WELCOME... THIS IS CHRISTMAS!!! TOP TEN FAVORITE CHRISTMAS SONGS, PART 1

Welcome everybody to this new entry of Montcada in English – Christmas Edition. As I told you before, this is a very special month for me and my family, because of the season. Music has been an important part of Christmas traditions all around the world. Few things are able to express the spirit who involves the season as music. Carols, pop songs, hymns and so on have been part of the traditions that are related to this festivity.

Based on what the German composer Ludwig von Beethoven once said  - "Music is ... A higher revelation than all Wisdom & Philosophy" - today I’d like to share My Top 10 list of favorite Christmas songs, maybe not to provide wisdom or philosophy but to help you to feel the amazing spirit of the holidays. I have divided the post in two parts. I hope you enjoy part 1.

My Top 10 favorite Christmas’ songs (10 – 6)

10. Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a song written by Johnny Marks based on the eponymous 1939 story published by the Montgomery Ward Company.

In 1939 Marks' brother-in-law, Robert L. May, created the character Rudolph as an assignment for Montgomery Ward, and Marks decided to adapt the story of Rudolph into a song. Marks (1909–1985), was a radio producer who also wrote several other popular Christmas songs.

The song was sung commercially by crooner Harry Brannon on New York City radio in early November 1949, before Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 in the U.S. charts the week of Christmas 1949. Autry's version of the song also holds the distinction of being the only chart-topping hit to fall completely off the chart after reaching No. 1. The official date of its No. 1 status was for the week ending January 7, 1950, making it the first No. 1 song of the 1950s.

The song was also performed on the December 6, 1949, Fibber McGee and Molly radio broadcast by Teeny (Marion Jordan's little girl character) and The Kingsmen vocal group. The lyrics varied greatly from the Autry version.

Autry's recording sold 1.75 million copies its first Christmas season, eventually selling a total of 12.5 million. Cover versions included, sales exceed 150 million copies, second only to Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".

Click here to watch the video

9. Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934. It became an instant hit with orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records sold within 24 hours.

The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934 featuring Tom Stacks on vocal, the version shown in the Variety charts of December 1934. The song was a sheet music hit, reaching #1. The song was also recorded on September 26, 1935, by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra.

Bruce Springsteen performing Santa Claus is Coming to Town

The song is a traditional standard at Christmas time, and has been covered by numerous recording artists. The 1951 version by Perry Como was the first measurable hit, and in 1963 the Four Seasons version charted at #23 on Billboard. In 1970 Rankin-Bass produced an hour-long animated television special based on the song, with narrator Fred Astaire telling the original story of Santa Claus. Many contemporary artists have recorded and performed various versions of the song, including a rock version by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band in 1971 or 1985. The song was recorded in a 1975 live version and eventually released first in 1982 as part of the Sesame Street compilation album In Harmony 2 and again in 1985 as a B-side to "My Hometown", a single from the Born in the U.S.A. album. Live performances of the song by the band often saw the band encouraging the audience to sing some of the lyrics with or in place of the band singing them (usually the line "be good for goodness sake", though the band would also sometime encourage the audience to also sing the key line "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" as well), and sometimes to sing along with the song completely, though many times crowds would do so even without the encouragement and the band would do nothing to dissuade those audiences who did so, and it remained a crowd favorite during the months of November and December when the group would perform. The band is among the few that would keep the song in their roster of songs during the holidays.

Click to watch how Santa goes to town

8. We  Wish You a Merry Christmas

We Wish You a Merry Christmas is a popular English carol from the West Country of England.

The carol is absent from earlier collections such as those of west-countrymen Davies Gilbert (1822 and 1823) and William Sandys (1833), and also from The Oxford Book of Carols (1928). In the comprehensive New Oxford Book of Carols (1992), editors Hugh Keyte and Andrew Parrott describe it as "English traditional". Various print and online sources date the carol to the sixteenth-century, without giving a source.

The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition wherein wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve, such as "figgy pudding" that was very much like modern-day Christmas puddings. A variety of nineteenth-century sources state that, in the West Country of England, "figgy pudding" referred to a raisin or plum pudding, not necessarily one containing figs.

Click here if you want to wish someone a Merry Christmas

7. Jingle Bell Rock

Jingle Bell Rock is a popular Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then. Jingle Bell Rock was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal (1900–1967), and James Ross Boothe (1917–1976). Beal was a Massachusetts-born public relations professional and longtime resident of South Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Boothe was a Texan writer in the advertising business.

Bobby Helms Album's cover

The song has been performed by many, but Helms' version is the best known. The song's title and some of its lyrics are a parody of the old Christmas standard, Jingle Bells. It makes brief references to other popular songs of the 1950s, such as "Rock Around the Clock," and mentions going to a "Jingle hop." An electric guitar played by Hank Garland can be heard playing the first notes of the chorus of "Jingle Bells."

Helms's original version charted at No. 13 on Billboard's Most Played C&W by Jockeys chart, a predecessor to the Hot Country Songs chart. After it was featured on the soundtrack to the 1996 film Jingle All the Way, the original version returned to the country charts in late 1996-early 1997, reaching a peak of No. 60. It also crossed to the pop charts, reaching #11 in the Cashbox Top 60, week ending January 11, 1958.

Click here to watch the video

6. Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells is one of the best-known and commonly sung American Christmas songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "One Horse Open Sleigh" in the autumn of 1857. Even though it is now associated with the Christmas and holiday season, it was actually originally written for American Thanksgiving. It has been claimed that it was originally written to be sung by a Sunday school choir; however, historians dispute this, stating that it was much too "racy" to be sung by a children's church choir in the days it was written.

It is an unsettled question where and when James Lord Pierpont originally composed the song that would become known as "Jingle Bells". A plaque at 19 High Street in the center of Medford Square in Medford, Massachusetts commemorates the "birthplace" of "Jingle Bells," and claims that Pierpont wrote the song there in 1850, at what was then the Simpson Tavern. According to the Medford Historical Society, the song was inspired by the town's popular sleigh races during the 19th century.

The song was originally copyrighted with the name "One Horse Open Sleigh" on September 16, 1857. Mrs. Otis Waterman, one of Pierpoint's friends, described the song as a "merry little jingle", which became part of its new name when published in 1859 under the revised title of "Jingle Bells, or the One Horse Open Sleigh. The song has since passed into public domain.

Jingle Bells was often used as a drinking song at parties: people would jingle the ice in their glasses as they sung. The double-meaning of "upsot" was thought humorous, and a sleigh ride gave an unescorted couple a rare chance to be together, unchaperoned, in distant woods or fields, with all the opportunities that afforded.

Music historian James Fuld notes that "the word jingle in the title and opening phrase is apparently an imperative verb." In the winter in New England in pre-automobile days, it was common to adorn horses' harnesses with straps bearing bells as a way to avoid collisions at blind intersections, since a horse-drawn sleigh in snow makes almost no noise. The rhythm of the tune mimics that of a trotting horse's bells. However, "jingle bells" is commonly taken to mean a certain kind of bell.

Click here to listen how the bells jingle

As far as I concerned, I’m done for this moment… Next time I’ll post the next 5 songs to complete the list.