KWKH Christmas Classic of the Day Dec. 2-Holly Jolly Christmas, Burl Ives
Each day in December, until and including Christmas Day, I'll have a different Christmas Classic Song for you to enjoy!
Burl Ives' “A Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Silver and Gold” are now considered Christmas standards nearly 50 years after they were first featured in the 1964 TV presentation of the animated family special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Johnny Marks had composed the title song in 1949, and producers Rankin & Bass retained him to compose the TV special's soundtrack.
Ives voiced Sam the Snowman, the banjo-playing “host” and narrator of the story, explaining how Rudolph used his “nonconformity,” as Sam refers to it, to save Christmas from being cancelled due to an impassable blizzard.
The following year, Ives re-recorded all three of these Johnny Marks hits, which Ives had sung in the TV special, but with a more “pop” feel than in the TV special. He released them all as singles for the 1965 holiday season, capitalizing on their previous successes.
Burl Ives - A Holly Jolly Christmas (1965)
"A Holly Jolly Christmas" Burl Ives
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