The Christmas Heatwave
The extraordinary stories of why your favourite festive songs were written
THOUGH it might be a sacrilege to say it, I’m heartily sick and tired of Fairytale Of New York. Everywhere you go on the run into Christmas, the familiar warbling of Shane MacGowan is impossible to avoid. There’s obviously a touch of the ‘bah, humbug’ about me in this supposedly happy season – a fact not helped by the incessant repetition of so-called ‘classic’ tunes blaring from shops, stores and streetside singers. Is it any wonder that the Christmas season can unearth a little of the Scrooge lurking in all of us – especially given the dearth of decent Yuletide ditties to perk up our joyful emotions? Christmas, however, has thrown up an eclectic mix of timeless tunes, both wonderful and weird, down through the generations, and this, in reverse order, is my Top Ten list:
10. WHITE CHRISTMAS
SONGWRITER and composer Irving Berlin’s timeless tune was first heard on Christmas Day, 1941, just a few weeks after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbour. Sad in tone and timbre, it is a wistful song redolent of longing for better days, and became an instant hit amongst families worried about the fates of the sons and daughters engulfed by the turmoil of the Second World War. When he did his overseas tours for the US armed forces, Bing Crosby tried to avoid singing it – but to no avail: ‘I hated singing it because I could see how sad it made the servicemen, but they just kept hollering for it and I couldn’t avoid it.’
9. THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY
WHO amongst us hasn’t bawled out the line, ‘I am a poor boy too, pa-rum pa-pum-pum’ at some stage? This is a tale for all seasons, really, about the child who couldn’t afford a gift for the newborn Christ, and who instead played his drum at the manger to the joyful smiles from the king of all men. Originally a 12th-century legend retold by Anatole France as Le Jongleur de Notre Dame, composer Jules Massenet adapted the story into an opera in 1902, followed by the American classical composer, Katherine Kennicott Davis, whose 1940 version has been covered by many artists, most notably the Trapp Family Singers in 1951.
8. THE CHRISTMAS SONG
PROBABLY better known as ‘Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire’, this definitive ditty was originally conceived on one of the hottest days of 1945 in the Toluca Lake suburb of Los Angeles. Lyricist Mel Tormé arrived at the home of his writing partner Bob Wells to find all fans at full blast to counter the July heatwave. Scribbled on a sketchpad were the immortal words: ‘Chestnuts roasting on an open fire/Jack Frost nipping at your nose/Yuletide carols being sung by a choir/And folks dressed up like Eskimos.’ Wells explained the inspiration thus: ‘It’s so damn hot today, I thought I’d write something to cool myself off, and all I could think of was Christmas and cold weather.’ The song was completed in less than an hour.
7. STOP THE CAVALRY
SONGWRITER Jona Lewie never intended this modern hit as a Christmas song, but rather an anti-war anthem. But when he wrote the line, ‘I wish I was at home for Christmas’, the tune’s thrust completely changed to that of a soldier in the trenches dreaming about a festive dinner with his family. Released in November 1980, it shot straight to No. 3 in the UK charts – only kept off the number one slot by St Winifred’s Choir and John Lennon, who had just been murdered in New York.
6. DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
TURNING adversity into triumph could well be the mantra for this 1978 exemplar by Chris Rea. It was December 12, and the Geordie singer hadn’t had a hit in ages. Worse, his manager had just left him, and, as he’d been banned from driving, didn’t even have the price of a train ticket from London to Middlesbrough. His wife eventually drove down to pick him up in their clapped-out Austin Mini, and on the way home, he scribbled down the words: ‘We’re driving home for Christmas’... and that was that!
5. HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
PENNED by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine for the 1944 film Meet Me In St. Louis, it didn’t meet with the immediate approval of leading lady Judy Garland. ‘It’s so sad it will make my co-star Margaret O’Brien cry, and leave me looking like a monster,’ she said of the charming ditty. After a 48-hour rewrite, the song finally got the star’s thumbs-up.
4. CHRISTMAS WITH THE DEVIL
THIS one is guaranteed to meet with the approval of all Scrooges due to lyrics that are a long way from anything resembling goodwill: ‘There’ll be no Father Christmas/Cause it’s Evil’s holiday.’
In 1984, the era when Ozzy Osbourne was biting the heads off bats and Christians were preaching against heavy metal, fictional band Spinal Tap upped the ante, dedicating a full song to Lucifer, and terrifying grannies everywhere who didn’t get the joke.
3. ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU
HUGE is the only word for this seasonal monster by Mariah Carey that’s been a Christmas No.1 in the US for the past 20 years. At the time Mariah wasn’t sure she should delve into the Christmas market, as previously it was a genre used by artists to boost their flagging careers. But persuaded by her then husband, label boss Tommy Mottola, Mariah got into the Christmas spirit. She decked out her apartment and her recording studio with decorations to get herself into the mood — even though it was the middle of August. And so this monster hit was born.
2. O HOLY NIGHT
ORIGINALLY penned in France in 1847 to celebrate the renovation of a church organ, this song was adapted by Irish-American writer John Sullivan Dwight, an anti-slavery leader who identified with the line: ‘Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother.’ Dwight’s translation quickly gained popularity, especially in America’s north during the US Civil War.
1. SANTA BABY
WITHOUT doubt my favourite Christmas classic – especially delivered in the husky and mischievous vocals of Eartha Kitt.
But although the song was a big hit in 1953, due to a record company war, lyricist Joan Javitt was told to write five different versions which saw the song sink into obscurity until the copyright ran out in 1981. It’s now a classic, centring on a girl with very expensive tastes. Thank you, Eartha, for reminding us what really matters in this season of giving.