4 Christmas Songs with a Color in Their Titles

Interestingly, some of our favorite Christmas songs have colors in their titles. It is also amazing that some of the colors just so happen to be colors associated with Christmas. How many of them can you name?

1. "White Christmas"

Everybody loves "White Christmas," which has been sung by many different artists since it was first written by Irving Berlin in 1942. The version sung by Bing Crosby is the world's best-selling single with estimated sales of more than 50 million copies worldwide, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Berlin's song is a simple one about Christmas that took a lot of imagination to write. Berlin was sitting by the pool on a hot summer day at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona when he was inspired to write the masterpiece. What a contrast to writing a Christmas song in the summer!

Berlin was so excited about the song that he told his secretary:

"Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written — heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody's ever written!"

Berlin was confident that his song would become a hit, and it did. Close to a hundred artists have recorded the song. However, the one by Bing Crosby stands out among them all.

Artists who recorded "White Christmas" over the years include Elvis, Karen Carpenter, Lady Gaga, and Michael Bublé.

While most people enjoy the song "White Christmas," the song's real message is a sad one.

The writer was a Russian-born immigrant who did not celebrate Christmas because he was Jewish. However, that's not the sad part.

Berlin's three-week-old son died on Christmas Day in 1928, so every year on December 25, he and his wife visited their baby's grave. That changed the couple's lives. The first line of Berlin's song mentions children and times he used to know before his son's death.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know where the treetops glisten and children listen to hear sleigh bells in the snow."

2. "Silver Bells"

"Silver Bells" has been a classic Christmas song since Jay Livingston and Ray Evans composed it in the 1950s.

Bing Crosby and Carol Richards were the first to record "Silver Bells," which was released to the public in October 1950 by Decca Records. Many artists have recorded the song since then.

Some people think the inspiration for the song came from the Salvation Army bell ringers on New York City street corners. However, Ray Evans said the inspiration came from a bell that sat on the desk that he and his co-writer shared.

3. "Blue Christmas"

Usually, Christmas songs are uplifting because of the holiday season. However, "Blue Christmas" is a song about a broken heart because of unrequited love during the holidays. Even so, it had long been considered a Christmas favorite of those who love country music. It was written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson and first recorded by Doye O'Dell in 1948. The song was popularized by Ernest Tubb the following year.

Most of us know the version of "Blue Christmas" that Elvis Presley recorded in his signature style in 1957 and released as a single for the first time in 1964. There have been more than 65 recorded versions of the country song.

4. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was never intended to be a song. It was first a story in a book written by Robert L. May in 1939 as a promotion for Montgomery Ward. In the first year, the retailer distributed 2.4 million copies of May's book.

May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote a song about Rudolph. It was first sung commercially by Harry Brannon on New York City radio in early November 1949. Gene Autry released it on November 25, 1949, and since then, Rudolph has been a favorite Christmas song.

Interestingly, Bing Crosby recorded all of those songs with colors except "Blue Christmas."

QUIZ

1. Which song was first a Christmas story?
2. Which song did Elvis Presley sing?
3. Which song is in the Guinness Book of World Records?
4. Which song was inspired by a bell on the co-writers' desk?
5. Which is the only song Bing Crosby didn't sing?
6. Which song is a reminder of the death of the writer's 3-week-old son?