Why Darlene Love Won’t Always Sing ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’
Some Christmas songs are good all year. However, Darlene Love refuses to sing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” except during a certain time. Notably, she recorded a spiritual sequel to “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” Love’s most famous song was also an influence on Yuletide music by other artists.
Darlene Love’s ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ is part of the best Yuletide album
Love is a singer who performed on hit songs by The Crystals, the most famous being “He’s a Rebel” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love.” She also sang multiple tracks on A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records, also known as A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. The album is widely considered to be the best Christmas album ever — and one of the best albums of all time from any genre. That record includes Love’s signature song: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” Interestingly, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is the only original track on that album.
During an interview with Burklee Online, Love was asked if she still gets goosebumps when she performs “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).” “I do, and I wish I could sing it all year, but I tell my audience all the time, ‘If I sang it all year, you guys wouldn’t feel what you do when you hear me sing it at Christmas time,'” he said. “Then they finally say, ‘OK.'”
Darlene Love revealed why the song is so great
Love explained why singing “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is so special for her. “Then when I sing it at Christmas time, I have so much joy singing that song,” she said. “OK, No. 1, it was written for me, and No. 2 was it’s still today one of the biggest-selling Christmas songs on the planet. I mean all over the world. Which is amazing to me, that I produced something with a producer, and with singers, and instruments and made a song that great.
“Only great songs last that long, and then, this is a Christmas song, so you have to wait until November,” she added. “Maybe a few songs start in October. Some people say they just play it all year long. Even their children know that song.” Notably, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” appeared in Joe Dante’s popular children’s movie Gremlins.
‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ inspired a sequel and remakes
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” became the biggest hit of Love’s career. It reached No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, lasting on the chart for 22 weeks. The remained so popular it inspired a spiritual sequel from Love called “All Alone on Christmas.” The latter song appeared in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” also inspired covers from Mariah Carey on her album Merry Christmas and Michael Bublé’s Christmas, two of the most famous Yuletide albums of all time. If you don’t know the original version of the song, there’s a good chance you have heard one of those covers. In addition, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” was obviously the template for Carey’s perennial classic “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is a great song even if Love has to perform it sparingly.
