1942 78 single release of "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby on Decca Records, 18429 A, with Ken Darby Singers and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra, Matrix # DLA 3009
Since its release, "White Christmas" has been covered by many artists. Crosby's version is the world's best-sellingsingle (in terms of sales of physical media), with estimated sales in excess of 50 million physical copies worldwide.[3] When the figures for other versions of the song are added to Crosby's, sales of the song exceed 100 million.[4][5][6]
History
Origin
Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song.[7] One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta, California, while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat also favored by writer-director-producer Frank Capra, although the Arizona Biltmore also claims the song was written there.[8] He often stayed up all night writing. One day he told his secretary, "I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it's the best song anybody ever wrote."[9]
The song established that there could be commercially successful secular Christmas songs[13]—in this case, written by a Jewish immigrant to the United States.[14] Ronald D. Lankford Jr., wrote, "During the 1940s, 'White Christmas' would set the stage for a number of classic American holiday songs steeped in a misty longing for yesteryear." Before 1942, Christmas songs and films had come out sporadically, and many were popular. However, "the popular culture industry had not viewed the themes of home and hearth, centered on the Christmas holiday, as a unique market" until after the success of "White Christmas" and the film where it appeared, Holiday Inn.[15] Dave Marsh and Steve Propes wrote, "'White Christmas' changed Christmas music forever, both by revealing the huge potential market for Christmas songs and by establishing the themes of home and nostalgia that would run through Christmas music evermore."[16]
The song initially performed poorly and was overshadowed by Holiday Inn's first hit song: "Be Careful, It's My Heart".[11] By the end of October 1942, "White Christmas" topped the Your Hit Parade chart. It remained in that position until well into the new year.[11] 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. The Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests for the song. The recording is noted for Crosby's whistling during the second chorus.[11]
In 1942 alone, Crosby's recording spent eleven weeks on top of the Billboard charts. The original version also hit number one on the Harlem Hit Parade for three weeks, Crosby's first-ever appearance on the black-oriented chart.[17] The song also topped the following weekly charts in the same year: Songs with Most Radio Plugs, National record sales, and National sheet music sales.[18] Re-released by Decca, the single returned to the No. 1 spot during the holiday seasons of 1945 and 1946 (on the chart dated January 4, 1947). The recording became a chart perennial, reappearing annually on the pop chart twenty times before Billboard magazine created a distinct Christmas chart for seasonal releases.
In Holiday Inn, the composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942.[19] In the film, Crosby sings "White Christmas" as a duet with actress Marjorie Reynolds, though her voice was dubbed by Martha Mears. This now-familiar scene was not the moviemakers' initial plan. In the script as originally conceived, Reynolds, not Crosby, would sing the song.[11] The song would feature in another Crosby film, the 1954 musical White Christmas, which became the highest-grossing film of 1954. (Crosby made yet another studio recording of the song, accompanied by Joseph J. Lilley's orchestra and chorus, for the film's soundtrack album.)
According to Crosby's nephew, Howard Crosby, "I once asked Uncle Bing about the most difficult thing he ever had to do during his entertainment career… He said in December, 1944, he was in a USO show with Bob Hope and the Andrews Sisters. They did an outdoor show in northern France… he had to stand there and sing 'White Christmas' with 100,000 G.I.s in tears without breaking down himself. Of course, a lot of those boys were killed in the Battle of the Bulge a few days later."[20]
The version most often heard today on the radio during the Christmas season is the 1947 re-recording. The 1942 master was damaged due to frequent use. Crosby re-recorded the track on March 19, 1947, accompanied again by the Trotter Orchestra and the Darby Singers, with every effort made to reproduce the original recording session.[9] The re-recording is recognizable by the addition of flutes and celesta in the beginning.
Although Crosby dismissed his role in the song's success, saying later that "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully",[21] he was associated with it for the rest of his career.
Sales figures
Crosby's "White Christmas" single has been credited with selling 50 million copies, the most by any release and therefore it is the biggest-selling single worldwide of all time. By 1968, it had already sold thirty million.[22] The Guinness Book of World Records 2009 Edition lists the song as a 100-million seller, encompassing all versions of the song, including albums.[6][7] According to analysis of PRS for Music figures, it was estimated that the song generates £328,000 of royalties per year.[23]
Crosby's holiday collection Merry Christmas was first released as an LP in 1949, and has never been out of print since.
