Collecting Christmas Music

Collecting Christmas music has become a hobby. I think my most treasured piece is a 45 of I Want Eddie Fisher For Christmas. With lyrics like "I want him here rehearsing, to sing to me in person" how could you go wrong? Betty Johnson recorded it and from what I read, it actually reached # 22 in late 1954. I guess you can't underestimate the power of Eddie. My friend Rosemary gave me the single right after I finished reading his autobiography. That guy lived.

In putting together a compilation of "rock" Christmas music for a friend's party, it really hit me that they way to create a gift that keeps on giving is to write a Christmas song. It doesn't even have to be a mega song, like White Christmas. Christmas Waltz is a song that I kept seeing on CD after CD, Sinatra did it, Barry Manilow did it, The Carpenters did it, Rosemary Clooney did it. I thought it was strange that I never heard it before, so I gave one a listen and realized I had heard it many times and never knew the name of it. It was written by the famous songwriting duo of Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne.

When I was an intern at MTV, the staff used to gather with a musician and do a special Christmas video. The year I was there it was Billy Squire and the song was Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You. Lots of swaying and a complete atmosphere of fun summed up the feeling of those first few years MTV was on the air. All the VJs, including Martha Quinn were having a great time doing this. The woman behind Billy in the Santa suit was my boss, Gale Sparrow. I'd like to think that party atmosphere hasn't left the business. Amid more layoffs at SonyBMG, it seems like it's just a matter of time before the next MTV happens. I will once again try and post the video from YouTube, but it wasn't cooperating yesterday.

Alas, the Christmas compilation will be without I Want Eddie Fisher. I haven't been able to find a digital version of it......