Christmas Song Origins

In ancient times, people sang circle dances and hymns for seasonal festivals and community celebrations, many of which were at harvest time and the winter solstice. By the 300s-400s, Latin hymns were introduced into church liturgy. Medieval laypeople later added refrains to them, which were the first “carols,” often with dancing in a ring, often religious but not always. In the 1200s-1500s, the nativity became a favorite subject, so more carols were sung around Christmastime, until caroling became associated with Christmas specifically. The door-to-door part of caroling evolved from wassailing, which was more about begging and blessing.

“Carol” comes from the Old French “carole” (dancing and singing in a round ring), which possibly comes from Latin “choraula” (a dance to the flute) and/or Greek “khoros” (chorus).

The 1940s and 50s are considered “the Golden Age of the American Christmas Song” for a few reasons: home radios, phonographs, and jukeboxes were everywhere; NBC, CBS, and major labels wanted annual family-friendly programming; mass-broadcasting led to instant adoption; post-WWII soldiers and families were eager for comfort and nostalgia; stylistically, the swinging orchestras and microphone crooners of the era mixed for a tone that feels ‘timeless.’

The Christmas Waltz

Written 1954, by Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics). Written at Frank Sinatra’s request, because he wanted a new B-side song to accompany his 1954 recording of “White Christmas.” Styne and Cahn also wrote “Let It Snow.” “One day during a very hot spell in Los Angeles, the phone rang, and it was Jule Styne to say: ‘Frank wants a Christmas song.’” – Cahn

Go Tell It On The Mountain

Traditional African-American oral tradition spiritual, first published 1909. Compiled by John or Frederick Work (brothers – uncertain) in Nashville. Likely originated from enslaved people in the American South during the mid-1800s from older tradition.

Here We Come A-Wassailing

First printed ~1850s, but possibly sung as early as the late 1700s, or earlier. Wassailing (door-to-door singing with spiced ale in the ‘wassail bowl’) dates back to the 1200s; “wassail” derives from Old Norse ves heill which is a toast meaning “be healthy.”

What Child Is This?

The melody is taken from a very famous English tune about unrequited love, called “Greensleeves” in the late 1500s. The full title was “A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves” and was, in legend, written by King Henry VIII (but this is a myth, the true author is unknown). In 1865, William Chatterton Dix, an English insurance manager and hymn writer, wrote a poem called “The Manger Throne”; around 1870, others (unknown) took the words and set them to the old “Greensleeves” melody.

White Christmas

Written 1940, introduced and recorded over the next couple years, by Irving Berlin. It was written for the 1942 film Holiday Inn starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. Berlin wrote it in Arizona, yearning for New England-style weather. Nostalgia among troops fighting in WWII made it very popular, and it’s one of the best-selling singles ever; Berlin said, “not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anybody ever wrote.”

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Written 1943 by Hugh Martin (and Ralph Blane but not really) for the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis, sung by Jude Garland. Martin, writing during WWII, produced a very bleak first draft; Garland & others asked him to soften it (“It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past” became “Let your heart be light / Next year all our troubles will be out of sight”). In 1957, Frank Sinatra asked him to soften it even more, including changing “until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow” to “hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” Sinatra: “The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?”

Nuttin’ for Christmas

Written 1955 by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett, a pop duo. It was part of the 1950s novelty-song boom after the 1952 success of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” The most popular version was by six-year-old Barry Gordon with Art Mooney and His Orchestra; the version with the robber added was by Stan Freberg later on.

Silver Bells

Written 1950 by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, originally named “Tinkle Bells” until Livingston’s (first) wife said “Are you out of your mind? Do you know what the word tinkle is?” Written for the 1951 film The Lemon Drop Kid, starring Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell… but Bing Crosby and Carol Richards recorded and released it a year earlier and it became a hit for them first. A rare urban-focused Christmas song, showing postwar optimism.

Winter Wonderland

Written 1934 by Felix Bernard (music) and Richard B. Smith (lyrics). Smith was hospitalized for tuberculosis and wrote it while looking out his window at the snow; Bernard was a professional composer who set it to music shortly after. Major releases by Richard Himber & His Ritz-Carlton Orchestra, Guy Lombardo, and Johnny Mercer. The first version was only the romance verse and chorus, but it was changed to be a kid’s winter song (Parson Brown became a circus clown, etc.), then singers just sang both verses anyway.

