Unlike other perennial holiday hits, however, “White Christmas” strikes a mood that isn’t necessarily jolly. It also returned to the Hit Parade pop chart in every subsequent Christmas season for the next 20 years. The song’s success couldn’t have surprised Berlin, who despite having already written such songs as “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “Cheek To Cheek” and “God Bless America,” had raced into his Manhattan office in January 1940 and asked his musical secretary to transcribe “The best song I ever wrote…the best song anybody ever wrote.” It was nearly two years later, however, that Crosby finally premiered the song on live radio, and a year after that that Crosby’s recording of “White Christmas” became a smash pop hit.Ĭrosby’s October 1942 recording of “White Christmas” received heavy airplay on Armed Forces Radio as well as on commercial radio during its first Christmas season, becoming an instant #1 pop hit. “White Christmas” took its first steps toward becoming a bedrock standard in the American songbook when Crosby first performed it publicly on Christmas Day, 1941. It went on to become one of the most commercially successful singles of all time. “White Christmas,” written by the formidable composer and lyricist Irving Berlin receives its world premiere on Decemon Bing Crosby’s weekly NBC radio program, The Kraft Music Hall.

White Christmas by Jody Rosen