I’ll Be Home for Christmas

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I’ll Be Home for Christmas (m. Walter Kent, w. James “Kim” Gannon and Buck Ram)

From an entry in the GTOL (georgetown-online.org) Message Boards, submitted by Phantom Gtowner on Mon Nov 28, 2011 8:31 pm

A song titled “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” was first copyrighted on August 24, 1943 by Walter Kent (music) and James “Kim” Gannon (lyrics). They revised the song slightly and re-copyrighted it on September 27, 1943 and it was this version that was made famous by Crosby. The label credit on those old Crosby 78’s reads “Kent and Gannon”, but some later recordings credit Kent, Gannon and Ram. The argument over Buck Ram’s credit is that on December 21, 1942 Ram copyrighted a totally different song called “I’ll Be Home For Christmas (Tho’ Just In Memory)”. According to Ram, who was primarily a lyricist, he penned the song when he was lonely and in college and had no way to get home for Christmas. Just prior to it’s copyright release he had discussed the tune with two people in a bar one evening and had even given them a copy of the lyrics. (Yeah, we’ve heard that one before.) Ram’s publisher took Kent and Gannon to court and won the case so the songwriting credit added Buck Ram’s name to it.

Bing Crosby – 1943

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Perry Como – 1946

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Frank Sinatra with the Ralph Brewster Singers, arranged by Gordon Jenkins – recorded 17 July 1957. A fine slide show, but the provider mistakenly includes Bing Crosby in the title.

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Elvis Presley – recorded 7 September 1957; released as the fourth track of Elvis’ Christmas Album on 15 October 1957

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Connie Francis – originally released on the 1959 album Christmas With Connie, which was twice re-released under different titles: Christmas in My Heart (1962), and Connie’s Christmas (1966)

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Jack Jones – 1964

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The Beach Boys – 1964

The song originally appeared on The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album, all tracks recorded 18-30 June 1964 except Little Saint Nick which was recorded 20 October 1963. This groove appears to be from a 1991 album containing “remastered” versions of nine of the twelve tracks from the 1964 album.

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Dean Martin – 1966

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The Carpenters – 1978

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