Joy To The World

Based on Psalm 98 (“Make a joyful noise unto the Lord”), the text was adapted to poetry in 1719 by Isaac Watts, a theologian and hymn writer. In 1839, Lowell Mason may have (rumored but unproven) borrowed tunes from famous composer Georg Friedrich Händel and set the words to it. It is the most published Christmas carol in the USA.

Here Comes Santa Claus

Written 1947 by Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman. Autry was riding his horse, Champion, as part of a 1946 Hollywood Christmas parade, and as people shouted “here comes Santa Claus!” he got the idea for the song (even though – SUPPOSEDLY – they were actually shouting for a Santa Claus actor on a float behind him). The country-ish song helped launch Autry’s career as “The Singing Cowboy of Christmas.”

Deck The Halls

The music comes from a traditional Welsh tune called “Nos Galan” (meaning New Year’s Eve), first recorded in 1794 but likely from the 1500s. Our current English lyrics were written by Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant in 1862, although the “fa la la la la”s are kept from the Welsh tradition. His multiple drinking references (like “fill the meadcup, drain the barrel”) were changed in 1877 (like to “don we now our gay apparel”) to be appropriate for schoolchildren.

O Lutefisk

Written ~1950 by Midwesterner Red Stangland with help from Richard Erickson. Obviously, a parody of “O Christmas Tree” aka “O Tannenbaum” from 1874.

I Saw Three Ships

The text is from the late 1600s, but it was first printed in 1833 in a book called “Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern” by William Sandys. The melody is a traditional English tune likely from the early 1600s, originally probably called “As I Sat On A Sunny Bank.”

Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree

Written 1958 by Johnny Marks–the same guy who also wrote “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “A Holly Jolly Christmas.” He wrote it for child star singer Brenda Lee, who recorded it the same year at age 13, often mistaken for an adult voice. She later released a music video for it… in 2023, which put it at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making her the oldest artist to ever top that list, at 79. The song also set the record for the longest period of time between an original release and its topping the Hot 100 (65 years), as well as the longest time between number-one singles by an artist: 63 years, one month and two weeks.

A Holly Jolly Christmas

Written 1962 by Johnny Marks again, originally for The Quinto Sisters but popularized by Burl Ives in the 1964 stop-motion Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer TV special.

Angels From The Realms Of Glory

Text was written in 1816 by James Montgomery, an English newspaper editor and poet, inspired by an old French hymn. He also wrote a melody for it, but it was lost, so others put the words over more than 50 different tunes, until finally the tune for a song called “Regent Square” stuck in the US. This was a piece by composer Henry Smart written in 1867.

It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

Lyrics written in 1849 by Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears, a minister in Massachusetts, originally as a peace poem after the just-finished Mexican-American war, hence the emphasis on peace and lack of direct “Christmas” mention. A year later, at Sears’ request, composer Richard Storrs Willis (a student of Mendelssohn) paired one of his choir study compositions with the lyrics.

The First Noel

Traditional English lyrics and melody, possibly from the late 1500s or early 1600s. The earliest written version is from 1833 in that book “Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern.” Nowell is the Old French word for the Christmas season, but literally means birth, from the Latin word natalis, which is also where we get modern words like “natal” from.

O Holy Night

Derived from the poem “Minuit, Chretiens,” written by wine merchant and part-time poet Placide Cappeau in 1847, France. Cappeau’s priest asked him to write a new song to be sung to commemorate some new stained glass renovations. Cappeau wrote the poem during a six-hour stagecoach ride to meet friend-of-a-friend composer Adolphe Adam, who had just finished writing “Giselle,” a very famous opera. Adam finished it after a couple days. In 1855 it was translated to English by Boston minister John Sullivan Dwight, who actually changed a lot of the words more than necessary for a normal translation. It was the first song ever broadcast over radio, on violin by musician Reginald Fessenden in 1906.

Jingle Bells

Written in the 1850s by James Lord Pierpont, organist and songwriter from Massachusetts. It was POSSIBLY written for a Thanksgiving program at his father’s church and proved popular enough to keep singing through Christmas, but this is unproven. It was the first song ever broadcast from space when astronauts on Gemini 6 played it with sleigh bells and harmonica from orbit in 1965, as part of a prank where they smuggled the instruments up without Mission Control knowing, and first played it off like they saw an unidentified object heading south from the North Pole.

Angels We Have Heard On High

Traditional French song, first printed in 1843 but likely older. Based on the Gospel of Luke and set to the tune of Gloria. Translated to English in 1862 by James Chadwick, a bishop.

