December 16, 2025 • 27 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, the history of classic Christmas songs is a story shaped by accidents, migrations, and reinventions. A poem written for one parish grew into a carol that crossed borders. A melody carried across continents found new life in American churches. Other pieces resurfaced during political upheaval and eventually settled into the traditions we now recognize. Together, they formed the foundation of the Christmas music that anchors the season.
Ace Collins, author of Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas, joins us to share the surprising origins of your favorite holiday tunes.
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show
and today and around the Christmas season, we bring you
special stories about a special time and the stories behind
the stories of our Christmas traditions. And today we're going
to focus on Christmas songs we love to sing and
(00:32):
these are fascinating stories we hope will enrich your holiday celebration.
Ace Collins is the author of stories behind the best
loved songs of Christmas. Collins is an ace at song history,
and he's here to introduce you to people you've never met,
stories you've never heard, and meanings you'd never have imagined.
(00:54):
Hears Ace.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
One of the best Christmas songs is Oh Holy Night.
You can back almost two hundred years to France, when
a local priest asked a parishioner who was the commissioner
of wines to write a poem for the Christmas Eve service.
He was writing in a carriage on the way to Paris.
He wrote the poem was so impressed with it that
he took it to a friend of his who wrote operas,
(01:18):
and he asked him, can you write music to this poem?
The man read the poem said, it's a beautiful poem,
but I think I'm not the right guy to do it.
He said, no, no, you have this handle on music.
I want you to write it. So he put together
some beautiful music to go with it. It was sung
in a little church in France that evening of Christmas
(01:40):
Eve Mass, and people were so impressed. It became a
tradition in that church, and within five years had spread
clear across France, and then it began to spread across England.
Ironically enough, in about eighteen forty the French church threw
it out of services because they it was too secular,
(02:02):
think of a Holy night being secutar. But the whole
point was this, the manho had written the music to
go with the lyrics was Jewish and they didn't want
a Jewish man's music associated with Christmas. Well, they didn't
stop the English from singing it at Christmas time, and
then it came to the United States in the eighteen fifties,
(02:23):
not as a Christmas song, but as a part of
the abolitionist movement. Because in the third verse there are
a number of lines dealing with chain shall he break,
for the slave is our brother in his name, all
oppression shall cease. It was after the Civil War that
(02:43):
this song, Oh Holy Night, which is one of the
most beautiful of all carells, began to be a part
of the carolling movement here in the United States and
was brought into churches. It's also a song that has
two other great stories with it. One the Franco Prussian War.
On Christmas Eve, some French guy jumped out of a
fox hole and sang that song. He was answered by
(03:04):
a German who sang Silent Night, and the two sides
got together and had twenty four hours of celebrations of Christmas.
So it really was the song that brought peace on Earth.
Let's go ahead. The nineteen oh six Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a
man named Fessenden is working on doing something that everyone
thought was impossible. He is going to create a transmitter
(03:27):
that is so strong it will broadcast the human voice.
Now Marconi even said this was impossible. Edison said it
was impossible. Alexander Graham Bell said, you can't have a
transmitter that can do that, you know. On Christmas Eve
nineteen oh six, Fessisenden tried his new invention out and
(03:48):
people who were in telegraph offices and ships at sea,
and newsrooms and weather bureau suddenly heard his voice reading
the second chapter of Luke rather than dot dot dash dash.
Now imagine what you must have felt like to hear
a human voice coming over these little speakers when you
had been told it was impossible. Then Felsenton picked up
(04:11):
a violin and the very first song ever played on
radio was a Holy Ninth. I get asked about the
Twelve Days of Christmas a great deal. And there's some
controversy with this song. There are some people that believe
that the meaning of the Twelve Days of Christmas was
added after the song was written. It was not written
as anything but a kind of a silly little Christmas song.
(04:34):
And I don't know if it was written as a
code song or if it became a code song, but
I can tell you this, the Catholic Church did use that.
I've talked to Catholic historians, I've talked in both the
United States and Great Britain as a code song when
Catholicism was outlawed by the Church of England. And this
(04:54):
song the Twelve Days of Christmas therefore had religious meanings
that were attached to the once again, were they written
as code or did the Catholic Church seize upon this
and find a way to make it a code. I
think it was written as code, but I don't know that.
You know. The argument's going to go back and forth
on that for eternity. None of us will ever know
(05:18):
which is right and which is wrong. But I can
tell you what the code words in this were and
what they meant. A partridge in a par tree. The
partridge is the only bird that will lay down its
life for its nest. That partridge in a paratree, therefore,
is about Jesus Christ. The second Day of Christmas was
two turtle doves. What are the two turtle doves? Those
(05:38):
are the Gospel, the Old and the New Testaments. Three
French hens. Well, that is a very interesting things because
that those birds represent faith, hope and love. It goes
back to One Corinthians thirteen, fourth day of Christmas. Four
birds calling. Well, what are the four birds calling? They're
the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Fifth Day
(06:01):
of Christmas. Five golden rings. That's the tour of the
five books of the Old Testament. Six days of Christmas.
Is my true Love gave to me six geese, Elaine,
what could that be? Well, you know, those lyrics can
be translated back to the first story found of the Bible.
