Podcasts about christmas behind

The post Christmas Behind the Curtain | Just an Angel? | Levi Crowley appeared first on SouthBrook.

The post Christmas Behind the Curtain | Just a Baby Boy? | Charlie McMahan appeared first on SouthBrook.

Here's a message I preached on Ephesians 1:3-10 for the first week of Advent. It is titled Christmas Behind the Scenes.Youtube - https://youtu.be/A7ixpjjYm_4Audio - https://andymilleriii.com/media/podcastApple -  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/more-to-the-story-with-dr-andy-miller/id1569988895?uo=4If you are interested in learning more about my two video-accompanied courses, Contender: Going Deeper in the Book of Jude andHeaven and Other Destinations: A Biblical Journey Beyond this World , visit courses.andymilleriii.comAnd don't forget about my most recent book, Contender, which is available on Amazon! Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching - Recently, I updated this PDF document and added a 45-minute teaching video with slides, explaining this tool. It's like a mini-course. If you sign up for my list, I will send this free resource to you. Sign up here - www.AndyMillerIII.com or Five Steps to Deeper Teaching and Preaching. Today's episode is brought to you by Wesley Biblical Seminary. Interested in going deeper in your faith? Check out our certificate programs, B.A., M.A.s, M.Div., and D.Min degrees. You will study with world-class faculty and the most racially diverse student body in the country. www.wbs.eduThanks too to Phil Laeger for my podcast music. You can find out about Phil's music at https://www.laeger.net

The post Christmas Behind the Curtain | Just a Pregnant Girl | Charlie McMahan appeared first on SouthBrook.

The post Christmas Behind the Curtain | Just a Dragon | Austin McMahan appeared first on SouthBrook.

Roots of Rock - Theresa Brewer Chad Allen Tribute This Week in Music History  The Story Behind "Do They Know it's Christmas" Behind the Hits - Green Onions by Booker T and The MGs

00:00 Introduction01:18 Word of the year [Leading you]03:03 A consistent haircut [Leading teams]03:56 Brand consistency [Leading organisations]07:32 The Twelve Days of Christmas [Behind the scenes]09:16 Consistency [Word of the week]09:56 Final step10:15 Close THE SUNDAY SCHOLAR takes a lighter look at leadership. Full of ideas, insights and inspiration. It's our weekly newsletter—reimagined as a podcast. Something to be expected. Something to look forward to.

Christmas talk and merriment with the boys! https://linktr.ee/FromBehindTheBarcast --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/frombehindthebarcast/message

Jesus was born more than 2000 years ago, but starting long before that God had begun the process to redeem the world from sin. From the very beginning with Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to David, to the prophets, God was laying the groundwork for Jesus to come and save us from our sins.

Pastor James Roberson Rev 12:1-5 The Christmas story is often told about what happened on Earth but there was also another story happening in the spiritual realm. This Christmas, we'll take a look behind the earthly veil to see a battle between Angels and the devil himself.

Despite the title we don’t really talk much about Disney but instead try to figure out what is going on with retracking of coasters, lots of Waldameer love and some Kennywood & Phoenix shade, plus tons of questions answered. The post Disney Puts Christmas Behind A Paywall appeared first on In the Loop.

Despite the title we don’t really talk much about Disney but instead try to figure out what is going on with retracking of coasters, lots of Waldameer love and some Kennywood & Phoenix shade, plus tons of questions answered. The post Disney Puts Christmas Behind A Paywall appeared first on In the Loop.

