Hey there! I’m Mike from Mental Floss on YouTube. Did you know that back in the 1950s, the Catholic Church wasn’t too happy with the song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”? They even flew the young singer, Jimmy Boyd, to Boston to chat with church leaders. In the end, they decided the song was okay. This is just one of the many cool facts about holiday songs I’m going to share with you today. Let’s dive into some festive fun!
Did you know that Johnny Marks, who was Jewish, wrote famous holiday songs like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” and “Run Rudolph Run”? Another interesting tidbit is that “The Little Drummer Boy” was originally called “The Carol of the Drums,” and it became popular thanks to the Von Trapp singers—yes, the same family from “The Sound of Music”!
The “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from The Nutcracker was composed in 1891 for an instrument called the celesta, which was invented just five years earlier. And did you know that “O Holy Night” was the second song ever broadcast on radio back in 1906?
Brenda Lee, who sang “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” was only 13 years old when she recorded it. The first Christmas song to mention Santa Claus was “Up on the Housetop,” written in 1864. “Do You Hear What I Hear” was penned by Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne and is actually about the Cuban Missile Crisis!
“Joy to the World” was originally about Christ’s resurrection and second coming, not his birth. The New Year song “Auld Lang Syne” became a tradition by accident when a band played it on the radio just after midnight. Now, it’s a staple of New Year’s celebrations.
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” mentions ghost stories, a tradition from Victorian England that has since faded. Cyril Arthur Ravenscroft, who sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” was also the voice of Tony the Tiger for 50 years!
During World War I, soldiers from France, England, and Germany sang “Silent Night” during a Christmas truce. However, during World War II, the BBC avoided playing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” to keep troop morale high.
Meredith Wilson, who wrote “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” also created the University of Iowa fight song and the musical The Music Man. The song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” sparked a feud between Boy George and George Michael. Interestingly, George Michael wrote “Last Christmas” and faced a lawsuit over its similarity to another song, but it was settled out of court.
Irving Berlin, who wrote “White Christmas,” wasn’t a fan of Elvis Presley’s cover and even tried to get it banned from the radio. “Let It Snow” was written during a 1945 heatwave in California by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne. Meanwhile, “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” was inspired by Bob Wells’ list of wintery things to cool himself down during a hot day.
People in Armonk, New York, believe “Frosty the Snowman” is about their town and celebrate with an annual parade. “We Three Kings” was written in 1857 for a Christmas pageant in New York City. The original Yiddish version of “I Have a Little Dreidel” mentioned a dreidel made of lead, which was later changed to clay.
“Deck the Halls” started as a dance tune, and “Silver Bells” was almost called “Tinkle Bells” until a songwriter’s wife pointed out the unintended meaning of “tinkle.”
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” has three different music videos! When “Winter Wonderland” was first released, some people were upset about the line involving Parson Brown, so it was changed to a snowman pretending to be a circus clown.
“Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” was sung by Elmo Shropshire, a veterinarian, adding a humorous touch of expertise to the song. Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime” earns him a hefty sum in royalties every year.
If you received all the gifts from “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” you’d end up with 364 presents! In 2013, someone calculated that it would cost about $114,651.18. Lastly, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was written for the movie Meet Me in St. Louis. Judy Garland asked for some lyrics to be changed to make the song more cheerful.
Thanks for joining me on this holiday song adventure! If you enjoyed these facts, be sure to check out more of my content on YouTube and my podcast. And remember, stay awesome!
Research the history of holiday songs mentioned in the article. Create a timeline that includes the year each song was released and any interesting facts about its origin or impact. Use colorful markers and images to make your timeline visually appealing.
Choose one of the songwriters mentioned, such as Johnny Marks or Irving Berlin. Create a short presentation about their contributions to holiday music. Include fun facts, their most famous songs, and any surprising details about their lives.
Select a holiday song from the article and analyze its lyrics. Discuss the themes, historical context, and any hidden meanings or controversies. Share your analysis with the class and see if others interpret the song differently.
Use the inspiration from the article to write your own holiday song. Think about what makes a song memorable and try to incorporate those elements. Perform your song for the class or create a music video to share.
Create a trivia game based on the fun facts from the article. Prepare questions about the origins, songwriters, and interesting stories behind the songs. Host a game session with your classmates and see who knows the most about holiday music!
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Hi, I’m Mike, and this is Mental Floss on YouTube. Did you know that in the 1950s, the Catholic Church condemned the song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”? The record label flew the thirteen-year-old singer, Jimmy Boyd, out to Boston to meet with the archdiocese. Afterwards, they determined that the song was okay after all. This is just the first of many facts about holiday songs that I’m going to share with you today. It’s going to get pretty festive up in here, but don’t worry; we’ll be back to our usual topics soon enough.
The songs “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” and “Run Rudolph Run” were all written by the same man, Johnny Marks, who was Jewish. “The Little Drummer Boy” was originally known as “The Carol of the Drums.” The Von Trapp singers are credited with popularizing the song—yes, those Von Trapps! The “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from *The Nutcracker* was written in 1891 for the celesta, an instrument that was invented only five years earlier.
In 1906, “O Holy Night” became the second song to ever be broadcast on radio. The singer of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” might sound old, but that is Brenda Lee, who was 13 years old at the time. The first Christmas song to mention Santa Claus was “Up on the Housetop,” written in 1864. “Do You Hear What I Hear” was written by two people with very festive-sounding names: Noel Regney and Gloria Shayne. Interestingly, it is also about the Cuban Missile Crisis, so next time you listen to it, keep that in mind.
