Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas

Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas: The Complete Decca Christmas Songbook
Compilation album by Bing Crosby
Released October 6, 1998
Recorded 1935–1956
Genre Christmas
Label Decca

Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas: The Complete Decca Christmas Songbook is a two-disc audio CD collection of Bing Crosby's Christmas music recorded for the Decca label between 1935 and 1956. It was released by Universal Music Group on the Decca label on October 6, 1998. Crosby's performance of Christmas songs has become legendary ever since his 1942 recording of "White Christmas", for the movie Holiday Inn, achieved the status. The most prolific period for his Christmas recordings was between 1942 and 1955, including his Christmas songs recorded with The Andrews Sisters. Crosby recorded more Christmas music titles for other labels later in his career.

Album Information

This collection contains all of Crosby's Decca label Christmas recordings, including some duplications of titles for completion's sake ("Silent Night", "White Christmas", and "Adeste Fideles"), recorded at different points in his career. The songs are presented in loose chronological order. Also included are two previously unreleased songs-an alternate version of his original May 29, 1942 recording of "White Christmas", and a February 21, 1935 recording of "Silent Night". This 1935 version of "Silent Night" was not released due to Crosby's feelings that a popular entertainer should not profit on such a religion-based song;[1] however, once the proceeds were arranged to be donated to charity, a second recording of the song was released as a single in 1935 and was packaged in an album in 1940.

Track listing

Disc One:

  1. "Happy Holiday" (recorded June 1, 1942)
  2. "Silent Night" (previously unreleased, first version, recorded February 21, 1935)
  3. "Adeste Fideles" (recorded November 12, 1935)
  4. "Silent Night" (recorded November 13, 1935)
  5. "White Christmas" (recorded May 29, 1942)
  6. "Adeste Fideles" (recorded June 8, 1942)
  7. "Silent Night" (recorded June 8, 1942)
  8. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (recorded June 8, 1942)
  9. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (recorded October 1, 1943)
  10. "Ave Maria" (recorded July 30, 1945)
  11. "White Christmas" (recorded March 19, 1947, this version is the most played and considered the "standard" version. This re-recording was made due to the acetate of the 1942 version becoming too degraded in quality to reproduce further copies.[2])
  12. "Silent Night" (recorded March 19, 1947)
  13. "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" (recorded March 19, 1947)
  14. "O Fir Tree Dark" (recorded March 28, 1947)
  15. "The First Noel" (recorded May 11, 1949)
  16. "You're All I Want for Christmas" (recorded May 11, 1949)
  17. Christmas Carols (Medley): "Deck the Halls/Away in a Manger/I Saw Three Ships" (recorded May 31, 1949)
  18. Christmas Carols (Medley): "Good King Wenceslas/We Three Kings of Orient Are/Angels We Have Heard on High" (recorded May 31, 1949)
  19. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (recorded June 22, 1950)
  20. "That Christmas Feeling" (recorded September 6, 1950)
  21. "Looks Like a Cold, Cold Winter" (recorded September 8, 1950)
  22. "A Marshmallow World" (recorded September 8, 1950)

Disc Two:

  1. "Christmas in Killarney" (recorded October 1, 1951)
  2. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (recorded October 1, 1951)
  3. "Sleigh Ride" (recorded November 17, 1952)
  4. "Sleigh Bell Serenade" (recorded November 12, 1952)
  5. "Christmas Is A-Comin'" (recorded November 22, 1955)
  6. "The First Snowfall" (recorded November 22, 1955)
  7. "Is Christmas Only a Tree" (recorded November 23, 1955)
  8. "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" (recorded October 3, 1956)
  9. "Jingle Bells" (with The Andrews Sisters, recorded September 27, 1943)
  10. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (with The Andrews Sisters, recorded September 27, 1943 and Released in December 1943)
  11. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (with The Andrews Sisters, recorded May 10, 1949)
  12. "Here Comes Santa Claus" (with The Andrews Sisters, recorded May 10, 1949)
  13. A Crosby Christmas (Medley) - Part One: "That Christmas Feeling/I'd Like to Hitch a Ride with Santa Claus" (recorded September 5, 1950)
  14. A Crosby Christmas (Medley) - Part Two: "The Snowman/That Christmas Feeling/I'd Like to Hitch a Ride with Santa Claus" (recorded September 5, 1950)
  15. "Poppa Santa Claus" (with The Andrews Sisters, recorded September 7, 1950)
  16. "Mele Kalikimaka" (with The Andrews Sisters, recorded September 7, 1950)
  17. "Silver Bells" (with Carol Richards, recorded September 8, 1950)
  18. "Little Jack Frost, Get Lost" (with Peggy Lee, recorded November 17, 1952)
  19. "White Christmas" (with Danny Kaye, Peggy Lee, and Trudy Stevens, recorded April 10, 1954)
  20. "Snow" (with Danny Kaye, Peggy Lee, and Trudy Stevens, recorded April 10, 1954)
  21. "White Christmas" - (previously unreleased, alternate take, recorded May 29, 1942)
  22. "Let's Start the New Year Right" (recorded May 25, 1942)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Bing Crosby:The Voice of Christmas:The Complete Decca Songbook - CD booklet liner notes
  2. ↑ Bing Crosby:The Voice of Christmas:The Complete Decca Songbook - CD booklet liner notes
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