Hark The Herald Angels Sing

Lyrics written in 1739 by Methodist founder Charles Wesley; someone else later altered his first line, “Hark how all the welkin rings,” to the current version. (Welkin is an archaic word for the sky or the heavens.) In 1855, musician William H. Cummings took the text and put it to the 1840 melody “Festgesang” (“Festive Song”) by composer Felix Mendelssohn.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas

The text is from an 1865 poem by Emily Miller called “Lilly’s Secret,” published in The Little Corporal magazine. The melody is uncertain, but may come from James R. Murray who published a songbook in 1874. One of the first American songs to feature Santa Claus (along with Up On The Housetop).

Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer

Written 1977 by Randy Brooks, a Texas singer-songwriter. First intended as a joke.

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Written 1952 by Tommy Connor, a British songwriter; commissioned by Saks Fifth Avenue department store to promote a Christmas card that featured the title phrase. It was first recorded by Jimmy Boyd, age 13, and reached #1 on Billboard.

Good King Wenceslas

Lyrics written 1853 by John Mason Neale, Anglican priest, as a moral tale of Victorian generosity and social duty towards the poor. He used a traditional melody from the 1200s called “Tempus Adest Floridum” (“The Time for Blooming Flowers is Come”).

I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day

Lyrics written 1863 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a famous American poet, during and about the US Civil War when his son was wounded in battle. Longfellow’s wife had died just a couple years earlier and he wished his son wouldn’t go to war, but the son felt compelled to join on the side of the Union. Although he recovered from the injury, he could no longer fight. The anti-war poem first expresses despair and grief but moves to peace and renewed faith. Composer John Baptiste Calkin wrote the melody in 1872.

Frosty The Snowman

Written 1950 by Walter “Jack” Rollins and Steve Nelson and recorded by Gene Autry following his success with “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Created specifically to extend the “Rudolph” phenomenon with another character-driven children’s song.

Away In A Manger

Lyrics written in 1882 and published in a children’s book. Often misattributed to Martin Luther, but real author is unknown (though likely American). The melody comes from “Mueller” by James Murray (1887), a song published in a songbook.

Let It Snow!

Written 1945 by Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics). They wrote it in Hollywood, during a July heatwave, wishing for cold – hence not specifically about Christmas. Recall this same duo also wrote “The Christmas Waltz” 9 years later in 1954.

Must Be Santa

Written 1960 by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks for children’s sing-along TV shows.

O Christmas Tree

Lyrics by Ernst Anschütz, an organist and teacher, in 1824. Originally it was not about Christmas; it was “O Tannenbaum,” about the Tannenbaum (fir tree) as a symbol of faithfulness (being evergreen). He based it on a poem from the 1500s called “Ach Tannenbaum.” Adapted for Christmas as the Christmas tree custom spread in Germany and elsewhere, translated to English in the 1850s.

Up On The Housetop

Written 1864 by Benjamin Hanby, music teacher and minister from Ohio. Inspired by the 1822 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” which you know by the more commonly referred to name “’Twas The Night Before Christmas.” One of the first American songs to feature Santa Claus (along with Jolly Old St. Nicholas).

We Three Kings

Written 1857 by Rev. John Henry Hopkins Jr., an Episcopal deacon and music director, for a Christmas pageant in New York. It was the first widely popular carol written in America.

I’ll Be Home For Christmas

Written 1943 by Walter Kent (music) and Kim Gannon (lyrics). First recorded by Bing Crosby. Written for soldiers abroad during WWII, in their POV, meant to evoke a serviceman longing for home. It was a huge hit with soldiers, but the BBC banned it for being “too depressing.”

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

Written 1868 by Phillips Brooks (lyrics) and Lewis Henry Redner (music). Brooks was an Episcopal rector who visited Bethlehem in 1865 and was inspired by his trip; Redner was the church organist. Brooks simply wanted to give his Sunday school class a new carol; Redner put off the melody and finished it the night before he promised to have it done. Neither expected it to go anywhere after the first Sunday school class.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Traditional English carol, ~1650s or earlier. First printed ~1760. Mentioned by Charles Dickens in “A Christmas Carol” (1843) as “an ancient song.” Fun fact: the title is actually “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” with a comma after Merry, so it means “May God give you peace and joy, gentlemen,” not “May God grant you rest, you happy guys.”

The Christmas Song

Written 1945 by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells. Written in the same California July heatwave as “Let It Snow” and for the same reasons, to “cool off by thinking cool thoughts.” Tormé was only 19 when he co-wrote it and called it “the quickest song I ever wrote–forty minutes.” First recorded by the Nat King Cole Trio.

The Restroom Door Said “Gentlemen”

Written 1982 by Bob Rivers, known for comedy albums.

