Christmas Music & 'Home' for the Holidays
- Troy Grimes, REALTOR®
- Dec 21, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 6, 2022
Enduring holiday songs feature "home" in title and lyrics
It's been said (and sung), that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. We now take time to celebrate the holiday season. And embrace our inner nostalgia. Remembering Christmas past with our loved ones, some who are no longer with us. I love Christmas music. No matter what, it puts me in a better mood.
Each year by mid-November, I'm looking forward to listening to holiday favorites while driving in the car, or working in my home office. Call me a geek, yet I even have my own Christmas music playlist. Since the onset of the pandemic of 2020, we've been reminded that a home is more than an investment, it's our safe haven. Recently, while listening to holiday tunes, it occurred to me that many of the most popular, recorded Christmas songs over the past 60 years contain the word, "home" in the title.
"There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays."
"(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays" was recorded by Perry Como in 1954 and released that December. It's since been covered over the years by numerous other musical acts, including The Carpenters in 1984 and Garth Brooks in 2000. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" was recorded in 1957 by "Ol' Blue Eyes" himself, Frank Sinatra. Over the years, other songsters have taken their turn at the perennial favorite, including Elvis.
Charles Brown was the artist on the original 1961 recording of "Please Come Home for Christmas", yet it was the Eagles who made this song famous with their Christmas 1978 cover release. Aaron Neville's 1993 rendition was also critically acclaimed. American Idol alum, Laine Hardy, released the song as a single on his first Christmas album of the same name in 2020.
"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" was co-written and produced by1960's rock icon, Phil Spector. Darlene Love performed on the original version, yet her single was released in November 1963 on the day that President John Kennedy was assassinated. Spector and his record label subsequently pulled the single, citing the timing as wrong, due to the somberness of the grieving nation. The song then remained mostly dormant for 23 years, until late night talk show host David Letterman invited Darlene Love to sing it on his Christmas show in 1986. It was so well-received that Letterman invited Love back to perform it every Christmas through his retirement in 2015. Talk show, The View, resumed Ms. Love's annual on-air performance of the song after Letterman's retirement. The song has been covered by several artists including Jon Bon Jovi, Mariah Carey, and Cher (who incidentally sang backup on the original 1963 version.)
"Celebrate Me Home" was a Kenny Loggins release in 1977. Other artists have covered it, yet his version remains the most widely played. "Christmas at Home" was recorded by Tyrone Wells in 2013. And my new personal favorite, "I'll Be Home" was written, produced, and recorded by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor in 2014.
There are other Christmas songs that include the word, "home,' in title and lyrics. And of course no one can forget Gene Autry's "Up on the Housetop." Yet analyzing songs with the word "house" is a topic for another blog.
Will you be home for Christmas? If only in your dreams?
Sources for historical data include Rolling Stone, YouTube, Billboard, Songfacts.com, Late Night with David Letterman, Late Show with David Letterman, & Wikipedia, along with my favorite music channels and personal archive of recorded albums.
About the author: Troy Grimes is the Owner & Broker-in-Charge of Troy Grimes Realty, LLC. His firm specializes in brokerage of residential real estate, assisting home buyers and sellers for re-sale homes and new construction in the greater Raleigh, NC region. Follow Troy on social media sites sites @TroyGrimesRealty. For more information visit www.showandsellraleighhomes.com
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