Give Me Your Love for Christmas

Give Me Your Love for Christmas is the third Christmas album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis and was released by Columbia Records on October 13, 1969.[1] The oldest song selected for this project was the 1934 classic "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", which meant there were not the traditional hymns that could be found on his previous Christmas outings. He did, however, cover several other contemporary Christmas favorites along with a few new and lesser-known songs, such as the title track, which was a reworking of an unreleased recording of his from 1961,[2] and "Christmas Day", which came from the then-current Broadway musical Promises, Promises. New versions of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "The Little Drummer Boy", which he also recorded in 1963 for his previous Christmas LP, Sounds of Christmas, made the final track list here as well.

Give Me Your Love for Christmas
Studio album by
Johnny Mathis
ReleasedOctober 13, 1969[1]
RecordedJuly 15, 1969
September 23, 1969[2]
GenreChristmas
Length30:11
LabelColumbia
ProducerJack Gold[3]
Johnny Mathis chronology
Love Theme From "Romeo And Juliet" (A Time For Us)
(1969)		 Give Me Your Love for Christmas
(1969)		 Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head
(1970)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link
Billboardpositive[4]

The album debuted on Billboard magazine's Christmas Albums sales chart in the issue dated December 6, 1969, and spent one of its four weeks there at number one.[5] It also appeared on the magazine's seasonal LP chart each year from 1970 to 1973 as well as in 1987 and 1988.[5] On December 26, 1979, it received its first award from the Recording Industry Association of America when it reached the US sales mark of 500,000 copies necessary for Gold status.[6]

The recording of "Do You Hear What I Hear?" from this album was heard in the 1984 film Gremlins.[7]

On September 1, 2001, the album was released on compact disc for the first time,[8] and two months later, on November 5, it was awarded Platinum certification by the RIAA for sales of one million copies in the US.[9] The tracks from this album were also reissued as part of the 2015 Mathis compilation The Complete Christmas Collection 1958–2010, a 3-CD set on the Real Gone Music label.

Reception

Billboard felt that the "Mathis touch is warmly suited to the spirit of the season and the songs cover the Yule holiday appropriately."[4]

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Jingle Bell Rock" (Joseph Carleton Beal, James Ross Boothe) – 2:11
  2. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me in St. Louis (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – 3:29
  3. "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)– 2:37
  4. "Give Me Your Love for Christmas" (Jack Gold, Phyllis Stohn) – 2:37
  5. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 2:19
  6. "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" (Frank Loesser) – 2:52

Side two
  1. "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (Gloria Shayne Baker, Noel Regney) – 3:21
  2. "Calypso Noel" (Gordon Krunnfsz) – 2:13
  3. "The Little Drummer Boy" (Katherine Davis, Henry Onorati, Harry Simeone) – 2:28
  4. "Christmas Day" from Promises, Promises (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 3:24
  5. "The Lord's Prayer" (Albert Hay Malotte) – 2:40

Recording dates

From the liner notes for The Complete Christmas Collection 1958-2010:[2]

  • July 15, 1969 — "Christmas Day", "Do You Hear What I Hear?", "Give Me Your Love for Christmas", "My Favorite Things"
  • September 23, 1969 — "Calypso Noel", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "Jingle Bell Rock", "The Little Drummer Boy", "The Lord's Prayer", "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town", "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"

Billboard Christmas Albums chart performance
Year Peak
position[5]
1969 1
1970 3
1971 5
1972 3
1973 19
1987 19
1988 18

Personnel
  • Johnny Mathis – vocals
  • Jack Gold – producer[3]
  • Ernie Freeman – arranger and conductor[3]
  • Phil Macy – engineer[3]
  • Ivan Nagy – photography[3]

References
  1. (1993) The Christmas Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Columbia Records CK-57194.
  2. (2015) The Complete Christmas Collection 1958-2010 by Johnny Mathis [CD booklet]. New York: Sony Music Entertainment RGM-0400.
  3. (1969) Give Me Your Love for Christmas by Johnny Mathis [album jacket]. New York: Columbia Records CS 9923.
  4. "Album Reviews". Billboard. 1969-11-15. p. 52.
  5. Whitburn 2004, p. 167.
  6. White 1990, p. 144.
  7. "Gremilins (1984) Soundtracks". imdb.com. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  8. "Give Me Your Love for Christmas - Johnny Mathis – Release Info". allmusic.com. All Media Network, LLC. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  9. "Gold & Platinum". riaa.com. Retrieved 18 September 2016. Enter "Johnny Mathis" in the Search field and press enter.

Bibliography
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