By Kate Lillie
Originally published on Global Comment
Today’s calendar entry is one of the very few modern versions of Christmas songs worth adding to your playlist. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) was originally recorded in 1963 by Darlene Love and co-written by none other than Phil Spector (funny isn’t it, how everything seems interlinked?) but the version I’m including here is by Michael Bublé, from his 2011 album Christmas.
Bublé has had probably more successful Christmas music than any other modern artist (despite Hanson’s many attempts) and has become, in many households, a Christmas staple. I can’t think of any other modern artist that applies to. He’s even had his own Christmas TV specials, both in the US and the UK, and no matter what you think of that kind of TV format, there aren’t many artists who can straddle that line of family entertainment comfortably.
The song itself has pretty sad lyrics but Bublé’s deliverance is actually quite upbeat and the production is a delight of all-singing, all-dancing music hall jazz – you can almost imagine the chorus line, the feather fans, the sparkles, the fireworks going off. It definitely lacks Darlene Love’s emotional depth but it’s great to sing along to and the production is a joy.
Enjoy it here:
