the year.
The Back Porch Group, or whatever I called it, was a great bunch of studio musicians showing why they aren’t backup singers. They were more than a bit shy at first but then jumped in with both feet. Thanks, guys!
Not really a Christmas song but definitely a winter song, Jingle Bells (originally One Horse Open Sleigh) was published in the fall of 1857. Written by James Lord Pierpont, the song has been become a favorite for children’s piano, orchestras and singers.
My opening is a big unorthodox but originally, so was the song. For the 18-hundreds, jingling your bells was pretty racy.
The Christmas Song is a legend in song-writing history. Written by Bob Wells and Mel Torme in 1945, it is widely performed.
They may have written to keep cool in the summer (songwriters do that) or just because they needed a song for Christmas (songwriters do that too) but it a great song in both lyrics and music.
First recorded by Nat King Cole (1946), it became a hit. Sadly you won’t get Nat’s voice in this version but you’ll love the chords of Richard Putnam’s arrangement.
The first Christmas wasn’t a special event. It’s wasn’t a holiday. It was just another day. Another baby was born. We didn’t know God’s plan. We didn’t know.
The song came about because I couldn’t afford the royalties for Sweet Little Jesus Boy. So I wrote my own.
The scream (or graceful vocal riff) was an artistic choice. Not sure why. Just seemed like a good idea at the time.
This is a fun song, done with a nice country beat. It’s good for toe-tapping. And humming along.
Walking in snow is, of course, best done mentally. Actual snow is cold and wet. So sit back, maybe by a fire, listen to the sleigh bells and go walking in a winter wonderland.
This is the first song I recorded for this album. Just me and David Johnson. I had never met the musicians, and felt I had to prove myself. They all stood in the control watching carefully through the window. Afterward, they all nodded and said (some directly, some directly) “Well, okay then. Let’s do this.”
I wanted this to be so soft that David and I wouldn’t wake the baby. Silent Night has that kind of intimacy. In this version, it’s just you, me and Jesus.
