193 Fun Facts About Christmas Songs

Which 1942 musical film, built around Irving Berlin songs, features Bing Crosby singing the best-selling single of all time?

Holiday Inn is set at an inn that opens only on holidays, so Irving Berlin had to write a song for each one; its Christmas number, 'White Christmas', went on to sell an estimated 50 million copies.

Which entertainer narrated the 1969 animated TV special 'Frosty the Snowman'?

Jimmy Durante narrated the Rankin/Bass special in his final film role, almost two decades after he had released his own record of the song in 1950, the year it was written.

Which retailer's 1939 promotional story introduced the most famous reindeer of all?

Montgomery Ward had been buying coloring books to give away each Christmas and asked copywriter Robert L. May for a story of its own to save money; about 2.4 million copies of his Rudolph booklet went out in 1939.

In 'Santa Baby', which luxury gift does the singer ask Santa for first?

A sable, a costly fur, opens the list; the requests then climb to a convertible, a yacht and the deed to a platinum mine in a lyric that Joan Javits, a senator's niece, wrote in 1953.

Which husband-and-wife act had the original 1979 recording of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"?

Elmo and Patsy, veterinarian Elmo Shropshire and his then-wife Patsy Trigg, pressed the single themselves in 1979 and sold it at their shows until a San Francisco radio DJ's airplay made it a hit.

"Last Christmas" was performed by which pop duo?

Wham! had the hit, but George Michael wrote it alone: visiting his parents with Andrew Ridgeley in 1984, he slipped upstairs to his childhood bedroom and came back down with the melody.

Which lyricist wrote the words of 'Let It Snow' during a July 1945 Hollywood heatwave?

Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne wrote it to think cool thoughts on a sweltering day, and their lyric never once mentions Christmas, only a snowstorm and a fire.

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was originally recorded by which singer in 1958?

Brenda Lee was 13 when she recorded 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' for Decca in 1958; the single reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 20 in December 1960 after her pop breakthrough.

In which year did Mariah Carey's 1994 holiday single first top the Billboard Hot 100?

It took 25 years, and when it finally went to number one it did so on 45.6 million streams in a single week.

Which LP is the best-selling Christmas record of all time worldwide?

Elvis' Christmas Album, from 1957, has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, although Irving Berlin so disliked its 'White Christmas' that he had his staff ask radio stations not to play it.

Under which title was 'Jingle Bells' first published in 1857?

The One Horse Open Sleigh was James Lord Pierpont's title in 1857; his song has no Christmas in it at all and only became a holiday standard decades later.

In "Frosty the Snowman," what brought Frosty to life?

A silk hat does it: the children set one on his head and he starts to dance. Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson wrote the song in 1950 as a follow-up to the previous year's hit 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'.

Who first recorded 'The Christmas Song', the one about chestnuts roasting on an open fire?

Nat King Cole first recorded it with his trio in June 1946, then pushed Capitol, over the label's objections, into a second session with strings two months later, and that version became the hit.

Which country is the original home of the carol 'Silent Night'?

Austria: the carol was first sung on Christmas Eve 1818 in Oberndorf, near Salzburg, and two travelling families of folk singers, the Strassers and the Rainers, then carried it abroad in their shows.

"Jingle Bell Rock" was originally performed by which artist in 1957?

Bobby Helms, a country singer, and guitarist Hank Garland both said they reworked the song heavily in the studio, adding its bridge, yet the writing credit stayed with Joe Beal and Jim Boothe.

'Last Christmas', long the highest-selling UK single never to reach number one, finally topped the chart in which year?

2021 came on New Year's Day; the song has entered the UK chart every year since 2007 and became Christmas number one in 2023.

Who wrote the 1979 novelty song "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"?

Randy Brooks wrote 'Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer' in 1978 and handed it to a duo he shared a Lake Tahoe bill with; their 1979 recording turned it into a perennial novelty hit.

Which animated film introduced Howard Blake's song 'Walking in the Air'?

'Walking in the Air' was written by Howard Blake for The Snowman, the 1982 Channel 4 animation of Raymond Briggs's book, where choirboy Peter Auty sang it; Aled Jones's 1985 cover reached the UK top five.

Who co-wrote Band Aid's 1984 famine-relief single with Midge Ure?

Bob Geldof wrote the lyric and Midge Ure the music after Geldof saw a television news report on famine in Ethiopia; Band Aid then recorded it in a single day with dozens of British and Irish pop stars.

Which carol did radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden say he played on violin in a 1906 Christmas Eve broadcast?

O Holy Night, by Fessenden's own account in 1932, went out from Brant Rock, Massachusetts, to ship radio operators along the Atlantic coast; his claim to the first music broadcast has never been well documented.

Which carol did Frederick Oakeley translate from its Latin original in 1841?

O Come All Ye Faithful began in 1841 as Frederick Oakeley's 'Ye faithful, approach ye', translated from 'Adeste Fideles' for his London chapel; the opening was reworded into the familiar line before an 1852 hymnal printed it.

Which then-novel keyboard instrument did Tchaikovsky feature in his 1892 festive ballet score?

The celesta, developed in Paris in 1886, makes its bell-like tone from struck metal plates; Tchaikovsky had his publisher order one from Paris in 1891, praising its 'divinely' unusual sound.

In 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', what does the singer's true love send on the fifth day?

Gold rings arrive on the fifth day, after four days of birds; the melody everyone now sings was introduced by the English composer Frederic Austin in his 1909 arrangement of the old carol.

Which Christmas song did some radio stations ban from 2018 over concerns about its lyrics?

Baby, It's Cold Outside, which Frank Loesser wrote in 1944 to sing with his wife at parties, was pulled by Cleveland station WDOK and others in late 2018 after listeners objected to its lyric.

"Feliz Navidad" was written and performed by which Puerto Rican singer-songwriter?

Jose Feliciano wrote it in a Hollywood studio in 1970 while homesick for his family's Christmases, and kept it to what he counts as 19 words; the recording entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2010.