“Joy to the World” was originally a song about Christ’s resurrection and his second coming on Easter, not his birth. The popular New Year song “Auld Lang Syne” was never supposed to be associated with the holiday at all. One live band in New York coincidentally played it just after midnight on the radio, and it became a tradition. It also became a tradition to turn to someone next to you at the New Year’s party and ask what “Auld Lang Syne” means anyway.
“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” mentions that there will be scary ghost stories, which doesn’t seem very Christmasy, but it was a holiday tradition that started in Victorian England and has since died out. Spending all that uninterrupted time with your family is scary enough, so there’s no need for ghost stories—just kidding, Mom and Dad! I’m very excited to come home for Christmas.
Cyril Arthur Ravenscroft sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.” He was also the voice of Tony the Tiger for 50 years. During World War I, there was a Christmas truce in which French, English, and German troops sang “Silent Night.” On the other hand, the BBC would not play the song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” during World War II because they didn’t want to lower the morale of their troops.
Songwriter Meredith Wilson wrote “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” in addition to the University of Iowa fight song and *The Music Man*. The song “Do They Know It’s Christmas” brought a feud between Boy George and George Michael into popular consciousness. Boy George commented on George Michael’s recording, saying he sounded camp, but George Michael actually wrote the Wham! song “Last Christmas.” He also got sued for it because of its resemblance to the Barry Manilow song “Can’t Smile Without You,” but it was settled out of court.
Irving Berlin, who wrote “White Christmas,” disliked Elvis’s cover of his song. In the 1950s, he started a campaign to ban Presley’s version from the radio, a process which proved difficult. Speaking of which, “Let It Snow” was written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne during a 1945 heatwave in California. Another song, also known as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” was written by Bob Wells, who was overheating and wrote a list of things that reminded him of cold weather—chestnuts roasting, Jack Frost nipping, Yuletide carols, etc.—and those became the start of the song.
Residents of Armonk, New York, believe that the song “Frosty the Snowman” was written about their town, and they even hold an annual parade in honor of it. “We Three Kings” was originally written in 1857 for a Christmas pageant at the General Theological Seminary in New York City. I imagine that’s a little different than the one you would find in *A Charlie Brown Christmas*.
In the original Yiddish version of “I Have a Little Dreidel,” the dreidel is made out of “bleh,” which means lead; it was later translated to clay. “Deck the Halls” started as a dance tune, and the lyric “Follow me in merry measure” means “Join me in dance.” “Silver Bells” was originally called “Tinkle Bells,” but a songwriter, Ray Evans, told his wife about it, and she responded, “Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word ‘tinkle’ means?”
There are three separate music videos for the Mariah Carey song “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” and for some reason, I’m not surprised. When “Winter Wonderland” was written in the 1930s, some people were offended by the bit about Parson Brown marrying people on a whim. The line was replaced with “In the meadow, we can build a snowman and pretend that he’s a circus clown.”
“Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” was originally sung by Elmo Shropshire, a veterinarian, which means there’s some professional expertise supporting the described results of when grandmas and reindeers collide. Paul McCartney wrote, sang, and played every instrument for “Wonderful Christmastime,” and he still earns between $400,000 and $600,000 every year in royalties for the song.
If you really received all the gifts from the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” there would be 364 presents in total. Someone did the math in 2013 and determined that it would cost around $114,651.18. Finally, I return to the song “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which was written for the Judy Garland film *Meet Me in St. Louis*. Originally, it contained lines like “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last,” and “Faithful friends who were dear to us will be near to us no more.” Garland insisted that the songwriter change them because she was supposed to sing it to a seven-year-old and didn’t want to seem like, quote, “a monster.”
Thanks for watching Mental Floss on YouTube, which is made with the help of these nice people. My name is Mike Rugnetta. If you like my face, you can find more of it on YouTube at PBS Idea Channel, and if you like my voice, you can find it on my podcast, *Reasonably Sound*. Links to those things are in the description below. And hey, don’t forget to be awesome!
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Holiday – A special day of celebration or remembrance, often with cultural or historical significance. – During the holiday season, people often listen to music that reflects their cultural traditions.
Songs – Musical compositions with lyrics that are sung. – Many songs from the past tell stories about historical events and figures.
Music – Art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound, often organized in time. – Music has played an important role in history, influencing social and political movements.
History – The study of past events, particularly in human affairs. – The history of music shows how different cultures have influenced each other over time.
Christmas – A holiday celebrated on December 25th, commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, often associated with festive music and traditions. – Christmas carols are a popular type of music during the holiday season.
Traditions – Customs or beliefs passed down from generation to generation. – Many families have traditions of singing specific songs during holiday celebrations.
Songwriter – A person who writes the lyrics and melodies for songs. – The songwriter created a piece that beautifully captured the spirit of the historical event.
Voices – The sound produced by humans using the vocal cords, often used in singing. – The choir’s voices harmonized perfectly during the performance of the historical anthem.
Lyrics – The words of a song. – The lyrics of the song tell a story about a significant moment in history.
Festive – Relating to a festival or celebration, often characterized by joy and music. – The festive music at the parade celebrated the historical achievements of the community.
