On the third day of the Twelve Days of a Tony Bennett Christmas, Wednesday, December 16, 2015, the song of the day is “Silver Bells.”

About This Song

Today’s song, “Silver Bells” was written in 1950 by William Livingston and Ray Evans. Lyricist Evans says that the song was originally called “Tinkle Bells.” That is, until composer Jay Livingston told his wife about the new song and she reminded him that the word ‘tinkle’ had a another meaning and so it was changed to “Silver Bells.” It was first recorded in 1950 by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards and was also used in the 1951 movie The Lemon Drop Kid with Bob Hope, who performed the song with Marilyn Maxwell.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded this song for his jazzy Christmas album A Swingin’ Christmas; it was arranged by Lee Musiker. On piano is Monty Alexander, with Paul Langosch on bass, Gray Sargent on guitar and Harold Jones on drums.

“Silver Bells,” as well as A Swingin’ Christmas, is available from iTunes.