White Christmas (song) | Christmas Specials Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Publisher: Irving Berlin Music Co. "White Christmas" is a Christmas song written by Irving Berlin , reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song. One story is that he wrote it in 1940, poolside at the Biltmore hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. He often stayed up all night writing — he told Norman Wisdom, who added to the lyrics and claimed co-authorship, "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!" The first public performance of the song was also by Crosby, on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall on Christmas Day, 1941 and the recording is not believed to have survived.

He recorded it 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 songs from the film Holiday Inn . At first, Crosby did not see anything special about it. He just said "I don't think we have any problems with that one, Irving." Contents [ show ] Bing Crosby version The song initially performed poorly and was overshadowed by the film's first hit song: "Be Careful, It's my Heart". By the end of October 1942, however, it topped the "Your Hit Parade" chart. It remained in that position until well into the new year. (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.) 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, 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 ong won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In the film, Bing Crosby sang it 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, was to sing it. The familiar version of the song most often heard today is not the one Crosby recorded in 1942.

He was called to Decca studios on March 18, 1947, to re-record the track; the 1942 master had become damaged due to its frequent use. Efforts were made to exactly reproduce the original recording session, and Crosby was again backed by the Trotter Orchestra and the Darby Singers. Even so, there are subtle differences in the orchestration, most notably the addition of a celesta and flutes to brighten up the introduction. Crosby was dismissive of his role in the song's success, saying later that "a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully." But Crosby was associated with it for the rest of his career. Another Crosby vehicle — the 1954 musical White Christmas — was the highest-grossing film of 1954. Cover versions Eddie Fisher with Hugo Winterhalter's orchestra & chorus recorded the song at Manhattan Center, New York City, on July 15, 1952.

It was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-4910 (in USA) and by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 10779 and JO 420. The Drifters' 1954 cover of the song showcased the talents of lead singer Clyde McPhatter and the bass of Bill Pinkney. Their recording of it peaked at #2 on Billboard’s R&B chart in December 1954, and returned to the same chart in the next two years. In December 1955, it became the Drifters' first of 34 singles to register in the mainstream Hot 100 chart. For decades, the Drifters' version was primarily heard on R&B radio stations, getting little exposure elsewhere. It received a boost in the early 1990s, when it was prominently featured in the film Home Alone during a scene in which Kevin, the lead character, is applying his father's aftershave while mouthing the lyrics. Radio stations formats as diverse as oldies, adult contemporary, Top 40, and country began playing the Drifters' version.

It was later featured in the film The Santa Clause . Andy Williams charted on the Christmas Singles chart in 1963 (#1) and 1967 (#22) with his version. The B-Side was his version of The Christmas Song . Michael Bolton covered the song on his 1992 album Timeless: The Classics. In 2000, Linda Ronstadt recorded the song for A Merry Little Christmas. Appearances in Christmas specials White Christmas White Christmas Words & Music by Irving Berlin, copyright 1940 and 1942 Editor's Note: Two weeks before Christmas, 2003, I received the following note from Frank of Salem, Oregon: ...back in the early 1990s I attended a Unity Church here in Salem. Their services tend to be less traditional than mainstream churches but still reserved. During the service there is a musical interlude while people sit quietly. The material varies from service to service. This church is small so the music is usually provided by someone playing the piano. One Sunday just before Christmas the pianist began to play ï¿½White Christmasï¿½.

By the time she got to the end someone had started to sing along very quietly. She began the song again and more people began to join in. By the end of the song every one was singing. It was very magical; very spontaneous. In many ways ï¿½White Christmasï¿½ has become a hymn. From the White Christmas page, Steven Lewis' The Bing Crosby Internet Museum (excerpt, abridged) " White Christmas" was written in 1940 by a Irving Berlin for the 1942 movie "Holiday Inn" starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Berlin's assignment was to write a song about each of the major holidays of the year. But Berlin, who was Jewish, found that writing a song about Christmas was the most challenging. He drew upon his experiences of the holiday in New York (including Christmas Trees erected by neighbors when he was a boy) and Los Angeles, but still felt that the end result was wanting. However, when Bing first heard Berlin audition "White Christmas" in 1941 he reassured Irving that he had created a winner. Bing's preliminary evaluation turned out to be a gross understatement.

Bing Crosby introduced "White Christmas" to the public on his NBC radio show, the Kraft Music Hall, December 25, 1941. Apparently, no recording of this broadcast survived the War. He then recorded the song for Decca on May 29, 1942, with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra. "Holiday Inn" was released in August, 1942. By the end of the War it had become the biggest-selling single of all time. Bing's recording hit the charts on Oct. 3, 1942, and rose to #1 on Oct. 31, where it stayed for an amazing 11 weeks. In the following years Bing's recording hit the top 30 pop charts another 16 times, even topping the charts again in 1945 and January of '47. The song remains Bing's best-selling recording, and the best-selling Christmas single of all-time. The success of the song led eventually to a movie based on the song. The movie "White Christmas" was released in 1954 and became the leading box-office draw of 1954.

