Mel Tormé arrived at the San Fernando Valley house of his songwriting partner Bob Wells on a scorching hot day in July 1945. After letting himself in and sitting at the piano, Tormé noticed a notebook with several lines jotted down. The lines read:
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir
And folks dressed up like Eskimos
Tormé was intrigued. When Wells entered the room, Tormé questioned his writing partner about his poem. “It’s so damn hot today, I thought I’d write something to cool myself off,” Wells replied. “All I could think of was Christmas and cold weather.” He tried dipping in the pool, taking a cold shower, he tried everything he could think of but nothing worked. So he thought jotting down thoughts about winter might help. Tormé suggested they take it a step further and turn it into a song. 45 minutes later they had written one of the most iconic Christmas songs of all time. And they weren’t shy to bestow it with a name that would mark it as the official song of Christmas.
“The Christmas Song” was not an instant hit for Tormé and Wells. It took time for it to be cemented in popular music history. When the duo showed the song to their current employers Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen, they were told that no one wanted a song that was only good for one day a year. Nat King Cole felt differently after Tormé and Wells played it for him. He recorded it in the fall of 1946, and it was an instant hit. 70 years later, the song has not gone out of style.
As New Yorkers roam the humid streets, stand in the dense heat of subway platforms, and stare at their enormous air-conditioning bills, they can take refuge in Tormé and Wells' song. For nothing gets one through the month of July like a timeless Christmas classic.