Song:Christmas Must Be Tonight
Album:An Americana Christmas
I bet you didn't know that The Band recorded a Christmas song. Christmas Must Be Tonight was written by Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko sang lead. Robertson wrote it as a Christmas gift to his son Sebastian. The song was recorded for the 1975 album Northern Lights-Southern Cross but it didn't make the album. So instead it appeared on the 1977 album Islands. Islands was an odds and ends album that was released to fulfill The Band's contractual obligation to Capitol. So it wasn't promoted and Christmas Must Be Tonight was never released as a seasonal single. Robertson recorded his own version of Christmas Must Be Tonight for the 1988 film Scrooged. And he even recorded a third version on his 1995 album Winter, Fire and Snow: Songs For The Holiday Season. But I can't help thinking that if the song had been released as a seasonal single back in the 70s, it would be a highly regarded Christmas classic today. Christmas Must Be Tonight was added as a bonus track when Capitol released Northern Lights-Southern Cross on CD in 2001. But I think you should check out this various artists budget CD released last year by New West Records. They release a lot of roots music or I guess it's also called Americana. John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Bob Dylan and Old 97s appear on the CD. So it looks like solid Christmas music for those interested in Americana. Here's Rick Danko performing Christmas Must Be Tonight at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ Dec.17, 1977.
New one on me. I never knew the "The Band" ever released a Christmas song. But I guess a lot of musical artists like to do Christmas music, and they were one of them.
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