Each egg represents a day when the world was created,
(06:22):
the seventh day, of course, when it was hatched, seventh
day of Christmas. My true love gave to me seven
swans a swimming What are those seven swans of swimming? Well,
that's the gifts of the spirit, prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading,
and compassion. Eight maids of milking. There was nothing lower
(06:45):
in England that was than being a milkmaid. And this
is the story of Christ coming not just for the King,
but also for the least of these and the milk
maid in England, they were definitely the least of these.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
And you've been listening to Ace Collins tell the story
story of one of the best love Christmas songs of
all time. And by the way, just think about it.
And we take these things for granted. Hearing a voice
through a speaker, and what are the first things ever read?
A passage from the Gospel, and of course a Holy Night,
the first song ever performed, And on Christmas Eve of
(07:19):
all days, when we come back more of the stories
behind the best loved songs of Christmas. Here on our
American Stories. Here are our American Stories. We bring you
inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories
from a great and beautiful country that need to be told.
(07:40):
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If you love our stories in America like we do,
please go to our American Stories dot com and click
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us keep the great American stories coming. That's our American
Stories dot Com. And we continue here with our American
(08:11):
Stories and our special Christmas edition. Let's pick up where
we last left off with Ace Colin sharing with us
the story of the coded Catholic Christmas Carol, the twelve
Days of Christmas. Year's Ace.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Nine ladies dancing? What it was? Nine ladies dancing? Well,
those are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, you know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faith, gentleness,
and self control. Ten lords of Leaping's pretty easy, you know.
That is the judges in the law. Ten lords. Well,
that's also the ten Commandments. The eleventh Day of Christmas,
(08:49):
My true Love gave to me eleven pipers piping. Those
are the disciples that took the story out to the world. Well,
you may say there's twelve disciples. Judas did not take
the word out, the eleven disciple took the word out.
And finally the last one is twelve drummers drumming. Well
that you can tell that directly to the Catholic Church
because that's the Apostles creed and so that is the
(09:12):
story behind the Twelve Days of Christmas. And I think
it's one of the most fascinating stories of all because
it was essentially speaking a teacher's aid, and that makes
it very special when you look at history, and one
of the things we've got to recognize here, most of
our great carols and most of our great traditions came
(09:35):
about because of the missionaries, the early missionaries in the
Catholic Church as well. We owe them a tremendous debt
of gratitude for all the different things and elements of
Christmas that they brought to us from the cultures that
they went out and had missionary contact with. Getting back
to one of the little known things. There's so many
great stories about Silent Night, but did you realize this,
(09:57):
the little bitty church in Austria, or that little p
was brought to life is Saint Nicholas, and that to
me is just you know, And we would not know
the story of Silent Knight, nor would we sing it,
because it was a one It was you know, it
was cut together because the organ didn't work for one
time only somebody had had to fix the organ. And
the guy who came by to fix the organ, said,
(10:18):
what did you do for music? On Christmas? Even the
priest played him that song, He wrote down the lyrics,
he wrote down the music and took it everywhere he
went in Europe, fixing organs, and within twenty years it
had spread to the United States. And the priest who
was this little priest Joseph Moore and opened to Austria,
had no idea that anybody was singing his song, because
he'd even quit singing it. And he went to Colone,
(10:41):
Germany one time and there it was ringing from this
cathedral and he went, how did they find out about that?
You know? And so he died without ever being given
credit for writing the song. Yeah, but what an impact
this little priest who never went into anything except little
churches in Austar had on the world because that is
(11:01):
that Jesus loves Me. Of all Christmas carols, you know,
everybody knows it. I love to look at what music
has meant to traditions because I don't think you could
have Christmas without the music. You know. I've always told
people at my house, it wasn't Christmas until you heard
Being Seen White Christmas and Elvis sing Blue Christmas. You
(11:22):
had to have both of those songs play before it
really became Christmas. And the music of the season was
not always that important if you were not a Catholic. Yes,
Glory and Excess of Dais dates back probably nineteen hundred years.
It dates back to at least one thirty. Part of
that song, doesn't, and songs like Oh Come, Oh Come
(11:43):
em Manuel date back to the nine hundreds. But most
of our Christmas music is relatively new, and it was
birthed after the Civil War by something that happened first
in Victorian England and then spread to the United States,
and that was Christmas caroling. And suddenly, with Christmas caroling,
you had the opportunity to write new song, songs that
people could sing as they went house to house caroling
(12:03):
in the eighteen hundreds and eighteen nineties, and with the
invention of the phonograph record that really took off. One
of the songs, though, that I think is the most
interesting of all of the songs that created tradition like
no other, was a song that was written in Medford,
Massachusetts in about eighteen forty and it was written by
(12:23):
a preacher's son for a Thanksgiving gathering in the community.
His father had assigned him the task of creating a
song for the Christmas choir, and he was sitting at
the only piano in Medford, Massachusetts, and couldn't concentrate because
of all the noise outside his door. He went outside
(12:44):
his door and these teenage boys were attempting to impress
teenage girls by having drag races with a horse drawn sleigh. Okay,
I mean that's what it was on. This was what
inspired him. He didn't go in and write something for Thanksgiving.
