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White Christmas

by The Vocal Chords (feat. The Cud Chewing Cows)

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The Cud Chewing Cows are featured on these recordings.

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White Christmas (song)

"White Christmas" is a 1942 Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 100 million copies worldwide.[1] Other versions of the song, along with Crosby's, have sold over 150 million copies.[1][2][3][4][5]

Since its release, "White Christmas" has been covered by multiple artists, with the version sung by Bing Crosby being the world's best-selling single (in terms of sales of physical media) with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.[2] When the figures for other versions of the song are added to Crosby's, sales of the song exceed 100 million.[3][4][5]

Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song.[5] One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta, California, while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat also favored by writer-director-producer Frank Capra, although the Arizona Biltmore also claims the song was written there.[6] He often stayed up all night writing — he told his secretary, "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!"[7]


Bing Crosby version

The first public performance of the song was by Bing Crosby, on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall on Christmas Day, 1941; a copy of the recording from the radio program is owned by Crosby's estate and was loaned to CBS News Sunday Morning for their December 25, 2011, program.[5] He subsequently recorded the song with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers for Decca Records in just 18 minutes on May 29, 1942, and it was released on July 30 as part of an album of six 78-rpm discs from the musical film Holiday Inn.[5][8] At first, Crosby did not see anything special about the song. He just said "I don't think we have any problems with that one, Irving."[9] The song established and solidified the fact that there could be commercially successful secular Christmas songs[10] - in this case, written by a Jewish-American songwriter, who also wrote "God Bless America."

The song initially performed poorly and was overshadowed by Holiday Inn's first hit song: "Be Careful, It's My Heart".[8] By the end of October 1942, "White Christmas" topped the Your Hit Parade chart. It remained in that position until well into the new year.[8] It has often been noted that the mix of melancholy — "just like the ones I used to know" — with comforting images of home — "where the treetops glisten" — resonated especially strongly with listeners during World War II. The Armed Forces Network was flooded with requests for the song. The recording is noted for Crosby's whistling during the second chorus.[8]

In 1942 alone, Crosby's recording spent eleven weeks on top of the Billboard charts. The original version also hit number one on the Harlem Hit Parade for three weeks,[11] Crosby's first-ever appearance on the black-oriented chart. Re-released by Decca, the single returned to the #1 spot during the holiday seasons of 1945 and 1946 (on the chart dated January 4, 1947), thus becoming the only single with three separate runs at the top of the U.S. charts. The recording became a chart perennial, reappearing annually on the pop chart twenty separate times before Billboard magazine created a distinct Christmas chart for seasonal releases.

Following its prominence in Holiday Inn, the composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942.[12] In the film, Crosby sings "White Christmas" as a duet with actress Marjorie Reynolds, though her voice was dubbed by Martha Mears. This now-familiar scene was not the moviemakers' initial plan. In the script as originally conceived, Reynolds, not Crosby, would sing the song.[8] The song would feature in another Crosby film — the 1954 musical White Christmas — becoming the highest-grossing film of 1954.

The version most often heard today on radio during the Christmas season is the 1947 re-recording. The 1942 master was damaged due to frequent use. Crosby re-recorded the track on March 19, 1947, accompanied again by the Trotter Orchestra and the Darby Singers, with every effort made to reproduce the original recording session.[7] The re-recording is recognizable by the addition of flutes and celesta in the beginning.

Although Crosby dismissed his role in the song's success, saying later that "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully," he was associated with it for the rest of his career.
The 1947 version is heard in the 2004 movie The Polar Express.

Sales figures

Crosby's "White Christmas" single has been credited with selling 50 million copies, the most by any release and therefore it is the biggest-selling single worldwide of all time. The Guinness Book of World Records 2009 Edition lists the song as a 100-million seller, encompassing all versions of the song, including albums.[4][5] Crosby's holiday collection Merry Christmas was first released as an LP in 1949, and has never been out of print since.

