On a sweltering summer day in 1945 in Los Angeles, Bob Wells was sitting at his piano, trying to coax himself into a cooler state of mind by writing some wintry lines in his notebook:

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

Jack Frost nipping at your nose

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir

And folks dressed up like Eskimos

His songwriting partner, Mel Tormé, stopped by shortly after he had written those lines, and in less than an hour, they finished the lyrics to what would become “The Christmas Song” (also known as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire“).

Nat King Cole fell in love with the song when Tormé played it for him shortly after they had finished it. However, it took until 1946 before he could get into a studio to record it. Cole recut the song again in 1953 and 1960, with the last version becoming today’s definitive standard.

On most ranked lists of Christmas songs, “The Christmas Song” usually comes in at number 2, just behind “White Christmas“.

Source: The Christmas Song by Lydia Hutchinson, Performing Songwriter, 2016. Graphic: The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole, Capital Records and YouTube, 2010.