Originally written on December, 30th, 2024.
Bing Crosby recorded the song „I’ll Be Home for Christmas“ in October 1943, along with the John Scott Trotter Orchestra. In 1943, the Second World War was in full swing, and a great number of American boys were far from their homes over Christmas. Homesickness must undoubtedly have plagued many a soldier, and that is what the lyrics are about. The song is a Christmas classic today, and the versions have become very numerous. On Spotify, the song is in fourteenth place for the number of versions of a Christmas song, and the versions on the streaming service have reached 9,318.
Kent and Gannon deserve credit for the music and lyrics, but Ram is always named as a co-author even though he has no part in it, neither in the music nor the lyrics. The reason is a lawsuit by his publishing company against Gannon and Kent. The lawsuit apparently came about because Ram had composed a song and lyrics for his mother with the same theme the year before and let his colleagues, Gannon and Kent, hear it. The law is a strange creature, because Ram’s music and lyrics are not at all similar to Gannon and Kent’s song. It can, however, be argued that Gannon and Kent stole the idea.
I decided to try my hand at the song to expand my chord collection. Furthermore, I have a obsession with wanting to have Icelandic lyrics, so I composed lyrics to the song. If you want to try it out, there is a chord and lyric sheet below the video.
