The Twelve Songs of Christmas: Surprising Secrets of the Season's Most Popular Tunes

The holidays are filled with joyful emotions and honored traditions, including the playing of songs about snowmen, St. Nick, evergreen trees, and presents wrapped up with big pretty bows. No matter how you celebrate the season, you'll hear these songs on the radio, on TV, at the mall, in the office, and just about anywhere music is performed. If you think the same songs are played over and over, you're right, but if this bothers you, consider the alternative: Christmas carols were banned in England between 1649 and 1660. Oliver Cromwell, serving as Lord Protector of Britain, believed Christmas should be solemn and also banned parties, limiting celebrations to sermons and prayer services. Lots of holiday songs are festive, many have spiritual overtones, and all are played so often that they are familiar no matter what your faith. But what do you know about how these songs were created and the people who wrote them? There are some fascinating facts behind this memorable music. So, toss a log in the fireplace, pour yourself a hot toddy or some cold eggnog, and sit back as we reveal the secrets behind many of the tunes you are going to be hearing dozens of times during December. "The Christmas Song," Mel Torme and Bob Wells, 1944. On a sweltering July day in Los Angeles, 19-year-old jazz singer Torme worked with 23-year-old Wells to create this beautiful tune. Full of wintry images and a charming wistfulness for all the delights of the season, the song became an enormous hit by Nat "King" Cole the following year. In Torme's autobiography, he says Wells wasn't trying to write lyrics but was simply jotting down ideas that would help him forget about the heat wave. "The First Noel," Traditional, 16th or 17th century. Some say this is a song with a British background while others insist it has French origins. So far, no one has any definitive proof. Two thing are for certain: first, it's very popular if two countries are claiming it; and second, counting the title, the word "Noel" appears in the song 30 times. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Wesley, and William Cummings, 1739-1855. Wesley's opening line was "Hark how all the welkin rings" and he protested when a colleague changed it. Wesley wanted a slow and solemn anthem for his song, but William Cummings set the lyrics to rousing music by Felix Mendolssohn (from a cantata about movable type inventor Johann Gutenberg). For his part, Mendolssohn specified that his composition only appear in a secular context, not spiritual. So both original authors' wishes were thwarted in the creation of this glorious song. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, 1943. The songwriting team of Martin (music) and Blane (lyrics) worked together for five decades, producing Oscar- and Tony-nominated songs. This hauntingly lovely tune was made famous by Judy Garland in the 1944 film, "Meet Me in St. Louis." While the song is a bittersweet gem, the original lyrics were actually darker and not to Garland's liking. Since she was a huge star at the time, and was dating the film's director, Vincent Minnelli (she married him the following year), the changes were made. "I'll Be Home for Christmas," Kim Gannon and Walter Kent, 1942. Gannon (lyrics) and Kent (composer) worked often together, but even with her three Academy Award nominations, nothing was as successful as this wartime song. By getting it to Bing Crosby, they were assured of big sales even though it competed with Crosby's recording of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas." The song is a perennial favorite, and appears often in films, including "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Polar Express." "Jingle Bells," James Pierpont, 1850s. Starting out as a lively celebration of the Salem Street sleigh races, the song called "One-Horse Open Sleigh" made a fast transition to the more sober atmosphere of the church social and became known as "Jingle Bells." While there are four verses, only the first is usually sung because of the lyrics in the remaining three verses. A woman named Fannie Bright appears in verse two, which also features a sleigh crash. The third verse displays an anti-Samaritan laughing at a fallen sleigh driver and leaving him sprawled in a snow bank, while the final verse offers such lines as "Go it while you