“Forgotten Hollywood”- Other Than White Christmas…
Manny P. here… 
“`Bing Crosby is best known as a crooner of holiday tunes. His most famous was White Christmas. But upon closer inspection, Bing has garnered more single purchases than Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Judy Garland, Gene Autry and Alvin and The Chipmunks… combined! White Christmas is the world’s best selling song with an estimated fifty million copies sold.
“`Here is a rundown:
~ I’ll Be Home For Christmas – A Top Ten tune for Bing in 1943, it was originally written to honor our military overseas who longed to be home at Christmas time. This song touched the hearts of Americans, soldiers and civilians alike, in the midst of World War II.
~ Mele Kalikimaka – One of the earliest recordings of this novelty composition was made by Crosby and The Andrews Sisters in 1950. It was written in 1949.
~ Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep – An Oscar-nominated song from the musical, White Christmas, it is a duet sung by Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. It is a yuletide classic, despite zero references to Christmas in the lyrics. Also featured in the film is the ditty Snow.
~ Do You Hear What I Hear – This is a tune that feels like a twentieth century standard, but it was actually conceived as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crises in 1962. It shares the heartfelt passage of the Nativity of Jesus, as referenced in the Gospel of Matthew. Initially performed by the Harry Simeone Chorale, it was an instant classic for Bing the following year.
~ Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth – It was a televised duet performed one month before the passing of Crosby; he is incredibly joined by David Bowie in the performance. The Christmas special aired as a posthumous tribute to Bing. The eventual single became one of Bowie’s best selling in his career, with estimated sales of 400,000 in the United Kingdom.
“`By the way, Crosby did not like White Christmas. It took Fred Astaire to convince Bing to record the Irving Berlin composition originally intended as an offering for Astaire. Go figure…
“`Bing Crosby is the perfect way to usher in the holidays!
Until next time> “never forget”
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 21st, 2019 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
You must be logged in to post a comment.