According to legend, 'Silent Night' was written for what instrument because the organ had broken?

Guitar: Franz Gruber wrote the melody with a guitar accompaniment on 24 December 1818, hours after Joseph Mohr brought him the verses; whether flooding had really damaged the organ is uncertain.

Which songwriter wrote both "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"?

Johnny Marks wrote both songs, adapting 'Rudolph' from a story by his brother-in-law Robert L. May; he founded his own publisher, St. Nicholas Music, to handle his Christmas catalogue.

The carol 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing' uses music adapted from which famous classical composer?

Felix Mendelssohn wrote the tune in 1840 for a cantata honoring Gutenberg's printing press and said it would never suit sacred words; organist William Cummings fitted Charles Wesley's hymn to it anyway.

In "Winter Wonderland," what is the name of the snowman the couple builds?

In the 1934 lyric the couple 'pretend that he is Parson Brown', a clergyman who asks 'Are you married?'; a 1947 children's verse replaced the parson with a circus clown.

Which instrument did the Gemini 6A crew smuggle into orbit to play a festive tune in 1965?

Wally Schirra played 'Jingle Bells' on a tiny Hohner harmonica while Tom Stafford shook sleigh bells, after the Gemini 6A crew reported a 'satellite' in polar orbit piloted by a figure in a red suit.

In "The Twelve Days of Christmas", how many gifts arrive in total by the twelfth day?

Adding every repeated gift gives 364 presents in all (12 partridges, 22 turtle doves, 30 French hens and so on), one for every day of the year but one.

Which Tchaikovsky ballet features the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"?

The Nutcracker reached the stage in St Petersburg in December 1892, months after Tchaikovsky had already unveiled its best tunes in a concert suite; one critic called the first Sugar Plum Fairy 'corpulent'.

In the carol title, what does the old phrase "God rest you merry" actually mean?

May God grant you happiness is the old sense: 'rest' meant 'keep', so the wish is that the gentlemen be kept merry, which is why the comma belongs after 'merry', not before it.

Which holiday standard, first recorded by Doye O'Dell in 1948, became Elvis's signature seasonal song?

Blue Christmas was a song Presley did not want to record in 1957, his backing singers recalled, so they were told to do something silly; Millie Kirkham's swooping 'woo-woo' stayed on the record.

Isaac Watts based 'Joy to the World' on a passage from which Old Testament book?

Psalms: Watts paraphrased Psalm 98 for his 1719 collection The Psalms of David Imitated, so the carol sung every December began life as a psalm setting rather than a Christmas song.

What did The Economist estimate in 2017 Mariah Carey earns yearly from her holiday hit?

The Economist's 2017 estimate put Mariah Carey's own take from her 1994 single at around $2.5 million a year, and its pull has only grown: two years later it topped the US chart for the first time.

'Carol of the Bells' grew out of a New Year folk chant from which country?

Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych built 'Shchedryk' (1916) on a four-note folk chant sung for the New Year in Ukraine; Peter Wilhousky's 1936 English lyric turned it into 'Carol of the Bells'.

Which 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' piece had Vince Guaraldi already recorded in 1964?

'Linus and Lucy' first appeared on Guaraldi's 1964 album Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown; its reuse in the 1965 special made it the de facto Peanuts theme.

"O Tannenbaum" is a traditional folk song from which country?

Germany: Ernst Anschütz wrote the familiar words in 1824, building on an older folk song that praised the evergreen fir as a symbol of faithfulness and had nothing to do with Christmas.

Eddie Cantor's 1934 radio show made which song an overnight hit?

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town had been written off as a kids' song that would not sell, until composer J. Fred Coots took it to Eddie Cantor, who sang it on air that November and made it a hit at once.

Which holiday standard did Mel Torme and Bob Wells write on a sweltering July day to keep cool?

Bob Wells had jotted 'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire' and three more wintry lines to cool off; Mel Tormé set them and 'The Christmas Song' was finished in about 40 minutes.

Which Slade member wrote "Merry Xmas Everybody" with bassist Jim Lea?

Noddy Holder wrote the lyric in one sitting after a night at the pub, and the chorus tune came from an unused song of his from 1967; Slade recorded it in New York in summer 1973, and he has called it his pension plan.

Which singer recorded "Santa Baby" in 1953 with Henri Rene and His Orchestra?

Eartha Kitt recorded it in October 1953 for RCA, which was playing up her image as a sophisticated vamp; it became the best-selling Christmas song of that year and her most famous record.

Lyricist Richard B. Smith wrote the words to 'Winter Wonderland' in 1934 while being treated for which illness?

Tuberculosis had put Smith in the West Mountain Sanitarium in Scranton, Pennsylvania, when he wrote the lyric, reportedly remembering the park in his hometown of Honesdale under snow.

Which Christmas song got a 2019 Guinness record for most weeks in the UK Top 10?

All I Want for Christmas Is You received the Guinness title in November 2019, yet it had never been number one in Britain: held at two at Christmas 1994, it finally reached the top in December 2020.

'Away in a Manger' was long, and falsely, attributed to which Protestant reformer?

Martin Luther had nothing to do with it: the carol is American, first printed in the 1880s, when one journal ran it as 'Luther's Cradle Song' and claimed he had composed it for his children.

Which singer performed 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' on David Letterman's shows as a yearly tradition until 2014?

Darlene Love first sang it for Letterman in 1986 and it became his annual Christmas tradition; on the 1963 holiday album where she introduced it, hers was the only original song among the standards.

Which rock star joined Bing Crosby for a 1977 televised duet medley of "The Little Drummer Boy"?

David Bowie taped the duet in September 1977 after telling the producers he hated the carol, so 'Peace on Earth' was written in about an hour as a counter-melody; Crosby died a month later.

Which single kept 'Last Christmas' at number two in the UK in December 1984?

