White Christmas (album)

Infobox Album | Name = White Christmas
Type = Album
Artist = Bing Crosby

"White Christmas" is a 1945 Christmas album by Bing Crosby. Originally released as "Merry Christmas", it has since been revised, but it has remained in print for over sixty years.

Track listing

#"Silent Night," recorded March 19, 1947 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers.
#"Adeste Fideles," recorded June 8, 1942 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Max Terr's Mixed Chorus.
#"White Christmas," recorded March 19, 1947 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and the Ken Darby Singers.
#"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," recorded June 8, 1942 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Max Terr's Mixed Chorus.
#"Faith of our Fathers," recorded June 8, 1942 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Max Terr's Mixed Chorus.
#"I'll Be Home for Christmas," recorded October 1, 1943 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra.
#"Jingle Bells," recorded September 27, 1943 with the Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and His Orchestra.
#"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," recorded September 27, 1943 with the Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and His Orchestra.
#"Silver Bells," recorded September 8, 1950 with Carole Richards and John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra.
#"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas," recorded October 1, 1951 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires.
#"Christmas in Killarney," recorded October 1, 1951 with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra and Jud Conlon's Rhythmaires.
#"Mele Kalikimaka," recorded September 7, 1950 with the Andrews Sisters and Vic Schoen and His Orchestra.

The March 19, 1947 recording of "White Christmas" heard on this recording, and almost all other extant pressings, is actually a re-recording of the song with the same orchestra and chorus, in an attempt to re-create the original May 1942 recording as closely as possible. The reason was an unprecedented occurrence: The original 1942 recording rapidly became the largest selling record in history up to that time. By 1947 the original master had actually worn out and was no longer usable, hence the necessity to re-record the song. The versions are, of course, very similar, but conductor Trotter took a somewhat gentler approach to the song in the 1947 recording.

History

For most of its history, the album's title was "Merry Christmas". The original version, released in 1945 on Decca A-403, consisted of five previously released 78s: “Silent Night” / “Adeste Fideles” (18510), “White Christmas” / “Let’s Start the New Right” (18429), “I'll Be Home for Christmas” / “Danny Boy” (18570) “Faith of Our Fathers” / “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (18511), and “Jingle Bells” / “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” (23281).

The second version, released in 1947 on Decca A-550, consisted of four 78s: “Silent Night” / “Adeste Fideles” (23777), “White Christmas” / “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (23778), “I'll Be Home for Christmas” / “Faith of Our Fathers” (23779), and “Jingle Bells” / “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (23281). "White Christmas" and "Silent Night" were re-recordings on this set; the others were the same versions that appeared on A-403.

The same recordings as on the 1947 set (and in the same order) were released in 1949 as a 10-inch LP with the number DL-5019 on Decca's original brown label. The original cover had a light blue background and showed a large black & white photo of Bing's head. This was the same cover design that had been used on all issues of the 78 rpm album. Copies released after 1951 featured a newly-designed red and green cover.

"Merry Christmas" was also issued as a 45 rpm box set in 1950, with the number "9-65." It had the same basic cover and the same four singles as the 78 rpm album A-550, and the records even had the same catalog numbers (preceded by a "9-" prefix).

Several years later, the 45 box was discontinued and replaced by a 2-EP set (ED 547). This had the same cover as the second version of the 10-inch LP. Each 7-inch single had two songs on each side and were numbered 91123 and 91124, respectively.

When Decca discontinued 10-inch LPs in 1955, it created a 12-inch LP version of "Merry Christmas" with a new number (DL-8128), adding four additional songs and a new cover (a color picture of Bing on a white background). The new songs were "Silver Bells" and "Mele Kelikmaka," both from 1950, and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" and "Christmas in Killarney," both from 1951. The album's track listing was also adjusted slightly, with "Faith of Our Fathers" now preceding "I'll Be Home for Christmas." First pressings of the album were released on Decca's all-black label with the catalog number in the top left corner of the front cover.

In 1963 the album was made available in electronically re-channeled stereo (DL-78128). Mono copies made after the introduction of stereo have "DL-8128" in the bottom left corner of the front cover. All copies from the 1960s feature the Decca rainbow label. The mono version was deleted in 1968.

In 1973 MCA issued the album with a new number, MCA 167. This version was only available for a short time. Eventually, MCA chose to create a new numbering series for its reissued Christmas albums, and Merry Christmas was assigned MCA 15024. This exists on the black with rainbow, tan, and blue with rainbow labels. All were rechanneled.

In 1986 "Merry Christmas" was transferred to compact disc (MCAD-31143) and included these same 12 songs.

In 1998, following the release of the double-CD "Bing Crosby: The Voice of Christmas", MCA/Universal changed the name of the "Merry Christmas" album to "White Christmas" but kept the contents and catalog number unchanged.

"See Also: White Christmas (soundtrack)"