''Christmas Memories'' is the second

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

album and twenty-ninth studio release by American singer

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

. It was released on October 30, 2001, by

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

. Streisand recorded the album during July, August, and September 2001 in various recording studios throughout

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and in North Vancouver. It was executive-produced by Streisand and Jay Landers, while William Ross and

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

served as additional producers. The album contains several

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

s of various holiday songs. To promote ''Christmas Memories'', Columbia Records released an advance sampler version of the album titled ''A Voice for All Seasons''. The record's mood was described as melancholic, which

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

found fitting due to the album's release occurring soon after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. Other reviewers called the album "beautifully rendered" and "excellent". ''Christmas Memories'' received a Grammy nomination for

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album is an award presented to recording artists at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented ...

in 2003. Commercially, it entered the charts in Canada and the United Kingdom. It also charted in the United States, where it peaked at number 15 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and was certified platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

for shipments of 1,000,000 copies. Streisand's cover of " It Must Have Been the Mistletoe" charted on the

Adult Contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by stat ...

in the United States, peaking at number 28.

Background

''Christmas Memories'' is

's second

album, following 1967's '' A Christmas Album''. Streisand began taking part in recording sessions for the album on July 19, 2001; on this day, she recorded both " I'll Be Home for Christmas" and "I Remember". Sessions took place throughout

and in North Vancouver. Streisand and Jay Landers are credited as the

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

s of ''Christmas Memories'', with musicians

and William Ross also receiving additional production credits. According to the liner notes, Streisand dedicated the album to the late artist Stephan Weiss, husband of fashion designer

Donna Karan Donna Karan (, born Donna Ivy Faske), also known as "DK", is an American fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels. Early life Karan was born Donna Ivy Faske to mother Helen "Queenie" Faske (née Rabin ...

, who was close friends with Streisand before his death in June 2001. ''Christmas Memories'' was released on October 30, 2001, by

. To promote the album, Columbia Records issued advertisements in several American magazines, including in ''

InStyle ''InStyle'' was an American monthly women's fashion magazine founded in 1994. It was published in the United States by Dotdash Meredith. In February 2022, it was announced that InStyle would cease print publications and move to a digital-only f ...

'', ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'', '' Talk'', and ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

''. A sampler album/

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

featuring five tracks from ''Christmas Memories'' was also released in 2001 and includes "

Grown-Up Christmas List "Grown-Up Christmas List" (sometimes titled "My Grown-Up Christmas List") is a Christmas song composed by David Foster (music) and Linda Thompson-Jenner (lyrics). It was originally recorded by Foster, with Natalie Cole on vocals, for his 1990 ...

", " It Must Have Been the Mistletoe", "I'll Be Home for Christmas", "Closer", and "One God".

Music and songs

The album opens with a cover of "I'll Be Home for Christmas", a

war song A war song is a musical composition that relates to war, or a society's attitudes towards war. They may be pro-war, anti-war, or simply a description of everyday life during war times. It is possible to classify these songs by historical confli ...

written by

Kim Gannon James Kimball "Kim" Gannon (November 18, 1900 – April 29, 1974) was an American songwriter, more commonly a lyricist than a composer. Biography Gannon was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Irish-American family from Fort Ann in upstate New ...

Walter Kent Walter Kent (born Walter Maurice Kaufman, November 29, 1911 – March 2, 1994) was an American composer and conductor. Some notable compositions are: " I'll Be Home for Christmas", "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die" and " (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The ...

, and

Buck Ram Samuel "Buck" Ram (November 21, 1907 – January 1, 1991) was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger. He was one of BMI's top five songwriters/air play in its first 50 years, alongside Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, Jim ...

; William Ruhlmann from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

considered the inclusion of this track on ''Christmas Memories'' to reflect Streisand's "mature perspective that very much takes loss into consideration". "A Christmas Love Song" is the second track and was written by

Alan and Marilyn Bergman Alan Bergman (born September 11, 1925) and Marilyn Keith Bergman (November 10, 1928 – January 8, 2022) were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated telev ...

and

Johnny Mandel John Alfred Mandel (November 23, 1925June 29, 2020) was an American composer and arranger of popular songs, film music and jazz. The musicians he worked with include Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Anita O'Day, Barbra Streisand, Tony Benn ...