Do They Know It's Christmas? held the 1984 Christmas number one for Band Aid while 'Last Christmas' sat at two; the runner-up's royalties were donated to the same Ethiopian famine appeal.

Which soul singer co-wrote and recorded 'This Christmas' in 1970?

Donny Hathaway set words by Nadine McKinnor, a Chicago postal worker, and released the single in 1970; it only became a standard after a 1991 reissue on the Soul Christmas compilation.

Which singer-songwriter duetted with Shane MacGowan on the Pogues' 'Fairytale of New York', released in November 1987?

Kirsty MacColl got the part by chance: bassist Cait O'Riordan, who sang it on an early session, had left the Pogues, and producer Steve Lillywhite had his wife MacColl tape a rough vocal that the band kept.

Which single held 'Fairytale of New York' at number two at Christmas 1987?

Pet Shop Boys' 'Always on My Mind' began as a performance for a 1987 TV special marking ten years since Elvis Presley's death, then became that year's Christmas number one, holding the Pogues at two.

Which pop star co-wrote and released the modern holiday hit 'Santa Tell Me' in 2014?

Ariana Grande wrote it with Savan Kotecha and Ilya Salmanzadeh; its singer asks Santa whether her new love will stay, after one that began at Christmas was over by New Year's Day.

Which single finally beat Band Aid's record as the fastest-selling UK single?

Candle in the Wind 1997 sold over 1.5 million copies in its first week, passing Band Aid's million; Elton John has performed that version in public only once, at Princess Diana's funeral.

Which instrument drives Paul McCartney's one-man 1979 single 'Wonderful Christmastime'?

A synthesizer supplies its bouncing chords; McCartney taped the song alone during the McCartney II sessions, playing every part himself, and Wings appear only in the video.

Which vocal group joined the Plastic Ono Band on 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)'?

The Harlem Community Choir's children sing the 'War is over, if you want it' refrain, a slogan John Lennon and Yoko Ono had first put up on billboards in major cities in 1969 as a Christmas message.

Which frontman wrote and produced Wizzard's 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday'?

Roy Wood recorded it in August 1973, so the engineer hung Christmas decorations in the studio and turned the air conditioning to its coldest setting while Wood sang in a woolly hat.

Greg Lake's 'I Believe in Father Christmas' was kept off the UK top spot at Christmas 1975 by which single?

Bohemian Rhapsody held number one for nine weeks, leaving Lake at two; he said he had been beaten by one of the greatest records ever made and would only have minded losing to Cliff Richard.

Which British band's 1977 single 'Father Christmas' is about a store Santa mugged by kids who want cash, not toys?

The Kinks' Ray Davies sings as a department-store Santa set upon by poor kids, who tell him to give the toys to the little rich boys and bring their fathers jobs instead.

Which singer wrote 'Driving Home for Christmas' as a passenger in his wife's Mini, stuck in snowy traffic?

Chris Rea got the idea in 1978 while his wife drove him home to Middlesbrough from London; he shelved the song until 1986, when it slipped out as a B-side that DJs chose to play anyway.

Which singer had the 1985 UK Christmas number one with 'Merry Christmas Everyone'?

Shakin' Stevens recorded it in 1984 but held it back a year so that it would not clash with Band Aid; the wait paid off with his fourth and last British chart-topper.

'Mistletoe and Wine' was written for a musical adapting which Hans Christian Andersen tale?

The Little Match Girl was the basis of Scraps, a 1976 musical in which the song was meant ironically, sung as the girl is turned out into the snow; Cliff Richard reworked it into his 1988 Christmas number one.

Which glam rock band had the UK Christmas number one in 1974 with 'Lonely This Christmas'?

Mud sang it as a deliberate pastiche of Elvis Presley's slow ballads, written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and it gave the band their second chart-topper of 1974 after 'Tiger Feet'.

Which boy band's ballad 'Stay Another Day' was the UK Christmas number one of 1994?

East 17's Tony Mortimer wrote it about the death of his brother, not about Christmas; bells were added at the end to suit the festive market, and it became the band's only British chart-topper.

Which band's Christmas song '2000 Miles' mourns their late guitarist?

The Pretenders lost guitarist James Honeyman-Scott to a drug overdose in 1982; Chrissie Hynde wrote the song the following year and has said the distance in its lyric refers to him.

Which new wave band recorded 'Christmas Wrapping' in 1981?

The Waitresses were worn out from touring when their label asked for a Christmas song in 1981; Chris Butler, no fan of the holiday, finished the lyric in a taxi on the way to the studio.

Which California band gave Santa's sleigh the hot-rod treatment on the 1963 single 'Little Saint Nick'?

The Beach Boys modelled it on their own hot-rod hit 'Little Deuce Coupe', turning the sleigh into a candy-apple-red racer; the single's B-side was an a cappella 'The Lord's Prayer'.

Which orchestra gave the first performance of Leroy Anderson's 'Sleigh Ride' in May 1948?

Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops premiered 'Sleigh Ride' in May 1948; Leroy Anderson, once the Pops' arranger, had begun it during a summer heat wave and did not finish it until February 1948.

Who wrote the lyrics added to 'Sleigh Ride' in 1950?

Mitchell Parish, who had earlier put words to 'Stardust', wrote the 'Sleigh Ride' lyric in 1950 for publisher Mills Music; the words never mention Christmas.

Which singer first recorded 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year' in 1963?

Andy Williams introduced it on his 1963 Christmas album, written for him by George Wyle and Eddie Pola, yet Columbia chose his cover of 'White Christmas' as the album's single instead.

'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' was written for which MGM musical?

Meet Me in St. Louis has Judy Garland sing it to her little sister; she and others found Hugh Martin's first draft, with the line 'It may be your last', too depressing, so he rewrote it.

Which composer, later famous for The Music Man, wrote 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas' in 1951?

Meredith Willson later worked the tune into his 1963 Broadway musical Here's Love, as a counterpoint to a new song; Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters had the first hit with it in 1951.

Which comedian sang 'Silver Bells' with Marilyn Maxwell in The Lemon Drop Kid?

Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell introduced it on screen; co-writer Jay Livingston said the idea came from the bells of sidewalk Santas and Salvation Army collectors at Christmas.

What was the working title of the Livingston and Evans standard 'Silver Bells'?

Jay Livingston and Ray Evans first called it 'Tinkle Bells', until Livingston's wife pointed out what 'tinkle' meant as slang; Bing Crosby and Carol Richards made the first recording in September 1950.

Which broadcaster banned 'I'll Be Home for Christmas' during World War II?

The BBC kept it off the air in wartime Britain, fearing its homesick lyric would lower troop morale, even as Bing Crosby's 1943 record became a top-ten hit with Americans at the front and at home.

Which Cold War crisis prompted the writing of 'Do You Hear What I Hear?'?

The Cuban Missile Crisis was unfolding in October 1962 when Noël Regney and Gloria Shayne wrote it as a plea for peace, swapping their usual roles: he wrote the words and she the music.

Under what title was 'The Little Drummer Boy' originally written in 1941?

Carol of the Drum was Katherine Kennicott Davis's 1941 title; the song was renamed 'The Little Drummer Boy' for the Harry Simeone Chorale's 1958 recording, the one that made it a hit.

Which Austrian singing group made the first recording of 'The Little Drummer Boy' in 1951?

The Trapp Family Singers, the Austrian family later portrayed in The Sound of Music, made the first recording in 1951; the Harry Simeone Chorale's 1958 version turned it into a perennial chart hit.

Who wrote 'Mary's Boy Child', a 1956 hit for Harry Belafonte?

Jester Hairston, an actor and choral arranger, wrote 'Mary's Boy Child'; Harry Belafonte's recording topped the UK chart in 1957, and Boney M.'s disco version took it back to number one at Christmas 1978.

By Gene Autry's own account, who talked him into recording 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'?

His wife, Ina, heard the demo and loved its Ugly Duckling theme, so Autry recorded a song he said he had not cared for; it became his biggest hit.

How does Gene Autry famously pronounce the gift-bringer's name on 'Here Comes Santa Claus'?

Santy is how Autry sings it all through his 1947 record; the story goes that ice cubes clinking in a cocktail glass on the demo gave his team the idea of adding sleigh bells.

Which blues pianist co-wrote and first recorded 'Please Come Home for Christmas' in 1960?

Charles Brown co-wrote 'Please Come Home for Christmas' with Gene Redd and cut it for King Records in 1960; the Eagles' 1978 cover carried the song into the US top 20.

By Chuck Berry's account, why did he lose the writing credit for 'Run Rudolph Run'?

A trademark on the reindeer character, Berry said: he cut the song for Chess in 1958, but the name Rudolph belonged to the writer of the 1949 hit, who ended up with the credit.

Which 1987 charity compilation introduced Run-DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis'?

A Very Special Christmas, the 1987 Special Olympics benefit album, carried Run-DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis'; the trio were reluctant at first, until publicist Bill Adler talked them round.

'Underneath the Tree' is the lead single from which Kelly Clarkson album?

'Underneath the Tree' led Wrapped in Red, Kelly Clarkson's 2013 Christmas album; she co-wrote it with producer Greg Kurstin in a Wall of Sound style.

Which singer released the reggae-tinged single 'Mistletoe' in 2011?

Justin Bieber premiered 'Mistletoe' on stage in Rio de Janeiro in October 2011, weeks before the album Under the Mistletoe; he wrote the single with the Canadian duo the Messengers.

Sia's 'Snowman' surged in popularity in late 2020 thanks to which platform?

TikTok users sent 'Snowman', from Sia's 2017 album Everyday Is Christmas, viral in late 2020 with a challenge to sing a long stretch of it in one breath, lifting it into charts around the world.

Which comic actor plays a violin-toting Elvis impersonator in Coldplay's 'Christmas Lights' video?

Simon Pegg, a friend of the band, plays one of three violin-sawing Elvis impersonators in the video, filmed on London's South Bank; a Latin motto above the stage reads 'I believe Elvis lives'.

Joni Mitchell's 'River' appears on which album?

Blue, released in June 1971, carries 'River'; its piano part borrows the tune of 'Jingle Bells' and turns it mournful, one reason a break-up song set at Christmas became a seasonal standard.

Which French composer, better known for the ballet Giselle, wrote the music of 'O Holy Night'?

Adolphe Adam set Placide Cappeau's French poem 'Minuit, chrétiens' as 'Cantique de Noël'; the American music critic John Sullivan Dwight then turned the words into the English 'O Holy Night'.

'The First Noel' is a traditional carol thought to have originated in which English county?

Cornwall is its likely home: William Sandys, who printed the familiar version in his 1833 carol collection, is believed to have taken the tune down there.

On which day does Good King Wenceslas venture out into the snow?

The carol opens 'Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen', 26 December; John Mason Neale wrote the words in 1853 to a 13th-century spring carol tune.

Who wrote 'We Three Kings' for a New York seminary Christmas pageant in 1857?

John Henry Hopkins Jr. wrote both words and music for an 1857 pageant at New York's General Theological Seminary, where he taught church music; it was sung among family and friends before he published it in 1863.

The melody of 'Deck the Halls' comes from which country's 16th-century winter carol?

Wales supplied the melody, which belongs to an old winter song, 'Nos Galan' ('New Year's Eve'); the 'fa la la' English words were only fitted to it in the 19th century.

Which poet wrote 'In the Bleak Midwinter', published in Scribner's Monthly in 1872?

Christina Rossetti published it as 'A Christmas Carol' in Scribner's Monthly in January 1872; it became a hymn only after her death in 1894, when composers began setting it to music.

Which English composer wrote Cranham, the hymn tune sung to 'In the Bleak Midwinter'?