The movie was supposed to reunite Crosby and Astaire for their third Irving Berlin extravaganza of song and dance. However, Astaire bowed out after reading the script (another source says that Astaire was ill at the time). Donald O'Connor was selected to replace Astaire, but he, too, had to exit because of a back injury. O'Connor was replaced by Danny Kaye. Bing's single of "White Christmas" sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and was recognized as the best-selling single in any music category for more than 50 years until 1998 when Elton John's tribute to Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind," overtook it in a matter of months. However, Bing's recording of "White Christmas" has sold additional millions of copies as part of numerous albums, including his best-selling album "Merry Christmas", which was first released as an L.P. in 1949. The most familiar version of "White Christmas" is not the one Crosby recorded in 1942, however.

Bing was called back to the Decca studios on March 19, 1947, to re-record "White Christmas" as a result of damage to the 1942 master due to its frequent use. Every effort was made to reproduce the original Decca recording session, once again including the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers. The resulting re-issue is the one that has become most familiar to the public. However, the 1998 MCA double-CD "Bing Crosby -- The Voice of Christmas," includes the original 1942 release as well as three other versions by Bing. Other information from Jody Rosen, White Christmas: The Story Of An American Song (New York: Scribner, November 19, 2002). Sheet music to White Christmas is not included in any major published collection, as nearly as I can tell. During his lifetime, Mr.

Berlin jealously guarded the lyrics; according to Jody Rosen, Berlin "frostily refused permission to reprint his lyrics even to friends working on fawning tributes." It can only be obtained as an individual piece from the Hal Leonard Corporation, exclusive distributor of the owner of the song, the Irving Berlin Music Company. The verses (but not the introduction) is printed in Albert J. & Shirley C. Menendez, Christmas Songs Made In America (1999) Still worried about getting Christmas gifts this year? Red Envelope has a number of great Christmas gift ideas . William Studwell, The Christmas Carol Reader Because "White Christmas" may be the most popular American secular Christmas carol, rivaled only by "Jingle Bells," it could easily be presumed that it was treated as a star from the moment of its 1940 conception by the incomparable song writer Irving Berlin (1888-1989).

Before its first presentation to the public, though, in the 1942 black-and-white movie Holiday Inn, the expected hit of Berlin's score was to be the Valentine's Day song, "Be Careful, It's My Heart." That song quickly lost out to "White Christmas" and has more or less been relegated to the status of a historical footnote in comparison to its highly celebrated score mate. The honors for "White Christmas" commenced soon after its premier. It received the Oscar for best song of 1942. It was recorded by Bing Crosby, who had sung it in Holiday Inn, and that version eventually became the single best-selling record of all time. It precipitated the remake of Holiday Inn in 1954, the second version being in color and having the only possible title, White Christmas. In the 1942 movie Crosby was one of the stars along with Fred Astaire and Marjorie Reynolds. In the 1954 movie Crosby was undoubtedly the leading attraction (after the song, of course), in spite of the star-filled supporting cast of Danny Kaye, Ver-Ellen, and Rosemary Clooney.

ASCAP According to a 1998 press release from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), "White Christmas" remains the number one performed Christmas carol, and is the most recorded Christmas carol (over 500 versions in "scores of languages"). The other top five are "Santa Claus is Cominï¿½ to Town," Mel Tormeï¿½s "The Christmas Song," "Winter Wonderland," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and Leroy Andersonï¿½s "Sleigh Ride." By 2003, however, "White Christmas" had slipped to the number two position on their list of Christmas songs. The number one song was "The Christmas Song" (Mel Torme and Robert Wells). The other three in the top five are "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie), "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith), and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin). By 2007, "White Christmas" occupied the number five position (based on airplay over the preceding five years).

For more information, see the ASCAP Top 25 Holiday Song List . Editor's Note A new book, White Christmas: The Story Of An American Song, has been published by Jody Rosen (New York: Scribner, November 19, 2002). It's fascinating reading, both about the song and the man. Here a few reviews. The following review is from Publishers Weekly: With its references to glistening treetops and sleigh bells in the snow, Irving Berlin's dreamy ballad has become a monstrously popular classic. Since its 1942 debut (softly crooned by Bing Crosby), artists from Doris Day to the Flaming Lips have recorded their own versions of the tune; it's become the world's most frequently recorded song. Music journalist Rosen offers a perfect, compact book chronicling the song's birth, initial reception and rise to popularity, simultaneously giving readers an understanding of the iconic Berlin and 1940s American popular culture. The prolific songwriter couldn't read or write music, yet composed continually, using his "musical secretary," Helmy Kresa, to pen the songs he wrote on the piano.

