A reader from Maryland likes our story behind the story columns so well he sent a request for the holidays and his favorite song…tell us more about Brenda Lee and the story behind Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.
The internet is a magical tool for reaching people – people you don’t know, or that they even exist.
That’s why when a reader wrote to us from Frederick, Maryland after Thanksgiving, it was a huge surprise, along with what he requested.
“I like the story-behind-the-song articles you’ve done for holiday music (Do You Hear What I Hear…Bing Crosby, 2021), and wondered can you do one about my favorite Christmas tune. I like Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, and Brenda Lee. Can you write a story about that?”
It took some time, frankly, but it was worth the effort…because just this past week Lee’s iconic hit from 1958 finally made the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time, 65 years following its debut in 1958.
Brenda Lee was a child prodigy back then, and at 13 years of age was requested to record song-writer Johnny Marks’ classic, by Marks, himself – Marks the man who was also responsible for Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Holly, Jolly Christmas, and I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day. All of those were holiday classics for artists like Gene Autry (Rudolph), Holly, Jolly Christmas (Burl Ives), and I Heard The Bells (Bing Crosby).
But when 4’9″ Brenda Lee recorded Rockin’ for producer Owen Bradley in the summer of 1958 no one saw it coming. No one guessed that the song would become the generational bridge that would make the “teenage dynamite” (her nickname) still popular today, at age 78.
“I came into the studio that day and Owen had a decorated Christmas tree up and the air-conditioning turned on all the way,'” Lee recently recalled. “He said he wanted to put everyone in the mood to record Rockin’.”
65 years later, it would become just the third holiday song to actually top the prestigious Billboard Hot 100 chart, which includes Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, and the Bobby Helms classic, Jingle Bell Rock.
Rockin’ also marks Lee’s third #1 hit in her career, joining I’m Sorry (1960), and later that year I Want To Be Wanted. She has 50 other Billboard chart hits, but Rockin’ took 65 years to become number three!
“This is one of the best gifts I have ever received,” Lee said last week with a press statement. “So keep on Rockin’ and Merry Christmas!”
The attached video is also the first-ever video release for Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree, which will probably further energize her 71-year career. Brenda Lee is still out there singing…and touring!
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