Despite the title we don’t really talk much about Disney but instead try to figure out what is going on with retracking of coasters, lots of Waldameer love and some Kennywood & Phoenix shade, plus tons of questions answered. The post Disney Puts Christmas Behind A Paywall appeared first on In the Loop.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 376, "Once in Royal David's City." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/376. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 358, "From Heaven Above to Earth I Come." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/358. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 372, "O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/372. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 379, "O Come, All Ye Faithful." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/379. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 363, "Silent Night, Holy Night." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/363. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 381, "Let Our Gladness Have No End." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/381. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 387, "Joy to the World." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/387. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 384, "Of the Father's Love Begotten." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/384. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 359, "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/359. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

Benjamin Kolodziej — member of Faith Lutheran Church in Plano, TX, professional church organist and composer, and contributor to the Lutheran Service Book Hymnal Companion, joins Andy and Sarah to explore our rich hymnody for the season of Christmas! Today, we learn about Lutheran Service Book 375, "Come, Your Hearts and Voices Raising." Find this hymn at hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/375. Theme music, “Lo, How A Rose Er Blooming” from theHymnalProject.com, used with permission. Find your edition of the Lutheran Service Book at music.cph.org/lutheran-service-book/related-products and the LSB Companion to the Hymns at cph.org/p-33586-lutheran-service-book-companion-to-the-hymns-2-volume-set.aspx. Find more research at hymnary.org.

A new MP3 sermon from Peeples Valley Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Story of Christmas Behind the Story Subtitle: The Gospel According to John Speaker: Pastor Darrell Bailey Broadcaster: Peeples Valley Baptist Church Event: Sunday - PM Date: 12/18/2022 Bible: Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-8 Length: 39 min.

Millions to Spend Christmas Behind Bars: Chaplains Called to Give Hope to Those Suffering

Check back here each week for the latest sermon brought to you from Pastor Ben Schwieterman's pulpit at New Covenant Community Church.

Check back here each week for the latest sermon brought to you from Pastor Ben Schwieterman's pulpit at New Covenant Community Church.

Check back here each week for the latest sermon brought to you from Pastor Ben Schwieterman's pulpit at New Covenant Community Church.

On Today's Show -  Prison behind bars The Price is Right  X-Mas dinner debate  Yeah Nah  2021 shortages  Music Facts  Survivors of 2021 The Ad Game 

On Today's Show -  Prison behind bars The Price is Right  X-Mas dinner debate  Yeah Nah  2021 shortages  Music Facts  Survivors of 2021 The Ad Game 

Christmas is a hard time of year for so many of us. It's a time of the year that can feel like salt in the wound of our broken hearts. In our disillusionment and disappointment it's easy to feel hopeless and depressed - especially when the cheer of Christmas isn't strong enough to out of the dark places within. Today on the podcast we're going to talk about the 6th song on our new Christmas album called “This Christmas.” It's a sad song - or rather a song that reflect the sadness that many of us will face during this Christmas season. I want to talk with you about why I wrote this song and why it mattered to me to make sure and put it in this album.For show notes visit: https://www.jonathanandemilymartin.com/episode53

Can Christians have fun? Is it frivolous for us to be happy and full of cheer during the Christmas season? A couple of Spurgeon sermons, “Hoping for Happiness” by Barnabas W. Piper, and “Enjoy” by Trillia Newbell were super helpful to me this year in understanding the place for fun and happiness in our lives. For our newly released Christmas album, I wanted a song to help us all receive the fun of Christmas as a gift and as part of our love for Christ and so I wrote the song "Happy Christmas." Today, here on the podcast, we're going to dive into that song, what inspired it, how it was written, and why this topic so meaningful to us that we just had to include it on this album.

Lemuel Vega shares the story behind his ministry, Christmas Behind Bars. Those incarcerated feel so blessed to receive something from the outside. Lemuel is able to bring in goodies and Bibles. He is especially interested in those used marked ones. Listen to learn how you can support his ministry with gifts of used Bibles.

Lemuel Vega shares the story behind his ministry, Christmas Behind Bars. Those incarcerated feel so blessed to receive something from the outside. Lemuel is able to bring in goodies and Bibles. He is especially interested in those used marked ones. Listen to learn how you can support his ministry with gifts of used Bibles.

