Look, no one needed David Letterman to re-introduce us to maybe the third greatest Christmas song of all time. It goes
White Christmas – Bing Crosby
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Judy Garland
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” – Darlene Love
And yes, it was Jewish superstars behind two of the three tracks so let’s keep that in mind and no we didn’t need U2 to re-introduce us to it either. But since 1986, Darlene Love has come on to Late Night with or the Late Show and performed “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” and as Christmas traditions go it is a humdinger and as good as it gets. Love and a full orchestra? You’re kidding me right?
Well, after Friday it will be over as Letterman’s last Christmas at the Late Show draws to its conclusion, so does the tradition. Darlene told Billboard (we got it off Vanity Fair): “This would be my 28th year in a row. They never told me not to, but it was an unspoken thing. They couldn’t ask me not to sing ‘Christmas (Baby)’ on another show, but after 10 years, then 15 years, of doing this one song on this one show, I felt I had an obligation to be true to them”
So, the good folks at CBS put together a super duper version made of all different years and here it is:
