I’ll be home for Christmas is one of the most memorable songs from the WW2 Era. It is a historical song from the period and is a song that has found its way into the heart of the American Christmas Tradition.
Millions of those who once embraced this song-who reverently listened to each word an note and hung on every sentimental thought woven into the lyrics-are now gone. Age has taken a might toll on the men and women who first clung to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” as not just a song, but also as a prayer.
For young and old during the darkest days of World War 2, for sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” represented their hopes, dreams, and prayers better than any other song, movie, or story. Many who hear this carol today may think it overly maudlin, but when it was released, it quickly became the most powerful song on the hit parade.
The song may very well be one of the simplest Christmas carols ever written. There is an introduction, a single verse and a chorus, just twelve lines that innocently depict a person’s longing for home. Yet the way these dozen lines moved a nation during the uncertain times of war, as well as the way they continue to move people today, makes this secular carol one of the most spiritual songs of any era.
It was 1942, and lyricist Kim Gannon knew the emotional toll of fighting a war on two fronts. In Brooklyn, the writer’s home, not only had thousands of families given up their sons to the armed forces, but many had already lost their children in battle.
Christmas, traditionally a time of great joy in Gannon’s New York borough, felt strangely different that year. The streets were decorated, trees were sold on corner lots, and Santas still rang their bells and smiled at children, but the war had cast a pall over the holidays. It was hard to think of presents or peace on earth when parents anxiously read the news and prayed that every telegraph delivery man would pass them by. To make it all worse, no one was completely sure that the United States and its allies could even win the horrible war.
Kim saw the same gut-wrenching scenes play out every day – the prayers of frantic parents, the tears of newly enlisted soldiers saying their good-byes at train stations, the rush toward mailmen who might carry a letter from a loved one. The writer knew well that the news on the radio was both a curse and a blessing.
Everyone felt that need to learn what was going on in the Pacific and Europe, but fear came with that knowledge as well… a biting fear when a parent or wife heard that edge as well.. a biting fear when a parent or wife heard that a major battle had broken out in the same place a son, father, or husband had mentioned in their last letter home. With the coming of Christmas, the depression of being separated from loved ones was even worse.
Not only were families of overseas soldiers caught in a world of 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. Most were 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 pictures firmly 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 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 2 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 2, Korea, and Vietnam, the song symbolized and captured the emotions of those on the battle fronts, 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 decades after it was embraced as a World War 2 holiday prayer, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” stirs new emotions. Most of those who returned home for Christmas after the war have left this world for the next. Yet because of the contributions and sacrifices of the men and women who served our country during those dark days, they will always be home for Christmas in our hearts, memories, and dreams.
Best Versions of I’ll be Home for Christmas
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I’ll Be Home for Christmas – Wikipedia