He wrote an eighteen forties beach boys song. It's called
jingle Bells. If you listen to it, it is all
(13:07):
about guys trying to impress girls by going fast with
their hot rods of the period. Well, the people who
came in that Thanksgiving to hear this song, were so
impressed with the children's chore they begged for them to
put it in the Christmas service as well. So imagine
(13:29):
this reverend Christmas service and in the middle of it,
these kids are singing jingle Bells. Well, the people who
visited from Boston and New York City thought it was
a Christmas song, and they took it back to New
York and Boston. Is a Christmas song of the eighteen sixties.
It has spread all over the United States. Courier knives
we're using it for inspiration. One horse sleigh, the images
of snow, the images of children gathering that, the image
(13:52):
of writing in these sleighs all goes back to the
greatest Thanksgiving song of all time, Jingle Bels, which is
nothing more than a beach boy song, but it is
that song that has projected into our minds. Hollywood is
used at TV, is used at Heaven knows how many
Hallmark movies have used it now as a part of
(14:12):
their important tradition. You can't pick up a Christmas card
without having the inspiration of jingle bells all over it.
And I think that's one of the most interesting things
about American Christmas is an American Christmas was literally defined
by a song about drag racing one horse sleighs in
(14:32):
New England and was meant only for one Thanksgiving service.
It's the greatest Thanksgiving song of all time. But I mean,
you think about it, it is totally info. You hear
something else that is funny that goes with it too,
that it ties right into it. This song, jingle Bell Rock,
the first great rock and roll Christmas song. Jingle Bell
(14:52):
Rock is not about dancing. It's two guys from New
England who happened to live in New Orleans then wrote
it about a New England Christmas, about rocking along as
a one horse drawn sleigh and if you listen to
the lyrics, there's nothing about dancing or anything else. But
when Brenda Lee cut it at twelve years old, Owen
Bradley was the producer, and it became this monster hit.
(15:15):
Everybody thought it was a rock and roll song, and
the guys were initially appalled that people thought it was
a dance song until the royalty checks started coming in
and then suddenly, oh yeah, that's fine, we meant that
all along, you know, But it was you know, that
is what you know, jingle Bell Rock was all about. Yeah,
you know, it is so funny because seven of the
top ten best selling Christmas songs of all time were
(15:37):
written by Jewish people. White Christmas, Rootolf, the Red Nose Reindeer,
Holly Jolly Christmas, jingle Bell Rock, but Holly Jolly Christmas,
Rudolf and jingle Bell Rock were all written by Johnny Marks.
And so you start and I ask a friend of
mine who was Jewish one time, I said, you know,
(15:57):
why are they there are so many great Christmas songs
written by Jewish people? He said, well, it was a
Jewish guy's birthday. You know. Of course I found out
stories behind all of them, and that's not the reason.
But you know that were still you know, that's a
great line. I mean, that is just really a good line.
I started keeping track about nine ten years ago of
(16:20):
what the number one song story that people ask about
on Christian radio and on secular radio. I was curious
as to how they lined up. The number one song
story on secular radio that people ask about is a
Holy Night, which I found found fascinating. The number one
(16:41):
song on Christian radio that people asked me about is
Grandma Got run over by a raindeer. Ryan Lung got
run over by rain there.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Walking home from our house Christmas A.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You can say there's no such thing. I said.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Last for me and Grandpa, we believe.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
The guy who wrote Grandma got run over by reindeer.
Had He was a Vanderbilt student and he had a
band and his band Betty, you can't write a song
where somebody dies in the first verse and have anybody
listened to us. That's so he did, and it became
a hit for several different groups, including Elmo and Patsy
probably had the biggest hit on You know Scott Bell
(17:27):
who wrote that song, what is? What is? What did
he do with his life? He's an air traffic controller.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
She had hoof pre on her forehead and in priminight
ink laws marks on her back. And you're listening to
the infectious storytelling of Ace Collins. It doesn't get any better, folks,
when we come back more of these great stories of
our best loved Christmas songs here on our American Stories
(18:00):
and we continue with our American Stories and our special
Christmas Edition, and we do this each year around the
Christmas holiday season, and we do it because we love it.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
And we hope you love it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But these stories are stories that we think need to
be heard, and well we have great people telling them,
and you're listening to Ace Collins tell the stories behind
the best loved songs of Christmas. Let's pick up when
we last left off year's Ace.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
You know I mentioned earlier that it's not Christmas till
you heard Being in Elvis, maybe Perry Como. But think
about this, Bing Crosby would probably be forgotten today without
all of his Christmas hits. It wouldn't be true of Elvis,
but it would be true of Being. There are other
people who had one hit. Bobby Helms, who was jingle
(18:58):
bell rock, who we still listen to every year, who
otherwise would have been lost forever. Dinah Shore charted four
hundred and fifty times, never had a Christmas song, so
nobody ever remembers one of the top charting artists of
the nineteen forties and early fifties because she didn't ever
find that Christmas song. Christmas songs make you immortal. If
(19:19):
you're an artist, you know that is just it's mind boggling.
