Song #8 - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I'm a fan of October, don't get me wrong, but I think we can all agree with writers Edward Pola and George Wyle when they said of late December, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." 

Classic Version: The original recording was sung by Andy Williams and remains the most popular rendition today. It's timeless and classic and it wouldn't feel right to go through the holiday season without hearing it at least once. Or in my case, 60-80 times.

Andy Williams

Even though I've known the lyrics to this one for quite some time, it was only during my research for this post that a few things stuck out at me. For starters, can we please bring back the tradition of "scary ghost stories" around Christmastime? Why did that disappear? Secondly, take a look at this from Wikipedia:

"Other activities mentioned [in the song] include hosting parties, spontaneous visits from friends, universal social gaiety, spending time with loved ones, sledding for children..."

From here on out we refer to "World Peace" as "Universal Social Gaiety." All in favor?

Modern Versions: None. I was pretty disappointed with every cover I listened to. Seriously, if you find one that's worth listening to, please comment below.

As it turns out, Andy Williams re-recorded his song in 2004 for the movie, Surviving Christmas. So that's my modern version.

Andy Williams

Yes there's still a poll.

Who did it best?

-Jesse