Merry Christmas Baby

A classic Holiday song recorded by many of the greats including Elvis, Merry Christmas Baby is my season’s greeting for 2010. Originally I wanted to record it in Hawaii and was slated to do so but an opportunity arose when I was traveling this summer that allowed me to produce it in Los Angeles. My engineer and good friend, Maurice Gainen, graduated the Berkeley School of Music, majoring in saxophone. After we laid down the basic track, he opened his closet door and revealed a shiny silver Selmer tenor saxophone he’s owned since adolescence. His soulful sax solos and complete horn section lights up the song like Rudolph’s nose. If you think you’re hearing Darlene Love singing background, those harmonies were also performed by Yours Truly.

Written by Johnny Moore and Lou Baxter, it was first recorded in 1947 by Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers as a 78rpm single. Other well-known covers include Chuck Berry (1958), Otis Redding (1968), Elvis Presley (1971), Bruce Springsteen (1986) and Christina Aguilera (2000).

I looked to my daughter’s company, Riot Structure, to  provide the artwork . Her theme, to incorporate my love of Hawaii, was Elvis’  Blue Hawaii album cover, the era in which my career began. I think it makes a cultural statement.

The single is available for download now in my Store and will be available after November 1st at CDBaby,  ITunes, Amazon and others.

Click here to Preview Merry Christmas Baby