Gustav Holst wrote Cranham for The English Hymnal, simple enough for a congregation to sing; choirs often turn instead to Harold Darke's setting, which a 2008 poll of choirmasters named the best carol.

'Once in Royal David's City' first appeared in which 1848 collection?

Hymns for Little Children was Cecil Frances Alexander's 1848 book of verses explaining the Creed to children, this one its line on Christ's birth; organist Henry Gauntlett set it to music a year later.

Which carol with a long 'Gloria' refrain borrows a French dance tune?

Ding Dong Merrily on High borrows the 'Branle de l'Official' from Thoinot Arbeau's dance manual Orchésographie; George Ratcliffe Woodward's bell-ringing words only appeared in 1924.

'What Child Is This?' is set to which traditional English tune?

Greensleeves, a Tudor-era English love song, lent its tune to words William Chatterton Dix wrote in 1865; Dix was no clergyman but the manager of a marine insurance company in Glasgow.

In the carol 'I Saw Three Ships', where do the three ships sail into?

The carol answers its own question, 'Pray whither sailed those ships all three?', with 'O they sailed into Bethlehem', despite the town being landlocked; Sandys printed the text in 1833.

The famous version of 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' comes from which part of England?

The familiar version is a West Country carol: Bristol composer Arthur Warrell arranged it for his University of Bristol Madrigal Singers in 1935, and his publication popularised it.

Who arranged 'Forest Green', Britain's tune for 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'?

Ralph Vaughan Williams collected the folk tune and arranged it for the 1906 English Hymnal; Americans instead sing the carol to 'St. Louis', written by Lewis Redner, organist at the church of the man who wrote the words.

Edmund Sears, the Massachusetts pastor who wrote 'It Came Upon the Midnight Clear', belonged to which denomination?

Unitarian minister Edmund Sears wrote it in Wayland, Massachusetts, in 1849; the carol never mentions the birth of Jesus, dwelling instead on a warring world too noisy to hear the angels sing.

Which biblical event does the 'Coventry Carol' lament?

The Massacre of the Innocents: the lullaby 'Lully, lullay' is sung by the mothers of the children Herod ordered killed, in Coventry's Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors, a medieval mystery play whose oldest known text dates from 1534.

Which folk-song collector noted the popular version of 'The Holly and the Ivy' in 1909?

Cecil Sharp took the tune down from Mary Clayton in Chipping Campden; the words had circulated on printed broadsides since the early 1800s, but the melody now sung everywhere comes from that one singer.

Which Christmas song did Fisk scholar John Wesley Work Jr. help preserve?

Go Tell It on the Mountain is an African-American spiritual, passed on by ear until John Wesley Work Jr., who taught Latin and history at Fisk, gathered such songs into print.

'In dulci jubilo' is a macaronic carol mixing Latin with which language?

German lines alternate with Latin ones in 'In dulci jubilo'; legend has the 14th-century mystic Heinrich Seuse hearing angels sing the words and being drawn into their dance.

'Gaudete' was published in which 1582 collection of Finnish and Swedish sacred songs?

Piae Cantiones, printed in Greifswald in 1582 for Finnish and Swedish schools, contains 'Gaudete'; Steeleye Span's a cappella recording reached the UK top 20 in 1973.

Which country gave the world the Wexford Carol, which opens 'Good people all, this Christmas time'?

Ireland: it is also called the Enniscorthy Carol, after the County Wexford town where organist William Grattan Flood took it down from a local singer before it reached The Oxford Book of Carols.

In the legend behind the 'Boar's Head Carol', an Oxford student choked a wild boar with a book by which philosopher?

Aristotle saved him, the story goes: a Queen's College student reading in Shotover forest rammed the volume down the charging boar's throat, and the college still carries in a boar's head to the carol.

In the 'Cherry-Tree Carol', what does the tree do when Joseph refuses to pick Mary cherries?

Bows down to her: in most versions the unborn Jesus speaks from the womb and tells the tree to lower its fruit, answering Joseph's jibe that the child's father should pick them.

In the original Catholic text of 'Es ist ein Ros entsprungen', the rose symbolises whom?

The original 16th-century text says 'Das Röslein, das ich meine... ist Maria die reine', making the rose the Virgin Mary; later Protestant versions reworked the verse so the rose became Jesus.

'Ríu Ríu Chíu' is what type of Spanish song?

'Ríu Ríu Chíu' is a villancico, the Spanish Renaissance song form with refrain and verses, printed in the 1556 Cancionero de Upsala; its lyric pictures Mary's Immaculate Conception as a lamb kept from a wolf.

Who recorded 'The Chipmunk Song' in 1958 under the stage name David Seville?

Ross Bagdasarian Sr., an Armenian-American songwriter, recorded 'The Chipmunk Song' as David Seville in 1958, creating Alvin, Simon and Theodore by speeding up tapes; it won three Grammys.

Which singer recorded 'Dominick the Donkey' in 1960?

Lou Monte recorded 'Dominick the Donkey' in 1960 as an Italian-American novelty; Britain barely knew it until 2011, when Radio 1's Chris Moyles kept playing it and listeners sent it to number three.

In 'Nuttin' for Christmas', what does the young singer admit hiding in his sister's bed?

A frog in his sister's bed is on his list of pranks; he gets no presents because somebody snitched on him, and six-year-old Barry Gordon took the song to number six in 1955.

Gayla Peevey's 1953 novelty hit spurred a fund drive to buy her hometown zoo which animal?

A hippopotamus: the Oklahoma City Zoo and a local newspaper rode the success of 'I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas' to raise the money, and Peevey was presented with the animal and gave it to the zoo.

Donald Gardner wrote 'All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth' after asking whom?

Gardner, a music teacher in Smithtown, New York, asked his second-grade class in 1944 what they wanted for Christmas, noticed nearly every child lisped through a missing tooth, and wrote the song in half an hour.

Which vocal group joined Bing Crosby on his 1950 recording of 'Mele Kalikimaka'?

