Season's Greetings from Perry Como, originally released in 1959

1959 in music

-Events:*January 5 – The first sessions for Ella Fitzgerald's George and Ira Gershwin Songbook are held.*January 12 – Tamla Records is founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit, Michigan....

, was Perry Como

Perry Como

Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century he recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label after signing with them in 1943. "Mr...

's sixth RCA Victor 12" long-play album and the fourth recorded in full "living" stereophonic sound

Stereophonic sound

The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...

, as well as his first full-length Christmas album

Christmas Album

Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album , a 1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass* Christmas Album Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album (Herb Alpert album), a 1968 album by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass* Christmas Album Christmas Album may refer to:* Christmas Album (Herb...

.

The album is warm and relaxed, featuring lush renditions of "Winter Wonderland", "The Christmas Song", "O Holy Night" and seven other Christmas tunes (including a re-recording of Como's own 1954 hit, "Home for the Holidays"). Como is accompanied on the tracks by Mitchell Ayres

Mitchell Ayres

Mitchell Ayres was an orchestra leader, music arranger, composer and performer. He is best known for his many years of work with Perry Como on radio, records, and television and as the musical conductor for The Hollywood Palace.-Early years:Born Mitchell Agress in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he...

' orchestra and the Ray Charles Singers.

Track listing

Side One

1. "(There's No Place Like) Home for the Holidays
   Home for the Holidays (song)
   " Home for the Holidays" is a popular song, commonly associated with the Christmas season although the lyrics are more applicable to the Thanksgiving holidays....
   
   " (Music by Robert Allen and Al Stillman
   Al Stillman
   Al Stillman was an American lyricist.-Biography:Stillman was born in New York City. His name was originally Albert Silverman, but changed it to that of a well-known New York banking family. He was Jewish. He attended New York University. After graduation, he contributed to Franklin P...
   
   )
2. "Winter Wonderland
   Winter Wonderland
   "Winter Wonderland" is a winter song, popularly treated as a Christmastime pop standard, written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith . Through the decades it has been recorded by over 150 different artists.-History:...
   
   " (Words and music by Felix Bernard and Dick Smith)
3. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
   Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
   Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer with a glowing red nose. He is popularly known as "Santa's 9th Reindeer" and, when depicted, is the lead reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. The luminosity of his nose is so great that it illuminates the team's path through...
   
   " (Words and music by Johnny Marks)
4. "The Christmas Song
   The Christmas Song
   "The Christmas Song" is a classic Christmas song written in 1944 by musician, composer, and vocalist Mel Tormé and Bob Wells. According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer...
   
   " (Music by Mel Tormé
   Mel Tormé
   Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
   
    and lyrics by Robert Wells)
5. "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (Words and music by Haven Gillespie
   Haven Gillespie
   James Lamont "Haven" Gillespie was an American Tin Pan Alley composer and lyricist. He was the writer of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" as well as "You Go to My Head", "Honey", "By the Sycamore Tree", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Breezin' Along With The Breeze", "Right or Wrong," "Beautiful Love",...
   
    and J. Fred Coots
   J. Fred Coots
   John Frederick Coots was an American songwriter. He wrote over 700 songs.He is most famous for the song "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", a song that became one of the biggest best sellers in American music history....
   
   )
6. "White Christmas
   White Christmas (song)
   "White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the version sung by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide.Accounts vary as...
   
   " (Words and music by Irving Berlin
   Irving Berlin
   Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
   
   )

Side Two

1. "Here We Come A-Caroling"/"We Wish You a Merry Christmas
   We Wish You a Merry Christmas
   "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a popular secular sixteenth-century English carol from the West Country of England. The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition where wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve such as 'figgy...
   
   " (Traditional arranged by Ray Charles)
2. "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" (Traditional Christmas music)
3. "O Holy Night
   O Holy Night
   "O Holy Night" is a well-known Christmas carol composed by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, chrétiens" by Placide Cappeau , a wine merchant and poet, who had been asked by a parish priest to write a Christmas poem...
   
   " (Words and music by Adolphe Charles Adam)
4. "O Little Town of Bethlehem
   O Little Town of Bethlehem
   "O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a popular Christmas carol. The text was written by Phillips Brooks , an Episcopal priest, Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia. He was inspired by visiting the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his...
   
   " (Words and music by Phillips Brooks and Lewis H. Redner)
5. "Come, Come, Come to the Manger" (Traditional Christmas music adapted by Mitchell Ayres)
6. "The First Noël
   The First Noël
   The First Nowell is a traditional classical English carol, most likely from the 18th century, although possibly earlier...
   
   " (Traditional Christmas music)
7. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (Latin
   Latin
   Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
   
    hymn translated by Frederick Oakeley)
8. "We Three Kings of Orient Are" (Adapted by Mitchell Ayres and Jack Andrews)
9. "Silent Night" (Words and music by Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber)