24 December: White Christmas

An oft omitted opening verse to the song White Christmas has the lyric: "It's December the twenty-fourth, And I am longing to be up North." 10 things you might not know about the song, White Christmas.

1. The song was written by Irving Berlin, who was Jewish and therefore didn't celebrate Christmas, although as a child he used to sneak out to the neighbour's house in order to experience all the trappings. As an adult, Christmas wasn't a time for celebration as he and his wife found their baby dead in his cot on Christmas morning of 1928, so their usual activity on Christmas Day was visiting his grave.
2. The song was written in the early 1940s. There is some dispute as to whether Berlin penned it in a hotel or on a film set. He is said to have yelled at his secretary, "Grab your pen and take down this song. It's the best song I ever wrote. Hell, it's the best song anybody ever wrote."
3. The sales figures suggest he was right. Although it was a hit before record charts were really a thing, Guinness World Records have estimated that Bing Crosby's version alone has sold 50 million copies. It shot up the charts every Christmas from 1942 to 1962 (except in 1952 for some reason), routinely reaching the top 10. The only other record to even come close was Elton John's 1997 tribute to Princess Diana, which sold 33 million. Add in the countless cover versions and you have sales of over 100 million.
4. Among the covers was one by Elvis Presley, which Irving Berlin allegedly took offence to, calling it a "profane parody of his cherished yuletide standard" and getting his staff to phone radio stations to ask them not to play it. Though it has been suggested that Berlin was buying into the idea that there's no such thing as bad publicity and was actually trying to raise awareness of it and keep the royalties flowing in. He'd not objected to an earlier R&B version by the Drifters. Makes me wonder what he would have done if he'd heard the punk version.
5. When Bing Crosby first heard it, he wasn't quite as blown away as Berlin had been. He just thought it was an okay song which wouldn't offend anybody.
6. In 1947, Crosby had to re-record the song, because the original masters had worn out because they had been used so many times. Chances are, if you hear Crosby singing it today, it will be the 1947 version.
7. It wasn't a hit in the UK until Bing Crosby died in 1977.
8. Its first air play was on December 25, 1941. This wasn't long after the attack on Pearl Harbor, so the soulful, nostalgic tune was an instant hit. Many servicemen were away from their families at Christmas for the first time, often in warmer climates.
9. It remained popular with troops stationed abroad, even though it made them feel sad. Bing Crosby once said he would prefer not to sing it at the performances he gave for the military abroad, because, he said, he'd gone there to cheer them up, not make them sad. However, the troops would always request it.
10. White Christmas was used as the cue to begin the evacuation from Saigon in April 1975. As the North Vietnamese had the city surrounded, the American radio station announced that the temperature in Saigon was "105 degrees and rising," and then played White Christmas. The Americans knew then to head for the evacuation points immediately. The song was chosen because all the Americans would recognise it, and it wasn't a tune which would normally be played in April.

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