White Christmas (album)

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White Christmas
White Christmas cover
Studio album by Bing Crosby

White Christmas (formerly Merry Christmas) is a collection of holiday recordings by Bing Crosby first released in 1945. It is the best-selling Christmas album of all time and has remained in print for over 60 years.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Silent Night," recorded March 19, 1947 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers.
  2. "Adeste Fideles," recorded June 8, 1942 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Max Terr's Mixed Chorus.
  3. "White Christmas," recorded March 19, 1947 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers.
  4. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," recorded June 8, 1942 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Max Terr's Mixed Chorus.
  5. "Faith of Our Fathers," recorded June 8, 1942 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Max Terr's Mixed Chorus.
  6. "I'll Be Home for Christmas," recorded October 1, 1943 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra.
  7. "Jingle Bells," recorded September 27, 1943 with the Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and His Orchestra.
  8. "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," recorded September 27, 1943 with the Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and His Orchestra.
  9. "Silver Bells," recorded September 8, 1950 with Carole Richards and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra.
  10. "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas," recorded October 1, 1951 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires.
  11. "Christmas in Killarney," recorded October 1, 1951 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires.
  12. "Mele Kalikimaka," recorded September 7, 1950 with the Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and His Orchestra.

[edit] History

  • White Christmas was originally released as Merry Christmas, an album of five 78 rpm records in 1945 (Decca A-403). This set included the original 1942 recording of "White Christmas," as well as "Silent Night," "Adeste Fideles," "Let's Start the New Year Right," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," "Danny Boy," "Faith of Our Fathers," "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town."
  • The album was reissued on four 78 rpm discs (A-550) in 1947 with Bing's 1947 re-recording of "White Christmas" and without "Danny Boy" and "Let's Start the New Year Right."
  • In 1949 Merry Christmas was released as a 10-inch 33rpm long-playing record (LP) with the same eight songs and cover (DL-5019). In 1951 Decca gave the LP a new cover but no change in content.
  • In 1955 the 12-inch LP (DL-8128) made its debut with four additional songs ("Christmas in Killarney," "It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas," "Mele Kalikimaka" and "Silver Bells").
  • In 1986 Merry Christmas was transferred to compact disc (MCAD-31143) and included these same 12 songs.
  • In 1998, following the release of the double-CD Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas, MCA changed the name of the Merry Christmas album to White Christmas but kept the contents unchanged.

[edit] Trivia

The March 19, 1947 recording of "White Christmas" heard on this recording, and almost all other extant pressings, is actually a re-recording of the song with the same orchestra and chorus, in an attempt to re-create the original May 1942 recording as closely as possible. The reason was an unprecedented occurrence: The original 1942 recording rapidly became the largest selling record in history up to that time. By 1947 the original master had actually worn out and was no longer usable, hence the necessity to re-record the song. The versions are, of course, very similar, but conductor Trotter took a somewhat gentler approach to the song in the 1947 recording.

This 1950 recording of "Silver Bells" was one of the first - if not the first - commercial recordings of the song, though it did not become well known until a year later when it was sung in the soundtrack of the film "The Lemon Drop Kid" by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell. The vocalist with Crosby on this recording of "Silver Bells" is Carole Richards, who had a brief career in the early to mid 1950's, most notably in the MGM cast recording of "Silk Stockings". It has been said that the vocalist on this recording of "Silver Bells" was actually Rosemary Clooney, but that is incorrect. Clooney did record the song with Crosby at a later date, but that is not the recording heard on the White Christmas album.

See Also: White Christmas (soundtrack)

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