Berlin introduced "White Christmas" to Kresa on January 8, 1940. Rosen explains the song's little-known introduction (which sets the narrator in California, longing for cold weather); offers interpretations of the song's escapist appeal (like so many popular songs of its time, it doesn't acknowledge the Great Depression's hardships); and comments on the prevalence of Jewish composers in that era's popular song business (Berlin himself was an Eastern European Jewish immigrant). The unsentimental writing and thorough research Rosen draws on such sources as Berlin's family and music scholars make this a delightful testament to the power of one simple song. (Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.) Library Journal: New York Times contributor Rosen offers a thoroughly researched book that traces the history of the beloved Irving Berlin song from its conception to the present. In an accessible style, with marvelous turns of phrase, he addresses the phenomenally popular recordings by Bing Crosby, the song's pivotal role in the 1942 film, Holiday Inn, and its iconic status as one of the best-selling song sheets of the 20th century.

Rosen delves into Berlin's family life, his repudiation of his orthodox Jewish upbringing, and his compositional technique. In addition, Rosen considers when the song was actually written, its popularity among troops during World War II, and the "competition" between "White Christmas" and "God Bless America" as the favorite Irving Berlin song, especially in the context of 9/11. Along the way, Rosen limns the cultural underpinnings of the song and the role of Jewish Americans in the creative arts, with somewhat mixed results; his intention is admirable, but at times he overstates his case and resorts to odd word or phrase choices. However, these and a few other errors are small distractions from one of the first available titles to treat this specific song. Recommended for all collections. (Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.) The Guardian: You might not know this, but Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas' may be the most palpable hit of all hit songs. According to Jody Rosen in his 'story of a song', it has been recorded in Dutch, Yiddish, Japanese and - perhaps most surreal of all - Swahili.

Its sales have topped 125 million worldwide and its place as the all-time top single has been challenged only once, not by the Beatles, not by Presley nor Sinatra, but by Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind 97' tribute to Princess Diana. The roll call of singers who have recorded 'White Christmas' includes the Beach Boys, Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. According to Rosen, the song has been the blank slate on which Americans have expressed their views on race, religion and national identity. In Philip Roth's Operation Shylock, 'White Christmas' is an emblem of Jewish genius'. In Kurt Vonnegut's Mother Night, it's a tedious reminder of World War II. During the Vietnam War, it was also used by the US military as the code for the immediate evacuation of Saigon. As Rosen demonstrates in this seasonal and enjoyable little book, the astounding popular success of White Christmas, 'the best song anybody ever wrote,' according to Irving Berlin, is due as much to luck as to genius. The story that Rosen tells is a timely reminder that the overnight sensation of newspaper headlines is usually the fruit of a long and painful gestation.

Izzy Berlin was a self-taught Jewish immigrant workaholic who named himself after an English actor and a German city. He had served his apprenticeship in Tin Pan Alley and was part of a golden generation that included Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and George Gershwin. He actually wrote the song early in the New Year of 1940, possibly in California. Accounts vary. 'White Christmas' probably did not leap into his head fully formed. It seems that he had been mulling over a Christmas song for several years, possibly doodling with a satire on American seasonal sentimentality. Berlin did not like Christmas, and with good reason. Buried in his creative subconbscious was the tragic death of his infant son, Irving Berlin Jnr, on Boxing Day 1928. If the process of inspiration was complex, its expression was hardly a joyous explosion of lyricism, either.

The song that has become an emblem of American musical kitsch (what the blurb calls 'a secular hymn') was originally conceived simply as the chorus (see box) to 16 measures of lost verse, placing the 'swellegant' singer in Beverly Hills, LA, 'where the sun is shining and the grass is green', but still longing to be up north. It was here that the yearning of the 'I'm dreaming...' chorus that followed struck lucky. By the winter of 1939, American popular culture had been overtaken by nostalgia for America's rural past. The top movie hits that year were a Civil War epic celebrating the vanished South (Gone With The Wind), and a musical about a Kansas farm girl who longs to return home (Wizard of Oz). The book of 1940 was John Steinbeck's vision of an agrarian utopia, The Grapes of Wrath. For Berlin, what had begun as a bittersweet send-up now became a sentimental serenade. All he needed to hit the jackpot was the voice that Louis Armstrong compared to 'gold being poured out of a cup.' In hindsight, the creative marriage of Berlin's song and Bing Crosby's voice seems inevitable.

Crosby, who ascribed his success to the fact that his fans thought they could sing like him in the shower, was as much of a hit-maker as Berlin with no fewer than 38 number one hits to his name. Crosby was the all-American good guy, the 'aw shucks' hero who seemed like a fellow you could meet in a diner or a bar. Hollywood producers were desperate to bring Crosby and Berlin together in a musical movie. The vehicle chosen for this was operation was the long-forgotten Holiday Inn. Even now, the moguls took no chances. Fred Astaire also stars in Holiday Inn. How Berlin's 'White Christmas' fits into what Rosen calls 'Holiday Inn's on-screen silliness' hardly matters. What is important is that, once the musical arrangement of 'White Christmas' had been completed by Berlin's musically literate assistants, Crosby stepped up to the microphone to make history. As usual, he recorded the song in two takes - and then went off to play a round of golf.