. Author Tom Santopietro described the song's message as "an embrace of the holidays filled with honest sentiment". A "jazzy" rendition of

Frank Loesser Frank Henry Loesser (; June 29, 1910 – July 28, 1969) was an American songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musicals ''Guys and Dolls'' and ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', among others. He won a Tony ...

's "

What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" is a popular song written in 1947 by Frank Loesser as an independent song. It was first recorded by Margaret Whiting in 1947 and first charted for The Orioles, peaking at No. 9 on ''Billboard''s Best-Selling ...

" is the third song, followed by a reworked cover of "I Remember" by

Stephen Sondheim Stephen Joshua Sondheim (; March 22, 1930November 26, 2021) was an American composer and lyricist. One of the most important figures in twentieth-century musical theater, Sondheim is credited for having "reinvented the American musical" with sho ...

. Streisand's cover of the latter song was described as "

till image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

an extremely sad song" by Ruhlmann. "Snowbound" was written by Russell Faith and Clarence Kehner, is set in a "moderately slow" tempo, and features the use of a piano. "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe" was considered by the staff at ''Show Music'' to be one of the many songs on the album to "focus on love". "Christmas Lullaby" was written by

Ann Hampton Callaway Ann Hampton Callaway (born May 30, 1958) is an American jazz singer, songwriter, and actress. She wrote and sang the theme song for the TV series ''The Nanny''. Career A native of Chicago, her father, John Callaway, was a journalist and her mot ...

, who had previously collaborated with Streisand on '' Higher Ground'' (1997) and '' A Love Like Ours'' (1999). The Bergmans reworked

Don Costa Dominick P. "Don" Costa (June 10, 1925 – January 19, 1983) was an American conductor and record producer. He discovered singer Paul Anka and worked on several hit albums by Frank Sinatra, including ''Sinatra and Strings'' and '' My Way''. ...

's "Christmas Mem'ries", which is included as the album's eighth track. Costa is credited as the song's original arranger, whereas Eddie Karam is credited for the extra arranging. "Grown-Up Christmas List" was written and produced by Foster and co-written by Linda Thompson. It contains a live orchestra that was arranged and conducted by Ross. Santopietro considered

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

's "

Ave Maria The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

" to be a nice "companion" to

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

's "

", which she first included on ''A Christmas Album'' in 1967. "Closer" is dedicated to the singer's friend Stephan Weiss, who died before the album's recording sessions began. In the liner notes, Streisand wrote, "I'm singing 'Closer' about Stephan, but I was hoping it could relate to anyone who's lost someone". The album closes with "One God", which was written by

Ervin Drake Ervin Drake (born Ervin Maurice Druckman; April 3, 1919 – January 15, 2015) was an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as " I Believe" and " It Was a Very Good Year". He wrote in a variety of styles and his ...

and Jimmy Shirl; Drake learned that Streisand had recorded the track after they had previously collaborated on ''Higher Ground'', when she covered a track of his called "I Believe". On the

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

and

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

editions of the album, bonus track cover of "

God Bless America "God Bless America" is an American patriotic song written by Irving Berlin during World War I in 1918 and revised by him in the run up to World War II in 1938. The later version was notably recorded by Kate Smith, becoming her signature s ...

" is included and produced by Streisand and Landers.

Critical reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

''s Melinda Newman described the record as "a fine collection" and "beautifully rendered"; she also found Streisand's heavy amount of detail able to "elevate ..the quality of this project far above the usual Christmas fare". Tom Santopietro, author of ''The Importance of Being Barbra'', considered it to be Streisand's "most consistently successful CD" since '' The Broadway Album'' (1985). He called her "song choices ..uniformly excellent" and stated that "I'll Be Home for Christmas", "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?", and "One God" were the album's three best tracks. William Ruhlmann, of AllMusic, opined that the album "may come to seem like a remarkably dour holiday collection" due to its release taking place after the

, but overall found that its mood "could hardly be improved upon" given the situation. He felt that this exemplified the ability of "great artists", such as Streisand, to create and release music that "take the temperature of the times with their work". Alexa Camp from

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yo ...

claimed that ''Christmas Memories'' contains "timeless holiday ambience courtesy of a consummate pro"; however, she considered the songs between "Snowbound" and "Grown-Up Christmas List" to be boring.

