Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas by Ace Collins Page A

uncertainty and dread, so were many displaced rural men and women who had moved to New York and other large cities to work in plants and offices. Like many of the men in uniform, the war had taken civilians away from home. Mostwere spending a Christmas away from family for the very first time, and were lonely and homesick.
    When Gannon sat down with pen in hand to capture the unsettling scenes that surrounded her and everyone else in America, the cascade of emotions must have made writing “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” very difficult. There was so much to say, so much that would be missed by those split apart by the hellish nightmare of war. Yet rather than try to cover everything, the writer simply wrote, in a straightforward, uncomplicated manner, about the heartache of being away from home at Christmas. Short, direct, and sweet, the poem Kim produced in so few lines somehow completely captured the emotions of hundreds of millions.
    Gannon’s words were brought to tunesmith Walter Kent. Also a New Yorker, Kent understood the sadness of the holiday season. Kent, who had already composed the sentimental hit “White Cliffs of Dover,” inherently knew what the song needed. In his mind’s eye, he saw empty chairs at the table, mothers trying to smile through tears as they baked cookies for remaining family members, and unopened presents on the tree. (During this period Christmas presents were often very simple and tied to the tree rather than wrapped and placed under it.) With these picturesfirmly set in his mind, he sought to find just the right notes to paint them into a musical score. When he finished his work, he had written a dreamy, hopeful melody that was a perfect fit to Gannon’s words.
    One of the true wonders of this song is that it sounds more like a letter home than a typical Christmas carol. Not only is there a real sadness evident in the words and melody, but a hopefulness as well. It’s as if the singer were a homesick marine, soldier, or sailor assuring those who missed him that he would soon be there with them again. Ultimately, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” left the listener with the final and urgent plea, “Don’t give up, we’ll be together soon.”
    The spiritual nature of this song comes from its almost prayer-like message. Christmas in America had always been about family and remembering the One who started it all. Yet World War II had broken those bonds and disturbed the traditions of the holidays. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” eloquently acknowledged the hope that while things changed, given time, everyone would be home again.
    On October 4, 1943, Bing Crosby recorded “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” It became his 209th charting single and a follow-up to his holiday hit of 1942, “White Christmas.” The latter had stayed on the charts for seventeen weeks during its initial release and reentered the hit parade in 1943 and stayed on there for another month and a half. Yet in the midst of the war, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” received more airplay and generated more sales than did the Crosby hit of the previous year. It quickly became the most requested song at Christmas U.S.O. shows in both Europe and the Pacific. Some historians have said that for service personnel and their families the only inspirational patriotic song that was its equal was “God Bless America.”
    Throughout World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, the song symbolized and captured the emotions of those on the battlefronts, as well as the emotions of those back home praying for their safe return. Recorded countless times by scores of different artists, it has sold millions of records. But beyond its remarkable sales is the way the song has been embraced by every facet of society. As a testament to its hopeful nature, even though it does not have a single reference to Jesus or the first Christmas, over the past fifty years it has been used in hundreds of cantatas and church programs.
    Today, more than five