Rosen has some clever things to say about the 'minstrel tradition' that lurks behind the music of Holiday Inn, but the plain fact is that it was not the movie but Crosby's subsequent 1942 recording that did the business. Crosby himself was dismissive about his achievement. 'A jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully,' he once said. Now the final piece in the jigsaw falls into place. Crosby's recording of 'White Christmas' was released in the run-up to Christmas 1942. A year after Pearl Harbor, millions of American boys were scattered abroad for the first time in their lives, missing their families in places as far afield as Guadalcanal and New Guinea. 'White Christmas' (which never mentions the war) articulated the GIs' longing for home in a simple and melodic way that no one, least of all Berlin and Crosby, anticipated. The song was a word-of-mouth sensation, which no one, least of all Berlin, could explain. But when it toppled the patriotic anthem 'Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition' in the charts, it found its place in legend from which it has never been dislodged.

There have been many attempts to explain the phenomenal success of 'White Christmas'. Rosen rehearses many of them. But it was probably Berlin who unwittingly got it right when speaking generally about his work in World War II. 'History makes songs, ' he observed. The Christian Science Monitor Nostalgia with all the trimmings I'm dreaming of a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know ... in Beverly Hills, L.A.? By Mark Luce We all know that Bing could sing. He could sell, too, as 396 of his tunes hit the charts, including 38 No. 1 hits (the Beatles, by comparison captured the top spot 24 times). Worldwide, Crosby has sold more than 400 million records, but for all of his tunes - most done, famously, in a single take - one outsold, out-stripped, outlasted them all: "White Christmas," with total sales of more than 100 million copies.

Even though the song has been covered by everyone from underground pop whiz-kids The Flaming Lips to the drippy Michael Bolton, The Three Tenors to arena-kings Kiss, it's still Bing Crosby's 1942 version that defines the song. But, as Jody Rosen demonstrates in his phenomenal cultural history "White Christmas," our focus on Crosby is a function of the ascendance of the singer at the expense of the songwriter. And the wild success of the 1942 release of "White Christmas" helped catalyze this "shift from the emphasis on the sale of sheet-music scores to records - from the songs themselves to performances by singing charismatics." The unwitting victims - at least in terms of fame if not royalties - were the standard writers of Tin Pan Alley, and, most notably, the esteemed Irving Berlin. On Jan. 8, 1940, Berlin handed Helmy Kresa, Berlin's musical secretary, the 48 measures (which would be reduced to 32) of "White Christmas" and heartily proclaimed, "I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend.

Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it's the best song anybody ever wrote." Berlin, as students of pop music know, was Tin Pan Alley. Over a storied career, this Jewish immigrant from Siberia published 812 songs, of which 451 became hits. He did Hollywood, he did Broadway, he did USO shows. Berlin wrote in a variety of styles, constantly keeping his songs in step with what America wanted - war songs, ragtime, or, in the case of "White Christmas," nostalgia for something lost - perhaps, Rosen speculates, the death of Berlin's 24-day-old son, Irving Berlin Jr., on Dec. 1, 1928. In his focused and thoroughly engaging book, Rosen presents the reader with the luxuriant tapestry of American popular song through the microcosm of "White Christmas." The results - merry and bright - show more than just a story of one song, they catalog the expansion of American music, the pressing desire for assimilation by Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century, how songs define Americans and their visions of the past, and, most important, how Christmas came to be Christmas.

What's so strange in all of this, as Rosen rightly points out, is that the now-deleted first stanza of the song endows the tune with the stuff of satire, not longing: The sun is shining. White Christmas - History, Lyrics, and More | ChristmasSongs.net Home About Contact White Christmas Written by Irving Berlin and made famous by Bing Crosby, White Christmas is the quintessential Christmas song of mid-20th century American popular music. It inspired musicals and numerous renditions by various artists, and its popularity remains unchanged to this day. Irving Berlin – A Life For Music Irving Berlin was born Israel Beilin on May 11, 1888 as one of eight children to Jewish parents in what is now Byelorussia. Beilin's place of birth is unknown, but it is possible that Beilin was born in Tolochin (Byelorussia) where the family had been living for some time, barely scraping by on his father's meager income.

Sweeping across Russia like a wildfire, violent pogroms fueled by severe anti-Jewish sentiments made life for the Beilin family increasingly difficult, eventually resulting in emigration to the United States where they arrived in New York in 1893. Only three years after the Beilins had arrived in America, Israel's father Moses died unexpectedly, leaving the family to struggle with even greater hardships. Young Israel, who was already somewhat of a troublemaker, had considerably less parental supervision after his father's death and ended up running away from home, roaming the streets of New York. To support himself, Beilin first worked odd jobs such as delivering the paper, and later singing in cafes around town. Judging by his ragged clothes and street urchin life style, nobody could have guessed that the boy would go on to become one of the most important songwriters of the 20th century. It was in one of those questionable cafes that Beilin was “discovered” and given work to entertain the guests in popular vaudeville hang outs – most certainly not the kind of environment his cantor father would have liked to see him in.

