Songoftheday 12/13/21 - Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose...

 

 

"The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)" - Christina Aguilera

from the album My Kind Of Christmas (2000)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 2

 

Today's song comes from former "new" Mouseketeer turned pop star Christina Aguilera, whose debut single "Genie In A Bottle" went all the way to #1 in the summer of 1999.  Later that year Christina released a single for the holiday season before she even put out her second release from her debut. It was a remake of the classic "The Christmas Song". Subtitled by its opening line "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire", the song was written by Mel Torme and Robert Wells, and was first made famous by legendary crooner Nat King Cole in 1946. It made the top ten on both the Disc Jockey (#3) and Best Sellers (#7) charts in the pre-rock Billboard magazine, and eventually made the pop Hot 100 in the trade bible on re-release, peaking at #65 in 1962. It recently returned to the list in the past few years thanks to streaming, and went as high as #11 in 2019, and this year may even surpass that, as it's already at #18 on the Hot 100 a couple weeks before the holiday...

Many artists have covered the classic, but Christina's momentum with the younger audience, who would definitely plunk down the change for a stand-alone single, made this the second-most successful version of the song of the pop chart. Aguilera and producer Ron Fair traded Cole's smooth, comforting vocals for melisma and vocal runs. She certainly has the pipes, but this definitely feels more technical than emotional, with Christina's vocal gymnastics resembling a figure skater with all form and little heart...

Nevertheless, Christina's version of "The Christmas Song" was the biggest holiday hit on the charts in quite a while, reaching the top-20 on the American pop chart in December of 1999. Internationally, the single also climbed to #22 in Canada. This recording would also appear on her album My Kind Of Christmas, released in October of 2000, which went to #28 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a million copies. Christina will appear on the series again.

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Along with the original version, the single included the reworked "Holiday Remix" version which is actually more vocally restrained than the ballad version....

"The Christmas Song" was one of the most covered classics in the pop era, appearing on a plethora of holiday releases. Some of these had also made the charts. In 1993, Toni Braxton got to #57 on the R&B Singles chart with her take...

Between 1998 and 2016, six different country music singers charted with versions of the song. In 2016, Chris Young's went to #51, the highest of the lot...

In 2003, Michael Buble' climbed to #6 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart with his reading of the classic..

And lastly, Christina revisited the song in concert in Washington...

 I'll be putting Song of the Day on a break for the rest of the month as I prepare my year-end recaps. I hope everyone has a great December and please stay tuned for my top tunes of 2021!