White Christmas was written by Irving Berlin for the musical Holiday Inn. The 1947 recording by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single of all time, with more than 50 million copies sold. If you take into account the number of covers by other artists, the figure rises to 100 million.
So what did Irving Berlin get right to create the best-selling single ever? It’s worth taking a look. Here’s a reminder:
Here’s a very simple score for the first 16 bars of the song. The original recording is in A major but what you see here is in G. The chord progression is interpreted differently by everyone who attempts to do it – and on the recording it changes throughout – but that makes very little difference to this analysis:
Like many classic songs of this period, the overall impression is of the utmost simplicity but the reality is anything but. The underlying chord sequence is straightforward enough, although it is embellished here and there in very innovative ways, as we shall see.
One of the most distinctive characteristics is the use of chromatic as well as diatonic sequences of notes. Rather than confining the melody to the notes of the major or minor scale of the particular key, extra, non-key notes are inserted. Take bar 2 for example, where the A# adds a very delicate touch. More obviously, look at bar 4 where the C# bridges the C and D notes.
There’s also a chromatic descent in the bass of bars 9 and 10, from G to F# (in the Gmaj7 chord) to F (in the G7 chord), which helps to build tension. And then the E note in the melody of bar 10 adds an effective dissonance with the G7 chord.
The move from C major to C minor in bars 11 and 12 is also a nice touch. See how the D note in the melody of bar 12 creates a nice harmony (a 9th) with the C minor chord.
And I also like the fact that the melody for the two bars with E minor chords (bars 2 and 14) both start with a C, a dissonance with the B in the chord, although this only lasts for a single beat.
So, a simple song maybe, but Irving Berlin was a highly sophisticated composer and, without his magic touches, the song would never have captured the imagination of so many people.