Sleigh Ride

The music was written in 1946 by composer Leroy Anderson in Connecticut, during another summer heatwave (though this was a year after the one from above). He originally intended it as a music-only orchestral piece for the Boston Pops. In 1950, after it had become famous, lyricist Mitchell Parish added words (approved by Anderson).

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

In 1939, Robert L. May created the character of Rudolph for use in a booklet sold by the Montgomery Ward department store. May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks (who would later compose Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (1958) and Holly Jolly Christmas (1962), perhaps because of his success here?), set the story to music, and it was later recorded by Gene Autry–an instant hit.

Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town

Written 1934 by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, and quickly picked up and used for Eddie Cantor’s Radio Show. It was an optimistic song encouraging good behavior in the midst of the Great Depression and became a major hit.

Jingle Bell Rock

Written 1957 by Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe, first recorded by Bobby Helms. Intended to modernize “Jingle Bells” for the Elvis era. Helms and his recording session guitarist claim that the version of the song they were given was terrible, and that they actually took it and reworked it and were the true authors, but this is disputed.

The Little Drummer Boy

Written in the early 1940s by Katherine Davis, a composer and teacher from Missouri, who originally titled it “Carol of the Drum.” First recorded by the Trapp Family Singers (1951) but popularized and retitled by the Harry Simeone Chorale (1958).

All I Want For Christmas

Written 1944 by Donald Yetter Gardner, an elementary school teacher from New York. Gardner once asked his second-grade class what they wanted for Christmas and was inspired to write the song when many of their replies were lisped from missing teeth. Gardner wrote the song in just thirty minutes.

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Written 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle, specifically for Andy William’s new TV variety show to give him a signature holiday number. Didn’t take off at first.

The Holly And The Ivy

Traditional English folk carol. Earliest printed reference published in 1710, full lyrics first published 1823, full melody first published in 1909. The song is likely centuries older. Holly = Christ (evergreen life, thorns, red berries for blood), while Ivy = the Virgin Mary as a feminine counterpart. Generally thought to date to Medieval times.

The Chipmunk Song

Written 1958 by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (under the stage name David Seville). Capitalized on the 1950s novelty-song boom (like “Nuttin’ For Christmas”, after the success of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” in 1952). Bagdasarian had already had a hit with “Witch Doctor” and sped up his own voice again (on a variable speed tape deck) to create our chipmunks. The song sold 4.5 million copies in seven weeks, reached #1 on Billboard Hot 100, won 3 Grammys, and launched the Alvin & the Chipmunks franchise. It helped save Liberty Records from bankruptcy; the chipmunks are named after the three executives at Liberty Records as an inside joke.

You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Written 1966 by Albert Hague (music) and Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel) (lyrics) for the animated TV special. Sung by Thurl Ravenscroft, who also voiced Tony the Tiger — NOT the film’s narrator, Boris Karloff. The overall movie soundtrack won a Grammy.

The Animals’ Christmas

Written 1985 by Jimmy Webb, first performed by Art Garfunkel with Amy Grant and the London Symphony Orchestra. Webb was inspired after seeing a Medieval tapestry in Spain and wanted to create a modern sacred work blending pop and classical. Art Garfunkel did a lot of the legwork in getting it recorded and making it successful.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

First published in a 1780 book called “Mirth Without Mischief” but likely much older as a memory-game song. Composer Frederic Austin standardized the melody in 1909. Probably originally a parlor game song; claims of hidden religious codes (like “the partridge = Christ”) do not have historical evidence, though many people have MANY theories for each. The twelve days are specifically the days starting at Christmas Eve, to the day before the Epiphany (Jan 6th) – which was traditionally the final day of Christmas celebrations. Many versions around the world have vastly different gift lyrics.

Silent Night

Lyrics (Stille Nacht) written in Austria in 1816 by priest Joseph Moore; he gave them to his friend Franz Xaver Gruber, an organist, who wrote the melody in 1818. The song was first performed in a church with a broken organ, so the music was kept simple enough for a guitar to accompany it instead. Written during the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, when Austria was impoverished, and meant to inspire peace and consolation. Now translated into 300+ languages and declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Originally from the 1500s or earlier in England, most likely? “The history of the carol is yet to be clarified at the moment.” Figgy pudding is actually raisin or plum pudding. Centuries ago during Christmas & winter celebrations, a common custom was social inversion, where the servants would order the masters, the poor would demand from the rich, etc. This is reflected in how this song features poor traveling musicians demanding pudding from the wealthy houses they caroled at.