13/12/2010 12:13 am  #1


Question about White Christmas

I'm a newbie, I just found this site.  My Dad died a few years back now (1995) and I’ve had a lot of his LP’s (& just a few Cd’s) stored in a cupboard.  My wife thought it might be an idea to get the Christmas LP’s out the other day and I’ve been copying into digital.  I remember my Dad use to say Bing Crosby was the best but my brothers and I were into much younger things.  Now I realise the Bing has stood the test of time.  One thing puzzles me about my Dad’s collection.   He’s made lots of notes on them and for every time on the song White Christmas he has made a note 1947 and crossed out 1942 which is printed on several.

I know from the sleeve note on an LP that the song comes from the film Holiday Inn in 1942 and again in White Christmas in 1954 and we had to see these when they came on TV at Christmas,  but no reference to 1947. I’ve found a CD on Amazon which seems to have several White Christmasses on it.  What is the one that is always played on radio and in shops? it sounds like the one I have got several times over, Was my Dad right or wrong with his editing of LP sleeve notes?

John M

 

13/12/2010 12:23 am  #2


Re: Question about White Christmas

Very interesting topic. I think your Dad crossed out 1942, because Bing did first record the song in 1942. However, it was waxed on war era material and Decca's copy got worn out. So Bing recorded it again in 1947, and that is the version you hear on the radio now usually. A few Crosby Christmas LPs, say it was the version from 1942 when HOLIDAY INN came out, when it is in fact the 1947 version. I hope that helps a bit.

 

13/12/2010 10:12 am  #3


Re: Question about White Christmas

John M

Welcome to the Crosby Fan World Board.  It’s always great to see new names amongst us and have new stirrings of interest expressed.

I see you mention specifically Bing's Christmas songs - I do hope you give a hearing to your father's other records too. Bing was not just for Christmas!

You ask about White Christmas and the dates, and David Lobosco has already given you a good brief explanation, but you also ask about the versions you hear, so I'll go into a little more detail for you.

The song was in the film ‘Holiday Inn’ in 1942 and was written for it though Bing had first sung it in public on a radio programme a few months earlier.  Decca produced it on record.  Two takes were recorded.  Take A was rejected because Bing fluffed a word.  Take B was issued.

It was so popular that the metal stampers used to manufacture records wore out.  To meet the demand Bing and the original orchestra returned to the studio in 1947 to re – record the song.  They were very successful in replicating it note for note, but there are differences which I note below. 

All LP, and most CD issues, used the 1947 version but invariably gave the original issue date of 1942 in their notes.  Obviously your father knew the correct position. It was well into the CD era before the 1942 original was used in a modern reissue. 

A further version was issued in connection with the 1954 film ‘White Christmas’ but that is very different and could not be confused with the earlier versions,  as it included the voices of Danny Kaye and Peggy Lee as well as others. (Peggy Lee was not in the film - the recording is not from the film soundtrack, partly because Rosemary Clooney,  one of the co-stars was under contract to a different record company,  so this ‘cover’ version was made for commercial issue.)

A further version appeared on an LP ‘A Christmas Sing With Bing Around The World’ originating from a radio programme.  Very recently another radio version has appeared on a CD which I list on this site in an item ‘The Year In Review’.   ‘The Crosby Christmas Sessions’ 

I see that you are in the UK so you probably went to Amazon’s UK site.  Your reference to several White Christmases on one  CD almost certainly relates to a double CD set that covers all the Christmas songs Bing recorded under his contract with American Decca,  ‘The Voice Of Christmas’.  If you go to the US Amazon site, they list the same pair of CDs but also have sound samples of each track which you can easily use to identify a key difference.

http://www.amazon.com/Voice-Christmas-Complete-Decca-Songbook/dp/B000009RCX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292161553&sr=8-1

The first version from take B of 1942 – disc 1,  track 5, has Bing,  on the words ‘I’m dreaming of a white – ‘,  breaking the two syllables of ‘dreaming’  into the multi syllables of   dre –e-em- ing. 

In the 1947 version – disc 1 track 11 - it is sung straight - ‘dreaming’.  There are many other detailed differences but that is one of the obvious ones and the bit to pick on from those particular clips. 

The 1947 version is the one which had wide circulation on LP and CD reissues and is 99. 9% likely to be the one that you have in several copies from your father’s collection.  The one heard in shopping arcades and the like is probably also going to be this one,  but as there are now CDs circulating with the other versions it is no longer the near certainty it once was. By the way,  being in the UK,  there is a chance that you listen to ‘The Archers’ who have been doing their Christmas shopping – in every scene of which Bing has been singing in the background!

As to the rejected take A from 1942 that is on disc 2 at track 21.  You won’t have that on any of your LPs. The most identifiable difference on this one is not included in the brief Amazon clip.  Bing leaves out the word ‘your’ in the very last line ‘and may all your Christmases - -‘,  He seems to fade during a prolonged ‘all’ and comes back on ‘Christmases’  If you listen very carefully you may detect a few subtle differences within those short clips. You are most unlikely to find that version at present on any other CDs as yet.

I hope this helps.

You say that your father made other notes on his LPs - were these things like matrix numbers, or take numbers, or recording dates? If so they would seem to indicate that your father was not only a keen collector but that he looked into detail and knew a lot about the background.

Do give the non Christmas songs  listen too. Believe your father! Bing really was the greatest.

Last edited by Richard Baker (13/12/2010 10:14 am)

 

13/12/2010 7:39 pm  #4


Re: Question about White Christmas

The 'dre - e - aming' was what, I believe, Gary Giddins meant when he wrote of Bing's use of the 'mordent', something Bing apparently borrowed from the old Irish tenors he was so fond of.  It was extensively copied by the crooners who most closely followed Bing in the 1950s (e.g. Dean Martin; Perry Como), though Bing used it less and less as his career progressed.  He'd probably already begun to tire of it when he recorded the second version of 'White Christmas' in 1947.


Devotee of 'the art that conceals art' which of course Bing epitomised.
 

13/12/2010 11:56 pm  #5


Re: Question about White Christmas

Thank you everyone for that help.

Yes I think my Dad must have known a bit. Almost all his LP's have notes showing recording dates if they are not already printed and things that I think must be master or catalogue numbers.  I still have his turntable too.
I have about 40 LP's  from him but there are four of Christmas songs. Also six CD's.  I think he must have got most of them after I left home because I only remember a few of them.
I think I might get round to the ones that are not Christmas in a few weeks time.

     Thread Starter
 

Board footera

 

Powered by Boardhost. Create a Free Forum

Spread the word about CROSBY FAN WORLD http://crosbyfanworld.boardhost.com