A Merry Little Christmas
Encyclopedia
A Merry Little Christmas is a Christmas/Holiday album by American singer/songwriter/producer Linda Ronstadt
, released in 2000. It was the final release under Ronstadt's recording contract with the Elektra/Asylum Records
label for whom Linda had recorded since 1973 (twenty-seven years).
It was the biggest-selling Holiday album of the 2000 Christmas season. It peaked at #179 on Billboard
s main album chart and has continued to sell year in and year out. Among the highlights of this disc are Ronstadt's duet with the late Rosemary Clooney
on the perennial track "White Christmas
" and her ultra-somber interpretation of Joni Mitchell
's "River".
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
, released in 2000. It was the final release under Ronstadt's recording contract with the Elektra/Asylum Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
label for whom Linda had recorded since 1973 (twenty-seven years).
It was the biggest-selling Holiday album of the 2000 Christmas season. It peaked at #179 on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s main album chart and has continued to sell year in and year out. Among the highlights of this disc are Ronstadt's duet with the late Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
on the perennial track "White Christmas
White Christmas
A white Christmas refers to the presence of snow on Christmas Day. This phenomenon is most common in the northern countries of the Northern Hemisphere...
" and her ultra-somber interpretation of Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
's "River".
Track listing
- "The Christmas SongThe Christmas Song"The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
" (Mel TorméMel TorméMelvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
, Bob WellsRobert Wells (songwriter)Robert Wells was an American songwriter, composer, script writer and television producer. During his early career, he collaborated with singer and songwriter Mel Tormé, writing several hit songs, most notably "The Christmas Song" in 1945...
) – 4:24 - "I'll Be Home For Christmas" (Buck RamBuck RamBuck Ram was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger.-Biography:...
, Kim GannonKim GannonJames Kimball "Kim" Gannon was an American songwriter, more commonly a lyricist than a composer. He was born in Brooklyn, New York but grew up in New Jersey where he attended Montclair High School and was a member of The Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity. He graduated from St...
, Walter KentWalter KentWalter Kent was a Jewish American composer who wrote the music for songs including the Christmas standard "I'll Be Home for Christmas", and the wartime hit " The White Cliffs of Dover", co-written with fellow American Nat Burton. He died at the age of 82-External links:...
) – 4:15 - "White ChristmasWhite Christmas (song)"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
" (Irving BerlinIrving BerlinIrving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
) – 4:22 - "Have Yourself a Merry Little ChristmasHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane...
" (Hugh MartinHugh MartinHugh Martin was an American musical theater and film composer, arranger, vocal coach, and playwright. He is best known for his score for the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St...
, Ralph BlaneRalph BlaneRalph Blane was an American composer, lyricist, and performer.-Life and career:Born Ralph Uriah Hunsecker in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blane was the son of grocery store owners. He attended Tulsa Central High School...
) – 3:55 - "River" (Joni MitchellJoni MitchellJoni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
) – 4:10 - "O come, O come, EmmanuelO come, O come, EmmanuelO come, O come, Emmanuel is a translation of the Latin text by John Mason Neale and Henry Sloane Coffin in the mid-19th century. It is a metrical version of a collation of various Advent Antiphons , which now serves as a popular Advent hymn...
" (John Mason NealeJohn Mason NealeJohn Mason Neale was an Anglican priest, scholar and hymn-writer.-Life:Neale was born in London, his parents being the Revd Cornelius Neale and Susanna Neale, daughter of John Mason Good...
) – 3:29 - "Xicochi, XicochiXicochiXicochi is a 17th century motet, written by Gaspar Fernandes while he was organist of Puebla Cathedral. It serves as an example of the influence of indigenous Nahua culture, dominant in Mesoamérica at the time, on colonial Spanish music....
" (Gaspar Fernandez) – 2:17 - "I Wonder As I WanderI Wonder As I Wander"I Wonder as I Wander" is a Christmas carol written by John Jacob Niles. The carol has its origins in a song fragment collected on July 16, 1933 by folklorist and singer John Jacob Niles....
" (John Jacob NilesJohn Jacob NilesJohn Jacob Niles was an American composer, singer, and collector of traditional ballads. Called the "Dean of American Balladeers", Niles was an important influence on the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, with Joan Baez, Burl Ives, and Peter, Paul and Mary, among others,...
, Traditional) – 3:20 - "Away In A MangerAway in a Manger"Away in a Manger" is a Christmas carol first published in 1885 in Philadelphia and used widely throughout the English-speaking world. In Britain it is one of the most popular carols, a 1996 Gallup Poll ranking it joint second.-History of the lyrics:...
" (Traditional) – 2:08 - "Lo, How A Rose E're BloomingEs ist ein Ros entsprungen"Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" , most commonly translated to English as "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming" or "A Spotless Rose", is a Christmas carol and Marian Hymn of German origin.-History:...
" (Traditional) – 2:10 - "Welsh Carol" (Traditional) – 3:57
- "Past Three O'ClockPast Three O'Clock"Past Three O'Clock" is a Christmas carol, loosely based on the traditional cry of the city night watchman:Numerous variations of the carol include an arrangement by William Llewellyn as a "quodlibet" for choir: London Waits .Recordings of the carol include those by the Choir of Clare College,...
" (George Ratcliffe WoodwardGeorge Ratcliffe WoodwardGeorge Ratcliffe Woodward was an Anglican priest who wrote mostly religious verse, both original and translated from ancient authors. The best-known of these were written to fit traditional melodies, mainly of the Renaissance...
, Traditional) – 0:41 - "O Magnum MysteriumO Magnum MysteriumO Magnum Mysterium is a responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas. A number of composers have reworked the chant into a contemporary setting; the settings by Byrd, Victoria, Gabrieli, Palestrina, Poulenc, Judith Bingham, Harbison, La Rocca, Mäntyjärvi, Pierre Villette, Morales, Lauridsen and...
" (Traditional) – 3:19 - "Silent NightSilent Night"Silent Night" is a popular Christmas carol. The original lyrics of the song "Stille Nacht" were written in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, by the priest Father Joseph Mohr and the melody was composed by the Austrian headmaster Franz Xaver Gruber...
" (Josef MohrJosef MohrJoseph Mohr, sometimes spelt Josef was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and composer, who wrote the words to the Christmas carol "Silent Night".-Biography:...
) – 3:06