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Sunday, December 11, 2016

The Best Christmas Songs of All-Time, December 11

We continue our Christmas special with six more Christmas favorites.



"Jingle Bells"
by the Singing Dogs


Don Charles of Copenhagen, Denmark recorded this version in 1955.  If you have a dog, you know they are an important part of Christmas and you will smile listening to this song.



"Oh Holy Night"
by John Denver


John Denver is another of the best Christmas artists of the Rock Era.  He gave an amazing performance on this somber song.
"Jolly Old St. Nicholas"
by the Ray Conniff Singers


The song is mentioned in Susan Gregg's Christmas Orphans, published in 1916.  It is performed to an up-tempo arrangement of "Canon in D Major" by Johann Pachelbel.


The jolly Ray Conniff Singers fit the song perfectly.
"(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays"
by the Carpenters
Al Stillman wrote the words and Robert Allen contributed the music to this song, first made popular by Perry Como.  The Carpenters' version is right up there as well.
"Baby, It's Cold Outside"
by Margaret Whiting & Johnny Mercer


Frank Loesser wrote the words and music to this back-and-forth duet (the vocals on the printed score are titled Mouse and Wolf) about a man trying to talk a woman into staying at his home and the woman insisting she needs to go.


This version hit #4 in 1949.
"Ave Maria"
by Barbra Streisand


The words were taken by the Walter Scott poem "The Lady and the Lake".  Barbra Streisand's amazing voice and range gave this song the lift it needed to make The Best 150 Christmas Songs of the Rock Era*.

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