Christmas music comprises a variety of genres of music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of carols or songs may employ lyrics whose subject matter ranges from the nativity of Jesus Christ, to gift-giving and merrymaking, to cultural figures such as Santa Claus, among other topics. Many songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the canon for other reasons.
"The Little Drummer Boy" is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since. In the lyrics, the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Jesus. Without a gift for the Infant, the little drummer boy played his drum with approval from Jesus's mother, Mary, recalling, "I played my best for him" and "He smiled at me".
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne. The pair, married at the time, wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regney had been invited by a record producer to write a Christmas song, but he was hesitant due to the commercialism of Christmas. It has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists.
Alfred Shaddick Burt was an American jazz musician who is best known for composing the music for fifteen Christmas carols between 1942 and 1954. Only one of the carols was performed in public outside his immediate family circle during his lifetime.
Dream a Dream is the third music recording/album featuring the voice of 14-year-old soprano Charlotte Church, released in 2000. The album is principally a collection of Christmas carols, but also includes the non – Christmas title track "Dream a Dream", Charlotte's first foray into a more pop-influenced genre, composed by James Shearman and Simon Greenaway based on the melody from Fauré's Pavane with lyrics by Sam Babenia.
Saturday Night with Mr. C was Perry Como's third RCA Victor 12" long-play album, and his first recorded in stereophonic sound. The album is structured as an extended version of the request section of his popular television show, beginning and ending with his theme songs "Dream Along With Me" and "You Are Never Far Away" and with his TV request theme, "We Get Letters" used twice in the album as an intro. At the time, Perry was seen on NBC's Saturday night schedule at 8 P.M. Eastern Time.
Christmas Carousel is a 1960 studio album by Peggy Lee, arranged by Billy May.
James Taylor at Christmas is the seventeenth studio and second Christmas album by singer-songwriter James Taylor, released by Columbia Records in 2006. It was his last release for Columbia since signing with them in 1977.
The Christmas Album was the fourteenth album by The Manhattan Transfer, released in 1992 on Columbia Records.
East Tennessee Christmas is the fifty-first studio album and the second Christmas album by guitarist Chet Atkins, issued by Columbia Records in 1983.
Season's Greetings from Perry Como, originally released in 1959, was Perry Como's sixth RCA Victor 12-inch long-play album and the fourth recorded in stereophonic sound, as well as his first major full-length Christmas album.
Home for Christmas is the title of a 1989 album by Debby Boone. This was Boone's only Christmas album but was reproduced on multiple occasions. Three different editions of the album were produced; one in 1989, a CD re-release in 1992, and another CD with new cover art in 2002. There are three different versions of the cover art for the album.
The Magic of Christmas is a 1960 album by Nat King Cole, arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael.
Merry Christmas is the second Christmas album by American pop singer Andy Williams that was released by Columbia Records in 1965, and his seventeenth studio album overall. This seasonal LP is focused exclusively on 20th century compositions, unlike 1963's The Andy Williams Christmas Album, which, of its 12 tracks, had six with origins predating the turn of the century.
Perry Como's Christmas Concert is a 1994 live album by Perry Como. It was Como's final recording before his death in 2001. Taped live at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, before an audience of 4,500, including Irish President Mary Robinson, it was also issued on videotape and aired on PBS. The videotape of the concert shows a man who appears frail and unwell. Como reportedly was suffering from the flu and struggled to perform, losing his voice at one point during the concert. The finished version of the concert is less than 90 minutes long; the recording took more than four hours to complete. Despite it all, Como managed to complete his last recorded performance with dignity and professionalism, earning him the applause of his audience. Como apologized to his audience for a performance he felt was not up to his usual standards.
Give Me Your Love for Christmas is the third Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis and was released by Columbia Records on October 13, 1969. The oldest song selected for this project was the 1934 classic "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", which meant there were not the traditional hymns that could be found on his previous Christmas outings. He did, however, cover several other contemporary Christmas favorites along with a few new and lesser-known songs, such as the title track, which was a reworking of an unreleased recording of his from 1961, and "Christmas Day", which came from the then-current Broadway musical Promises, Promises. New versions of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "The Little Drummer Boy", which he also recorded in 1963 for his previous Christmas LP, Sounds of Christmas, made the final track list here as well.
One Silent Night... Volume 1 is a Christmas album by Neil Zaza released in 2002.
Gold: A 50th Anniversary Christmas Celebration is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 19, 2006, by Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings. It includes selections from four of the first five Christmas albums that he had recorded: Merry Christmas, Sounds of Christmas, Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis, and The Christmas Album. Two tracks that were recorded with other artists are also included: "O Tannenbaum", which comes from Mannheim Steamroller's 2001 album Christmas Extraordinaire, and a medley duet of "Winter Wonderland" and "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" with Bette Midler from her 2006 holiday album Cool Yule.
A Merry Mancini Christmas is a 1966 album by Henry Mancini of orchestral and choral arrangements of Christmas music. In addition to traditional Christmas songs, it also contains the original Mancini composition "Carol for Another Christmas", the theme of the 1964 television film of the same name.
The Complete Christmas Collection 1958–2010 is a three-disc box set by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in 2015 by Real Gone Music under license from Columbia Records. The set includes Mathis's five holiday albums from the period in their entirety: Merry Christmas, Sounds of Christmas, Give Me Your Love for Christmas, Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis, and The Christmas Album. It also compiles all of Mathis's holiday songs that were only released as singles, as well as thematically-appropriate tracks from his non-holiday albums: "When a Child Is Born" from I Only Have Eyes for You, the holiday version of "What a Wonderful World" from Let It Be Me, and his two recordings of "Ave Maria" from Good Night, Dear Lord, which bookend the set.