In 1906 Beilin landed a job in the fashionable Pelham Café crooning little ditties while serving espressos, which earned him quite a reputation amongst the establishment's customers. Seizing the opportunity, Beilin who could neither read nor write musical notes taught himself to play the piano. However, given his complete lack of musical education he only ever played the black keys, but this did not keep him from writing his first song in 1907, “Marie From Sunny Italy”, which was even published. The publication of his first hit also earned him his new name, Irving Berlin which was the result of a drunken editor mixing up a few letters while spelling out his name. Beilin took a liking to the anglicized version of his birth name, and from that day forward used it as his pseudonym. Berlin's “Marie from Sunny Italy” started off his incredibly prolific career as a writer and composer, resulting in over 1000 published songs. Despite his exceptional creative talent he never learned to read or write notes, nor to play the piano properly. He composed solely by ear, and his works were put into notes by various equally gifted arrangers.

He even had a special pedal installed on his piano which would allow him to play only in flat scales, but transpose the music to other scales. Building on the success, Berlin kept on writing lyrics and composing music until finally in 1911 he saw his international breakthrough with “Alexander's Ragtime Band”, his first real smash hit. America had the Ragtime fever, and it fell in love with Berlin's song, which sold over a million times in a matter of a few short months. Berlin had made it big. His luck seemed complete when in 1912 he married his sweetheart Dorothy Goetz. The newlyweds went off on what was supposed to be a romantic and exciting honeymoon in Cuba, but married bliss was not to last as Dorothy became seriously ill with typhoid and succumbed to the disease upon their arrival back home in New York. Berlin was utterly devastated, and immortalized his grief in the melancholic ballad, “When I Lost You”. After the sad loss of his wife, Berlin buried himself in work, creating Broadway shows galore. During WWI Berlin, who was famous for his ardent love for his new homeland felt a strong urge to support the troops in more than just one way.

He volunteered with the Army and wrote numerous tunes to uplift the soldiers' morale as well as a show that produced several smash hits. The post-war years saw Berlin's continued rise to the very top of American popular music, including the establishment of his own publishing company and a music theater, The Music Box with his business partner Sam Harris. His personal life took a turn for the better as well when he started a passionate but highly controversial relationship with Ellin Mackay, a New York socialite from a wealthy and prominent family. Mackay's father was so displeased with their affair that he sent his daughter to Europe in the hope of putting an end to the undesired relationship. The maneuver had the opposite effect though, with Mackay and Berlin eloping as soon as Mackay set foot on American soil again in 1926. In the 1930's, technical developments in the movie industry heralded the golden age of Hollywood, and Berlin soon became the go-to songwriter and composer of choice for many of Hollywood's top directors and producers. It was his creative partnership with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers that produced timeless classics, including the perennial favorite “Cheek to Cheek”.

America's involvement in World War II instilled an even greater sense of patriotism in Irving Berlin, who gave a song he had originally written during WWI a makeover and published it as “God Bless America”, which to this day is the quintessential tune expressing true patriotism and love of country. Berlin, who composed a very successful Broadway Show featuring life in the military as well as numerous songs to entertain the troops during the dark days of war, donated all earnings to various non-profit organizations. It was also during this time that Berlin wrote and composed what would become one of the greatest secular holiday songs of all time, “White Christmas”. The themes expressed in it – sentimental notions of family, home, holidays, and love – all corresponded to people's longings at the time for a better world without the daily horrors of war. Berlin continued to write lyrics and compose music with great success well into the 1960's, producing one smash hit after another.

His outstanding career and philanthropic efforts were rewarded with numerous high distinctions such as an Academy Award for Best Song in 1942, the Army's Medal of Merit (awarded in 1945 by President Truman), a Congressional Gold Medal (awarded for “God Bless America” in 1954 by President Eisenhower), a Tony Award in 1963, and the Freedom Medal (awarded in 1977 by President Ford). Berlin's wife Ella died aged 85 in 1988, and only a year later Irving Berlin passed away in New York on September 22, 1989 at the very old age of 101. He will forever be remembered as the musical genius who wrote such unforgettable music as “Blue Skies”, “Puttin' On The Ritz”, and “There's No Business Like Show Business”, to name just a few. The Best Selling Song Of All Times The exact circumstances of what motivated Irving Berlin to write it, and where and when it was composed will forever remain a secret that Berlin took to the grave.

Berlin himself fueled rumors and speculations as to the specific details of its creation as he gave varying accounts about the date and birthplace of the ballad. It is widely assumed that it was written in either New York or LA, and possibly as early as during the late 1920's or early 1930's. Some suggest that he was on the West Coast while he wrote it, and missed his family and the snowy winters of his beloved New York. It was rediscovered by Berlin when he wrote the musical score for the box office hit “Holiday Inn” which was released in the summer of 1942. Bing Crosby, who played in the movie alongside Fred Astaire introduced the public to it on Christmas Eve 1941. Sadly, the performance was not recorded. The official recording of the piece occurred on May 29, 1942 at Decca Studios in New York, with Bing Crosby being accompanied by the John Scott Trotter Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers. It was published as a single at the same time “Holiday Inn” hit the movie theaters, but it didn't catch on until October 1942.