There has been confusion and debate on whether Crosby's record is the best-selling single, due to a lack of information on sales of "White Christmas," because Crosby's recording was released before the advent of the modern-day US and UK singles charts.[24] However, after careful research, Guinness World Records in 2007 concluded that, worldwide, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" has sold at least 50 million copies, and that Elton John's recording of "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold 33 million.[4] However, an update in the 2009 edition of the book decided to further help settle the controversy amicably by naming both John's and Crosby's songs to be "winners" by stating that John's recording is the "best-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s," while maintaining that "the best-selling single of all time was released before the first pop charts," and that this distinction belongs to "White Christmas," which it says "was listed as the world's best-selling single in the first-ever Guinness Book of Records (published in 1955) and—remarkably—still retains the title more than 50 years later."[25][6]
In 1999, National Public Radio included it in the "NPR 100", which sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century. Crosby's version of the song also holds the distinction of being ranked No. 2 on the "Songs of the Century" list, behind only Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow," as voted by members of the RIAA.[30] In 2002, the original 1942 version was one of 50 historically significant recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2004, it ranked No. 5 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.
The sun is shining, the grass is green, The orange and palm trees sway. There's never been such a day in Beverly Hills, L.A. But it's December the twenty-fourth,— And I am longing to be up North—[37]
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Other versions
"White Christmas" is the most-recorded Christmas song; there have been more than 500 recorded versions of the song, in several different languages.[104] The following have received some charting success.
Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra (with Bob Carroll on lead vocal) released a version on Capitol Records that reached No. 16 on Billboard magazine's pop singles chart in 1942[105] and Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra (with Garry Stevens on lead vocal) released a version for Columbia Records that reached No. 18 on Billboard's pop singles chart[106] as did Freddy Martin and his Orchestra (with Clyde Rogers on lead vocal) for RCA Victor, reaching No. 20 on Billboard's pop singles chart (and again in December 1945, reaching No. 16).[107]
In 1944, Frank Sinatra with a backing orchestration under the direction of Axel Stordahl for Columbia, reached No. 7 on Billboard's pop singles chart (two more times: December 1945, No. 5; December 1946, No. 6)[108]Jo Stafford reaching No. 9 on Billboard's pop singles chart in 1946, with backing vocals by the Lyn Murray Singers and backing orchestration by Paul Weston for Capitol.[106]Eddy Howard and his Orchestra released a version on the Majestic label that reached No. 21 on Billboard's pop singles chart the same year[109] while Perry Como, with backing orchestration by Lloyd Shaffer, recorded the song for RCA Victor in 1947 and reached No. 23 on Billboard's pop singles chart; Como recorded a stereo version of the song in 1959.[110]
US 7-inch vinyl release (red variant) of The Drifters recording
In 1952, Mantovani and his orchestra reached No. 23 on Billboard's pop singles chart[107] while The Drifters showcased the talents of lead singer Clyde McPhatter and the bass vocals of Bill Pinkney in 1954, peaking at No. 2 on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues Records chart. It returned to the same chart in the next two years.[113] In February 1954, the Drifters recorded "White Christmas", which was released that November.[114] While the song became a No. 5 R&B hit in 1954, its popularity remained in the black community. The Drifters' rendition of this song can be heard in the films Home Alone and The Santa Clause.[115][116]
In 1953, Bing Crosby sang "White Christmas" in a film made in Paris as part of The Ford 50th Anniversary Show, a two-hour television special broadcast on NBC and CBS.[117]
Michael Bolton performed it on his 1992 non-holiday album, Timeless: The Classics, where it peaked at No. 73 on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart in January 1993.[119]Garth Brooks version included on his first holiday album, Beyond the Season, peaked at No. 70 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in January 1995.[120] In 1998 Martina McBride recorded it for her album White Christmas, charting twice, reaching No. 75 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1999, and No. 62 on the same chart in 2000[121]
The Glee cast's version of the song, sung by Darren Criss and Chris Colfer, entered the UK charts for the first time in 2018, four years after its release, at No. 98.[128]
↑ Guinness Book of Records. Guinness World Records. 2009. ISBN978-1-904994-37-4. Candle in the Wind 1997 is the best-selling single since charts began; however, not of all time. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" is still recognized as the best-selling single of all time, but since it was released before the start of many charts, its pre-1950s sales are estimated. John's 1997 song has sold the most copies when looking at copies sold since charts began, as verified in Guinness World Records.
↑ Todd, Olivier (1990), Cruel April: The Fall of Saigon, W.W. Norton & Company, p.353. For more information, see Fall of Saigon, the end of the Vietnam War.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 5152. týden 2018 in the date selector. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 5152. týden 2017 in the date selector. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
↑ "ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Select 51,52. týden 2017 in the date selector. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
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