In 1946, Nat King Cole recorded one of the most famous holiday standards. Though, “The Christmas Song” was originally co-written by another crooner of the time.
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A Summer Song
It was a sweltering summer day in July 1945 when Mel Tormé started writing “The Christmas Song.” Tormé had gone over to the home of his writing partner Robert Wells and happened upon pen and paper and began to write.
“Wells was nowhere to be seen,” said Tormé’s son jazz musician James, “But there was a spiral pad at the piano. There were four lines scribbled down on it in pencil.”
Right then and there, Tormé wrote: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire / Jack Frost nipping at your nose / Yuletide carols being sung by a choir / And folks dressed up like Eskimos.
Once Wells emerged, both seemed desperate for cooler days and wrote the more wintry song within 45 minutes. Simply titled “The Christmas Song,” Tormé and Wells’ song captured the sights, the smells, and the blissfulness of Christmas Day.
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir and folks dressed up like Eskimos
Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow will find it hard to sleep tonight
They know that Santa’s on his way
He’s loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh
And every mother’s child is gonna spy
To see if reindeer really know how to fly
Nat King Cole
Excited with their new song, Wells’ and Tormé played “The Christmas Song” for Cole’s manager Carlos Gastel and lyricist Johnny Burke, and finally for Cole, who fell in love with the song.
By June of 1946, Cole recorded “The Christmas Song” with his Trio. He ended up making four recordings of the song throughout the years, including another one in August of 1946 with a strings section that ended up hitting the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts.
Cole’s “The Christmas Song” was released in November of 1946 and went to No. 9 on the Hot 100.
He later recorded two more versions of “The Christmas Song” in 1953 and again in 1961 with full orchestras.
[RELATED: Nat King Cole Sang “The Christmas Song” on ‘The Danny Kaye Show’]
Mel Tormé’s Version
Soon after Cole’s success with “The Christmas Song,” everyone from Perry Cuomo, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Glen Campbell, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennett, Kenny Rogers, and more covered the song throughout the decades following its release.
Tormé also recorded “The Christmas Song” several times, first for his 1955 album At the Crescendo and again in 1961 for My Kind of Music and even duetted the classic with Judy Garland for her 1963 Christmas show.
“The Christmas Song” has been covered by nearly 2,000 artists since its release in 1946.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
