 |
| Brenda Lee |
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree was written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958 on the Decca record label.
Although Decca released it in both 1958 and again in 1959, it did not sell well until Lee became a popular star in 1960; that Christmas season, it hit #14 on the Billboard pop chart and turned into a perennial holiday favorite. It continued to sell well during the holiday season, hitting #5 on the Christmas chart as late as 1984. Brenda Lee's recording still receives a great deal of airplay. Despite the song's title, its instrumentation also fits the Country genre which Brenda Lee more fully embraced as her career evolved. Despite her mature-sounding voice, she recorded this song when she was only 14 years old. The recording featured Hank Garland's ringing guitar. For decades, Brenda Lee's recording was the only notable version of the song. Radio stations ranging from Top 40 to Adult Contemporary to Country Music to Oldies to even Adult Standards played this version.
An instrumental version of the song appears as background music in the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which exclusively featured music written by Marks. It can be heard in the scene where Rudolph first arrives at the "Reindeer Games" and meets another reindeer named Fireball.
Watch a video montage of Brenda Lee, accompanied by her singing Jingle Bell Rock. For a video of Brenda Lee singing Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, see part one of this series.
No comments:
Post a Comment