Stories Behind the Greatest Hits of Christmas
Ace Collins
To Brenda Lee,
for all the joy she has given
through her records and stage performances
Table of Contents
Cover Page
4 SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN
8 HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
10 HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS (RIGHT DOWN SANTA CLAUS LANE)
13 RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER
16 I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS
18 IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS
19 (THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE) HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
24 ROCKIN’ AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE
27 LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH
31 GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER BY A REINDEER
32 ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOU
Get ready to be surprised by Christmas songs!
Did you know it was a Christmas song that introduced the world to modern electronic recording? Did you have any idea that many of the greatest hits of the season were penned by Jewish songwriters? Have you ever considered how many Christmas hits do not contain a single reference to the holiday? Did you have a clue that it was a famous Christmas song that all but ruined a budding country music star’s career?
Christmas songs never really leave us. Just like clockwork, they annually come back to set the holiday mood. They are less like old songs and more like familiar friends—just like the folks who sing them. Consider that without these holiday hits, entertainers like Bing Crosby and Perry Como may have faded and their songs been buried in another era. Yet now they come back to us each year with the regularity of Santa himself and make our holidays sing.
A few special Christmas songs are like time machines: just hearing a few notes from our favorite holiday tunes can magically transport us to a cherished moment from our past.
In this book, thirty-four all-time great Christmas songs are arranged in almost chronological order according to when they hit the charts, with the exception that the first has been moved to last, to honor “Silent Night” as not just the first hit holiday recording but also the most performed Christmas song in history. Each chapter is written with the goal of making the music of the season an even more welcome annual visitor to your home and to your heart by presenting the places and the people behind them in a fresh light and by providing details you likely didn’t know about these wonderful musical Christmas cards.
As it says in one of the popular holiday carols ...
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About Stories Behind the Greatest Hits of ChristmasMuch like The Stories Behind The Best-Loved Songs Of Christmas, The Stories Behind The Great Traditions of Christmas and More Stories Behind The Best Loved Songs of Christmas this new Collins Christmas book will fill a void in the book world. With a look at these secular classics, people who love the music of the season will finally have a source that gives the stories behind the creation of these wonderful songs, the way they found their way into the hands of those who made them famous and the reason they climb the charts.The Stories Behind the Greatest Hits of Christmas is really a guide or a map that connects Christmas past with Christmas present. It will be a time machine that connect the past to the present and makes the experience of hearing Christmas classics even more special. Completed with thoughts of those who penned these classics, along with the artists, such as Brenda Lee, who made them famous, this will be a book that is sure to generate fan interest. |
| Support Info | 9780310597476 |