From then on, the ballad's success was unstoppable, propelling it to the top of the charts multiple times and for weeks on end. The increasing popularity of the radio and of radio shows also played a key part in the success of the title. Berlin himself once called the piece “the best song anybody ever wrote”, and so far, the sales numbers surely support his claim. The Bing Crosby recording of the piece has sold an estimated 50 million times, making it the number one selling record in history. Thirteen years after it was first used in a movie, it gained even more popularity when a film with the same title as the famous Christmas ballad starring Bing Crosby came out. Numerous famous artists, including such icons as Frank Sinatra have issued their own renditions as a further testament to its unbroken popularity and timeless appeal. Exclusive sales of the record to this day have reached staggering amounts, garnering Berlin's heirs an immense fortune.

White Christmas: The Story of an American Song: Jody Rosen: 9780743218764: Amazon.com: Books Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly With its references to glistening treetops and sleigh bells in the snow, Irving Berlin's dreamy ballad has become a monstrously popular classic. Since its 1942 debut (softly crooned by Bing Crosby), artists from Doris Day to the Flaming Lips have recorded their own versions of the tune; it's become the world's most frequently recorded song. Music journalist Rosen offers a perfect, compact book chronicling the song's birth, initial reception and rise to popularity, simultaneously giving readers an understanding of the iconic Berlin and 1940s American popular culture. The prolific songwriter couldn't read or write music, yet composed continually, using his "musical secretary," Helmy Kresa, to pen the songs he wrote on the piano. Berlin introduced "White Christmas" to Kresa on January 8, 1940.

Rosen explains the song's little-known introduction (which sets the narrator in California, longing for cold weather); offers interpretations of the song's escapist appeal (like so many popular songs of its time, it doesn't acknowledge the Great Depression's hardships); and comments on the prevalence of Jewish composers in that era's popular song business (Berlin himself was an Eastern European Jewish immigrant). The unsentimental writing and thorough research Rosen draws on such sources as Berlin's family and music scholars make this a delightful testament to the power of one simple song. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. White Christmas by Bing Crosby Songfacts White Christmas by Bing Crosby Songfacts Songfacts This 8-line song that paints a picture of holiday nostalgia was written by Irving Berlin for the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, where Bing Crosby sings it from the perspective of a New Yorker stranded in sunny California during Christmas.

In the film, the song begins with this verse: The sun is shining, the grass is green The orange and palm trees sway There's never been such a day In Beverly Hills, LA But it's December the 24th And I'm longing to be up north Crosby recorded a version of the song for release as a single with the Kim Darby Singers and the John Scott Trotter Orchestra on May 29, 1942 - a few months before the movie hit theaters. At the advice of Bing's record producer Jack Kapp, this original first verse was excised as it made no sense outside of the context of the film. Now starting with the familiar, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas," the song became a huge hit, going to #1 on the Billboard chart (measuring sales) in October, and staying in the top spot for 11 weeks, taking it through the first two weeks of 1943. Irving Berlin wrote another holiday song that Crosby also sang in the film: "Let's Start the New Year Right." This was released as the B-side of the "White Christmas" single.

The song enjoyed a sales resurgence every Christmas after it was first released in 1942. It went to #1 that year in America, and again reached the top spot in 1945 and 1947. The song appeared on various Billboard charts every year until 1963 when it finally dropped off the Hot 100. A perennial seller for an entire generation, the song is by far the biggest-selling Christmas song of all time. It was the biggest-selling song of all time, going back and forth with Bill Haley's " Rock Around The Clock ," until Elton John released his tribute to Princess Diana - " Candle In The Wind ." Bing re-recorded the song on March 19, 1947, again with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra because the original masters had been worn out from all the pressings. It is this version that is most often heard today. The original Drifters with Clyde McPhatter as their lead vocalist recorded their Doo-Wop version in November 1953. It hit #2 on the R&B charts in 1954, and made the Pop charts in 1955.

The deep bass-tenor voice you hear on this version was Bill Pinkney, who was an early member of the group. The Drifters version made the Hot 100 (the chart was introduced in 1958) twice alongside Crosby's version: in 1960 (Bing #26, Drifters #96) and in 1962 (Bing #38, Drifters, #88). >> Suggestion credit: Jeff - Boston, MA By 1954, this song was a holiday favorite, and that year Paramount Pictures released a movie called White Christmas to tie in with it. Crosby starred in the film along with Danny Kaye, and of course performed his famous song. This won the Academy Award for Best Song of 1942. Elvis Presley recorded this song in 1957 along with other holiday standards for his Elvis' Christmas Album. Most songwriters dream of having Elvis record their songs, but Irving Berlin spoke out against the King's cover, calling it a "profane parody of his cherished yuletide standard" and claiming that his staff was ordered to call radio stations and ask them not to play it.

