The Best Christmas Songs of All-Time, December 12

Here are six more songs selected to be The Best 150 Christmas Songs of All-Time*, meaning we are up to 72 so far:

 

"Here We Come A-Caroling"

by the Ray Coniff Singers

One of the great songs by one of the best Christmas acts--Ray Conniff & the Singers.  Difficult to not be happy listening to this.  This is from the 1965 album The Real Meaning of Christmas.

"Silver Bells"

by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards

The version above was the first-ever recorded version of "Silver Bells", released on Decca Records in October of 1950. Imagery is important in songs and Bing and Carol certainly convey that here.

 

"The Little Drummer Boy"

by Bob Seger

This favorite was written by American classical music teacher and composer Katherine K. Davis in 1941 and is also known as "Carol of the Drum".  

Bob Seger recorded his version in 1987 and it notably excludes all names and religious references.  

 

"Welcome Christmas"
by Boris Karloff

This is the well-known song from the animated television special How the Grinch Stole Christmas from 1966.  It was based on the children's book by the great Dr. Seuss and tells the story of The Grinch, in his mountain hideaway, trying to take away Christmas from the people in the village below, named Whoville.

"It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"

by Josh Groban

This holiday favorite comes from a poem written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Lancaster, Massachusetts, in 1849.  Sears' lyrics are set to either "Carol", written by Richard Storrs Willis, or "Noel", which was adapted from an English melody written by Arthur Sullivan in 1874.

 I strived to find at least one version of  each Christmas carol and here is one of the best of this song.  Josh Groban's version adds a nice touch.

 

"Sleigh Ride"

 by the Ronettes

One of the best versions of this song comes from the 1963 release by the Ronettes heard here.  The clopping and neighing of horses, the Wall of Sound, it doesn't get much better.