Song: White Christmas
Artist(s): Michael Bublé (featuring Shania Twain)
Original artist: Bing Crosby
Given that the big day (for most Westerners, anyhow) is a short time away, my thoughts
are turning to Christmas songs. And there is only one place to start – with “White
Christmas”, the song which is reputed to be the all-time best-seller. I say ‘reputed’
because the track was released before charts were properly compiled.
The song is forever associated with Bing Crosby who gave it its first public airing on a
Christmas Day radio show in 1941 which, the historians among you will know, was just
a few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. The nostalgic song would
prove very popular with soldiers serving in World War II.
The following year the song featured prominently in the musical movie “Holiday Inn” and
won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In truth, it is probably more accurate to
describe the performance as a duet given that Crosby’s co-star Marjorie Reynolds is
shown singing a lot of it (though her voice was dubbed by another singer). Indeed, the
original plan was for only Reynolds to sing it. What a mistake that would have been!
“White Christmas” topped the chart for 11 weeks and would return to the top spot again
in 1943 and 1944. Crosby’s version would find its way into the top 40 a dozen times
subsequently. It is estimated that the Crosby version alone has sold more than 50
million copies. It has been covered numerous times and it is claimed that the original
plus covers account for more than 100 million sales.
More than a decade later, in 1954, the song would feature again in the Crosby film
“White Christmas” which became the highest-grossing film of the year.
As stated earlier, the song has been covered many times. Among the most notable
cover versions are from the cast of the TV show “Glee”, Gwen Stefani and Meghan
Trainor. But perhaps the one that stands out in my mind is the version by Michael Bublé
featuring Shania Twain (see below).
Canadian Bublé has become the King of Christmas for many and certainly if you are
from Australia where year-after-year his Christmas music features prominently in their
charts.
