Album: Donny Hathaway (1970)

Charted: 63 34

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• Hang all the mistletoe
  I'm gonna get to know you better
  This Christmas
  And as we trim the tree
  How much fun it's gonna be together
  This Christmas
  
  The fireside is blazing bright
  We're caroling through the night
  And this Christmas, will be
  A very special Christmas, for me
  
  Presents and cards are here
  My world is filled with cheer and you
  This Christmas
  And as I look around
  Your eyes outshine the town, they do
  This Christmas
  
  The fireside is blazing bright
  We're caroling through the night
  And this Christmas, will be
  A very special Christmas, for me, yeah
  
  Shake a hand, shake a hand now
  
  Mmh, the fireside is blazing bright
  We're caroling through the night
  And this Christmas, will be
  A very special Christmas, for me yeah
  
  Merry Christmas
  Shake a hand, shake a hand now
  Wish your brother Merry Christmas
  All over the land, now
  
  Yeah
  Merry Christmas
  Merry Merry Christmas
  Hey, hey, hey
  Merry Merry Merry
  Mmh, ohh
  Ooh Writer/s: Donny Edward Hathaway, Nadine McKinnor
  Publisher: Audiam, Inc., BMG Rights Management, Capitol CMG Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

• Lisa from Cleveland, OhDonny Hathaway's voice is unparalleled. There is no other version that will suffice than the original. His voice is like liquid chocolate in the hot cocoa we all have on a cold winters night. The timing is perfect, the tone, the upbeat joy. I was blown away to learn that he was only 24 when he sang this song. Old soul for sure.
• Phil from HomeWho were the musicians that recorded this hit?
• Beachykeen from California"This Christmas" is a beautiful, romantic song: the lyrics, the vocals, the instruments, including the sleigh bells, strings, horns and guitars. I want to live this song out some Christmas as described. The song sounds as current today as when it was written. Many covers, but the original is truly the best. Congratulations to Nadine McKinnor for writing the song and to the late, great Donny Hathaway's family on "This Christmas"'s 50th anniversary. What a gift his musical genius has given us year after year.
• Kevin from Salt Lake City, UtHarry Connick Jr performs (for me) the definitive version of the song on a compilation album "A Jazzy Wonderland". I joke that he sounds half drunk slurring his words (early Harry), but the backup band is Branford Marsalis' which gives this song the punch it deserves. Oddly, Harry recorded several subsequent Christmas albums, but never re-recorded it for those albums.
• Carlos Jones from Jonesplus@gmail.comThe song has grown to be a perennial staple of Christmas classics, and Hathaway's original version, in my opinion, of course, is the best one.

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