Lemuel Vega shares the story behind his ministry, Christmas Behind Bars. Those incarcerated feel so blessed to receive something from the outside. Lemuel is able to bring in goodies and Bibles. He is especially interested in those used marked ones. Listen to learn how you can support his ministry with gifts of used Bibles.

Lemuel Vega shares the story behind his ministry, Christmas Behind Bars. Those incarcerated feel so blessed to receive something from the outside. Lemuel is able to bring in goodies and Bibles. He is especially interested in those used marked ones. Listen to learn how you can support his ministry with gifts of used Bibles.

One of the things the Christmas season is known for is music. Back in the 90's VH-1 had a series called Behind the Music where they explored the history and background of famous bands. Well, Christmas is known for it music and carols but have you ever looked "Behind the Music" of Christmas? --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heather-carter7/support

Christmas: Behind the Music, Pt 2: The First Christmas Carol --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heather-carter7/support

Christmas: Behind the Music, Pt 3: Away in a Manger --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heather-carter7/support

Christmas: Behind the Music, Pt 4: Little Tiny Infant Jesus --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/heather-carter7/support

It is not at all a stretch to say that this is one of the most important songs to ever be recorded in music history. This is the story of White Christmas. #BehindTheChristmasHits is presented by Pizza Pizza! Written by Irving Berlin and sung by Bing Crosby for the 1942 movie, Holiday Inn. Crosby played Jim Hardy – an entertainer who turns his farm into a vacation spot that would only be open on holidays. Irving Berlin was commissioned to write a song about each of the different major holidays. Legend has it that he told his musical secretary back in January 1940 to type up the lyrics to a song he had written over the weekend in La Quinta, California, just outside Palm Springs. He said, tongue-in-cheek, “not only is it the best song I ever wrote, it’s the best song anyone ever wrote.” Once the call came for Holiday Inn, he pulled White Christmas out of his trunk. During production of the movie, and still months before it would be released, Bing Crosby sang the song for the first time on his live radio program on Christmas Eve, 1941, 18 days after the attack on Pearl Harbour. Crosby announced that he would debut a new Irving Berlin song from his upcoming movie. He wouldn’t actually record the song in a studio until the following May. When the movie premiered in August of ‘42, it was the Valentine’s Day song “Be Careful, it’s My Heart” that was released as the first single. And looking back, few critics even mentioned White Christmas specifically in their reviews. Remember – there was a song for every holiday. Some people think Christmas music starts earlier now than it used to. Well consider this, White Christmas was released on October 3, 1942 and was #1 on the Billboard chart by Halloween. It remained at #1 until January 1943. In fact, it’s wild success is credited by some for shifting the entire focus of the music business. During the 30’s and early 40’s, selling sheet music was huge. That’s how the writers of the tin pan alley era, including Irving Berlin, made a lot of their money. With the enormous success of Bing Crosby singing White Christmas, people didn’t want to learn how to play it – they wanted to hear to Bing sing it. Copies of the song would be bundled up and sent to troops overseas. Christmas 1942 was American servicemen’s first holiday away. Some have wondered if the US had entered the war sooner, would the song have struck the same chord that it did in 1942? Whether it would have or not, doesn’t really matter. White Christmas became the world’s best-selling single of all time. 50 million copies sold…and that’s just the Bing Crosby version. If you add in everyone else’s, it’s over 125 million. The song would usher in a new wave of Christmas music. Prior to White Christmas, traditional hymns like Silent Night or novelty songs like Santa Claus is Coming to Town dominated the season. The success of White Christmas directly led to more nostalgic feelings of home expressed in songs like I’ll Be Home for Christmas and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song of 1942 and of course, inspired a movie of it’s own with Bing, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen in 1954. Over the years, Bing Crosby recorded a few different versions – the one heard most often now was recorded in 1947. If you hear the flutes at the beginning, you know that’s the version you’re listening to. Thanks for joining us! For more stories Behind the Christmas Hits, hit subscribe! Behind the Christmas Hits is Presented by Pizza Pizza!

