Capitol Records / Universal Music Enterprises
Release date: November 3, 2023
Peggy Lee’s popularity in the 1960s was such that Capitol Records saw fit to release two holiday albums only five years apart. The first was 1960’s Christmas Carousel, featuring sparkling arrangements by the great Billy May. The second was 1965’s Happy Holiday, which was a partial reissue of Christmas Carousel that included three newly recorded songs conducted by Sid Feller. Capitol Records and Universal Music Enterprises have now released a digital edition of Happy Holiday, allowing those who grew up with this incarnation to enjoy the album’s song sequence for the first time since its original release.
The three new songs, recorded in the legendary Capitol Tower in July of 1965, are “Winter Wonderland” (a song written by Felix Bernard and Richard Bernhard Smith in 1934), “The Little Drummer Boy” (by Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941), and the title song, “Happy Holiday” (by Irving Berlin in 1942). Songs carried over from Christmas Carousel are “The Christmas Song,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “I Like a Sleighride (Jingle Bells),” “The Christmas Waltz,” “Deck the Halls,” “White Christmas,” plus three of Peggy’s own compositions: “Christmas Carousel,” “The Christmas List,” and “The Tree.”
Although Happy Holiday is not available in CD format in its original sequence, the 2020 CD compilation Peggy Lee: Ultimate Christmas includes all but one song from Happy Holiday, alongside ten other songs from Peggy’s Capitol and Decca catalogs, plus one song from her private collection.
Tracks
- Winter Wonderland
- The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)
- Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
- Christmas Carousel
- The Little Drummer Boy
- I Like a Sleighride (Jingle Bells)
- Happy Holiday
- The Christmas List
- The Christmas Waltz
- Deck the Hall
- The Tree
- White Christmas