The Christmas Song, conosciuta anche come Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire (cioè “Caldarroste all'aperto”), è forse la più celebre canzone natalizia statunitense.
Fu scritta da Mel Tormé e Bob Wells nel 1944.
La versione più famosa è sicuramente quella di Nat King Cole.
La canzone fu scritta durante un'estate torrida: così, secondo Tormè, gli autori decisero di pensare a cose fredde che potessero raffreddarli.
Nel pezzo quindi viene descritta una città durante il periodo natalizio: il simbolico Jack Frost, persone imbacuccate come eschimesi e, soprattutto, i venditori di caldarroste.
Music video by Nat King Cole performing The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire).
"The Christmas Song" begins with the phrase "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire." Nat King Cole's hit recording is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells.
According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to “stay cool by thinking cool,” the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born.
“I saw a spiral pad on his piano with four lines written in pencil,” Tormé recalled. “They started, ‘Chestnuts roasting ... Jack Frost nipping ... Yuletide carols ... Folks dressed up like Eskimos.’ Bob (Wells, co-writer) didn’t think he was writing a song lyric. He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off.
Forty minutes later that song was written. I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics.”
Qui una versione di Mel Tormè con Judy Garland.
Here Mel Tormè and Judy Garland sing a wonderful rendition of "The Christmas Song."
