Burl Ives - "Holly Jolly Christmas"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

He has the quintessential voice of Christmas. The kind of man who inspired by his humility and talent. When I hear him come through the speakers I feel like the holidays have fully arrived.

Ives began as an itinerant singer and banjoist, and launched his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. In 1942, he appeared in Irving Berlin's This Is the Army, and then became a major star of CBS radio. In the 1960s, he successfully crossed over into country music, recording hits such as "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'". A popular film actor through the late 1940s and '50s, Ives's best-known film roles included parts in So Dear to My Heart (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Ives is often remembered for his voice-over work as Sam the Snowman, narrator of the classic 1964 Christmas television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which continues to air annually around Christmas.

So today, with the sound of the holidays filling the house, I chose Burl Ives’ “Holly Jolly Christmas” as my, with a little laughter, we’re almost there, more light from here on out, song for a, open softly, speak truthfully, live open, Tuesday.