If you have a Christmas hit, people are going to
be listening to you for the next hundred years. That's
a big part of the fact that your identity is
going to be hooked on to a large jury to
a Christmas song. If you're an artist from the thirties, forties,
and fifties and they're still playing your stuff, they're playing
(19:40):
your stuff by and large because it's Christmas. And if
you didn't have that Christmas hit, they wouldn't be playing
your stuff. And so Christmas hits do make you to
a certain degree immortal. You know, you'll come back every
late November and early December, and you'll be a part
of Christmas movies on Hallmark forever because they I will
play a blurb of you singing one of those songs.
(20:03):
And you know, it's ironic that Elvis's big hit was
Blue Christmas, when his best Christmas song was why can't
every Day? But day will be Like Christmas, which is
still played, but not like Blue Christmas has played, and
Blue Christmas has been around for eleven years, but my
twelve years before Elvis cut it, and it had gone
nowhere and not been a major hit at all. Did
(20:25):
Elvis cut it? Christmas? We love you so bo? Who
does think again? You echo shuns over it? On a
(20:54):
green Christmas tree. Oh, it would be the family of
the man who wrote that song told me that blue
Christmas means green at their house because of the royalty
checks that helpus generates every every Christmas for them. So yeah,
(21:21):
you know Irving Berlin's take on white Christmas when he
told when he gave it to Bing Crosby, Irving Berlin
told Bing, I've writ some great songs for this movie
Holiday m but my Christmas song is just not very good.
And he played it for being and said, oh my gosh, Irving,
this is perfect. And Berlin' said, are you sure, I
don't think it captures the captures what Christmas is all about.
(21:41):
And he said, no, no, don't change a word. We'll
We'll sing it. I love what what every Christmas car?
(22:14):
You know A great story behind silver Bells that was
in the Bob Hope movie A Lemon Drop Kid. Bob
thought he finally had a hit Christmas song, being had four,
he wanted one too. His best friend all these hints
and so when he sang it in the movie, he thought, Okay,
I'm gonna go in this fall and cut this song
(22:34):
and release it for Christmas. Because the movie wasn't coming
out to Christmas anyway. Well, being heard listen to Bob
talking about the song, went into the studio, cut silver
bells and beat Bob to the marketplace with it, and
bing Crosby had to hit on silver bells and Bob
still has never had a Christmas hit, so his best
friend beat him again. Matthis is another one. You know.
(22:57):
I mentioned Como because Como's only listened to because he
had all his Christmas specials. And you think about the
song Christmas is amazing because years before Rosa Parks broke
the color barrier on the buses and Jackie Robinson wrote
the color barrier in baseball, Nat King Cole took a
(23:17):
Mel tour May song and broke the color barrier at
Christmas with the Christmas song jazz Nuts roasting on an
open five, Jack Frost nipping at you know, and you
(23:38):
know and Mel tour Mat had to fight to take
that song he had written and give it to Nat
King Cole because there were a lot of radio stations
across the United States that wouldn't play music of a
black man. And ultimately speaking, that song was so powerful
and that song touched so many lives that in nineteen
forty six, it really became the song brought a bit
(24:00):
of color to Christmas, and I think that's one of
the great stories. But Christmas songs that last, you know,
either have to have a different point of view, like Mary,
did you Know Which is? You know? Mark Lowry's Incredible song,
or White Christmas, I'll Be Home for Christmas, or released
during World War two, have Yourself a Married Little Christmas
(24:21):
by Judy Garland. I'm not sure they would have been
huge hits without the fact of what those songs meant
to a nation divided by a world war, with so
many families separated during from nineteen forty one to nineteen
forty five. And so I think the timing of when
a song is released do you hear what I hear?
(24:42):
Released during the Civil War, it's timing that has to do,
I guess with everything in life, but it's particularly true
at Christmas. If your song comes at a time when
people are insecure and they need something to latch onto
the it's easy to latch onto a Christmas song like
White Christmas or I'll Be Home for Christmas or have
(25:05):
Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. As a secular prayer during
that holiday season, and I think, you know, I think
that is one of those songs have resonated for so
long when you had some really great Christmas songs that
were written during that same time that right before World
War II or right after World War Two, that we
don't we don't listen to or sing anymore. Timing is
(25:29):
everything when it comes to holidays. The song stories are
really good. I mean, you know, you think about Gloria
in Excessus dais, and that's a song that goes back
to probably one thirty a d. There was a church
leader long before we were celebrating Christmas that instructed all
(25:51):
congregations in the Christian Church at that time that whenever
the second chapter of Luke was read, that the congregation
should sing Gloria and Us with Dall's. And therefore, at
least part of that song that we know as Gloria
now existed eighteen hundred and ninety years ago. And if
that is the case, and all the different congregations knew
(26:14):
that song, you know, then it had to have been
passed down earlier than that. So it doesn't take much
of a leap of faith to think that song is
probably predates that one thirty edict by you know anywhere
from seventy to eighty years And therefore the guy who
(26:34):
wrote that may have actually known Jesus, and that makes
that song very very powerful.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Indeed, great job as always to Greg Hangwick for putting
this storytelling together and forgetting us and bringing us.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Ace Collins, who is the.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Author of the story Worries behind the Best Loved Songs
of Christmas, And indeed what storytelling we just heard the
story of the stories behind the best Loved Songs of Christmas.
