The piece revealed that country singer Lee Greenwood is not only proud to be an American but also proud to be of fan of crooner Michael Buble’s song “Christmas.” Classical violinist Robert McDuffie prefers Mel Torme’s take on “Christmas Songs,” and “Christmas in the Heart” by Bob Dylan is the choice of fellow singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega. Personally I would rather hear Dylan perform his brilliant original material rather than sing covers, but we still listen to his holiday renderings every year.
To each his or her own. Because musical tastes are so subjective, I often object to, and argue with, the so-called “best” lists that come out from time to time. Six years ago this blog discussed a survey of favorite Christmas albums and I included my own list, but I neglected to mention one rather obscure holiday collection.
Singer and Solid Gold television host Marilyn McCoo recorded the album. Besides lending her vocal talents to such popular songs as Jimmy Webb’s “Up – Up and Away” and “Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In,” McCoo possesses the sweet four-octave voice that gave us timeless recordings of “One Less Bell to Answer,” “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get to Sleep at All,” and my favorite “Wedding Bell Blues,” just a few of the dozens of hit songs by the super-group The 5th Dimension.
I stumbled across McCoo’s 1994 CD “White Christmas” at, of all places, a farmer’s market where a few discounted copies were sitting on one of the vendor’s tables.
The album includes mostly classic songs of the season such as the title track, “Silent Night,” “Joy To The World,” “Hark The Herald Angels Sing” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” which measures up to Karen Carpenter’s rendition. (Very high praise in my book.)
So in this year’s Yuletide season blog I’m correcting my previous omission of Marilyn McCoo’s “White Christmas.” Her beautiful voice is indeed a rare gift.