A track to maximize the New Year’s mood, a classic of the genre that we hear from year to year – the legendary composition belongs to the American Mariah Carey. The girl was born in the family of an opera singer and engineer. At the age of 3, she survived the divorce of her parents and stayed with her mother, who spent almost all her time at work to feed her family. From boredom and loneliness, Carey began to study music, and this became her life’s work. Already at school, she could miss classes due to the fact that the record company made an appointment with her.
Cheerful sound, skillfully complemented by Christmas motifs: the chiming of the clock, the chiming of bells. Drums are light and sonorous, as if they visualize snowflakes sparkling in the light of garlands. The heart of the composition is Carey’s unobtrusive professional vocals and a simple, not overloaded, catchy melody. Everything you need for a unique holiday atmosphere!
The story behind “All I Want For Christmas Is You” – Mariah Carey
Mariah co-wrote it with Walter Afanasieff, an experienced songwriter who has collaborated with Whitney Houston, Celene Dion and other stars.
Walter recalled that the process took them no more than fifteen minutes:
We have always followed the same method. We wrote the core of the song, the main musical melody, and then when we finished writing, some words appeared. I started playing rock ‘n’ roll on the piano and began playing boogie woogie with my left hand. This inspired Mariah to compose a melodic line. I don’t want a lot for Christmas. And then we started singing and playing around with this rock and roll boogie song that became the basis of what would eventually become All I Want for Christmas Is You.
She showed up very quickly. It was easier to write than some of the other songs. It is very formulaic, without frequent chord changes. I tried to make it more distinctive by adding some special chords that you rarely hear, which made it unique and special.
Then a week or two later, Mariah called and asked, “What do you think of this passage?” We talked little by little as she worked on the words to fit together. And then we just waited for the sessions to start, which happened in the summer of 1994 when we got together in New York and started recording. That’s when we first heard her sing it into the microphone, and the rest is history.
Here is how Walter Afanasieff described the lyrics to All I Want for Christmas Is You:
She wrote the lyrics, which to this day remains perhaps the only up-tempo Christmas love song. I think people liked this positive love song because it’s equal: anyone can sing it to anyone. It is about everyone, and it can mean only one thing, the father sings to her child, the mother to her child, or the wife to her husband. It’s simple: “For Christmas, all I want is you.”
A few more quotes from Mariah’s interview, in which the singer talked about the composition:
When I wrote All I Want for Christmas Is You, I dreamed that it would become a classic Christmas song.
This is a real retro, something in the spirit of the sixties.
I just wrote it out of love for Christmas and real love for Christmas music .
The song was recorded in August 1994. They say that Mariah decorated the studio with New Year’s toys and garlands to create a festive mood.
Oddly enough, one of the most New Year’s songs in the world was recorded in August, and saw the light in November 1994. The song became a box office in the same year in several countries of the world at once, including even such distant corners as Japan and Australia (in these countries the track reached the 2nd position on the charts). A stunning success! The composition joined the list of world bestsellers, taking the honorable 11th place in it.
By the way, for the last 4 years the track has been steadily becoming the record holder for listening in the American charts. It is the only piece in US music history to have been ranked number one every year since 2019.
The composition was included in the special Christmas album of the singer, the genre can be defined as pop. The release and the idea for the album were planned and proposed by the record company Columbia, and Mariah easily agreed, because Christmas is her favorite holiday. It turns out they did not fail.
People
Carey’s co-author was the American composer and producer Walter Afanasieff, the son of Russian immigrants, born in the States and twice in his life received a Grammy.
Meaning of the song «All I Want For Christmas Is You» — Mariah Carey
Everything ingenious is simple. Lyrical heroine Carey sings to us about her cherished Christmas dream. Sweet, easy, romantic and magical, like a nascent, timid feeling.
Since the meaning is simple and clear, let’s turn to the details of the text. This song has become a symbol of Christmas in its homeland for a reason: pay attention to how skillfully the author collects all the attributes of the winter holidays in a few paragraphs. In the atmosphere that these images create, it seems that there is an idea for the track.
Here are the symbols that popular lines hide in themselves, with the exception of obvious references to Christmas and Santa Claus:
I’m just gonna keep on waiting underneath the mistletoe
I won’t make a list and send it to the North Pole for Saint Nick
“…magic reindeers click” – the magical clatter of reindeer
“…hand my stocking there upon the fireplace” – hang a stocking over the fireplace
Mistletoe: In Europe and the United States, it is customary to kiss your soul mate or any other person you like under a wreath of mistletoe at
Christmas. Christmas is the grandson of a similar ancient Celtic holiday Yule; since pagan times, mistletoe has been used in celebration along with coniferous trees, symbolizing immortality, the eternal cycle of life, rebirth and light. She protected from dark forces on the longest night of the year – then Yule was celebrated, around December 21st – and also helped to improve health and material well-being in the coming year.
St. Nick at the North Pole: St. Nicholas – the same Nicholas from Catholic Christianity – is the prototype of Santa Claus, these two images are interconnected in American culture so much that they differ literally in the same names.
His history as a foreign Santa Claus began in the 15th century thanks to the Dutch, who later brought their hero to the United States; Initially, Saint Nick was presented as a kind southern nobleman, a Spanish bishop (in those years, Holland was a colony of Spain), his name was Sinterklaas, and his servants, black Pitts, gave gifts to obedient children.
Santa Claus is an American pronunciation of the Dutch fairytale old man’s name.