Our special episodes of our special storytelling each Christmas season
here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show
and today and around the Christmas season, we bring you
special stories about a special time and the stories behind
the stories of our Christmas traditions. And today we're going
to focus on Christmas songs we love to sing and
(00:32):
these are fascinating stories we hope will enrich your holiday celebration.
Ace Collins is the author of stories behind the best
loved songs of Christmas. Collins is an ace at song history,
and he's here to introduce you to people you've never met,
stories you've never heard, and meanings you'd never have imagined.
(00:54):
Hears Ace.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
One of the best Christmas songs is Oh Holy Night.
You can back almost two hundred years to France, when
a local priest asked a parishioner who was the commissioner
of wines to write a poem for the Christmas Eve service.
He was writing in a carriage on the way to Paris.
He wrote the poem was so impressed with it that
he took it to a friend of his who wrote operas,
(01:18):
and he asked him, can you write music to this poem?
The man read the poem said, it's a beautiful poem,
but I think I'm not the right guy to do it.
He said, no, no, you have this handle on music.
I want you to write it. So he put together
some beautiful music to go with it. It was sung
in a little church in France that evening of Christmas
(01:40):
Eve Mass, and people were so impressed. It became a
tradition in that church, and within five years had spread
clear across France, and then it began to spread across England.
Ironically enough, in about eighteen forty the French church threw
it out of services because they it was too secular,
(02:02):
think of a Holy night being secutar. But the whole
point was this, the manho had written the music to
go with the lyrics was Jewish and they didn't want
a Jewish man's music associated with Christmas. Well, they didn't
stop the English from singing it at Christmas time, and
then it came to the United States in the eighteen fifties,
(02:23):
not as a Christmas song, but as a part of
the abolitionist movement. Because in the third verse there are
a number of lines dealing with chain shall he break,
for the slave is our brother in his name, all
oppression shall cease. It was after the Civil War that
(02:43):
this song, Oh Holy Night, which is one of the
most beautiful of all carells, began to be a part
of the carolling movement here in the United States and
was brought into churches. It's also a song that has
two other great stories with it. One the Franco Prussian War.
On Christmas Eve, some French guy jumped out of a
fox hole and sang that song. He was answered by
(03:04):
a German who sang Silent Night, and the two sides
got together and had twenty four hours of celebrations of Christmas.
So it really was the song that brought peace on Earth.
Let's go ahead. The nineteen oh six Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a
man named Fessenden is working on doing something that everyone
thought was impossible. He is going to create a transmitter
(03:27):
that is so strong it will broadcast the human voice.
Now Marconi even said this was impossible. Edison said it
was impossible. Alexander Graham Bell said, you can't have a
transmitter that can do that, you know. On Christmas Eve
nineteen oh six, Fessisenden tried his new invention out and
(03:48):
people who were in telegraph offices and ships at sea,
and newsrooms and weather bureau suddenly heard his voice reading
the second chapter of Luke rather than dot dot dash dash.
Now imagine what you must have felt like to hear
a human voice coming over these little speakers when you
had been told it was impossible. Then Felsenton picked up
(04:11):
a violin and the very first song ever played on
radio was a Holy Ninth. I get asked about the
Twelve Days of Christmas a great deal. And there's some
controversy with this song. There are some people that believe
that the meaning of the Twelve Days of Christmas was
added after the song was written. It was not written
as anything but a kind of a silly little Christmas song.
(04:34):
And I don't know if it was written as a
code song or if it became a code song, but
I can tell you this, the Catholic Church did use that.
I've talked to Catholic historians, I've talked in both the
United States and Great Britain as a code song when
Catholicism was outlawed by the Church of England. And this
(04:54):
song the Twelve Days of Christmas therefore had religious meanings
that were attached to the once again, were they written
as code or did the Catholic Church seize upon this
and find a way to make it a code. I
think it was written as code, but I don't know that.
You know. The argument's going to go back and forth
on that for eternity. None of us will ever know
(05:18):
which is right and which is wrong. But I can
tell you what the code words in this were and
what they meant. A partridge in a par tree. The
partridge is the only bird that will lay down its
life for its nest. That partridge in a paratree, therefore,
is about Jesus Christ. The second Day of Christmas was
two turtle doves. What are the two turtle doves? Those
(05:38):
are the Gospel, the Old and the New Testaments. Three
French hens. Well, that is a very interesting things because
that those birds represent faith, hope and love. It goes
back to One Corinthians thirteen, fourth day of Christmas. Four
birds calling. Well, what are the four birds calling? They're
the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Fifth Day
(06:01):
of Christmas. Five golden rings. That's the tour of the
five books of the Old Testament. Six days of Christmas.
Is my true Love gave to me six geese, Elaine,
what could that be? Well, you know, those lyrics can
be translated back to the first story found of the Bible.