The Andrews Sisters joined Bing Crosby on the 1950 Decca record, a year after Honolulu-born R. Alex Anderson wrote the song; its title is simply 'Merry Christmas' as Hawaiian pronounces it.

Who sang the vocal version of 'Christmas Time Is Here' in the 1965 Peanuts special?

A children's church choir from St. Paul's Episcopal in San Rafael, California, sang it; producer Lee Mendelson had dashed off the words in minutes when the instrumental seemed to need a lyric.

'Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24' is a medley of 'Carol of the Bells' and which carol?

The instrumental pits 'God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen' against 'Carol of the Bells'; Savatage first released it on the 1995 album Dead Winter Dead, a year before Trans-Siberian Orchestra's version.

Vedran Smailović, whose defiance inspired 'Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24', played which instrument in the besieged city's ruins?

The cello: Smailović played Albinoni's Adagio in Sarajevo's bombed-out buildings and at funerals under threat from snipers, which earned him the name 'the Cellist of Sarajevo'.

Which percussionist founded Mannheim Steamroller in 1974?

Chip Davis, an Omaha drummer who co-wrote C.W. McCall's trucker hit 'Convoy', founded Mannheim Steamroller in 1974; its first Christmas album followed in 1984.

Who duets with Michael Bublé on 'White Christmas' on his 2011 album Christmas?

Shania Twain shares 'White Christmas' with Bublé on Christmas, his 2011 album; rather than Bing Crosby's slow original, their duet follows the arrangement the Drifters gave the song in 1954.

Which TV competition did Pentatonix, later famous for their Christmas albums, win in 2011?

The Sing-Off, NBC's a cappella contest, gave Pentatonix a Sony recording contract as their prize, but the label soon dropped the group, who built their audience on YouTube instead.

Whose Christmas album Noël was the best-selling US album of 2007?

Josh Groban's Noël only came out that October, yet it sold about 3.7 million US copies by the end of December, outselling every other record of the year.

A Christmas Gift for You, the 1963 girl-group holiday album, reached shops on the very day of which event?

The Kennedy assassination fell on its release day, 22 November 1963; the album grew into a holiday classic only later, helped by a 1972 reissue on the Beatles' Apple label.

Who wrote the lyrics of 'Mary, Did You Know?' in 1984?

Mark Lowry, the comedian-singer later of the Gaither Vocal Band, wrote the words in 1984 for a church Christmas play; Buddy Greene set them in 1991 and Michael English recorded it first.

Who sings 'Where Are You Christmas?' on the 2000 Grinch soundtrack, after Mariah Carey's version was shelved?

Faith Hill recorded 'Where Are You Christmas?' for the 2000 film soundtrack after a legal dispute involving co-writer Mariah Carey's ex-husband Tommy Mottola kept Carey's own version off the release.

The Oscar-nominated ballad 'Believe' comes from which 2004 Christmas film?

The Polar Express (2004) features 'Believe', written by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri; the song missed out on the Oscar but won its writers a Grammy in 2006.

Which pop star recorded 'My Only Wish (This Year)' for the 2000 compilation Platinum Christmas?

Britney Spears recorded it in 2000, asking Santa to bring her a boyfriend; the track sat on Platinum Christmas for twenty years before getting a release of its own in November 2020.

Katy Perry's 'Cozy Little Christmas' was inspired by time spent with family in which city?

Copenhagen, where Katy Perry spent a family Christmas, left its mark on the lyric: she came away writing about love and affection mattering more than gifts.

Taylor Swift's 2019 single 'Christmas Tree Farm' recalls her childhood on a real one in which state?

Pennsylvania: Swift grew up there on a Christmas tree farm; she wrote the song on 1 December 2019 and had it out within a week.

Leona Lewis's 'One More Sleep' is styled after which record label's sound?

Motown's throwback sound shapes 'One More Sleep' and the rest of Christmas, with Love, a Christmas album that Leona Lewis recorded in the middle of summer.

Which singer joined Elton John on the 2021 UK number one 'Merry Christmas'?

Ed Sheeran recorded it after Elton John proposed a Christmas duet, and the pair gave the single's UK proceeds to their two charitable foundations.

Which two Queen members wrote 'Thank God It's Christmas'?

Brian May and Roger Taylor wrote 'Thank God It's Christmas', released as a stand-alone single in November 1984; it peaked at number 21 and only reached an album on Greatest Hits III in 1999.

Which band's 'Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)' was the 2003 UK Christmas runner-up?

The Darkness were the bookmakers' favourites, yet 'Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)' lost the 2003 Christmas race to a cover of Tears for Fears' 'Mad World' by Michael Andrews and Gary Jules.

Which act scored five straight UK Christmas number ones from 2018 with sausage-roll parodies?

LadBaby, YouTuber Mark Hoyle and his wife Roxanne, released each single to raise money for the Trussell Trust's food banks, and the run took them past the Beatles' four festive number ones.

A 2009 campaign against The X Factor made which Rage Against the Machine song Christmas number one?

'Killing in the Name' sold about 500,000 downloads in a week to take the 2009 Christmas number one, beating X Factor winner Joe McElderry; it had peaked at 25 on its original 1993 UK release.

Whose seven-single run of UK number ones did Bob the Builder end at Christmas 2000?

Westlife's first seven singles had all gone to number one before 'What Makes a Man' stalled at two behind 'Can We Fix It?'; three months later their cover of 'Uptown Girl' put them back on top.

Which Wings single was the 1977 UK Christmas number one?

Mull of Kintyre, named for the Scottish peninsula where the band's leader has a farm, features the local Campbeltown Pipe Band on bagpipes and sold over two million copies in Britain.

Which Beatles single was 1963's UK Christmas number one, above their own 'She Loves You'?

I Want to Hold Your Hand knocked 'She Loves You' off number one in December 1963, just after the older single had climbed back to the top, and held it in second place over Christmas.

