7 Christmas Songs You May (Or May Not) Know Are Written By Broadway Composers

It's that time of year again, that special season when our playlists and airwaves are alight with the songs of the holidays!

The Christmas song, in many ways, is the cousin of the show tune, using vivid imagery, witty and wistful orchestrations, and narrative invention to evoke joy, nostalgia, and sentimentality in listeners big and small. This phenomena is no coincidence, however, as a closer glance at the credits of many popular holiday songs will reveal the names of the Broadway composers (and musicals) that brought them to the masses!

Find out which musical theatre writers have catfished the world into singing secret show tunes in the list below, as we take a closer look at holiday classics you may (or may not) have known were written by Broadway greats!

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"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" from Meet Me In St. Louis

We'll kick things off with an easy one as the ritual of sobbing along as Judy Garland sings to Margaret O'Brien at a foggy window is one most theatre fans know intimately, Though the song technically comes from a movie musical, it was written by two Broadway-bred talents Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane. Martin has appeared on Broadway in several capacities, including composer, lyricist, and arranger on numeruos shows including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Sugar Babies, and The Boys from Syracuse. Blane also earned numerous Broadway credits as composer, lyricist, and performer. Meet Me In St. Louis later landed on Broadway in 1989, earning four Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score and Best Choreography. 

Fun fact: The song was almost lost forever...to the wastebasket! When Hugh Martin couldn't find a shape for a madrigal-style tune he had written, he tossed it in the trash after two or three days of working on it. He would later fish it out, recalling, "Thank the Lord we found it." Read our full deep dive on this classic tune here.

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"You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from How the Grinch Stole Christmas

This most foul exaltation of all things Grinch comes to us from Broadway composer Albert Hague and lyricist and author Theodore Geisel (better known to readers as Dr. Seuss) and was composed for the 1966 cartoon from Chuck Jones. Hague, a Tony Award-winner for Red Head, earned his place on the song thanks to a clever invention, Upon his hiring, Geisel told him, "Anyone who can slide an octave on the word 'Grinch' gets the job." 

Hauge's other Broadway credits include Plain and Fancy, Cafe Crown, and The Fig Leaves Are Falling. Geisel would later go on to earn some Broadway credits of his own on Seussical! and the stage adaptation of The Grinch.

Fun Fact #2! Initially, vocalist Thurl Ravenscroft was not properly credited for his work on the song, with fans assuming that narrator and Grinch speaking voice Boris Karloff had performed it. This prompted Geisel to write letters to all of the major columnists of the day, urging them to credit Ravenscroft. Learn more about this horrible holiday classic here!

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"White Christmas" from White Christmas

Composer Iriving Berlin made his mark on the holiday season in a major way with this timeless sentimental paeaen of longing for the comforts of home. Berlin himself needs no introduction, with a place firmly cemented as one of the greatest American composers of all time, but for those who need a refresher, Irving Berlin is the mastermind behind hundreds of songs and scores, many of which comprise a large portion of the Great American Songbook. During his 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including the scores for 20 original Broadway shows and 15 original Hollywood films. This song, in particular, was a massive success for Berlin, earning him his one and only Academy Award for Best Original Song. 

Fun Fact #3! Upon completing the song, Irving Berlin called out to his secretary at the time, "Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written - heck, I just wrote the best song that anybody's ever written!" Read the full history of the best song ever written here.

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"We Need A Little Christmas" from Mame

Jerry Herman was born to write Christmas songs. The mind behind some of Broadway's most toe-tapping, ear-worming musical classics made his way into the holiday consciousness by way of this optimistic ode to the eternal cheer of Christmas, which first appeared as part of his score for Mame. Since its first appearance, the song has become a holiday staple and has accumulated numerous high-profile covers from Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Sufjan Stevens, The Muppets and more, but it's Angela Lansbury's original recording that has had Broadway fans hauling out the holly since 1966.

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"It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" from Here's Love

The evergreen tear-jerker Miracle on 34th Street has been a holiday staple for decades. And if you've ever thought it would make excellent breeding ground for a musical, you aren't the only one. In 1963, Meredith Willson, best known as the composer of The Music Man, adapted the hit film into a musical, Here's Love. Though the song predates the show, having been recorded and released as a hit single for Perry Como in 1951, Willson later added the song to his score for the adaptation. The show also included an underrated classic, "Pine Cones and Holly Berries" which has been recorded by The Osmonds, among others.

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"Baby, It's Cold Outside" by Frank Loesser

A controversial tune that has truly divided a nation. Some see it as a relic that paints a portrait of some outdated gender and dating norms; others, a tribute to the power of plausible deniability. However, the song, composed by Frank 'Guys and Dolls' Loesser, was originally performed by he and his wife, Lynn Garland, to cue guests to leave their 1944 housewarming party at the Navarro Hotel. So we can all rest easy knowing that whatever its contents, it is, at its heart, an ode to being in bed by 9-- a sentiment we can all truly get behind.

Fun Fact #4! The song became a smash among the couple's circle and was a showbiz party staple! Lynn Garland wrote of the reaction, "We became instant parlor room stars. We got invited to all the best parties for years on the basis of 'Baby.' It was our ticket to caviar and truffles. Parties were built around our being the closing act." When Loesser sold it to MGM for the 1949 romantic comedy Neptune's Daughter. Garland was furious: "I felt as betrayed as if I'd caught him in bed with another woman," she wrote.

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"Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town" by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie

This classic Christmas tune is from two Broadway composers, J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The prolific Mr. Coots began his career on Broadway in 1922 and is the composer of over a dozen musicals and well over 700 songs, with Gillespie earning several Broadway credits of his own. When the song was covered by Eddie Cantor on his radio show in November 1934 it became a hit; within 24 hours, 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records were sold. It has since been recorded by over 200 artists and has even appeared on Broadway! In 1993, the song was included in a holiday revue, Candles, Snow, and Mistletoe, which ran for ten performances in a limited engagement at the Palace Theatre.