BBC Radio 6 Music broadcast: 17th December 2017
Chris Hawkins presents 'A Brief History of Christmas Songs', telling the stories behind a selection of the greatest Christmas songs of all time.
In this hour long special, you can hear the best selling Christmas song in history; songs that were never intended to be festive tunes and how watching football inspired a huge Christmas hit in the 80s.
This perfect Christmas soundtrack features BBC archive interviews with Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, Greg Lake, Jona Lewie, Noddy Holder, Chrissie Hynde, Roy Wood, Noddy Holder, George Michael, Shane McGowan and Kirsty MacColl.
Each of the artists reveals how their Christmas song came about. Bing Crosby describes the first time Irving Berlin, who wrote White Christmas, played it to him. Berlin described it as "a nice little song, an amusing little number" and according to Andy Williams, "When Bing heard it for the first time, he took his pipe out of his mouth and said to Irving Berlin, this one you don't have to worry about". It has since sold 150 million copes.
With additional music from Judy Garland and a rare recording by Rod Stewart, Chris Hawkins presents 60 minutes of unbridled Christmas joy.
Bing Crosby - White Christmas [EMI]
Judy Garland - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas [Pure Music]
The Crystals - Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town [Phil Spector Int]
Greg Lake - I Believe In Father Christmas [Virgin]
Jona Lewie - Stop The Cavalry [EMI]
Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody
David Bowie & Bing Crosby - Little Drummer Boy
The Pretenders - 2000 Miles [Virgin]
Andy Williams - It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year [Arcade]
Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday [EMI]
Rod Stewart - Away In A Manger
Wham! - Last Christmas [EMI]
Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? [EMI]
The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York (feat. Kirsty MacColl) [Virgin]
Run‐D.M.C. - Christmas In Hollis [A&M]
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