Each egg represents a day when the world was created,
(06:22):
the seventh day, of course, when it was hatched, seventh
day of Christmas. My true love gave to me seven
swans a swimming What are those seven swans of swimming? Well,
that's the gifts of the spirit, prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading,
and compassion. Eight maids of milking. There was nothing lower
(06:45):
in England that was than being a milkmaid. And this
is the story of Christ coming not just for the King,
but also for the least of these and the milk
maid in England, they were definitely the least of these.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
And you've been listening to Ace Collins tell the story
story of one of the best love Christmas songs of
all time. And by the way, just think about it.
And we take these things for granted. Hearing a voice
through a speaker, and what are the first things ever read?
A passage from the Gospel, and of course a Holy Night,
the first song ever performed, And on Christmas Eve of
(07:19):
all days, when we come back more of the stories
behind the best loved songs of Christmas. Here on our
American Stories. Here are our American Stories. We bring you
inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith and love. Stories
from a great and beautiful country that need to be told.
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But we can't do it without you. Our stories are
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please go to our American Stories dot com and click
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us keep the great American stories coming. That's our American
Stories dot Com. And we continue here with our American
(08:11):
Stories and our special Christmas edition. Let's pick up where
we last left off with Ace Colin sharing with us
the story of the coded Catholic Christmas Carol, the twelve
Days of Christmas. Year's Ace.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Nine ladies dancing? What it was? Nine ladies dancing? Well,
those are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, you know, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faith, gentleness,
and self control. Ten lords of Leaping's pretty easy, you know.
That is the judges in the law. Ten lords. Well,
that's also the ten Commandments. The eleventh Day of Christmas,
(08:49):
My true Love gave to me eleven pipers piping. Those
are the disciples that took the story out to the world. Well,
you may say there's twelve disciples. Judas did not take
the word out, the eleven disciple took the word out.
And finally the last one is twelve drummers drumming. Well
that you can tell that directly to the Catholic Church
because that's the Apostles creed and so that is the
(09:12):
story behind the Twelve Days of Christmas. And I think
it's one of the most fascinating stories of all because
it was essentially speaking a teacher's aid, and that makes
it very special when you look at history, and one
of the things we've got to recognize here, most of
our great carols and most of our great traditions came
(09:35):
about because of the missionaries, the early missionaries in the
Catholic Church as well. We owe them a tremendous debt
of gratitude for all the different things and elements of
Christmas that they brought to us from the cultures that
they went out and had missionary contact with. Getting back
to one of the little known things. There's so many
great stories about Silent Night, but did you realize this,
(09:57):
the little bitty church in Austria, or that little p
was brought to life is Saint Nicholas, and that to
me is just you know, And we would not know
the story of Silent Knight, nor would we sing it,
because it was a one It was you know, it
was cut together because the organ didn't work for one
time only somebody had had to fix the organ. And
the guy who came by to fix the organ, said,
(10:18):
what did you do for music? On Christmas? Even the
priest played him that song, He wrote down the lyrics,
he wrote down the music and took it everywhere he
went in Europe, fixing organs, and within twenty years it
had spread to the United States. And the priest who
was this little priest Joseph Moore and opened to Austria,
had no idea that anybody was singing his song, because
he'd even quit singing it. And he went to Colone,
(10:41):
Germany one time and there it was ringing from this
cathedral and he went, how did they find out about that?
You know? And so he died without ever being given
credit for writing the song. Yeah, but what an impact
this little priest who never went into anything except little
churches in Austar had on the world because that is
(11:01):
that Jesus loves Me. Of all Christmas carols, you know,
everybody knows it. I love to look at what music
has meant to traditions because I don't think you could
have Christmas without the music. You know. I've always told
people at my house, it wasn't Christmas until you heard
Being Seen White Christmas and Elvis sing Blue Christmas. You
(11:22):
had to have both of those songs play before it
really became Christmas. And the music of the season was
not always that important if you were not a Catholic. Yes,
Glory and Excess of Dais dates back probably nineteen hundred years.
It dates back to at least one thirty. Part of
that song, doesn't, and songs like Oh Come, Oh Come
(11:43):
em Manuel date back to the nine hundreds. But most
of our Christmas music is relatively new, and it was
birthed after the Civil War by something that happened first
in Victorian England and then spread to the United States,
and that was Christmas caroling. And suddenly, with Christmas caroling,
you had the opportunity to write new song, songs that
people could sing as they went house to house caroling
(12:03):
in the eighteen hundreds and eighteen nineties, and with the
invention of the phonograph record that really took off. One
of the songs, though, that I think is the most
interesting of all of the songs that created tradition like
no other, was a song that was written in Medford,
Massachusetts in about eighteen forty and it was written by
(12:23):
a preacher's son for a Thanksgiving gathering in the community.
His father had assigned him the task of creating a
song for the Christmas choir, and he was sitting at
the only piano in Medford, Massachusetts, and couldn't concentrate because
of all the noise outside his door. He went outside
(12:44):
his door and these teenage boys were attempting to impress
teenage girls by having drag races with a horse drawn sleigh. Okay,
I mean that's what it was on. This was what
inspired him. He didn't go in and write something for Thanksgiving.