There's a chance that Berlin was simply drumming up publicity for his song, as there was nothing all that offensive about the Elvis version, and The Drifters had already done an R&B version. Elvis doing Christmas songs did rub some people the wrong way, but much of the controversy was manufactured, helping Elvis' Christmas Album stay at #1 for an amazing five weeks in late 1957 and early 1958. The best publicity stunt may have been the one pulled off by the Portland, Oregon radio station KEX, which refused to play the song and sparked a debate among listeners as to the merits of Presley's Christmas output. Their disc jockey Al Priddy played the song on a Sunday, and was "fired" the next day, making national news - Priddy even played the phone call of his firing on the air before he left. The station continued to play up the incident, and brought Priddy back two weeks later, claiming that overwhelming listener support made them decide to bring him back. This has the distinction of marking the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. As the North Vietnamese surrounded Saigon, an evacuation plan was put into effect to bring the remaining Americans to safety.

Their cue to evacuate was when a radio announcement stating that the temperature in Saigon was "105 degrees and rising," and followed by the playing of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." That was the signal for the mad dash to the US Embassy where helicopters were waiting. Phil Spector put this as the first track on his 1963 Christmas album A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, which was unfortunately released on November 22, 1963 - the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Spector had Darlene Love sing this one, and he used many of his favorite Los Angeles session musicians on the album, including a then unknown Cher. The sessions were notoriously difficult, with Cher explaining, "Philip was just insane about the Christmas album. We just never left the studio. I mean, you went home to take a shower, you came back. We didn't go home for six weeks, we just were there. I had just turned 17, and I'm thinking, How are all these old people doing this? I am dying, I can hardly drag myself outta bed.

How are these old guys doing it?" Lady Gaga recorded a jazzy version for her 2011 A Very Gaga Holiday EP. Her take includes an original verse in which she jokes, "O.K., I suppose it's not very white outside yet." Many popular artists have recorded this song, but since 1963, only one has charted in the US: Michael Bolton. He make #73 with his 1992 rendition. Andy Williams released this song on his very first Christmas album (there were eight total), The Andy Williams Christmas Album in 1963, which also debuted his own enduring holiday classic " It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year ." His version of "White Christmas" also became the #1 selling Christmas single that year. According to Mark Steyn's A Song for the Season, Berlin began writing this on January 8, 1942. The songwriter was in a hurry that Monday morning and shouted at his musical secretary, Helmy Kresa: "Grab your pen and take down this song. It's the best song I ever wrote.

Hell, it's the best song anybody ever wrote." Steyn notes that "White Christmas" owes much of its enduring popularity to World War II, specifically the attack on Pearl Harbor that led to US involvement, because the song adopted a significance beyond the reaches of Hollywood: "Had America entered the war in Europe in 1939, 'White Christmas' might have been just a hit-record from a so-so movie. Instead, 1942 was the American serviceman's first Christmas away, in the Pacific, under glorious sunny skies that only made home seem even more distant." Christmas was a painful time for Irving Berlin and his second wife, Ellin Mackay, who found their infant son dead in his bassinet early Christmas morning in 1928. Although he was Jewish, Irving grew up celebrating the holiday by sneaking off to his neighbor's house to enjoy the festivities. His daughter, Mary Ellin, told Mark Steyn: "My father believed in the secular American Christmas.

There's a lot of controversy about that, about whether there should be, apart from the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, a general festive celebration that anyone can join in with." Dec., 1942 - Dreaming of a white Christmas - WW2 Cartoons Posted on December 25, 1942 by Reg Manning, Arizona Republic Christmas 1942 was among the darkest days of World War II, but Americans found relief from the dreary war news at the No. 1 box office hit, Holiday Inn. It starred Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire and featured Crosby’s immortal rendition of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. Cy Hungerford, Pittsburg Post Gazette These cartoonists used the White Christmas theme to note the beginning of the defeat of the Germans in the Battle of Stalingrad, which raged from August 21, 1942 until February 2, 1943. The ultimate Russian victory was a turning point of World War II in Europe. Irving Berlin, who was Jewish, wrote White Christmas in 1940. Reportedly, he raced into his office one day and asked his musical secretary to take down a new song.

“Not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote,” he said. The song’s mix of melancholy and images of home resonated strongly with listeners during World War II. In 1942 alone, the single spent eleven weeks on top of the charts and then returned to the #1 spot again during the holiday seasons of 1945 and 1946, becoming the only single in history with three separate runs at the top of the U.S. charts. Eventually, Crosby’s “White Christmas” single sold more than fifty million copies. This entry was posted in 1942 . Bookmark the permalink . White Christmas: The Best Song Ever Written? | MOJO White Christmas: The Best Song Ever Written? Kick off MOJO’s Yuletide run-in with a celebration of Irving Berlin’s Bing-assisted, blues-fuelled 40-million-seller.

