{"id":62454,"date":"2023-12-05T00:03:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T05:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2023\/12\/05\/brenda-lee-talks-rockin-around-the-christmas-tree-finally-topping-hot-100-home-alone-pushing-it-over-that-hill\/"},"modified":"2023-12-05T00:03:04","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T05:03:04","slug":"brenda-lee-talks-rockin-around-the-christmas-tree-finally-topping-hot-100-home-alone-pushing-it-over-that-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2023\/12\/05\/brenda-lee-talks-rockin-around-the-christmas-tree-finally-topping-hot-100-home-alone-pushing-it-over-that-hill\/","title":{"rendered":"Brenda Lee Talks \u2018Rockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree\u2019 Finally Topping Hot 100 & \u2018Home Alone\u2019 Pushing It \u2018Over That\u00a0Hill\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tOn Monday (Dec. 4), Brenda Lee<\/a> made history when her classic holiday chestnut, \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree,\u201d topped the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time<\/a> \u2014 65 years after the song\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\n\tLee, whose indomitable spirit and powerful voice, even as a child, earned her the nickname \u201cLittle Miss Dynamite,\u201d recorded \u201cRockin\u2019\u201d when she was just 13. Now, at age 78, she\u2019s watching as the song, promoted by major label UMG Nashville, has reached the pinnacle of Billboard<\/em>\u2019s all-genre chart. In the process, the song has become only the third holiday song to reach No. 1 ever on the Hot 100.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tNew Old-Fashioned No. 1: Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ Tops Hot 100, 65 Years\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n

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\n\t\u201cI like that God has given me that favor that I can stand aside and look and know that it wasn\u2019t just me; that it\u2019s a conglomerate of a lot of people that made the song what it is,\u201d Lee tells Billboard<\/em>, seated in the downtown offices of label UMG Nashville, just after UMG Nashville chair\/CEO Cindy Mabe revealed the news of the song\u2019s new peak.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m happy for everybody here that\u2019s worked so hard to make this happen because in today\u2019s world, everything moves so fast and furious. But I\u2019m telling you this: My label has come to bat,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

\n\tProduced by Owen Bradley, \u201cRockin\u2019\u201d was initially released in 1958, though the song\u2019s initial chart impact was modest. Lee earned her first two No. 1 Hot 100 hits in 1960, with \u201cI\u2019m Sorry\u201d and \u201cI Want to Be Wanted.\u201d Bolstered by those successes, \u201cRockin\u2019\u201d reached an original peak of No. 14 in December 1960. Between December 2019 and last year, the song would spend nine weeks at No. 2 on the Hot 100, behind only Mariah Carey\u2019s \u201cAll I Want for Christmas Is You.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLee recorded \u201cRockin\u2019\u201d in the heart of Nashville\u2019s Music Row, at Bradley\u2019s Quonset Hut, her mature-beyond-her-years voice paired with the song\u2019s rockabilly holiday feel, creating what would become her signature song.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe producer cut the air way down in the studio,\u201d Lee recalled. \u201cHe had a big Christmas tree and everyone was there \u2014 the Anita Kerr Singers and the A-team [of revered Nashville studio musicians], as we called them. It was like a little touch of magic kind of sprinkled in, and it turned out to be magic. It really did.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJohnny Marks, the songwriter behind other holiday classics including \u201cRudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer\u201d and \u201cA Holly Jolly Christmas,\u201d also wrote \u201cRockin\u2019,\u201d with Lee in mind for the song.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHe was such a gentle soul,\u201d Lee recalls of the late songwriter, who died in 1985. \u201cHe was Jewish and didn\u2019t even believe in Christmas, and all that would come out of him was Christmas music. He told me he was laying on the beach in New York and I guess he took a nap or something and when he woke up, he saw the pine trees were kind of swaying. I said, \u2018You got pine trees on the beach in New York?\u2019 He said, \u2018Yeah and I thought the pine trees are rocking and he went home and came up with \u2018Rockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI talked to him almost every week, and he was so funny. His first line would be, \u2018Brenda, just thought I\u2019d call. There\u2019s not a lot of us old-timers left,\u2019 and I\u2019d think, how old does he think I am?\u201d she said with a giggle. \u201cBut he was so precious and so sweet, and just a good guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1990, \u201cRockin\u2019\u201d became a favorite holiday song for a new generation when it was featured in the Macaulay Culkin film Home Alone<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s the catalyst that pushed it over that hill, as we\u2019ll call it. It\u2019s just been a blessing,\u201d says Lee, who noted she watched the holiday mainstay a few nights ago.<\/p>\n

\n\tLee marked the 65th anniversary of \u201cRockin\u2019 Around the Christmas Tree\u201d by filming the song\u2019s first official video<\/a>, featuring cameos from Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. The festive clip features Lee lip-synching to her teenage recording of the song, alongside footage of her and Yearwood baking holiday cookies and chatting with Tucker as everyone gathered around a table to enjoy a holiday feast.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy buds are in there,\u201d Lee says. \u201cWe had a ball making it. We filmed it at the producer\u2019s house, and nothing was choreographed, really. We just had fun. They were just precious to do that for me, and I think folks will love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLike Lee, Tucker was herself a star by her teens, and Lee met Yearwood when she was first getting started in the industry in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey both are just real,\u201d Lee says of Tucker and Yearwood. \u201cThey\u2019ve never lost their sense of joy, gratitude and of excitement for what they\u2019re doing. And they help \u2014 you call \u2018em and they\u2019ll say, \u2018Sure, when you want me there?\u2019 Now, there\u2019s probably some moments they\u2019ve got on film that you\u2019ll never see,\u201d she laughs, \u201cbut we had a good time. It seemed like it just went like that. We were there for hours filming, but because we\u2019re friends and all, it didn\u2019t seem like a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for her own favorite holiday hits \u2014 other than her own? \u201cI love to hear \u2018White Christmas\u2019 and love to hear Bing Crosby sing. I also love Burl Ives\u2019 \u2018A Holly Jolly Christmas,’\u201d Lee says.<\/p>\n

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