Accolades

Streisand was nominated at the

45th Annual Grammy Awards The 45th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 2003 at Madison Square Garden in New York City honoring the best in music for the recording of the year beginning from October 1, 2001 through September 30, 2002. Musicians accomplishment ...

under the

category for ''Christmas Memories''. However, she lost to

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...

and his album '' Playin' with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues'' (2001).

Commercial performance

''Christmas Memories'' debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 32 on November 17, 2001. During its best-selling week, it sold 136,000 copies and peaked at number 15. In total, it spent nine weeks within the ''Billboard'' 200. It also topped the Top Holidays Albums chart. The album was certified platinum by the

(RIAA) on December 3, 2001, for shipments of 1,000,000 copies. As of June 2007, the album has sold 1,100,000 copies. In Canada, it peaked at number 49 on the

Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Oce ...

compiled by Nielsen. It also entered the

UK Albums chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

where it spent one week at number 137. "It Must Have Been the Mistletoe" was distributed to United States radio stations during the Christmas season, allowing it to debut and peak at number 28 on the

for the week ending January 5, 2002.

Track listing

Songwriting credits adapted from AllMusic.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the deluxe edition of ''Christmas Memories''. * Barbra Streisand producer , vocals, executive producer * Renata Buser assistant *

Jorge Calandrelli Jorge Calandrelli is an Argentinian-born composer, arranger and conductor known for his work with Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Arturo Sandoval, Yo-Yo Ma, Tony Bennett, Elton John, Lady Gaga and John Legend. He has won 6 Grammy Awards and has rece ...

arranger , conductor * Sue Ann Carwell background vocals *

original arranger * Felipe Elgueta mixer , engineer *

Martin Erlichman Martin Lee "Marty" Erlichman (born 13 September 1929 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is a manager in the entertainment industry who is best known for discovering Barbra Streisand and managing her career for over 50 years. Erlichman has pr ...

label representative * Bob Esty choir conductor , vocal arranger *

producer , harmonica , rhythm arranger *

Humberto Gatica Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Gatica's ...

engineer * Chad M. Goodson CD design * Eddie Karam arranger * Nathaniel Kunkel engineer *

Peter Doell Peter Doell is an American recording and mastering engineer known for his work with Miles Davis, Toto, Céline Dion and The Beach Boys. Doell has been a staff engineer at Capitol Studios, Sunset Sound Recorders and Universal Mastering Studios Wes ...

engineer, assistant engineer * Jay Landers producer , executive producer * Ian Logan photography * Gabrielle Raumberger art direction * David Reitzas mixer , engineer * William Ross producer , arranger , conductor *

Al Schmitt Albert Harry Schmitt (April 17, 1930 – April 26, 2021) was an American recording engineer and record producer. He won twenty Grammy Awards for his work with Henry Mancini, Steely Dan, George Benson, Toto, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, and other ...

engineer *

Bill Schnee William S. Schnee (born July 4, 1947) is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer. Schnee has been nominated 11 times for the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award and worked on a multitude of other Grammy nominated an ...

mixer * Kim Skalecki assistant * Allan Stein album project coordinator * Wendi Wagner background vocals *

Firooz Zahedi Firooz Zahedi (born 1949) is an American photographer of Iranian descent. Early life Firooz Zahedi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1949. His family moved to England where he received his secondary education. In 1969 he came to the US to attend Geo ...

photography * Michael Mishaw background vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

* {{Authority control 2001 Christmas albums Albums produced by David Foster Barbra Streisand albums Christmas albums by American artists Columbia Records Christmas albums

Background

Music and songs

Critical reception

Accolades

Commercial performance

Track listing

Personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links