History of Christmas Carols...

ANSWER TO LAST QUIZ...
Kim Gannon and Walter Kent were a song writing team, who had received many awards for their music during the 1940's. During the horror of World War II, they decided to try to corner the wartime 'hankie' market and come up with a real 'tear-jerker' song for the troops and their loved ones back home. When they managed to get popular crooner Bing Crosby to sing their song, they nailed the market down.
NAME THIS CHRISTMAS CAROL... 'I'll Be Home for Christmas.'

TODAY'S QUIZ...
The composer of today's Christmas Carol wrote the song for his father's Sunday school class to sing at the church's Thanksgiving service in 1857. A children's choir sang it in the church service and it was such a hit, they were asked to sing it again the following year. The composer had not bothered to put his name on the very catchy tune, so he didn't realize how popular his song had become. The composer finally got credit for his popular tune some 7 years later when the local paper printed the words to the song with the composer's name on it.
(Hint)...Even though this popular Christmas carol has been performed and recorded by Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Count Basie, Ray Brown, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald, and Nat King Cole ... it might be the 1955 canine version by Don Clark which might be the most memorable.
NAME TODAY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL...

History of Christmas Carols...

ANSWER TO LAST QUIZ...
Ross Bagdasarian is most famous for a bizarre hit he came up with in 1958. This Christmas song sold over 5 million copies in 1958 and received 3 Grammy Awards that year for 'Best Comedy Performance,' 'Best Recording for Children' and 'Best Engineered Record.'
THE ANSWER IS 'THE CHIPMUNK SONG'

TODAY'S QUIZ...
Kim Gannon and Walter Kent were a song writing team, who had received many awards for their music during the 1940's. During the horror of World War II, they decided to try to corner the wartime 'hankie' market and come up with a real 'tear-jerker' song for the troops and their loved ones back home. When they managed to get popular crooner Bing Crosby to sing their song, they nailed the market down. Their song stayed pinned to the top of the music charts for 7 weeks. In December 1965, astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell hurtled back to earth aboard their Gemini 7 spacecraft. Asked by NASA communication personnel if they wanted any particular music piped up to them, the crew requested Bing Crosby's recording of this Christmas classic.
NAME THIS CHRISTMAS CAROL...

History of Christmas Carols...

Answer to last quiz...
To black slaves in the United States, the birth of a Savior who would set all men free was a miracle worth singing about. What Christmas Carol was based on a Spiritual and was first popularized by the Fisk University 'Jubilee Singers?' The Carol is 'Go Tell It On The Mountain.'

Today's Christmas Carol quiz...
Ross Bagdasarian was a novelty writer who wrote the hit song 'Come Onna my House' for Rosemary Clooney in 1951. But Ross preferred tinkering with the dials, gauges and lights in the sound booth at the recording studio. He is most famous for a bizarre hit he came up with in 1958. This Christmas song sold over 5 million copies in 1958 and received 3 Grammy Awards that year for 'Best Comedy Performance,' 'Best Recording for Children' and 'Best Engineered Record.' This is the last Christmas song to reach #1 on any US single record chart.
Name this popular Christmas song...

History of Christmas Carols...

Answer to last Christmas Carol...

The Christmas carol written on Christmas Eve of 1818 in the Austrian Alps when the church pipe organ was broken was...

'Silent Night'

Today's History of Christmas Carols...

To black slaves in the United States, the birth of a Savior who would set all men free was a miracle worth singing about. And there was no better place from which to communicate such a marvelous thing than a mountain.

Today's carol is an authentic spiritual that probably dates from the early 1800's and was first popularized by the Fisk University 'Jubilee Singers.' Appropriately enough, Fisk University was a college founded in Nashville, Tennessee to educate freed slaves.

Name this popular Christmas Carol...

History of Christmas Carols...

The words to this Christmas carol were written on the afternoon of Christmas Eve in 1818 in a tiny village high in the Austrian Alps by the local Catholic priest, Joseph Mohr.
The church pipe organ had just given out and the pipe organ repairman wasn't available at such short notice to repair the organ in time for the Christmas Eve service. The church organist, Franz Gruber, agreed to write out a simple tune to the pastor's text, setting the words for choir and a guitar.

Name this familiar Christmas carol, which was frantically put together on Christmas Eve, 1818.

History of Christmas Carols (answer)...

What singer thought the cute Christmas song would ruin his 'tough guy/cowboy' image?

Gene Autry singing 'Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer.'

History of Christmas Carols (answer)...

This singer/actor was afraid that singing a cute Christmas carol would ruin his 'tough guy' cowboy image. His wife had to talk him into recording it.
Name the song...'Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer'
Singer...Gene Autry