The song, “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree”, was originally recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958
Seasonal favourite “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” was written by Johnny Marks (1909-1985), who also wrote “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer”, and recorded by Brenda Lee (b.1944) in 1958, when Lee was just 14 years old. The song never actually charted until 1960, when it peaked at No.14, but has since climbed much higher. It took 65 years, but in 2023 the song finally peaked at No.1! It has sold, so far, 1.5 million copies Stateside and also been a huge hit globally, making the top ten in most countries around the world.
Two notable covers exist, the first came in 1987, two years after Marks’ death, in the UK when comedian Mel Smith (1952-2013) and singer Kim Wilde joined forces for a charity recording for Comic Relief along with Smith’s long time comedy partner, Griff Rhys-Jones providing intermittent ‘backing vocals’. They were billed as ‘Mel and Kim’ (a parody on sister act Mel and Kim, who had topped the chart earlier that year with “Respectable”) taking their version to No.3 in the UK, where it has sold over 400,000 copies.
2019 saw Kacey Musgraves and Camila Cabello cover the song, which later charted on the US Country songs chart in 2020, while 2020 itself saw Justin Bieber record a version as a one-off promotional single for Amazon Music which, to date, has peaked at No.4 in both the UK and No.61 in the US, and will, no doubt, be considered a modern classic in years to come.
But which version is the best? BRENDA LEE’s original, MEL & KIM’s charity single or JUSTIN’s new version?
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