Merry Christmas Darling


"Merry Christmas Darling" is a Christmas song by the Carpenters, and originally recorded in 1970. It was first available on a 7-inch single that year, and was later re-issued in 1974 and again in 1977. The single went to number one on Billboard's Christmas singles chart in 1970 and peaked at number 41 in Cashbox.
In 1978, the Carpenters issued their Christmas Portrait album, which contained a new version of "Merry Christmas Darling". The original 1970 mix continued to be used for all single releases, however. The major difference between the 1970 and 1978 versions is a newly recorded vocal by Karen Carpenter on the latter, which was done at her request. Richard Carpenter himself calls the original recording one of his sister's very best. The original single version of the song can be found on the compilation albums From the Top and .

History

The lyrics were written in 1944 by an 18 year old Frank Pooler, which, according to him, were about a love interest he had at the time. 22 years later in 1966, when he was choral director at California State University, Long Beach, two of his aspiring music students, Karen and Richard Carpenter, who were beginning to have success as a local band, asked their favorite professor; him, if he had any ideas for holiday songs. According to Pooler, they had become tired of the standard holiday songs they were singing. Pooler gave them the lyrics of the song he had written from years before, and told them he didn't think much of the original melody. According to Pooler, Richard wrote a new tune for the lyrics -the tune currently used- in 15 minutes. Four years later, in 1970, the Carpenters first recorded and released it as a single.

Personnel

The song was sung by actress Lea Michele for the second season Christmas episode of the hit TV series, Glee, entitled "A Very Glee Christmas", in 2010. This version was released as part of the series' first.
The song has also been recorded by Natalie Cole, Amy Grant, Glenn Medeiros, Kimberley Locke, Vanessa L. Williams, Phil Vassar, Boyz II Men, Leslie Odom Jr., Kyle Vincent, Keali'i Reichel, Briana Cash, Christina Perri, Deana Carter, Jane Monheit, and Chicago, as well as Filipino singers Kitchie Nadal, Rico J. Puno, Jed Madela, and Richard Poon. Elvis Presley almost recorded his own version in the early 1970s, but struggled learning the bridge, as he could not read music, and gave up.
A Karen Carpenter soundalike recorded "Merry Christmas Allah" for radio personality Bob Rivers'
fifth Christmas comedy album White Trash Christmas.

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Canada RPM Top Singles50
US Cashbox Top 100 Singles41

Chart Peak
position
US Holiday Airplay 1
Chart Peak
position
US Holiday 100 24

Chart Peak
position
US Rolling Stone Top 10060