A song written during a sweltering summer eight decades ago has since become the melody that accompanies the cold Christmas nights of the Northern Hemisphere.
By Carlos Passage
It has triumphed over the passage of time. Recorded by legends such as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, immortal voices like Whitney Houston, and contemporary stars including Camila Cabello, this is the story of the most beautiful and enduring Christmas song of all time.
The Christmas Song was written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé. Wells (1922–1998) was a composer, screenwriter, and television producer. He worked on The Dinah Shore Chevy Show and is especially remembered for the variety special If They Could See Me Now, starring Shirley MacLaine. Throughout his career, Wells received several Academy Award nominations, won six Emmy Awards, and was honored with a Peabody Award.
Mel Tormé (1925–1999), nicknamed “The Velvet Fog,” was a musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He won two Grammy Awards and received a total of 14 Grammy nominations.
According to Tormé, the song was written in July 1945 during an exceptionally hot summer, as an exercise in “cooling off by thinking cool.” Thus was born the most recorded Christmas song of all time, according to BMI.
The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946. A second version was recorded that August, featuring a small string section, and quickly became a major hit on the Pop and R&B charts. Cole recorded the song again in 1953 using the same arrangement, this time with a full orchestra conducted by Nelson Riddle. The fourth recording came in 1961, in stereophonic sound, with another full orchestra arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael.
The 1961 version is generally regarded as the definitive recording. The original 1946 version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974. In 2022, the 1961 recording was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
The Christmas Song, The 25 Greatest Versions
- Nat King Cole
- Frank Sinatra
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Count Basie Orchestra
- Whitney Houston
- Natalie Cole & Andrea Bocelli
- Christina Aguilera
- The Jackson 5
- Andy Williams
- Lauren Daigle
- Céline Dion
- Luther Vandross
- Mel Tormé
- John Legend
- The Carpenters
- Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole
- Samara Joy
- Brandy
- JoJo
- Michael Bublé
- Paul McCartney
- Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
- Justin Bieber & Usher
- Teddy Swims
- Doris Day