It was a Christmas hit that literally had to be rescued from the trash! This is the story behind…Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. #BehindTheChristmasHits is Presented by Pizza Pizza! It was written for Judy Garland’s 1944 movie Meet Me in St. Louis. The film was notable for a couple of reasons: the song and for being where Judy and the film’s director, Vincent Minnelli, met and fell in love. They married in 1945 and then Liza Minnelli was born the next year. The movie tells a year in the life of the Smith family beginning in 1903 and leading up to the World’s Fair the following year. Meet Me in St. Louis became the second-highest grossing film of 1944 and had a hugely successful soundtrack with three hit songs – hey, that’s just like Flashdance! Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is heard after Garland’s character, Esther, becomes engaged to the handsome boy next door, John Truitt, at a fancy Christmas Eve ball – however, their engagement means, they have to move from St. Louis to New York – something that doesn’t sit well with Esther’s 5-year-old sister, Tootie. Songwriter Hugh Martin wrote a melody for the song but threw it away after being unable to figure out what to do with it. When I say threw it away, I mean, in the trash to be taken out by custodial staff. After telling his writing partner, Ralph Blane, what he had done the next day, Blane insisted they start going through trash cans because that melody was too good to throw out. Blaine once told NPR “thank the lord we found it.” That said, Judy Garland had some major problems with the original lyrics and refused to sing them. She thought they were far too sad and gloomy and needed some hope & optimism. Hugh Martin wrote in his biography, The Boy Next Door, he refused to rewrite it and stood by the song as it was. That’s when Garland’s co-star, Tom Drake, came to Martin and said “I’ll think you’ll be sorry if you don’t do this.” So Martin went home and wrote the version heard in the movie. How sad were those original lyrics? Well, the line "Let your heart be light / Next year all our troubles will be out of sight" was originally written as "It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past.” There was a lot of pain in those original lyrics – something that wasn’t often expressed in Christmas music back then. But Judy Garland wasn’t alone in her feelings that it was too sad. In 1957, Frank Sinatra tweaked the line “Next year all our troubles will be miles away” to the now more commonly heard “From now on our troubles will be miles away.” Suddenly, a wish for a better tomorrow became more of a celebration of the present day. Depending on how the music is arranged, you can still get those melancholy feels…but any hint of the pain in Martin and Blaine’s original lyrics…was now gone. Ralph Blane passed away in 1995. Martin lived until he was 96 in 2011…and he liked to keep up with who was recording new versions of their song every year. He told Entertainment Weekly he enjoyed Sarah McLachlan and James Taylor’s…and called Twisted Sister’s version “a hoot.”Thanks for joining us. Click subscribe for more stories Behind the Christmas Hits!

This Christmas hit was first recorded on October 4, 1943 by Bing Crosby. It was written by lyricist Kim Gannon and composer Walter Kent for soldiers who were overseas for the holidays but longing to be home. Or…was it? This is the story of I’ll Be Home for Christmas. #BehindTheChistmasHits is presented by Pizza Pizza! Many songs featured on Behind the Christmas Hits were not immediate hits and took time to grow in popularity. Not this one - It was released one year after Crosby’s iconic White Christmas came out and was an immediate hit, peaking at #3 on the Billboard charts. It was also a hit with the men & women of the armed forces. Yank – a magazine for American GI’s – said Bing Crosby and this song accomplished more for military morale than anyone else of that era. While American troops loved the song, over the UK, it was banned by the BBC, thinking that emphasizing the separation of troops from their families would actually lower morale instead of boosting it. But who exactly is responsible for the song? That’s been a muddled mystery, as documented by Ace Collins in his book Stories Behind the Greatest Hits of Christmas. Just before Christmas 1942, three songwriters went for dinner in NYC: Kim Gannon, Walter Kent and Buck Ram. Ram mentioned a song he had written for his mother while away at school almost 20 years earlier. It was called “I’ll Be Home for Christmas (Through Just a Memory).” The dinner ended and the friends went their separate ways, although when he got home, Ram noticed that he didn’t have his copy of the lyrics he showed his friends. Flash forward to summer 1943 – Kent and Gannon are in a songwriting session together and come up with something called “I’ll Be Home for Christmas (If Only in My Dreams).” Instead of a song about a son missing his mother while away at school, Kent & Gannon wrote a song about a soldier off to war missing his family at home. The song was copyrighted and sent to Bing Crosby, who loved it immediately. In 1943, there was no such thing as keeping a Bing Crosby song on the “down-low” so it wasn’t long at all before Buck Ram learned of it and remembered his missing lyric sheet. Lawsuits were filed and things got ugly, but as the court proceedings unfolded, it was determined that the only thing the two songs shared was a title – the lyrics were completely different and conveyed different messages. Ultimately, the court decided that instead of stripping credit from Gannon & Kent, Ram’s name would be added and that royalties would be split three ways. Thanks for joining us. Click subscribe to get more stories and videos Behind the Christmas Hits. Behind The Christmas Hits is presented by Pizza Pizza!