He wrote an eighteen forties beach boys song. It's called
jingle Bells. If you listen to it, it is all
(13:07):
about guys trying to impress girls by going fast with
their hot rods of the period. Well, the people who
came in that Thanksgiving to hear this song, were so
impressed with the children's chore they begged for them to
put it in the Christmas service as well. So imagine
(13:29):
this reverend Christmas service and in the middle of it,
these kids are singing jingle Bells. Well, the people who
visited from Boston and New York City thought it was
a Christmas song, and they took it back to New
York and Boston. Is a Christmas song of the eighteen sixties.
It has spread all over the United States. Courier knives
we're using it for inspiration. One horse sleigh, the images
of snow, the images of children gathering that, the image
(13:52):
of writing in these sleighs all goes back to the
greatest Thanksgiving song of all time, Jingle Bels, which is
nothing more than a beach boy song, but it is
that song that has projected into our minds. Hollywood is
used at TV, is used at Heaven knows how many
Hallmark movies have used it now as a part of
(14:12):
their important tradition. You can't pick up a Christmas card
without having the inspiration of jingle bells all over it.
And I think that's one of the most interesting things
about American Christmas is an American Christmas was literally defined
by a song about drag racing one horse sleighs in
(14:32):
New England and was meant only for one Thanksgiving service.
It's the greatest Thanksgiving song of all time. But I mean,
you think about it, it is totally info. You hear
something else that is funny that goes with it too,
that it ties right into it. This song, jingle Bell Rock,
the first great rock and roll Christmas song. Jingle Bell
(14:52):
Rock is not about dancing. It's two guys from New
England who happened to live in New Orleans then wrote
it about a New England Christmas, about rocking along as
a one horse drawn sleigh and if you listen to
the lyrics, there's nothing about dancing or anything else. But
when Brenda Lee cut it at twelve years old, Owen
Bradley was the producer, and it became this monster hit.
(15:15):
Everybody thought it was a rock and roll song, and
the guys were initially appalled that people thought it was
a dance song until the royalty checks started coming in
and then suddenly, oh yeah, that's fine, we meant that
all along, you know, But it was you know, that
is what you know, jingle Bell Rock was all about. Yeah,
you know, it is so funny because seven of the
top ten best selling Christmas songs of all time were
(15:37):
written by Jewish people. White Christmas, Rootolf, the Red Nose Reindeer,
Holly Jolly Christmas, jingle Bell Rock, but Holly Jolly Christmas,
Rudolf and jingle Bell Rock were all written by Johnny Marks.
And so you start and I ask a friend of
mine who was Jewish one time, I said, you know,
(15:57):
why are they there are so many great Christmas songs
written by Jewish people? He said, well, it was a
Jewish guy's birthday. You know. Of course I found out
stories behind all of them, and that's not the reason.
But you know that were still you know, that's a
great line. I mean, that is just really a good line.
I started keeping track about nine ten years ago of
(16:20):
what the number one song story that people ask about
on Christian radio and on secular radio. I was curious
as to how they lined up. The number one song
story on secular radio that people ask about is a
Holy Night, which I found found fascinating. The number one
(16:41):
song on Christian radio that people asked me about is
Grandma Got run over by a raindeer. Ryan Lung got
run over by rain there.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Walking home from our house Christmas A.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
You can say there's no such thing. I said.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
Last for me and Grandpa, we believe.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
The guy who wrote Grandma got run over by reindeer.
Had He was a Vanderbilt student and he had a
band and his band Betty, you can't write a song
where somebody dies in the first verse and have anybody
listened to us. That's so he did, and it became
a hit for several different groups, including Elmo and Patsy
probably had the biggest hit on You know Scott Bell
(17:27):
who wrote that song, what is? What is? What did
he do with his life? He's an air traffic controller.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
She had hoof pre on her forehead and in priminight
ink laws marks on her back. And you're listening to
the infectious storytelling of Ace Collins. It doesn't get any better, folks,
when we come back more of these great stories of
our best loved Christmas songs here on our American Stories
(18:00):
and we continue with our American Stories and our special
Christmas Edition, and we do this each year around the
Christmas holiday season, and we do it because we love it.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
And we hope you love it.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
But these stories are stories that we think need to
be heard, and well we have great people telling them,
and you're listening to Ace Collins tell the stories behind
the best loved songs of Christmas. Let's pick up when
we last left off year's Ace.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
You know I mentioned earlier that it's not Christmas till
you heard Being in Elvis, maybe Perry Como. But think
about this, Bing Crosby would probably be forgotten today without
all of his Christmas hits. It wouldn't be true of Elvis,
but it would be true of Being. There are other
people who had one hit. Bobby Helms, who was jingle
(18:58):
bell rock, who we still listen to every year, who
otherwise would have been lost forever. Dinah Shore charted four
hundred and fifty times, never had a Christmas song, so
nobody ever remembers one of the top charting artists of
the nineteen forties and early fifties because she didn't ever
find that Christmas song. Christmas songs make you immortal. If
(19:19):
you're an artist, you know that is just it's mind boggling.
