Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Year: 1963

Written By: Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich

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Darlene Love's 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' is surely near the summit of the greatest ever Christmas songs. It has been covered on numerous occasions and despite some near misses nothing can quite match the vibrancy and vitality of the original. 'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' was written by Phil Spector, along with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, for his wife Ronnie to sing on his 'A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records' LP (later changed to 'A Christmas Gift for You' from Phil Spector) in 1963. Sadly it seems that Ronnie wasn't able to give it the requisite emotion and Darlene Love stepped up to the plate to record this slice of pop history. And in the process she left us with a performance that has woven itself inextricably into the fabric of every future Christmas.

Thanks to the David Letterman show Darlene Love has established a Christmas tradition where she belts out the classic on the last show before the 25^th of December each year. You'll see from the videos below that Love has lost none of her magnetism, remarkable emotion or vocal strength.

'Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)' has appeared in several big time Hollywood movies including Steven Spielberg's 'Gremlins' and Martin Scorsese's 'Goodfellas'. It has also been covered by some of the biggest stars in the world of music including U2 whose masterful retelling was included on the wonderful 'A Very Special Christmas' in 1987. Other well known artists to give the song a commendable rejig have included Mariah Carey, the Quiet Jungle, Jon Bon Jovi, Hanson and R.E.M.