Stories behind Classic Christmas Songs

As Christmas season approaches, mulled wine, reindeer motifs, festive lights, gingerbread and Christmas tunes add some magical charm to our everyday life. The second article on the holiday season looks at the backstories behind six festive favourites we love listening and singing along to in December. You will read about the six most well-known and best-loved Christmas songs in this article.

Jingle Bells

 Let’s start with the most popular song, “Jingle Bells”. It is one of the oldest Christmas songs, although it wasn’t originally intended to be a Christmas carol at all but was written as a winter song. It was composed and written by James Lord Pierpont in 1850, to be sung by a Sunday school choir on Thanksgiving. The original title of the song was “One-Horse Open Sleigh”, but it became so popular in short time that just nine years later, from 1859, it was called “Jingle Bells” by American families. The international success of the song can be credited to Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters who recorded it in 1943. This song has remained a staple of many Christmas playlists ever since.

 White Christmas

“White Christmas” is also a famous and beloved but slightly melancholic Christmas song. It was written by Irving Berlin who dared not hope when composing the song that people would gladly listen to it even a decade later. Irving Berlin was Jewish and thus did not celebrate Christmas, and, moreover, a tragedy that had struck his family a couple of years earlier marred his holiday season: his three-week-old son had died on Christmas day in 1928, his family thus spent the Christmas season remembering and grieving their lost loved one.

So, the saddest Christmas song has a sad backstory, but there is still more, because it first aired, crooned by Bing Crosby, on 25 December 1941, eighteen days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hence, the song and its wistful lyrics made radio listeners think of their sons, husbands and brothers fighting in the war. It resonated especially strongly with soldiers and soon proved to be a huge success among the troops. 

“White Christmas” appeared in two major Hollywood films Holiday Inn (1942) and White Christmas (1954), both starring Bing Crosby. If you haven’t watched the films, I highly recommend them.

I’ll Be Home for Christmas

 Speaking of the Second World War, now let’s dive into the story behind another longing, wistful and sad song. It was first recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby and is sung from the perspective of a soldier serving overseas during the Second World War who longed to be home, surrounded by loved ones, at Christmas time. The song ends on a melancholy note with the soldier saying, “I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams”. Besides “White Christmas”, it became the most requested song at Bing Crosby’s many USO shows throughout the Second World War. No wonder Bing Crosby was America’s most popular actor, singer and number one star during the Second World War.

He was a deeply patriot but was too old to serve at the outbreak of the war, he thus used his celebrity status to offer some small comfort to crowds of soldiers fighting far away from their homes. Ha gave many shows at the front lines as so many others did, including Marlene Dietrich, at that time. Bing Crosby, after returning home from USO tours at the front lines, proved his humanity by sending hundreds of moving letters to the families of the Second World War soldiers. The letters said that he had had the pleasure of meeting with their sons and expressed his hope that they would come home safely soon. The letters penned by him were to let parents, moved to tears as they hadn’t heard from their loved ones, often for years, know he had met their sons.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is a popular song about children’s favourite red-nosed reindeer, Rudolph, and has multiple versions. But what is the story behind the famous song? We have to go back to 1939 when Montgomery Ward department store that still exists today decided in the midst of the Great Depression, on the brink of the Second World War, to distribute a Christmas-themed book to children as a holiday promotion. The company assigned Robert May to craft a heart-warming Christmas story featuring a little reindeer. The reindeer’s glowing red nose helps Santa Claus, struggling with the fog, complete his Christmas Eve rounds.

May came up with the idea of a red-nosed reindeer for the leading role, all that was left was for him to give it a name. He sought an alliterative name: Reginald, Rodney and Rollo were among the choices, but he settled on Rudolph. The huge success of the book paved the way for setting Rudolph’s story to music; Robert May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks wrote the lyrics and melody for “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”.

Like so many other songs, it was first sung by Bing Crosby on the radio. He probably couldn’t believe it would be a chart-topping hit and turned down the song, which proved to be a mistake. Hence, Gene Autry recorded the song in 1950, which has sold millions of copies and become one of the most-played Christmas songs.

Frosty the Snowman

 The song was released in 1950 and written for Gene Autry, especially, after he had a huge hit with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” the previous year. The song recounts the lovely tale of a snowman named Frosty who comes alive when a magical silk hat is placed upon his head. The snowman and kids proceed to enjoy a winter day devoted to dancing and roaming, only stopping once when a policeman directing traffic orders them to do so. Their adventure ends as the sun begins to shine, threatening to end Frosty’s life, but he promises to return soon. Although “Frosty the Snowman” is specifically not a Christmas story, but closely associated with winter break. Still, the song, besides “Jingle Bells”, has often been played at Christmas in recent decades.



Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Many people love the song, yet very few know that songwriter Hugh Martin, after composing it in 1944, played with it for two or three days and then threw it in the wastebasket because it sounded terrible to him. Luckily, Ralph Blane, his fellow composer, fished it out from the wastebasket and convinced him to work on it some more. It sure was convenient that Hugh Martin was hired to compose music for the film Meet Me in St. Louis starring Judy Garland, and he used it as a theme song for the film. Judy Garland sings the song in the film, but she requested a rewrite when she first heard the song, as she found it too melancholic and depressing. Judy Garland’s version of the song that is commonly sung today therefore has rewritten and more upbeat lyrics. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” has become popular and been sung by many performers, from Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby to one of today’s greatest singers, Michael Bublé.

If you liked this article, read another exciting one about Christmas shopping windows.