The Christmas Song
According to Tormé, the song was written in July 1945 during an exceptionally hot summer. It was in an effort to “stay cool by thinking cool” that the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song of all time was born.
“I saw a spiral pad on his (Wells’s) piano with four lines written in pencil”, Tormé recalled. “They started, ‘Chestnuts roasting…, Jack Frost nipping…, Yuletide carols…, Folks dressed up like Eskimos.’ Bob didn’t think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off. Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics.”
t was originally titled “Merry Christmas to You” and is sometimes referred to as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”. The most famouse recording of the song was by Nat King Cole. The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946.
At Cole’s behest – and over the objections of his label, Capitol Records – a second recording was made in August utilizing a small string section. This version became a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole again recorded the song in 1953, using the same arrangement with a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, and once more in 1961, in a stereophonic version with another full orchestra arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Cole’s 1961 version is generally regarded as definitive, while the original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974. In 2022, the 1961 Nat King Cole recording was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Lyrics – Click to open
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
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe
Help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow
Will find it hard to sleep tonight
They know that Santa’s on his way
He’s loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And every mother’s child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly
And so I’m offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to 92
Although it’s been said many times
Many ways, Merry Christmas to you
And so I’m offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to 92
Although it’s been said many times
Many ways, Merry Christmas to you
iReal Chart – Click to Open
