Christmas Album Review: The Dean Martin Christmas Album by Dean Martin (1966)

Book coverIf you’re expecting “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” on this album, baby, it’s the wrong record; that omnipresent song, the one most associated with Dean Martin and Christmas, is from his 1959 platter A Winter Romance.

This album, from 1966 (and on a different label), features Dean Martin’s laid back takes on these classic Christmas songs:

  • “White Christmas”
  • “Jingle Bells”
  • “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
  • “Blue Christmas”
  • “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
  • “Marshmallow World”
  • “Silver Bells”
  • “Winter Wonderland”
  • “The Things We Did Last Summer”
  • “Silent Night”

It’s a mood-setting collection, which is a step above background music; it’s worth listening to Dean sing the songs as he invests feeling in them, and his relaxed delivery is reflective.

My beautiful wife quibbles with the inclusion of “Marshmellow World” on the album, as it is her least favorite secular Christmas carol of all time and might be mathematically the absolute worst song for her ever as she cannot stand marshmallows, whipped cream, or most of the things the winter landscape reminds the singer of. On the other hand, it transitions right into “Silver Bells”, which is her favorite secular Christmas carol, so the crisis is averted.

Meanwhile, I think it’s odd to include “The Things We Did Last Summer” on the LP as it’s more of a reflective, nostalgia song than a winter song or a Christmas song. But I guess it gets included to break the theme up a little bit with a tangental tune, like “A Few of My Favorite Things” gets included on Christmas albums because it mentions packages and gifts.

At any rate, I recommend it; it’s definitely on heavy rotation here at Nogglestead.

Albums mentioned in this review:

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