Bing Crosby - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas is probably one of the best Christmas albums ever. This is a weird one to date, but the version I found in the bin is DECCA DL-8128 and is a mono recording, likely released in 1955. Christmas and Bing are pretty intertwined at my house. Invariably I'll make the family watch Holiday Inn or White Christmas, often both. Then we'll make a point of the pulling out the Father Chuck O'Malley movies.

As a kid I remember watching the TV special where old Bing and young Mister Bowie sang their "Little Drummer Boy" duet - I remember distinctly plugging my ears when it was on. I thought it was horrible. It would take decades for this opinion to soften - which it did and it is now a favourite.

The vinyl may be labelled Microgroove unbreakable, but it wasn't immune to the ravages of time and poor care. It cleaned up reasonably well, but there's enough crackle here and there to pretend there's a nice fire in the hearth making the room feel cozy and warm.

Considering how big "White Christmas" was, it's no wonder everyone who decides to release a holiday record has to take a crack at it too. Back in 1955 Guinness Book of Records referenced "White Christmas" as the best selling single of all time. The Crosby version alone would sell over $50 million copies. Considering there are another 50 million covers out there, that's a lot of snow.

The album though is wisely called Merry Christmas, and over the course of the two sides Bing serenades and croons his way through the sacred and the contemporary (I know it's all old now, but it was "new" once). Side two features The Andrews Sisters on three of the six track and they're fantastic songs. "Jingle Bells' with it's clever vocal delivery makes this version one of my favourite interpretations. It also never gets past the first verse. It was years and years later I realized there was more to the song. Strange how a song about a horse in the snow has become synonymous with Christmas.

Mele Kalikimaka

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