By Bill DeMain December 9, 2013 IN THE SPRING OF 1942, when Irving Berlin first played White Christmas for Bing Crosby, the crooner nodded and said, “You don’t have to worry about this one, Irving.” 71 years later, it’s safe to say that Bing was right, many times over. White Christmas is, quite simply, the biggest pop song of all time. Crosby’s version alone has sold over 40 million copies (depending on the source, it remains the best-selling single ever, or is second to Candle In The Wind, Elton John’s tribute to Marilyn Monroe/Princess Diana). And there have been decades-spanning covers by an A-Z of artists, including Louis Armstrong, The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, The Supremes, Bob Dylan, Twisted Sister , Bob Marley and Taylor Swift. There are versions in almost every language, including Yiddish and Swahili. Add to that endless renditions courtesy of Muzak, toys and greeting cards, and you have a song that has magically grafted itself onto humanity’s DNA.

With a standard that ubiquitous, it’s easy to forget that there was a time when it didn’t exist. Though Berlin , a great self-mythologizer, offered many different versions of how he wrote the song (attributing its creation variously to years from 1938-1942), its first appearance can be traced to 1937, as part of an unproduced Broadway show called Crystal Ball. At the time, Berlin was living in Hollywood, writing movie musicals, and White Christmas was conceived as a humorous number about a west coaster’s view of the holiday. It began: The picture sleeve of the 1959 reissue. The sun is shining, 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’m longing to be up north… The addition of this verse colours the following refrain in a very different way, making it more of a breezy send-up than the idyllic Currier & Ives-style vision we know. After the song became a hit, Berlin ordered the verse cut from all sheet music.

And yet, no matter how the lyric in the refrain is interpreted, the music beneath tugs at the heart. With its chromatic movement, slight dissonances and that heartbreaking shift from major to minor on the line “May your days be merry and bright,” the song almost has the character of a blues. The sombre tone had its roots in personal tragedy. On December 25, 1928, Berlin’s three-week old infant son, Irving Berlin, Jr., died of typhoid fever. For years afterward, Berlin and his wife Ellin made a Christmas eve pilgrimage to Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx to lay flowers on their son’s grave. Though Berlin would always deny that his songs were drawn from his own life, it’s impossible not to connect the death of his child with his feelings towards the holiday. “Crosby said he received requests for White Christmas regardless of the season.” The song’s mournful flavour made it the perfect sentiment for wartime America. In 1942, the year of Crosby’s recording, troops spent their first winter overseas. Berlin’s glistening treetops and sleigh bells in the snow spoke to their longing and homesickness for families they’d left behind.

Performing overseas for the USO, Crosby said he received requests for White Christmas regardless of the season. “It really got so that I hesitated about doing it because invariably it caused such a nostalgic yearning among the men that it made them sad,” he recalled. And that nostalgic yearning – for the past, for childhood, for lost innocence – is in all of us. It’s what keeps the song so emotionally resonant after all this time. There is also its economy, its openness. With only 54 words in 9 lines, the lyric is non-specific enough to allow each listener to project their own holiday feelings onto its big white screen. When Irving Berlin passed away September 22, 1989, he had lived to see White Christmas break every record in the popular song canon. In his 101 years, he wrote thousands of songs (he published 812 and had 451 hits, a songwriter’s batting average never matched). But White Christmas remains his crowning achievement. As Berlin pronounced to his copyist when he first brought it to his publishing office in Manhattan: “This is the best song anyone ever wrote.” He might be right.

Irving Berlin's White Christmas: The Musical - Irving Berlin | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic Irving Berlin's White Christmas: The Musical AllMusic Rating google+ AllMusic Review by Steve Leggett Although Irving Berlin wrote well over a thousand songs during his long career, including enduring standards like "Blue Skies" and "There's No Business Like Show Business," not to mention "God Bless America," his best-loved song (even if people often don't realize he wrote it) is undoubtedly "White Christmas." With its Currier & Ives lyrics of an ultra-idealized holiday, it manages to be continuously contemporary (thanks to its flexible first line which spells out that the narrator is dreaming) even as it deliberately courts nostalgia for a kind of American Christmas that belongs more to the last century than this one. In the end, it is a song about hopes and dreams, and about home, wherever -- and whenever -- that is.

The title and key song from a 1942 movie, the song has now become a full-fledged stage musical, as well, a production that follows the plot line of the movie and drops in not only "White Christmas" but also "Blue Skies, " "Snow," and several other Berlin compositions, including the gorgeous "How Deep Is the Ocean." This soundtrack recording from the stage musical feels as idealized as the long- ago Christmas that Berlin 's narrator dreams about in the song, and if ever it was possible to actually step into a Currier & Ives lithograph, this is that chance. It's fitting that the soundtrack's cover features a snow globe, since the sentiments throughout Irving Berlin's White Christmas are stylized reductions of what we carry out into the real world every single day. Berlin understood that we're all dreaming of a perfect holiday, which in turn is emblematic of a perfect life. Berlin 's narrator in the song "White Christmas" may or may not experience its fruition. The musical (and the movie it's based on), however, provide a happy ending. Track Listing

Question: Who wrote the 1942 song ‘White Christmas’?
Answer: Irving Berlin