Song of the Day 12/16: Frank Sinatra, “Christmas Waltz”

Guest Post by Nathan Arizona

“The Christmas Waltz” is a holiday song that exists for one good reason: FRANK WANTED IT.

In 1954 Frank Sinatra was about to enter the studio to record his version of “White Christmas,” which had not been written for him. He insisted that composer Jule Styne write something he could put on the B-side and call his own.

Styne called on lyricist Sammy Cahn to collaborate, but Cahn was reluctant because he thought “White Christmas” had cornered the market on Christmas songs penned in a Los Angeles heat wave that would go on to be one of the most popular ever. Nonetheless FRANK WANTED IT. And there was only one Chairman of the Board.

So Cahn gave Styne a nudge. Jule, he said, don’t you have waltz in the trunk. Has anybody ever written a Christmas waltz? Well, somebody would now.

After releasing “The Christmas Waltz” as the “White Christmas” B-Side, Sinatra put it on his 1957 album, “A Jolly Christmas From Frank Sinatra.” Nelson Riddle had arranged the first version, Gordon Jenkins the second. You couldn’t go wrong with either one.

Frank Sinatra was not the kind of warm and fuzzy guy we associate with Christmas songs. We don’t necessarily expect Ring-a-Ding-Ding Christmas music (except maybe “Carol of the Bells,” which pretty much says the same thing over and over and is not Frank-like anyway). But he was such a great singer that for about three minutes we really think he means it —- although his chirpy “Merry Christmas” at the end does kind of jar.

Many others have recorded the song, including usual suspects Mel Torme, Andy Williams and Nancy Wilson. But Sammy Cahn wasn’t completely wrong. The song didn’t hit the charts until Harry Connick Jr.’s version clicked in 2008. It was featured in one of those gloppy Hallmark Christmas movies, the last place we might expect a Frank Sinatra song although it was sung by Tara Lee. More appropriately, it was heard in a “Mad Men” episode with the same title.

Here’s Frank’s version.

In this scene from “Mad Men” two melancholy co-workers ponder fate in a Manhattan bar while “The Christmas Waltz” plays on the juke box — a perfect context. The part with the song starts at 2:30 and runs to 5:21. Doris Day sings.

Here’s a version by She and Him from their perhaps-underrated album “A Very She and Him Christmas.” The phrase “he fills his sleigh with .. . things” is little awkward in any version.