Today, a Christmas hit written by a Canadian band for a big budget Christmas movie starring a Canadian actor! Today, it’s the story of Green Christmas by the Barenaked Ladies for the movie How The Grinch Stole Christmas! #BehindTheChristmasHits is Presented by Pizza Pizza! For this story, we hook up with the guitarist, lead singer and songwriter for Barenaked Ladies, Ed Robertson. Ed Robertson tells us about how the song came to be, being a big fan of Ron Howard, and tells us all about his memories of writing the song. Ed and Drew talk about their love of the Grinch Movies, and how they had to cut a special deal to even get the song recorded! The guys talk about the rerecord for 'Barenaked for the Holidays' and get in to a little bit of banter around the band's cover of the iconic 'Do They Know Its Christmas?'! Thanks for joining us, we'll have more stories Behind The Christmas Hits next week! Behind the Christmas Hits is Presented by Pizza Pizza!

Donny Hathaway recognized that the Black experience was underrepresented in Christmas music, so he decided to change that. This is the story behind…This Christmas. #BehindTheChristmasHits is Presented by Pizza Pizza! The song Donny Hathaway would find was written 3 years before its release in the middle of a blizzard by a Chicago postal worker named Nadine McKinnor. Nadine would keep a notebook full of lyrics she’d jot down as they came to her. She told the Chicago Tribune that these lyrics were about her love affair with the season – the swirl of music, department store windows and the lights on the south side of the city. Nadine and her co-workers were sorting mail in the middle of a blizzard. 58 cm of snow had fallen in a 24 hour period. They were looking to pass the time, so Nadine started singing the lyrics to the song that would become This Christmas. Nadine has said she didn’t have civil rights in mind when she wrote the lyrics…and even hoped that one day an artist like Andy Williams would record it. But her boyfriend at the time would be the connection between her and Hathaway. He was doing some decorating at Donny’s home & office and overheard him and his manager talking about looking for new material. McKinnor recounted her first meeting with Hathaway for The New Yorker – she went to that same office that was being redecorated a few days later and started to sing from her notebook. The same notebook she sang from for her co-workers at the post office. She said she sang four or five songs for Donny, but This Christmas was the one that instantly got his attention. Quote: “I tore the page out to give him and I never got it back.” Nadine had envisioned the song to be sung in a style similar to Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song – it was Hathaway who, as Nadine puts it, gave it its magic and infused it with his gospel roots. That’s entirely where the improvised line “shake a hand, shake a hand” comes from. While so many Christmas songs of the previous 25 years had been about nostalgic feelings of home, there’s nothing nostalgic about This Christmas. It doesn’t look back at all. It’s upbeat and now. “This Christmas. Will Be. A very special Christmas. For me!” Recorded in Chicago in the fall of 1970 and released that November, This Christmas was not a hit. Donny Hathaway was never as famous as Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder, but his work was respected and inspired future generations of songwriters like Alicia Keys, Lauryn Hill and Justin Timberlake. However, the impact of This Christmas wasn’t really felt it was included in a re-release of a compilation album from Atco Records in 1991 called Soul Christmas. And then the covers started coming. Destiny’s Child, Chris Brown, Usher, Mary J Blige, even Donny’s daughter, Lalah Hathaway has recorded it. Lawrence Ware – the co-director of the Centre for Africana Studies at Oklahoma State University once said it’s almost like a rite of passage for black singers to record This Christmas. Sadly, Donny Hathaway didn’t live long enough to see This Christmas become the Black Christmas anthem it did. He died under mysterious circumstances after having dinner at Roberta Flack’s house in January 1979. Hathaway fell 15 stories from his Central Park hotel room in what was ruled a suicide, despite no note being left and many people close to him swearing that he wouldn’t have killed himself. For Nadine McKinnor, the song’s success has provided her with a good place in life. After years of hard work in several different offices, she was successful in her legal challenge to become the song’s co-publisher. Nadine is now retired and earns over $70,000 a year in royalties. Thanks for joining us! We’ve got more stories & videos coming, so please subscribe! Behind the Christmas Hits is Presented by Pizza Pizza!

