1954
WHITE CHRISTMAS * THE DRIFTERS * ATLANTIC 1048 * USA
Written by Irving Berlin, while he was sitting beside a swimming pool in Phoenix, Arizona, White Christmas is the best selling record of the 20th century, and the only record to have three separate runs at the top of the US charts. What is not so well known is that Bing Crosby's record also topped the R&B charts in 1942 - known back then as 'The Harlem Hit parade', later to become 'Juke Box Race Records' before becoming the Rhythm & Blues chart. Ironically Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters version, an almost exact copy of The Ravens 1948 cut on National # 9062, never quite topped the R&B charts, only reaching the # 3 spot, yet it did go on to build up sales and interest over the years and now it gets almost as many radio plays as the Bing Crosby version. Recorded in New York, November 1953, at The Drifters fourth recording session, along with three other tracks: The Bells Of St. Mary, Honey Love and Whatcha Gonna Do, Clyde McPhatter duets with Bill Pinkney.
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| I Gotta Get Myself A Woman | I Don’t Want To Go On Without You | Up In The Streets Of Harlem | Somebody New Dancin’ With You |
