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)

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.