There has been confusion and debate on whether Crosby's record is or is not the best-selling single, due to a lack of information on sales of "White Christmas," because Crosby's recording was released before the advent of the modern-day US and UK singles charts.[13] However, after careful research, Guinness World Records in 2007 concluded that, worldwide, Crosby's recording of "White Christmas" has, in their estimation, sold at least 50 million copies, and that Elton John's recording of "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold 33 million, making Crosby's recording the best-selling single of all time.[2] However, an update in the 2009 edition of the book decided to further help settle the controversy amicably by naming both John's and Crosby's songs to be "winners" by stating that John's recording is the "best-selling single since UK and US singles charts began in the 1950s," while maintaining that "the best-selling single of all time was released before the first pop charts," and that this distinction belongs to "White Christmas," which it says "was listed as the world's best-selling single in the first-ever Guinness Book of Records (published in 1955) and—remarkably—still retains the title more than 50 years later."[14]

Legacy

In 1999, National Public Radio included it in the "NPR 100", which sought to compile the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century. Crosby's version of the song also holds the distinction of being ranked #2 on the "Songs of the Century" list, behind only Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow," as voted by members of the RIAA.[15] In 2002, the original 1942 version was one of 50 historically significant recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2004, it finished at #5 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

The recording was broadcast on Armed Forces Radio on April 30, 1975, as a secret, pre-arranged signal precipitating the U.S. evacuation from Saigon.[16]

Original verse

Irving Berlin's opening verse is often dropped in recordings, but is included on A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records, sung by Darlene Love, on Barbra Streisand's A Christmas Album, on the Carpenters' Christmas Portrait sung by Karen Carpenter, on Bette Midler's Cool Yule, on Libera's Christmas Album and on Crash Test Dummies' Jingle All the Way.[7]

The sun is shining, the grass is green,
The orange and palm trees sway.
There's never been such a day
in Beverly Hills, L.A.
But it's December the twenty-fourth,—
And I am longing to be up North—[17]


Other Versions

White Christmas" is the most-recorded Christmas song; there have been more than 500 recorded versions of the song, in several different languages.[88] The following have received some charting success.
Gordon Jenkins and his Orchestra (with Bob Carroll on lead vocal) released a version on Capitol Records that reached No. 16 on Billboard magazine's pop singles chart in 1942[89] and Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra (with Garry Stevens on lead vocal) released a version for Columbia Records that reached No. 18 on Billboard's pop singles chart[90] as did Freddy Martin and his Orchestra (with Clyde Rogers on lead vocal) for RCA Victor, reaching No. 20 on Billboard's pop singles chart (and again in December 1945, reaching No. 16).[91]
In 1944, Frank Sinatra with a backing orchestration under the direction of Axel Stordahl for Columbia, reached No. 7 on Billboard's pop singles chart (two more times: December 1945, No. 5; December 1946, No. 6)[92] Jo Stafford reaching No. 9 on Billboard's pop singles chart in 1946, with backing vocals by the Lyn Murray Singers and backing orchestration by Paul Weston for Capitol.[90] Eddy Howard and his Orchestra released a version on the Majestic label that reached No. 21 on Billboard's pop singles chart the same year[93] while Perry Como, with backing orchestration by Lloyd Shaffer, recorded the song for RCA Victor in 1947 and reached No. 23 on Billboard's pop singles chart; Como recorded a stereo version of the song in 1959.[94]
In 1949, The Ravens peaked at No. 9 on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues Records chart in January 1949 on National Records.[95] while Ernest Tubb, with female backing vocals by The Troubadettes on Decca, peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Country & Western Records chart.[96]


