Better Practice Blog- Stories Behind Holiday Song Favorites
Stories Behind Holiday Song Favorites
It’s December!… Which means you hear the same songs being broadcast and performed everywhere you go, all the time. You sing along, almost mechanically, to the same lyrics you’ve heard every year since you were a child. Have you ever stopped to wonder where the lyrics came from? How old are these songs, and who wrote them? It turns out there’s interesting stories behind many popular holiday tunes - some involving sadness, pain, fear, and illness. Here are 4 of the most popular Christmas songs and their interesting backstories. Reading these will give you a new appreciation for the lyrics you’re (almost) tired of already!
1. “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, a song so light and jolly, unexpectedly came to be at a peak of personal sadness and pain.
As America recovered from the Great Depression, singer Eddie Cantor saw the need for a happy, light holiday tune to lift spirits. He contacted many publishers, one of whom contacted a writer named Haven Gillespie. Gillespie, however, had just learned of his brother’s death and declined, saying he was not in the mood or mental state to write something so happy and hopeful. After several attempts by the publisher to convince him otherwise, Gillespie left and boarded a subway. On this ride home, Gillespie began to reminisce about early Christmases with his family, remembering how his mother would often tell her children, “You better watch out, you better be good, because Santa Claus is soon coming to town!” He penned out the verses, met with his friend and composer John Coots, who set it to music. Within 24 hours, he had a song ready to send back to the publisher. Eddie Cantor sang the song for the first time on radio in 1934. It was an immediate hit and sold over 30,000 records and hundreds of copies of sheet music in the first 24 hours. Sadly, the popular song reminded Gillespie of his brother’s death every time he heard it, and its popularity made it hard for him to escape it. (source: Stories Behind the Greatest Hits of Christmas by Ace Collins)
2. “Winter Wonderland” came about when the writer, dying of a terminal disease, reminisced about his childhood winters.
Richard Smith was fighting and undergoing therapy for tuberculosis when he penned the lyrics to this song. Smith, a songwriter, was, for the most part, bedridden and just waiting to die. He had traveled to receive treatment and was looking out the window when he saw children playing in the snow. They were having snowball fights, building snowmen, laughing and playing. He remembered his own childhood winters and began to think of lyrics. He suddenly felt compelled to finish what he believed may be his best work. Revitalized by this project, he took the lyrics to his friend and composer Felix Bernard, who put his words to music. The first recording was by Richard Himber and his Hotel Ritz-Carlton Orchestra. As other singers and orchestras covered it through the years, the tune remained a top Christmas hit (although there is no mention of Christmas anywhere in the lyrics). (source: Stories... by Ace Collins)
3. “Jingle Bells” started out as a raunchy song of teenage boys’ dating rituals.
The original tune was named “One-Horse Open Sleigh” and was deemed to racy to be performed by children. It contained verses about the dating rituals of teenage boys in the wintertime - namely how they liked to race in the ‘one-horse open sleighs’ and get girls. The author, James Pierpoint, was the rebellious son of abolitionist Unitarian minister Reverend John Pierpoint. James held opposite views from his father and supported the Confederacy. As a child, he ran away from boarding school to join a whaling ship. As an adult, he was often leaving his wife and children for years at a time to pursue is own interests (like the Gold Rush). In this vein, the original lyrics of the tune make sense coming from him - but because it was such a catchy (and mostly happy) tune, the racy lyrics were omitted and this is the version we hear today. An interesting background to such an innocent tune today! (source: history.com)
4. “O Come, All Ye Faithful” was born out of cultural and religious divide, from a priest who was living in exile and fearing for his life.
In 1745, a cultural war broke out between the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church. As an English Catholic priest, John Francis Wade was a wanted man - so he and many others fled to France, fearing for their lives. He began work there translating ancient church music. Inspired by the music he was transcribing, he wrote a couple of songs of his own in a similar style and language. The first versions of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” were published in France under his name, but his name was omitted from the first English translations (most likely because of his status as an exile from the Church of England). Many people claimed authorship of the song through the years, but Wade wasn’t rightly credited until the late 1940’s when a scholar discovered his original written and signed music. (source: Stories... by Ace Collins)
What other interesting stories behind holiday songs do you know about? Let us know in the comments below, or share this article to help students see more behind their holiday favorites!