OK, I know. He had big ears like the heir to the British throne, he played that most boring of games, golf, he was, let’s say, conservative and more than a little bit smarmy but… God Bing Crosby could sing! We might not all like his type of gentle crooning these days but whenever I listen to anyone else trying to do it, I just have to go back to the great man himself. No one can do it like Bing.
It wouldn’t be the Christmas holidays without him either – we all know the tune and most of the words even if we only sing them when we’re half-cut on our way back from the pub. Yes, I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas has become a schmaltzy folk song and I love it. Actually it was written by the great Irving Berlin (1888-1989) in 1940 and first recorded by Bing in 1941. It is now well known that it is the biggest selling record of all time with over 50 million sales worldwide.
A record company once sent me a lapel badge, now lost, that I wore with a mix of irony and pride a long time ago. It read It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Bing. Well there are certain songs where that is true. Take it away, Bing.