US 7-inch vinyl release (red variant) of The Drifters recording
In 1952, Mantovani and his orchestra reached No. 23 on Billboard's pop singles chart[91] while The Drifters showcased the talents of lead singer Clyde McPhatter and the bass vocals of Bill Pinkney in 1954, peaking at No. 2 on Billboard's Rhythm & Blues Records chart. It returned to the same chart in the next two years.[97] The Drifters rendition of this song can be heard in the films Home Alone and The Santa Clause.[98][99]
In 1953, Bing Crosby sang "White Christmas" in a film made in Paris as part of The Ford 50th Anniversary Show, a two-hour television special broadcast on NBC and CBS.[100]
Andy Williams recorded the song for Columbia in 1963 on The Andy Williams Christmas Album, where it reached No. 1 on Billboard's weekly Christmas Singles chart.[101] It was released in 1968 on Atco Records as a posthumous single from Otis Redding, and reached No. 12 on the Christmas Singles chart.[95] In 1980, Darts's version peaked at No. 48 on the UK singles chart.[citation needed]
Michael Bolton performed it on his 1992 non-holiday album, Timeless: The Classics, where it peaked at No. 73 on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart in January 1993.[102] Garth Brooks version included on his first holiday album, Beyond the Season, peaked at No. 70 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in January 1995.[103] In 1998 Martina McBride recorded it for her album White Christmas, charting twice, reaching No. 75 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 1999, and No. 62 on the same chart in 2000[104]
Bette Midler's version, released on her non-holiday album, Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook, reached No. 15 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart in 2003.[105] The version released on Andrea Bocelli 2009 album, My Christmas, reached No. 16 on the Portuguese Singles Chart.[106] Despite not being released as a single, Marco Mengoni's version, released on the compilation album X Factor – The Christmas Album, charted at No. 13 on the Italian Singles Chart based on digital downloads of the track.[107]
The Glee cast's version of the song, sung by Darren Criss and Chris Colfer, entered the UK charts for the first time in 2018, four years after its release, at No. 98.[108]
In 2020, a version by Meghan Trainor, featuring Seth MacFarlane, went to No. 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.[109]

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_(song)


“The Vocal Chords” are performing in this version.

We are emulating some of the artists we love and closely re-creating their sound.

Buddy Holly, Elvis, Beatles, Johnny Cash, The Shadows, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter and Gordon, Nina Simone, The Kingston Trio, The Mamas and the Papas, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and many others are our sources of inspiration.


*The Cud Chewing Cows are featured on all of these recordings.


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tags

jazz, Cud Chewing Cows, 1960s, The Vocal Chords, Christmas, Irving Berlin, Bing Crosby, White Christmas, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, The Ravens, Ernest Tubb, Eddie Fisher, The Drifters, Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis, The Ray Conniff Singers, Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald, Robert Goulet, Andy Williams, Darlene Love, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, The Beach Boys, Doris Day, The Supremes, Bob Marley, Kate Smith, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Otis Redding, Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Partridge Family, John Denver, Willie Nelson, Slim Whitman, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, The Canadian Brass, New Kids on the Block, Neil Diamond, Michael Bolton, Garth Brooks,

lyrics

"White Christmas"

(Doo doo
Doop doop, doop doo doop
Doo doo
Doop doop, doop doo doop)

Doo do dee doo
Doo do dee doo

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know,
Where those treetops glisten, and children listen,
To hear sleigh bells in the snow, the snow

Then, I-I-I am dreaming of a white Christmas,
With every Christmas card I write,
May your days, may your days, may your days be merry and bright,
And may all your Christmases be white

I-I-I am dreaming of a white Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know,
Where the treetops glisten, and the children listen,
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I-I-I am dreaming of a white Christmas,
With every Christmas card I write,

May those days, may those days, may those days be merry and bright,

And may all your Christmases be white

(Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells all the way ooo)

credits

released July 3, 2016
The Vocal Chords (feat. The Cud Chewing Cows)

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The Vocal Chords

We are emulating some of the artists we love from the 20th Century and closely re-creating their sound.

Influences

Buddy Holly, The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Peter and Gordon, The Shadows, The Drifters, The Doors, Pink Floyd, Peter Paul and Mary, Lambert Hendricks and Ross, Nina Simone, Louis, Ella, The Kingston Trio, The Mamas and the Papas, The Seekers and many others are inspiration for our sound
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