If anything about Mariah CareyB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas is YouB次元官网网址� annoys you, best to avoid shopping malls now. Or the radio. Maybe music altogether, for that matter.
Her 1994 carol dominates holiday music like nothing else.
The Christmas colossus has reached No. 1 on BillboardB次元官网网址檚 Hot 100 chart the past four years in a row B次元官网网址� measuring the most popular songs each week by airplay, sales and streaming, not just the holiday-themed B次元官网网址� and itB次元官网网址檚 reasonable to assume 2023 will be no different. One expert predicts it will soon exceed $100 million in earnings. Even its ringtone has sold millions.
B次元官网网址淭hat song is just embedded in history now,B次元官网网址� says , the 16-time Grammy-winning composer and producer. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 embedded in Christmas. When you think of Christmas right now, you think of that song.B次元官网网址�
Yet the story behind B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas is YouB次元官网网址� is not all holly and mistletoe.
The songB次元官网网址檚 co-authors, Carey and Walter Afanasieff, are in a mystifying feud. The authors of a different song with the same title have sued seeking $20 million in damages. While Carey calls herself the Queen of Christmas, her bid to trademark that title failed.
Every year on Nov. 1, the songB次元官网网址檚 hibernation ends when Carey posts on social media that B次元官网网址渋tB次元官网网址檚 timeB次元官网网址� to play it again. This yearB次元官网网址檚 message depicted her being freed from a block of ice to make the declaration.
In both music and lyrics, the song was perfectly engineered for success, says , musicologist and professor at the Berklee College of Music. And it came from an artist who was at the top of her game at the time.
B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas is YouB次元官网网址� works as a love and holiday song. Carey sets it up: She doesnB次元官网网址檛 care about all the holiday trappings, she has one thing B次元官网网址� one person B次元官网网址� on her mind. She sprinkles in specific holiday references, from Santa Claus to mistletoe.
The instruments and brisk arrangement recall Phil SpectorB次元官网网址檚 1965 album, B次元官网网址淎 Christmas Gift for You,B次元官网网址� itself a holiday classic. To top it off, part of the melody slyly references B次元官网网址淲hite Christmas,B次元官网网址� Bennett says.
B次元官网网址淭hat was my goal, to do something timeless,B次元官网网址� Carey explained in a recent B次元官网网址淕ood Morning AmericaB次元官网网址� interview.
Billboard has produced lists of top seasonal hits since 2010, and B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas is YouB次元官网网址� has been No. 1 for 57 of the 62 weeks it has run, said Gary Trust, chart director. Will Page, SpotifyB次元官网网址檚 former chief economist and author of the book B次元官网网址淧ivot,B次元官网网址� estimates the song will exceed $100 million in earnings this holiday season.
B次元官网网址淏y most objective measures,B次元官网网址� Bennett says, B次元官网网址渋tB次元官网网址檚 the most successful Christmas song of all time.B次元官网网址�
As Afanasieff has told it, much of the work on B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas is YouB次元官网网址� was done by him and Carey working in a rented house in the summer of 1994. The team had a history, working on CareyB次元官网网址檚 albums B次元官网网址淓motionsB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址淢usic Box.B次元官网网址�
He started with a boogie-woogie piano, tossing out melodic ideas that Carey would respond to with lyrics, he said on , B次元官网网址淗ot Takes & Deep Dives with Jess RothschildB次元官网网址� (Afanasieff did not return messages from The Associated Press). Later, Carey completed the lyrics herself and Afanasieff recorded all the instruments, he said.
Then things became complicated. Carey was married at the time to Tommy Mottola, head of Sony Music. They broke up in 1997 and her relationship with Afanasieff, who kept working for Mottola, became a casualty of that fractured marriage. Afanasieff said theyB次元官网网址檝e spoken once in more than 20 years, and it his contributions have been written out of CareyB次元官网网址檚 telling of the songB次元官网网址檚 creation.
On B次元官网网址淕ood Morning AmericaB次元官网网址� last month, she said, B次元官网网址淚 was working on it by myself so I was writing on this little Casio keyboard, writing down words and thinking about, B次元官网网址橶hat do I think about Christmas? What do I love? What do I want? What do I dream of?B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淎nd thatB次元官网网址檚 what started it.B次元官网网址�
Afanasieff sounds almost bewildered by the turn of events. He that every holiday season he has to defend himself against people who donB次元官网网址檛 believe he co-wrote the song.
B次元官网网址淢ariah has been very wonderful, positive and a force of nature,B次元官网网址� he told Variety. B次元官网网址淪heB次元官网网址檚 the one that made the song a hit and sheB次元官网网址檚 awesome. But she definitely does not share credit where credit is due.B次元官网网址�
Last month, songwriters Andy Stone and Troy Powers in federal court in California, seeking $20 million in copyright infringement and citing their own 1989 country song, B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas is You.B次元官网网址�
Their song has a similar theme, with a narrator desiring a love interest before Christmas comforts. The writers cite an B次元官网网址渙verwhelming likelihoodB次元官网网址� the Carey and Afanasieff had heard their song.
The two songs have no musical similarities, BerkleeB次元官网网址檚 Bennett says, and the theme is hardly unique. He pointed out Bing CrosbyB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淵ouB次元官网网址檙e All I Want for Christmas,B次元官网网址� Carla ThomasB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas is YouB次元官网网址� and Buck OwensB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas, Dear, is You.B次元官网网址�
Says the musicologist: B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 nonsense.B次元官网网址�
In his podcast appearance, Afanasieff noted how Foster once told him that B次元官网网址淎ll I Want for Christmas is YouB次元官网网址� was the last song to enter the Christmas canon and B次元官网网址渢hat vault is sealed.B次元官网网址�
Foster told AP he exaggerated a little, but not a lot. Writing a new holiday song is brutally hard, since youB次元官网网址檙e competing with not just current hits but hundreds of years of songs and memories. The old classics never go away.
B次元官网网址淚 just stay away from them, because they scare me,B次元官网网址� Foster says. B次元官网网址淟yrically, itB次元官网网址檚 sort of all been done before B次元官网网址� better than I can ever do.B次元官网网址�
While he appreciates FosterB次元官网网址檚 compliment, Afanasieff told Rothschild that he hoped others donB次元官网网址檛 take it to heart.
B次元官网网址淚 urge songwriters every year,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 time to write the next B次元官网网址楢ll I Want for Christmas is You.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�
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David Bauder writes about media, music and entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at
David Bauder, The Associated Press
