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, may employ lyrics about the nativity of Jesus Christ, traditions such as gift-giving and merrymaking, cultural figures such as Santa Claus, or 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 American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Austrian Trapp Family, 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.
"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé. The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946.
"White Christmas" is a song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. Written by Irving Berlin for the 1942 musical film Holiday Inn, the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards. Originally sung by Bing Crosby, it topped the Billboard chart for 11 weeks and returned to the number one position again in December 1943 and 1944. His version would return to the top 40 a dozen times in subsequent years.
"Dancing in the Dark" is a popular American song, with music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Howard Dietz, that was introduced by John Barker with Tilly Losch dancing in the 1931 revue The Band Wagon. The song was first recorded by Bing Crosby on August 19, 1931 with Studio Orchestra directed by Victor Young, staying on the pop charts for six weeks, peaking at #3, and helping to make it a lasting standard.
"The Gypsy in My Soul" is a popular song written for the 50th anniversary of the University of Pennsylvania Mask and Wig show in 1937 by two Penn graduates, Clay Boland and Moe Jaffe. Boland wrote the music and Jaffe the lyrics. Although both men had long since graduated, it had become the practice at the time for professionals, rather than students, to compose songs for the show.
"Young and Foolish" is a popular song with music by Albert Hague and lyrics by Arnold B. Horwitt, published in 1954.
"The Things We Did Last Summer" is a popular song about nostalgia from 1946. The words were written by Sammy Cahn, with the composition by Jule Styne. The most well known version is the 1946 Top ten hit by Jo Stafford. Versions by Frank Sinatra and by Vaughn Monroe also charted that year. Shelley Fabares had a hit cover in 1962 on the pop chart. Several recordings have been made, including versions by Frank Sinatra, Vaughn Monroe, and Dean Martin who recorded different versions for his 1959 and 1966 Christmas LPs.
"The Bells of St. Mary's" is a 1917 popular song. The music was written by A. Emmett Adams, the lyrics by Douglas Furber, following a visit to St. Mary's Church, Southampton, England. It was published by the London company Ascherberg, Hopwood & Crew.
"A Marshmallow World" is a popular song that was written in 1949 by Carl Sigman (lyrics) and Peter DeRose (music). It was published the following year by Shapiro, Bernstein & Co. The song is about winter and is commonly regarded as a Christmas song in the Northern Hemisphere, although the lyrics make no mention of the holiday.
Gloria Shayne Baker was an American composer and songwriter best known for composing the "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Christmas carol in 1962 with her then husband, Noël Regney.
Billboard Greatest Christmas Hits is a set of two Christmas-themed compilation albums released by Rhino Records in 1989, each featuring ten popular Christmas recordings from 1935 to 1983, many of which charted on the Billboard record charts. Both volumes were certified Gold by the RIAA in the U.S., with the second volume being certified Platinum.
The Andy Williams Christmas Album is the first Christmas holiday album released by singer Andy Williams and his twelfth studio album overall. It was issued by Columbia Records in 1963, the first of eight Christmas albums released by Williams. Though it was also the album that introduced Williams's perennial holiday classic "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", Columbia instead released Williams's cover of "White Christmas" as the album's promotional single at the time.
Christmas Eve with Johnny Mathis is the fourth Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on September 23, 1986, by Columbia Records. This was Mathis's fourth holiday-themed LP and focused exclusively on secular material.
"The Village of St. Bernadette" is a song written by Australian singer Eula Parker, Parker received the 1959 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
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.
Christmas Greetings is a studio album of phonograph records by Bing Crosby released in 1949 featuring popular Christmas songs.
A Christmas Sing with Bing was a series of transcribed radio hours hosted by Bing Crosby and broadcast on Christmas Eve for eight years from 1955 to 1962. The first edition of the program was released as an LP by Decca Records in 1956. Insurance Company of North America was the broadcast sponsor.
Billboard magazine only charted Christmas singles and albums along with the other popular non-holiday records until the 1958 holiday season when they published their first section that surveys only Christmas music.
