White Christmas

By Irving Berlin
1941

"Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written — heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody's ever written!"
Those are supposedly the words Berlin spoke to his secretary when struck with what would become his most famous and successful composition. It was introduced on the radio by Bing Crosby in 1941, but achieved immortality on the soundtrack of Bing's 1942 musical film Holiday Inn. Bing's recording of it would go on to become the highest-selling single in the history of recording music, credited with 50 million sales. It also immediately conjures up Christmas for millions of people around the world.

Lyrics:

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas,
Just like the ones I used to know.
Where the treetops glisten and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas,
With every Christmas card I write.
May your days be merry and bright,
And may all your Christmases be white.

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra
The Drifters
Dean Martin
Andy Williams
Ella Fitzgerald