Battle of the Bands ~ Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Hello friends. It's time for the final Battle of the Bands of this year. Can you believe 2015 is almost gone???

I chose the song It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas for my song this time. As is par for the course, I changed my mind repeatedly about who to put against who in this contest. Mostly, I tried to decide if I wanted to face two "contemporary" versions of the song against one another (Michael Buble vs. Jann Arden) or go with two contenders as I see as heavyweights. In the end, I decided to go with the heavyweights, and I hope that this battle is a close one (as in tough to decide).

The song was written by Meredith Wilson and originally made famous by Perry Como with The Fontane Sisters and Mitchell Ayres. Many of you will love it simply due to the recognition factor. I think it's the version my mom grew up on (and this is one of her all-time favorite Christmas songs).

So, let's give that version a listen.



But, mom also likes the second version. When I was a kid mom played Christmas records from Thanksgiving until Christmas. Seems like every night you'd find her in the living room wrapping gifts and listening to Christmas songs. We had at least one record of Johnny Mathis singing Christmas songs, so she likes this one, too. I'm not sure I could get her to commit to one version over the other!

Take it away Johnny!




Please vote for the version of this song you prefer. If you want to get into the Ins and Outs of why you like one better than the other... I LOVE long comments!

For more Battle of the Bands fun, check out the other BOTB bloggers to vote on their battles:

• Far Away Series 
• Stephen T. McCarthy's Battle of the Bands Blog
• Tossing it Out
• DiscConnected (temporarily disconnected from BoTB)
• Mike's Ramblings
• Curious as a Cathy 
• Book Lover
• The Sound of One Hand Typing
• dcrelief ~ Battle of the Bands 
• Cherdo on the Flipside 
• Angels Bark 
• THE DOGLADY'S DEN 
• Jingle Jangle Jungle 
• Janie Junebug Righting and Editing
• NovelBrews
• J.A. Scott
• Quiet Laughter
• Holli's Hoots and Hollers 
• beReInVintaged 

BATTLE OF THE BANDS IX

I mentioned in my last Battle of the Bands posts that we had a turntable in our living room and it played Christmas carols from Thanksgiving until Christmas.  My mom would put on the LPs and wrap gifts.  The wood stove burned, my mom wrapped, and song filled the room.  It was the best place in the house to be during the Christmas season.

One of my favorite songs was always Do You Hear What I Hear.  Mom owned a record with Johnny Mathis singing carols and this is the one I think of when it comes to this song.  However, doing some research prior to this match-up I discovered that Bing Crosby is probably the person MOST people think of... and for good reason.  I actually preferred it over Johnny Mathis, changing the match-up completely for this battle. 

Here is the iconic Bing Crosby:


versus a two woman group who go by Celtic Woman:


Other blogs featuring Battle of the Bands:

Far Away Series

FERRET-FACED FASCIST FRIENDS

Tossing It Out

DiscConnected

I hope you will take a moment and visit them and VOTE.

Now that you have heard both versions, which one do YOU like better?  Will it be Bing Crosby or Celtic Woman?  Place your vote in the comments and tell me why you preferred one song over the other.