Which sponsor presented the 1964 Rudolph TV special under its 'Fantasy Hour' banner?

General Electric sponsored the Rankin/Bass special as 'The General Electric Fantasy Hour', first shown on NBC on 6 December 1964, and Santa's elves from the show pitched GE appliances in its commercials.

Which country singer wrote 'Pretty Paper', a 1963 hit for Roy Orbison?

Willie Nelson wrote 'Pretty Paper' about a disabled street vendor he saw selling paper and pencils outside Leonards department store in Fort Worth; Roy Orbison's 1963 recording reached the US top 20.

Which singer is most associated with 'A Holly Jolly Christmas'?

Burl Ives sang 'A Holly Jolly Christmas' as Sam the Snowman, narrator of the 1964 Rudolph TV special; the song had been meant for the prospector Yukon Cornelius until Ives was hired for his star power.

Which producer co-wrote every original track on Mariah Carey's 1994 album Merry Christmas?

Walter Afanasieff wrote every original song on the album with Carey, among them the single that became a perennial chart-topper, and co-produced her versions of the carols and standards.

Which jazz singer's 1960 Verve album promised listeners 'a Swinging Christmas'?

Ella Fitzgerald made Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas with Frank DeVol's orchestra and kept it to secular songs; she saved the hymns and carols for a second Christmas album in 1967.

Which British talk-show host duets with Kylie Minogue on her 2015 Christmas single 'Only You'?

James Corden, by then hosting The Late Late Show in America, joined her on 'Only You', a Yazoo song the Flying Pickets had taken to the UK Christmas number one in 1983.

Which singer-songwriter's 'Same Old Lang Syne' retells a real Christmas Eve meeting with his old girlfriend?

Dan Fogelberg ran into his high-school girlfriend at a convenience store in Peoria, his hometown; she came forward with her side of the story only after his death in 2007.

Melanie Thornton's 'Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)' was recorded for which brand's Christmas campaign?

Coca-Cola used 'Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)' in a Christmas advertising campaign; Melanie Thornton was killed in a plane crash that November, hours after a promotional show, and the single came out two days later.

Which October 1978 release was the Carpenters' first holiday album?

Christmas Portrait, the Carpenters' ninth studio album, was released in October 1978; Karen's vocals from its sessions were later reused on the posthumous An Old-Fashioned Christmas in 1984.

Jimmy Boyd's 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' was reportedly condemned by the Catholic Church and banned in which city?

Boston's ban, on the grounds that the lyric described adultery, was lifted, the story goes, after Boyd met the Archdiocese to explain the joke; the song was written by Briton Tommie Connor.

Gene Autry got the idea for 'Here Comes Santa Claus' riding his horse in a 1946 Christmas parade in which city?

Los Angeles crowds at what is now the Hollywood Christmas Parade chanted 'Here comes Santa Claus' as Autry rode past.

In which 2004 teen comedy does Lindsay Lohan's character perform 'Jingle Bell Rock'?

Mean Girls has Lohan's Cady perform the song on screen, and she nodded to the scene in 2022 by covering it for her Netflix film Falling for Christmas.

In which 2003 romantic comedy does fading rocker Billy Mack record 'Christmas Is All Around'?

Love Actually has Bill Nighy's Billy Mack rework 'Love Is All Around', the Troggs song that Wet Wet Wet had covered for an earlier Richard Curtis film, Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Which actress, as Jovie in Elf, leads a New York crowd in 'Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town'?

Zooey Deschanel got the part after Katie Holmes turned it down, and director Jon Favreau added her singing scenes once he learned she was a singer.

Which future rock star made his first professional recording on a 1980 Star Wars Christmas album?

Jon Bon Jovi, credited under his birth name John Bongiovi, sang lead on 'R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas' for the album Christmas in the Stars.

Which 1988 action film, set at a Christmas Eve office party, features Run-DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis'?

Die Hard features the rap track, and composer Michael Kamen wove 'Winter Wonderland' and Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' into the score to underscore the villains.

In 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas', which dessert do the carolers refuse to leave without?

Figgy pudding did not need figs at all: 'figgy' was an old dialect word for raisins, so the name could simply mean a raisin or plum pudding.

Which Muppet sings 'One More Sleep 'til Christmas' as Bob Cratchit in The Muppet Christmas Carol?

Kermit plays the humble clerk opposite Michael Caine's Scrooge, while Gonzo narrates as Charles Dickens.

John Williams wrote 'Somewhere in My Memory' as the signature tune of which 1990 Christmas film?

Home Alone earned Williams two Oscar nominations, one for the score and one for this song, whose lyrics are by Leslie Bricusse.

Which weather outside a Chicago office window gave Rudolph's creator the idea for a glowing red nose?

Thick fog rolling in from Lake Michigan blocked Robert L. May's view and gave him the idea of a nose that could shine through it like a spotlight.

Which former Beatle turned a 1969 billboard peace campaign into 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)'?

John Lennon and Yoko Ono had rented billboards in 12 cities reading 'WAR IS OVER!', and their protest against the Vietnam War later became a Christmas standard.

Which country star duets with Gwen Stefani on her 2017 single 'You Make It Feel Like Christmas'?

Blake Shelton also co-wrote the song with Stefani, the pair's second collaboration after their 2016 duet 'Go Ahead and Break My Heart'.

Which country legend joined Kenny Rogers for the 1984 duets album Once Upon a Christmas?

Dolly Parton said yes when Rogers called in late 1983 with the idea, and the result, her first Christmas album, arrived with a CBS television special.

Which girl group scored three UK Christmas number ones in a row from 1996 to 1998?

Spice Girls did it with '2 Become 1', 'Too Much' and 'Goodbye', equalling a record previously set by the Beatles.

Which boy band released 'Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays' from its 1998 album Home for Christmas?

NSYNC issued Home for Christmas as their second studio album, with Justin Timberlake singing lead and backing vocals.

Which girl group released 8 Days of Christmas, their only holiday album, in 2001?

