The Reason Why Irving Berlin Wrote ‘White Christmas’ Is Truly Heartbreaking

Dec 13, 2018 by apost team

Although it is hard to believe, the lyrics of the classic Christmas song "White Christmas" are part of the most popular Christmas song of all time. The version performed by Bing Crosby is statistically the best selling single of all times. The sales for the song are estimated to be over 50 million copies. This is 17 million copies more than the second-place best seller.

White Christmas is used extensively in the music industry with many covers and on many movie productions, but no one really knew that the simple lyrics of the song are not happy. Although they have a nostalgic tone to them, there is more to the story of the song than the words imply.

Irving Berlin is the composer of the melody and the writer of the lyrics of the song. He released the song in the early 1940s as a part of the many other classic songs that he wrote like "Anything You Can Do" and "God Bless America". The song reached its famous status when it was sun by Bing Crosby on NBC Radio in 1941.

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Bing Crosby performed the song in the film Holiday Inn with actress Marjorie Reynolds in which the voice is actually dubbed by Martha Mears. It was "Be Careful, It's My Heart" that was more popular when the movie was released. It was in 1942 when "White Christmas" became the favorite of the public.

Since then the song has been performed on every Christmas season and is a classic that the Guinness Book of World Records places as the number one song of all time. According to Stephen Holden, a music critic, the song is so popular because of the nostalgia that it conveys to the public for one's roots, childhood, and home.

Irving, the composer, had a much different intention when writing the song. He wrote it as a dedication to his lost son. He wrote the song for the death of his 3-week-old son on Christmas Even in 1928. Each year on Christmas, Irving and his wife Ellin would visit the grave of their deceased son.

Even today, the classical 1947 version of the song performed by Bing Crosby is the most popular. Bing would admit that the song had nothing to do with him and any person could have performed it as well as he did. The most interesting fact about the song, though, is that it was written by a person who did not celebrate Christmas -- Irving Berlin was Jewish.

What do you think about the strange twist in facts surrounding this song? Let us know what you think in the comments - and while you're at it, tell us your all-time favorite Christmas song! Send this article to your friends and family to see what they think, too.