Behind the Christmas Music: 7 Origin Stories Of Hit Christmas Songs

A few days ago I had the opportunity to appear on AiLoveMusic, talking about Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas.” I uncovered a few interesting facts about the song (notably, Elvis didn’t even want to record it), and I got to wondering: what other songs out there had odd origin stories and trivia? So I uncovered a few for today’s blog. Enjoy.

Jingle Bells

“One Horse Open Sleigh” was inspired by James Lord Pierpont’s youth in Medford, Massachusetts, which had a vibrant sleigh-racing scene in the nineteenth century. The New England Historical Society likens the tune to the Beach Boys’ song about cars and girls (just check out that risque last verse).

Pierpont had a wild youth himself, getting shipped off to boarding school at ten. He would escape at 14, joining a whaling crew. He later left his wife and kids behind in Massachusetts when he headed off in search of gold in California. A song he wrote about this period describes running from creditors.

Pierpont’s musical legacy also included “Gentle Nettie Moore,” about a young man whose love had been sold into slavery. As well as several Confederate fight songs. Despite his New England roots, Pierpont supported the South in the Civil War.

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The Twelve Days Of Christmas

So. Many. Birds. And maybe more birds than we knew, if the theory that “five gold rings” refers to ring-necked pheasants is accurate. And expensive, too: The PNC Christmas Price Index puts the price of the entire list at $39094.93.

The melody of the song may be from 1909, but the words come from an eighteenth century British drawing room “memory and forfeits” game. If you couldn’t remember the list precisely, you had to give your opponents a favor–or a kiss.

Deck the Halls

Oh! How soft my fair one’s bosom,
Fa la la la la la la la la
Oh! How sweet the grove in blossom,
Fa la la la la la la la la
Oh! How blessed are the blisses,
Fa la la la la la la la la
Words of love, and mutual kisses,
Fa la la la la la la la la

So went the original “Nos Galan,” a bawdy Welsh tune about spending New Year’s Eve in bed. Scottish tunesmith Thomas Oliphant, in an apparent bid to clear the way for his countryman’s “Auld Lang Syne,” reworked the lyrics into a Christmas jam.

Oliphant’s words underwent another change once the song hit the United States, with the Pennsylvania School Journal printing his line “fill the mead cup, drain the barrel” as “don we now our gay apparel.” What can I say, the temperance movement that would eventually lead to Prohibition was in full swing at the time.

origin stories of christmas songs

The Little Drummer Boy

Years ago, I worked in a department store where a version of this song popped up every fourth song. By December second, my boss’s eye was twitching. By the twelfth, she was hiding in the fixture room rocking back and forth. It was a dark time.

The ubiquity of the song gave rise to a challenge for Michael Alan Peck and his friends: The Little Drummer Boy Challenge, which started November twenty-third and runs through December twenty-third. (I’m out, having heard the Jessica Simpson version today.)

David Bowie absolutely loathed this song. When he agreed to appear on Bing Crosby’s final Christmas special, the songwriting team of Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan crafted the countermelody “Peace on Earth” in only 75 minutes. So while Bing goes on with the parumpapumpums, Bowie sings a poignant plea that remains unheeded.

White Christmas

“Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written—heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody’s ever written!” Irving Berlin to his secretary about “White Christmas”

According to a trivia fact I read and forget every December, “White Christmas” was written for a play that never hit the stage. Berlin repurposed it for the film Holiday Inn and in 1942, Bing Crosby’s version became the first secular Christmas song to become a hit.

Irving Berlin was one of many Jewish songwriters who contributed to our Christmas canon. In Berlin’s case, an impoverished childhood in Russia (his earliest memory was watching his family’s home burn to the ground) led him to celebrate every holiday extravagantly. Berlin’s daughter Mary Ellin wrote a memoir in which the Berlin family’s magical Christmases were recounted. According to her father, it was easier to earn more money than it was to rein in the lavish spending!

Winter Wonderland

A pair of Jewish songwriters, Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith, penned this perennial hit in 1934. Listen to the lyrics again–no mention of Christmas, although you’re not going to hear it on the radio past December 25.

The lyrics were inspired by Smith’s daydreaming about a walk through a snow-covered park in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Smith was living in a sanitarium undergoing treatment for tuberculosis at the time. Sadly, 34-year-old Smith did not live to see his song become a hit. He passed away within months of Bernard setting the tune to music.

history of christmas music

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

First sung by Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis, this melancholy madrigal has been covered numerous times, usually by artists who try to strip some of the sadness out. The initial version of the song (“have yourself a merry little Christmas/it may be your last”) was even bleaker before Garland and Tom Drake, the film’s actors, appealed to Hugh Martin to change the lyrics.

Martin’s recollection of the story doesn’t paint him in a good light. First, he claims his cowriter Ralph Blaine didn’t work on the song at all (Blaine was long dead by the time Martin made this declaration). Then he says that Garland, a big star, was unable to convince him to change the lyric but that bit-player Drake talked him into it. More likely, the film’s producers forced him to make the change. But get your misogynistic story of standing up to the director’s wife in there, I guess.

One final change would occur when Frank Sinatra told a more-pliable Martin to “jolly up” the song. And that’s how Garland’s “until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow” became “so hang a shining star upon the highest bough.”

behind the christmas music

From the maudlin to the mischievous, some of the origin stories behind Christmas tunes are a lot less anodyne than I previously knew. So as you heave a ham into your cart, listen a little closer to what’s playing over the loudspeaker.

Let me know what songs are your favorites, and don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list for a free holiday recipes booklet! Please note that the song links above are affiliate links and you will make my Christmas a little brighter if you buy anything after clicking them.

 

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4 Responses

  1. So many interesting facts and points here to read about. I like the idea of White Christmas being a song from a misicle, but it’s sad it never was preformed on stage.

  2. I never knew that Elvis never wanted to sing it!! I love his christmas songs. Thanks for this brilliant post, it was great to know the back story behind all of these classic christmas songs.

    Style & Life by Susana http://www.susanalopessnarey.com

    • melaniethehomebody says:

      I love his music as well! ailovemusic.wordpress.com has been doing Christmas music guest posts all month so definitely stop by for more origin stories! Thanks for your comment

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