Bing and Bowie 40 Years Later

I’ve got over four hundred Christmas songs on my iPod and they’ve been filling our home and my car with Yuletide cheer … whatever that is. Everyone from Michael Buble to Diana Krall, Bing Crosby, Run DMC, Barry White, The Wiggles, Guy Sebastian, Jimmy Barnes and even Russel Coight, along with many others, are singing about Christmas.

And Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without this song. It’s very much part of the soundtrack of my life. Iā€™m not a huge fan of the song Little Drummer Boy but I am a fan of both Bing Crosby and David Bowie so I love hearing their Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth medley around this time every year. The chat at the start of the video is cheesy and somewhat awkward but I just love it.

Bing Crosby was my dad’s favourite singer and Bowie has always been a favourite of mine so to have the two of them combined has always been pretty special for me.

While the single wasn’t released until 1982, the video was shot in September 1977, just over 40 years ago, for Bing’s Christmas special. Unfortunately he never saw the special aired. Bing Crosby died of a heart attack in October 1977. Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas was broadcast on CBS in the United States on the 30th of November, 1977.

Little Drummer Boy was written back in 1941 with Peace on Earth written especially for this collaboration.

Do you have a favourite Christmas song? Do you have a favourite artist at Christmas time? Does Mariah Carey’s very successful Christmas album get a spin at your place each December?



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He previously worked in radio for about 25 years but these days he spends his time at Compassion Australia, working towards releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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2 Comments

  • Let’s see: my favorite Christmas album is by Tommy James called “I Love Christmas.” I love Chris Tomlin’s two “Glory in the Highest” and “Adore.” They both keep my feet on the ground during this season. I don’t like R& B or Mariah Carey so I’m guessing you know the answer to that question. šŸ™‚ I love listening to Bing sing “white Christmas.” i don’t know that I have a favorite song although I do like “O Holy Night.” I heard a new one by Kutless (my Christmas day post will feature it) I really like. I also like Noel by Lauren Daigle (from “Adore”). I think that about says it all except I hope you have a joy-filled Christmas.

  • We share a love of Bing….and that our fathers were the ones who introduced us to him. I always say it isn’t Christmas until I hear Bing sing ‘White Christmas.’ I also enjoy Pentatonix’s Christmas songs, Casting Crowns, and for individual songs I like Relient K’s ‘I Celebrate the Day,’ For King and Country’s ‘Little Drummer Boy,’ and Tenth Avenue North’s ‘The First Christmas.’

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