Angels We Have Heard

Foreword

(l to r): Laura Kent, Spike Jones' drummer Joe Siricusa, Walter Kent (co-writer of "I'll Be Home For Christmas") and Thomas H. Carlisle.

Here is a new book about the origins of our favorite popular Christmas songs and hymns, and as you may have guessed by its thickness, this is by far the most detailed, comprehensive publication ever written on the subject.

To give you a bit of history as to how we met, James Richliano had been working on his dream book for years when we suddenly found each other in 1998. At that time, he was researching the Rudolph segment, and phoned Virginia Hertz, daughter of Robert L. May, the man who wrote the children’s book upon which the Rudolph song is based. Virginia told him that I probably knew more about Rudolph than she did. Then I got the magic phone call at my home in Denver, Colorado.

I have been collecting historic information for thirty years on mostly pre-1950 Christmas songs for a television movie script I have written called The American Festival Of Christmas. James, being much younger than I, had been doing the same thing for many holiday songs, including ones that he remembered as a child. Talk about a match made in heaven! Well, that first phone call lasted nearly an hour-and-a-half, and we babbled in astonishment about the material that we could suddenly share for both of our projects.

Since 1975 I have been interviewing and recording the folks who wrote or sang our Christmas songs. The newest song that I covered was Johnny Marks’ “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree.” I interviewed him a long time ago but never thought about trying to find Brenda Lee. James Richliano sure did, and her incredible story is in this book.

My interview with Johnny Marks was primarily to hear how he wrote the “Rudolph” song. Once that was done he wanted to talk about “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Rockin.’” So I said, ‘Go ahead, the camera is rolling.’ Talk about a bonus!

It’s exhilarating to know that between the two of us, we have actual accounts from both of them regarding the making of their yuletide classics, and that we have preserved for posterity a time of musical innocence that should never be forgotten.

Over the years, I have gleefully collected a ton of information on the magical world of Christmas music. James did this too, but he is a real writer. I am just an electrician who created a new line of holiday bubble lights and who, like James, somewhere along the way seriously fell in love with our Christmas music history and images. It is our fondest dream that you will fall in love as well with this wonderful part of our collective past.

And isn’t it glorious when we can pass this enchantment on to the young ones in our lives, those who missed the golden era of American Christmas music? Isn’t it also beautiful when their eyes light up on a snowy morning as they listen to a song like “Rudolph” for the first time? It’s also nice to know that years from now, they may unexpectedly hear it again and suddenly be swept back to a few frozen-in-time moments of heavenly Christmas bliss. This book has tried to capture that bliss for you. Enjoy!

We wish you warmth and love at Christmas and always,
Thomas H. Carlisle
Christmas Historian
Denver, Colorado