New for 2025, this arrangement of “Silver Bells” is performed by my “vocal group”, We Few. The song was composed by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The first recorded version was sung by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards in 1950. The recording was released by Decca Records in October 1950. In 1951, the song was featured in the Bob Hope movie, The Lemon Drop Kid”.
New for 2025 is this arrangement of “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, performed by my “vocal group”, We Few. The song was written by lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent in 1943 for Bing Crosby, who scored a top ten hit with the song. Originally honoring soldiers overseas who longed to be home at Christmas time, it has since become a Christmas standard.
New for 2025, this is a smooth jazz arrangement of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, performed by my “vocal group”, We Few. Written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, it dates from 1934 and was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November 1934. It became an instant hit with orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day and over 400,000 copies sold by Christmas. It is certainly one of the most popular holiday songs of all time.
Based on my instrumental cover of “The Christmas Waltz” from a few years ago, this version is performed by my “vocal group”, We Few. The song was written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne for Frank Sinatra, who recorded it in 1954 as the B-side of a new recording of “White Christmas”. “The Christmas Waltz” has been covered many times over the years by a wide variety of artists.
Based on last years instrumental version, this arrangement of “Rock of Ages (Ma’oz Tsur)” is performed by my “vocal group”, We Few. “Rock of Ages (Ma’oz Tzur”) is a Jewish liturgical poem. It is written in Hebrew, and is usually sung on the holiday of Hanukkah, after lighting the festival lights. Its six stanzas correspond to five events of Jewish history and a hope for the future. Of its six stanzas, often only the first stanza is sung as this is what directly pertains to Hanukkah. “Ma’oz Tzur” was written sometime in the 13th century.
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