I feel like some of my selections thus far might be somewhat alienating to people whose taste in holiday music is rooted in the classics. And when I say “the classics”, I of course refer to songs written in the mid 20th century—mostly by Jewish tunesmiths like Johnny Marks, Irving Berlin, and Mel Tormé. It’s a whole thing; there’s even a documentary about it, which you can watch on Kanopy if you have a library card.
Marks was particularly prolific in this area. The guy was practically a one-man Christmas-song factory, churning out hits like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”, and “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.
But back to the matter at hand: my personal redemption. I mean, yes, I’ve included Bing and Frank (separately) in this countdown, but I have also indulged my personal fondness for indie rock, 1980s rap songs, and Tim Burton movies.
Today I will attempt to make up for that by bringing you “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, Brenda Lee’s surprise No. 1 hit from 2023. Which you will no doubt be shocked to learn was written by Johnny Marks.
Okay, yes, the song originally came out in 1958, when Lee was just 13 years old. Although the tune is a perennial favourite, it didn’t hit the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 until two years ago. That was when Lee finally got around to making a video for it.
This was a big deal for a lot of reasons, the two main ones being that, at 78, Lee became the oldest artist in Billboard‘s history to have a No. 1 single and that “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” took a record-setting amount of time to make it to the top of the chart. (Sixty-five years, but who’s counting?)
The record still sounds great today, which is hardly a surprise given that it was produced by the legendary Owen Bradley and featured performances by members of Nashville’s A Team, including guitarist Hank Garland, pianist Floyd Cramer, drummer Buddy Harman, and saxophonist Boots Randolph. Those guys knew what they were doing.
Leave a comment