George Michael loved Christmas. For years, he would have a big, boozy dinner party with about 25 of his closest friends on Christmas Eve. Some years, they’d even go out carolling after dinner. Imagine: George Michael showing up at your front door at 10 o’clock on Christmas Eve singing Silent Night. It should be no surprise that a guy who loved celebrating the season so much would write a future classic. This is the story of #LastChristmas. Behind the Christmas Hits is Presented by Pizza Pizza! George & Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley were watching soccer together at Michaels’ parents’ house when the inspiration struck. Andrew Ridgeley recalled in an interview with British newspaper The Mail on Sunday, that they were having a bite to eat during the game when, almost unnoticed, George went upstairs and didn’t return for about an hour. When he did, Ridgeley said he was so excited, it was like he struck gold…which, in a way, he had. George didn’t live with his parents, but his old keyboard was still there…and he used it to write Last Christmas. The two went back upstairs and George played the chorus for Andrew, who described it as a moment of wonder. The timing of this inspiration came at a critical time for Wham! Earlier in ‘84, after a legal dispute with their original record label, Inner Vision, George and Andrew signed with Epic Records and had more creative control. And George…took full control. When recording the song Everything She Wants, George and sound engineer, Chris Porter, wound up in a studio in Paris with no band and no producer. Chris says that’s when George realized he could do everything himself. Later, when recording Last Christmas in August of ’84, not even Andrew Ridgeley was allowed in the studio. That’s right – it’s another Wham! song where Andrew Ridgeley is nowhere to be found. George played a Roland Juno-60 synth and a LinnDrumm drum machine himself. Porter has said he wanted to play the sleigh bells but George wouldn’t even let him do that – if it was going to be on the record, George had to play it. The video for Last Christmas was the last time George appeared on camera without a beard. You know, based on what Andrew Ridgeley wrote in his book Wham, George Michael & Me, we could do an entire episode on the making of the video alone. All of the people in it were real life friends of George & Andrew’s. Wham’s back-up singers Pepsi & Shirley were there as was Martin Kemp, the bass player for Spandau Ballet. They went on an absolute tear. On their first night at the chalet, Andrew says everyone jumped naked into a swimming pool. One unnamed friend swallowed half a gallon of water and got terribly sick…in the pool. While Last Christmas has been one of the most popular Christmas songs of the last 40 years, it has never reached #1. Christmas 1984 was the same year Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas was released and it was the song to dominate the charts that season. George, of course, sang on that song – but Andrew no-showed the recording session. He dismissed a vaguely worded FAX from their management team as being of little importance, so while George, Bono, Boy George and the rest of British pop royalty were making history, Ridgeley says he was at home having a bacon and egg sandwich. Ridgeley said in his book that he and George were conflicted about the fact Last Christmas was kept out of the #1 spot by Band Aid. Chart success was important to George, especially as he was planning his solo career. All proceeds from Last Christmas were also donated to African famine relief efforts that year, but this undertow of disappointment was real. A disappointment that the song had become what Andrew describes as a “Trivial Pursuit” answer to the question: what is the biggest-selling single NOT to get to #1 in the UK. Hit Subscribe for more stories #BehindTheChristmas!Behind the Christmas Hits is Presented by Pizza Pizza!

