Song:Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy
Album:Christmas Classics
Most music fans probably remember seeing this on TV. Later on it was released as a single and it was a top five hit in England. This appeared on the 1977 TV special Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas. It was Crosby's final TV appearance. He died on Oct. 14, 1977 and the TV show aired on CBS on Nov. 30, 1977. The story is that Crosby goes with his wife Kathryn and their three kids to a house in England supposedly owned by his family. The servants are played by Ron Moody and Stanley Baxter. The guest stars are Twiggy and David Bowie. The original plan was for Crosby and Bowie to sing Little Drummer Boy but Bowie was not happy with the song. He said it didn't suit his voice. Writer Buz Kohan along with musical directors Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman came up with Peace On Earth and Crosby and Bowie sang it as a duet. Bowie sang Peace On Earth at a higher register and Crosby sang Little Drummer Boy. Fraser, who worked frequently with Anthony Newley and was Oscar nominated for the 1970 film Scrooge, wrote the arrangement. Of course this has become a Christmas classic. But it was never released on an album. RCA released it as a single in 1982 and it reached #3 on the British singles chart. You can get it on this CD released by Capitol in 2006. The recording of White Christmas is not the original but a re-recording arranged by Nelson Riddle. The rest of the CD is the 1962 album I Wish You A Merry Christmas released on Crosby's own label and distributed by Warner Bros. Bob Thompson, Peter Matz and Jack Halloran produced and arranged that album. Bowie said later that he only appeared on the show because his mom was a big Crosby fan. Kohan says he didn't know if Crosby was familiar with Bowie. But Fraser says that Crosby was not an idiot and his kids would have known about Bowie even if he didn't. Crosby was very pleased with Bowie's performance afterwards. Here's Bing Crosby and David Bowie performing Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy on the 1977 TV special Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas.
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