White Christmas

[PSYCHOcatholic]

Berlin wrote the song in early 1940. A Russian-Jewish immigrant with little direct experience of the holiday, he struggled with writing a Christmas song before hitting on a light-hearted theme. The original verse pokes fun at a well-off Los Angeleno who, amid orange and palm trees, longs for traditional Christmas "up north." Berlin later dropped the verse but kept the now-famous chorus.

"White Christmas" was introduced by Bing Crosby in the 1942 musical Holiday Inn. In the film, he actually sings it in a duet with Marjorie Reynolds. The song went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Song.

The first public performance of the song was also by Crosby, on his top-rated CBS radio show The Kraft Music Hall in December 1941; that performance is not believed to have survived. He recorded the song with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers for Decca Records in just 18 minutes on May 29, 1942, and the song went on to become a mammoth hit single. (It has often been noted that the mix of melancholy — "just like the ones I used to know" — with comforting images of home — "where the treetops glisten" — resonated especially strongly with listeners during World War II.) In 1942 alone, the single spent eleven weeks on top of the charts. It returned to the #1 spot again during the holiday seasons of 1945 and 1946 (on the chart dated January 4, 1947), thus becoming the only single in history with three separate runs at the top of the U.S. charts. Eventually, Crosby's "White Christmas" single sold more than fifty million copies. The Guinness Book of World Records currently lists the song as a 100-million seller (this encompassing all versions of the song, including on albums).

Later history

The most familiar version of "White Christmas" is not, however, the one Crosby originally recorded for Decca Record's Holiday Inn album on May 29, 1942. He was called back to the Decca studios on March 19, 1947, to re-record "White Christmas" as a result of damage to the 1942 master due to its frequent use. Every effort was made to reproduce the original Decca recording session, once again backed by the Trotter Orchestra and the Darby Singers. The resulting rerecording is the one that has become most familiar to the public. Crosby himself was dismissive of the achievement, saying later that "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully."

The song was also the title theme for the 1954 musical White Christmas, starring Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, which was the biggest-grossing film of 1954.

Crosby's single of "White Christmas" is recognized as the best-selling single in any music category and Crosby's recording has sold millions of additional copies as part of numerous albums, including his best-selling holiday collection Merry Christmas, which was first released as an LP in 1949 and has never been out-of-print since.

The 2007 Guinness Book of Records lists Crosby's recording as the biggest selling single of all time with an estimated 50 million copies sold in singles and 100 million in total. The "White Christmas Musical website"[1], confirms the Guinness statistics and lists the Crosby recording as "the best selling record in history.", although this is a non-official title.

The recording was broadcast on the radio as a pre-arranged signal during the U.S. evacuation of Saigon on April 30, 1975 (see Fall of Saigon).

In 2002, the original 1942 version was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.\

I Dream for a White Christmas every year...i havent seen one in 6 or 7 years...Happy Holidays Everybody! I hope These Holidays are good for you!

[Mike]

Bing has a FABULOUS voice -my mom's dad used to play golf with Bing regularly in the 40's, even got an autographed 8x10 from him for her at her request. I've always enjoyed his movies too.

[PSYCHOcatholic]

You know hes awesome when he even sounds good singing with David Bowie.

[Tenacious_Peaches]

Bing & Bowie

[Mike]

I remember it...

Nov. 30, 1977 - Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas (CBS)

Guests: David Bowie, Twiggy, Ron Moody, Stanley Baxter, Trinity Boys Choir, the Crosby family.

One of the best moments in pop music history took place Sept. 11, 1977, when the leading American pop star of the first half of the Twentieth Century met and performed with one of the more innovative rock 'n' rollers of the last half of the Century. Bing was in London on a concert tour and to tape his yearly TV Christmas special. It was Bing's idea that he should have as a guest on his TV show a young star. Someone suggested David Bowie. Bing had never heard of Bowie, but his kids had, and so an invitation was sent to the rock star. Bowie, as it turned out, was a secret fan of Bings and jumped at the chance to perform with him.

Bing's idea was that he and Bowie would perform "The Little Drummer Boy" as a duet. Bowie felt the song did not showcase his voice very well, so the writers added "Peace on Earth," which suited Bowie's voice quite well. The two musical spokesmen of different generations met for the first time on the morning of the taping, rehearsed for an hour and finished their duet in only three takes. Bing was impressed with Bowie, and gave him his phone number at the end of the taping. Bing told an interviewer four days later that he considered Bowie "a clean cut kid and a real fine asset to the show. He sings well, has a great voice and reads lines well. He could be a good actor if he wanted."

Bing died of a heart attack, a month later on Oct. 14, 1977 after golfing 18 holes of golf carding an 85, at La Moraleja golf course near Madrid, Spain. The public did not see their performance until Nov. 30, 1977, after his death. The duet generated much interest, and was excerpted to become a perennial TV music video, a best-selling 45-rpm single and, eventually, a computer CD-ROM. Some viewed the joint performance of Bing and Bowie as a symbol of the end of the intergenerational wars of the 1960s and '70s. In 1999 TV Guide chose the duet as one of the 25 best musical television moments of the century

[RonJonSurfer]

Being a big Bowie fan, I vividly remember watching Bing's special....I always liked him too.

By the way, I pray every year NOT to have a white christmas.

[TheLizard]

Bing & Bowie

I've never seen that before. Those are two of the best voices ever to be recorded. I love it!

[Mike]

This is the number one Christmas song of ALL TIMES!

[PSYCHOcatholic]

From the looks of all the stats and sells, its ONE of the Number One Songs in general of all time!

[bazooka]

Just another item of interest concerning Der Bingle

A 2001 biography of Crosby by Village Voice jazz critic Gary Giddins says that Louis Armstrong's influence on Bing "extended to his love of marijuana." Bing smoked it during his early career when it was legal and "surprised interviewers" in the 1960s and 70s by advocating its decriminalization, as did Armstrong. According to Giddins, Bing told his son Gary to stay away from alcohol ("It killed your mother") and suggested he smoke pot instead. Gary said, "There were other times when marijuana was mentioned and he'd get a smile on his face." Gary thought his father's pot smoking had influenced his easy-going style in his films.