The signature part of a classic Elvis song was just supposed to be a joke. It’s time to go Behind the Christmas Hits: Blue Christmas. Blue Christmas is NOT an Elvis original. The lyrics were written by Jay Johnson, who was working on a Christmas music radio show in the late 1940’s. Billy Hayes wrote the melody and it was first recorded by country singer, TV host and actor Doye O’Dell in 1948. Several other versions were recorded over the next few years, including one by Ernest Tubb that went to #1 in 1950. But you almost NEVER hear any of these any more…and that’s because of Elvis. Millie Kirkham was one of the back-up singers for the recording session with Elvis – she sings the “wooo-wee-wooo” part of the song. In an interview with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2012, Millie said Elvis never wanted to record Blue Christmas. When producers told him it was on the schedule and he had to do it, Elvis turned to the musicians and said “let’s get this over with – just do anything, do something silly.” And that’s when Millie started to go “wooo-wee-wooo” and did it throughout the entire song. At the end of the recording session, they all laughed. Elvis recorded Blue Christmas in 1957 to be included on the simply titled “Elvis’ Christmas Album.” Fans loved it, but it wasn’t available as a single for another 7 years. When the single was released in December 1964, it went to #1 on Billboard’s Christmas Singles Chart and would be re-released every year for the rest of Elvis’ career. It was such a big hit, that the songwriters, Johnson & Hayes, estimated they generated more royalties in the first year of Elvis’ version than they had in all of the other versions in nine years combined. The song’s popularity was the reason why Elvis’ manager, Colonel Tom Parker, went to NBC in May of 1968 to pitch a TV special. At the time, there hadn’t been any TV specials focused on a single performer – they always featured multiple artists – so the idea that this would focus on just one was something people hadn’t seen before. Parker’s idea: have Elvis sing nothing but Christmas songs. NBC went for it and the special was on the production schedule for that June. Now…the special didn’t go exactly as Parker pitched it. Director Steve Binder and producer Bones Howe decided the special should tell more of Elvis’ life story through the lyrics of his other songs. But the special was going to air in December and Parker continued to insist that Elvis do a Christmas song…and he did. In fact, he did two: I’ll Be Home for Christmas and Blue Christmas. But I’ll Be Home for Christmas was cut and never aired. Blue Christmas made the cut and the audience loved it. People were shown crying during the performance and even grunting along while Elvis was singing the song. (0:32-0:34 from video) Elvis recorded many different Christmas songs in his career, but his performance of Blue Christmas for his 1968 “comeback” TV special is the only video footage that exists of Elvis singing ANY Christmas song. It recently placed 7th in Rolling Stone’s Reader’s Poll of the Best Christmas Songs of All Time. One final note: Blue Christmas also has special meaning for another legendary artist. It’s the last song Bruce Springsteen ever performed with the Big Man, Clarence Clemons. In December of 2010, to promote The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, the E Street Band played a set at the historic Carousel House on the boardwalk of Asbury Park, New Jersey. They performed several songs from Darkness but ended the night with a version of Blue Christmas. Clemons died 6 months later without ever playing with Bruce again.

In "Christmas: Behind the Scenes" we learn how, despite what circumstances may look like, God is always in the background working for our good.