If you have a Christmas hit, people are going to
be listening to you for the next hundred years. That's
a big part of the fact that your identity is
going to be hooked on to a large jury to
a Christmas song. If you're an artist from the thirties, forties,
and fifties and they're still playing your stuff, they're playing
(19:40):
your stuff by and large because it's Christmas. And if
you didn't have that Christmas hit, they wouldn't be playing
your stuff. And so Christmas hits do make you to
a certain degree immortal. You know, you'll come back every
late November and early December, and you'll be a part
of Christmas movies on Hallmark forever because they I will
play a blurb of you singing one of those songs.
(20:03):
And you know, it's ironic that Elvis's big hit was
Blue Christmas, when his best Christmas song was why can't
every Day? But day will be Like Christmas, which is
still played, but not like Blue Christmas has played, and
Blue Christmas has been around for eleven years, but my
twelve years before Elvis cut it, and it had gone
nowhere and not been a major hit at all. Did
(20:25):
Elvis cut it? Christmas? We love you so bo? Who
does think again? You echo shuns over it? On a
(20:54):
green Christmas tree. Oh, it would be the family of
the man who wrote that song told me that blue
Christmas means green at their house because of the royalty
checks that helpus generates every every Christmas for them. So yeah,
(21:21):
you know Irving Berlin's take on white Christmas when he
told when he gave it to Bing Crosby, Irving Berlin
told Bing, I've writ some great songs for this movie
Holiday m but my Christmas song is just not very good.
And he played it for being and said, oh my gosh, Irving,
this is perfect. And Berlin' said, are you sure, I
don't think it captures the captures what Christmas is all about.
(21:41):
And he said, no, no, don't change a word. We'll
We'll sing it. I love what what every Christmas car?
(22:14):
You know A great story behind silver Bells that was
in the Bob Hope movie A Lemon Drop Kid. Bob
thought he finally had a hit Christmas song, being had four,
he wanted one too. His best friend all these hints
and so when he sang it in the movie, he thought, Okay,
I'm gonna go in this fall and cut this song
(22:34):
and release it for Christmas. Because the movie wasn't coming
out to Christmas anyway. Well, being heard listen to Bob
talking about the song, went into the studio, cut silver
bells and beat Bob to the marketplace with it, and
bing Crosby had to hit on silver bells and Bob
still has never had a Christmas hit, so his best
friend beat him again. Matthis is another one. You know.
(22:57):
I mentioned Como because Como's only listened to because he
had all his Christmas specials. And you think about the
song Christmas is amazing because years before Rosa Parks broke
the color barrier on the buses and Jackie Robinson wrote
the color barrier in baseball, Nat King Cole took a
(23:17):
Mel tour May song and broke the color barrier at
Christmas with the Christmas song jazz Nuts roasting on an
open five, Jack Frost nipping at you know, and you
(23:38):
know and Mel tour Mat had to fight to take
that song he had written and give it to Nat
King Cole because there were a lot of radio stations
across the United States that wouldn't play music of a
black man. And ultimately speaking, that song was so powerful
and that song touched so many lives that in nineteen
forty six, it really became the song brought a bit
(24:00):
of color to Christmas, and I think that's one of
the great stories. But Christmas songs that last, you know,
either have to have a different point of view, like Mary,
did you Know Which is? You know? Mark Lowry's Incredible song,
or White Christmas, I'll Be Home for Christmas, or released
during World War two, have Yourself a Married Little Christmas
(24:21):
by Judy Garland. I'm not sure they would have been
huge hits without the fact of what those songs meant
to a nation divided by a world war, with so
many families separated during from nineteen forty one to nineteen
forty five. And so I think the timing of when
a song is released do you hear what I hear?
(24:42):
Released during the Civil War, it's timing that has to do,
I guess with everything in life, but it's particularly true
at Christmas. If your song comes at a time when
people are insecure and they need something to latch onto
the it's easy to latch onto a Christmas song like
White Christmas or I'll Be Home for Christmas or have
(25:05):
Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. As a secular prayer during
that holiday season, and I think, you know, I think
that is one of those songs have resonated for so
long when you had some really great Christmas songs that
were written during that same time that right before World
War II or right after World War Two, that we
don't we don't listen to or sing anymore. Timing is
(25:29):
everything when it comes to holidays. The song stories are
really good. I mean, you know, you think about Gloria
in Excessus dais, and that's a song that goes back
to probably one thirty a d. There was a church
leader long before we were celebrating Christmas that instructed all
(25:51):
congregations in the Christian Church at that time that whenever
the second chapter of Luke was read, that the congregation
should sing Gloria and Us with Dall's. And therefore, at
least part of that song that we know as Gloria
now existed eighteen hundred and ninety years ago. And if
that is the case, and all the different congregations knew
(26:14):
that song, you know, then it had to have been
passed down earlier than that. So it doesn't take much
of a leap of faith to think that song is
probably predates that one thirty edict by you know anywhere
from seventy to eighty years And therefore the guy who
(26:34):
wrote that may have actually known Jesus, and that makes
that song very very powerful.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Indeed, great job as always to Greg Hangwick for putting
this storytelling together and forgetting us and bringing us.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Ace Collins, who is the.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
Author of the story Worries behind the Best Loved Songs
of Christmas, And indeed what storytelling we just heard the
story of the stories behind the best Loved Songs of Christmas.
Our special episodes of our special storytelling each Christmas season
here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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