Destiny's Child cut most of it in the summer of 2001, and Kelly Rowland said parts were also recorded in Japan during an overseas promo tour.

In 'We Three Kings', which gift of the Magi stands for sacrifice because it was used in embalming?

Myrrh points ahead to death in the carol's solo verses, while gold hails Jesus as a king and incense as God.

Which family group's 1970 Christmas album includes a much-played 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus'?

The Jackson 5 took it to number one on Billboard's Christmas Albums chart in December 1970, the year their first four singles all topped the Hot 100.

Which composer of The Nightmare Before Christmas also provided Jack Skellington's singing voice?

Danny Elfman recorded the songs first, and Chris Sarandon was cast afterwards as Jack's speaking voice to fit the singing.

On which host's late-night show did Darlene Love sing 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' as an annual tradition?

David Letterman first had her sing it in 1986, and her pre-Christmas performance on his CBS show became a yearly fixture that lasted until 2014.

Which saxophonist's Miracles: The Holiday Album was America's best-selling Christmas album of 1994?

Kenny G sold nearly three million copies of his first holiday album in 1994 alone, and it was the country's top-selling Christmas album again in 1996.

Which singer-songwriter, raised Jewish in Minnesota, released the charity album Christmas in the Heart in 2009?

Bob Dylan gave all his royalties from the album to charities including Feeding America, and produced it himself under the pseudonym Jack Frost.

Which singer made 'Someday at Christmas' the title track of his first holiday album in 1967?

Stevie Wonder returned to the song in 2015, recording it as a duet with Andra Day for an Apple TV commercial that sent it back into the charts.

In the Royal Guardsmen's 'Snoopy's Christmas', which wartime foe spares Snoopy and offers a holiday toast?

The Red Baron has Snoopy at his mercy after a long dogfight but forces him to land for a toast instead, a nod to the soldiers' Christmas truce of 1914.

In carols such as 'Here We Come A-wassailing', what is the wassail that singers hope to be offered?

A hot spiced drink of mulled cider, ale or wine filled the householder's wassail bowl, and singers went door to door wishing good health in the hope of a share.

In 'The Twelve Days of Christmas', which birds arrive a-swimming on the seventh day?

Swans may complete a run of feathered gifts: one theory reads the 'gold rings' as ring-necked pheasants, which would make every present of the first seven days a bird.

'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel', often printed among Christmas carols, is really a hymn for which church season?

Advent, the weeks of waiting that lead up to Christmas, is its proper home. The English words translate a Latin hymn, 'Veni, veni, Emmanuel'.

Under which group's ban on Christmas in England did carols survive by being sung in private?

The Puritans drove the festival underground: semi-clandestine services marking Christ's birth carried on, and people kept singing carols at home despite the official restrictions.

The songwriters of 'Frosty the Snowman' also wrote a hit song about which Easter character?

Peter Cottontail came from the same two writers, whose Easter song 'Here Comes Peter Cottontail' later inspired an animated TV special of its own.

Which American poet wrote the Civil War verses that became the carol 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day'?

Henry Longfellow wrote 'Christmas Bells' in 1863, the year his eldest son was severely wounded fighting for the Union and two years after his wife died in a fire.

Which 1966 Jerry Herman musical, first starring Angela Lansbury, introduced 'We Need a Little Christmas'?

Mame sings it after losing her fortune in the Wall Street crash of 1929, deciding that she, her young nephew and her two servants need the holiday early to cheer them up.

The real 'Good King Wenceslas' was a tenth-century duke of which land, now part of the Czech Republic?

Bohemia hailed Wenceslas as a martyr and saint straight after his death. He was only a duke, and is not the King Wenceslaus who reigned there some three centuries later.

Which Cambridge chapel's Christmas Eve service of Nine Lessons and Carols has gone out on radio since 1928?

King's College first held the service on Christmas Eve 1918 under a new dean, Eric Milner-White, a former army chaplain who feared the Great War had hardened attitudes against religion.

Which TV character's novelty single beat Take That's 'Babe' to the 1993 UK Christmas number one?

Mr Blobby lost the top spot to 'Babe' for a single week, then took it back in time for Christmas. A Telegraph critic later ranked it the worst Christmas number one in history.

Greg Lake's 'I Believe in Father Christmas' takes its instrumental riff from a 'Troika' by which Russian composer?

Sergei Prokofiev wrote the tune for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kijé, and Lake added it between the verses at the suggestion of Keith Emerson.

Which British composer wrote A Ceremony of Carols during a 1942 sea voyage home from the United States?

Benjamin Britten scored the Christmas piece for a three-part treble chorus, solo voices and a single harp, and its first published edition was written for a children's choir.

Which Menotti Christmas opera was the first written for American television, airing live in 1951?

Amahl and the Night Visitors went out live from NBC's Studio 8H on Christmas Eve. After the dress rehearsal, conductor Arturo Toscanini told Menotti it was the best thing he had ever done.

Which 1864 song by Benjamin Hanby is considered the first Christmas song to focus mainly on Santa Claus?

Up on the Housetop probably took its rooftop sleigh landing from Clement C. Moore's 1822 poem 'A Visit from St. Nicholas'. Hanby was an Ohio minister's son.

The children's Christmas favourite 'El Burrito Sabanero', written by Hugo Blanco in 1972, comes from which country?

Venezuela calls this kind of festive folk song an aguinaldo. Folk singer Simón Díaz recorded it first, before the children's group La Rondallita cut its version in November 1972.

Which French singer sang 'Petit Papa Noël' in the 1946 film Destins?

Tino Rossi's recording became France's best-selling single. Its title means 'Little Father Christmas', and it was still charting at home in 1991, when it peaked at number six.

Which disco group's 1978 medley 'Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord' was a UK Christmas number one?

Boney M. joined the 1956 Harry Belafonte hit to a new song, 'Oh My Lord', and the medley spent four weeks at the top of the UK chart.