Behind The Christmas Hits with Drew Savage

What began as a Christmas present to a high school crush in 1944 turned into a #1 Christmas hit more than 25 years later.  Here are things you didn't know about Merry Christmas Darling, by The Carpenters. Merry Christmas, Darling was recorded in 1970 by The Carpenters.  It went to #1 on Billboard’s Christmas chart in 1970, 1971 and 1973.   It started off as a high school crush...

Rolling Stone calls it the greatest rock and roll Christmas song ever but it went largely unnoticed for a decade after coinciding with a tragedy.  This is the story behind…Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) It was recorded in 1963 for the album A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector.  The album gave Phil’s signature “wall of sound” treatment to well-known Chris...

It’s considered the first rock & roll Christmas song, but exactly who is responsible for that is a question that still doesn’t have a definitive answer!  Here are things you didn't know about Jingle Bell Rock. By 1957, the rock & roll sound was about to hit Christmas music…even if no one actually intended for that to happen. Jingle Bell Rock was first recorded by country singer Bobby Helms...

Let’s get into the story behind Santa Baby! Santa Baby was first recorded by Eartha Kitt and released in 1953.  It was written for a musical comedy film called New Faces.   In August of that year, lyricist Joan Javits and composer Phil Springer went for a meeting at New York’s famous Brill Building and were asked if they could write a Christmas song for Kitt to be included in...

The signature part of a classic Elvis song was just supposed to be a joke.  It’s time to go Behind the Christmas Hits: Blue Christmas.   Blue Christmas is NOT an Elvis original.   The lyrics were written by Jay Johnson, who was working on a Christmas music radio show in the late 1940’s.    Billy Hayes wrote the melody and it was first recorded by country singer...

Facing an illness that would ultimately take his life, lyricist Richard Smith wrote what he believed was his best work.  Here are things you didn't know about the Christmas hit Winter Wonderland.   Winter Wonderland is rare among Christmas songs in that it’s one of the most famous, but there’s no real consensus on who’s version is the definitive version.  Perry Como made it a top 10 hit.  Ella Fit...

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