"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love

This holiday season has not been particularly easy for me. I lost the dearest person in my life in August. To make matters worse, what would have been her 50th birthday falls on the winter solstice, December 21, just days before Christmas Day. Vanessa loved Christmas and enjoyed the fact that her birthday fell so close to the holiday. Among her favourite Christmas songs was "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love. I remember we talked a good deal about Miss Love's annual appearances on Late Night with Dave Letterman and how much we enjoyed them.

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" was written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector. It was included on the album A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" was initially meant to be sung by Ronnie Spector, but she was not able to give the song the power it needed. The song then went to Darlene Love. It was released as a single from the album in 1963, but did not chart, perhaps because in the wake of John F. Kennedy's assassination people were not in the mood for celebrating the holidays. It was re-released in 1964, but once more it did not chart. Since then it has become one of the most popular Christmas rock songs. It has been covered by such artists as U2, Joey Ramone, Death Cab for Cutie, and many others.

Here then is "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)".