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.
Harold Ray Ragsdale, known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian, known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "Misty", as well as novelty hits such as "Gitarzan" and "The Streak". Stevens has received gold albums for his music sales and has worked as a producer, music arranger, and television host. He is also an inductee of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Christian Music Hall of Fame, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
I Have Returned was Ray Stevens' twenty-second studio album and his second for MCA Records, released in 1985. The pictures on both the front and the back of the album were taken in the Mississippi Sound near Biloxi, Mississippi according to the album credits. The cover depicts Stevens dressed as General Douglas MacArthur from World War II. "The Haircut Song" and "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone" were released as singles from the album. "Santa Claus Is Watching You" is a re-recording of Stevens' 1960s pop single and was re-issued as a country single around the time of the album's release and was made into a popular music video.
"Misty" is a jazz standard written in 1954 by pianist Erroll Garner. He composed it as an instrumental in the traditional 32-bar format, and recorded it for the album Contrasts. Lyrics were added later by Johnny Burke. It appeared on Johnny Mathis' 1959 album Heavenly, and this recording reached number 12 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart later that year. It has since become Mathis’ signature song.
Santa Claus Lane is the debut studio album and first Christmas album by American singer Hilary Duff. It was released in the United States on October 15, 2002, by Buena Vista Records. The holiday album contains covers of Christmas songs, including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "Jingle Bell Rock" "Wonderful Christmastime", "Sleigh Ride", and "Last Christmas". The album also features guest appearances from Christina Milian, Romeo Miller and Hilary's older sister Haylie Duff.
This Is Ray Stevens is the second album by Ray Stevens. It was released in 1963 by Mercury Records on the catalog numbers of MG 20828 and MG 60828. Like Stevens' previous album, 1,837 Seconds of Humor, all of the songs were written by Ray Stevens and published by Lowery Music Company, Inc. (BMI). The differences between both albums is that Stevens makes an attempt to prove his artistic versatility on this album by including six comical novelty songs and six ballads of serious music.
"Ahab the Arab" is a novelty song written and recorded by Ray Stevens in 1962.
Bob Heatlie was a Scottish songwriter and record producer who collaborated with many music acts, both bands and solo artists. He also produced multiple musical scores for television entertainment series.
Cledus Navidad is a Christmas album released by country music artist Cledus T. Judd. The track "Merry Christmas from the Whole Fam Damily", included here, was previously on his 2000 album Just Another Day in Parodies. Also featured are two cover songs: "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" and "Santa Claus Is Watching You". "Stephon the Alternative Lifestyle Reindeer" was later recorded by Mac McAnally on his 2004 album Semi-True Stories.
Southern Rain is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Billy Ray Cyrus released October 17, 2000. The album sold 14,000 copies in its first week of release and would go on to sell over 160,000 copies. It produced five singles on the Hot Country Songs charts, including the number 17 "You Won't Be Lonely Now". This was his first album for Monument Records after leaving Mercury Records in 1999.
The discography of the American country, pop, and novelty artist Ray Stevens consists of 50 studio albums, 125 singles, 3 live albums, 67 compilation albums, 3 box sets, and 1 extended play. Stevens released his first single in 1957 and his first full album in 1962. Dozens of Stevens' singles have charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and two of them reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: "The Streak" and "Everything Is Beautiful". The former and a cover of the jazz standard "Misty" are his biggest hits on the country charts.
Pure Connie Smith is the twenty-ninth solo studio album by American country singer Connie Smith. It was released in November 1977 via Monument Records and contained ten tracks. The album was Smith's first with the Monument label. The album was recorded in a country pop production style featuring mostly new recordings. One single was released from the album, "Coming Around". The song charted the American country songs chart in 1977.
Even Stevens was Ray Stevens' third studio album, released in 1968. It was also his first album for Monument Records as well as his first studio album in five years, though he previously released four singles for Monument, starting with "ABC" in 1965. Before the release of this album, Stevens concentrated on writing and producing songs for other artists.
Gitarzan was Ray Stevens' fourth studio album, released in 1969, as well as his second for Monument Records. Unlike his previous album, Even Stevens, this album is completely in the genres of novelty and comedy. Although this is a true studio album, all of the songs are overdubbed with cheering and applauding of an audience to provide the feeling of a live album. Contents include three of the Coasters' hits, "Mr. Custer," and "Alley Oop." The album also contains re-recordings of his two novelty hits, "Harry the Hairy Ape" and "Ahab the Arab." "Freddie Feelgood " makes its first appearance on an album but is overdubbed with audience noises for this album.
Have a Little Talk With Myself is the fifth studio album by Ray Stevens and his third and final for Monument Records, released in 1969. Stevens left Monument in early 1970 and signed with Andy Williams' Barnaby Records label. This album is quite different from Stevens's previous albums, for he concentrates on interpreting the works of other writers, and only contributes two of his own compositions. The cover versions include Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", the First Edition's hit "But You Know I Love You", two songs from the musical Hair, three songs of the Beatles, Blood, Sweat & Tears' hit "Spinning Wheel", and Joe South's hit "Games People Play".
All-Time Greatest Hits is a collection of 23 songs that were previously recorded by Ray Stevens, released in 2001. Like many collections of Stevens' music, it concentrates 99% on recordings that were made for the record labels of Monument and Barnaby. The one exception is the first track, "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon," an unsuccessful hit that was released in 1960 by the NRC label. "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" makes its first album appearance on this collection. The rest of the selections were recorded between the years of 1966 to 1975.
Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 is a collection of ten previously released singles by Ray Stevens, released in 1987. Of the selections of songs, three were recorded for the record label of Monument Records, four for Barnaby Records, one for RCA Records, and two for MCA Records. The version of "Gitarzan" is the album version that begins with cheering and applauding of an audience. The version of "Ahab the Arab" on this compilation is not the original recording but a re-recording that Stevens made for his album Gitarzan during his career with Monument.
Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 is a collection of ten previously released singles by Ray Stevens, released in 1987. It is the second volume of the Greatest Hits package of Stevens' music that was released by MCA Records. Of the ten selections on this volume, the fifth track, "Mama's in the Sky With Elvis," makes its first album appearance. Additionally, this collection consists of five recordings for MCA Records, two for Warner Bros. Records, two for Monument Records and one for Mercury Records.
20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Ray Stevens is a 12-track collection of previously recorded songs by Ray Stevens, released in 2004. It consists of the biggest hits he had from 1961 to 1987, starting with his breakthrough hit "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills" to his hit "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex". Unlike many compilations of Stevens' music, this collection contains the original recordings of "Ahab the Arab" and "Harry the Hairy Ape", which were re-recorded for Stevens' fourth studio album Gitarzan. The selections of "Freddie Feelgood", "Mr. Businessman" and "Gitarzan" are album versions, the first and third of which were featured on Gitarzan. Inside the album cover are information on the featured singles and a biographical essay written by Gene Sculatti back in December 2003. In the essay, Sculatti mistakenly says that Gitarzan is the one who shouts, "Shut up, baby! I'm tryin' to sing!" in the song "Gitarzan", as it is actually Jane who shouts this phrase.
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.
