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Christmas themed vinyl records by Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby are displayed for sale at a Target store in King of Prussia
(New York, NY) — “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” is the gold standard when it comes to holiday songs and the tri-state can take great pride in who wrote it. The song was recorded in 1943 by Bing Crosby to honor soldiers during World War Two, who longed to come home for Christmas and it quickly struck a powerful emotional chord. The lyrics’ quiet optimism, paired with the final line acknowledging that being home might exist “only in my dreams,” reflected the bittersweet reality of wartime Christmases.
The words were written by Kim Gannon, who grew up in Montclair, New Jersey, while the music was composed by New York City native Walter Kent, who attended Juilliard.
After the war, the song endured as a holiday classic, resonating far beyond its original context. Crosby re-recorded it several times, helping cement its place in American Christmas tradition, and it has since been covered by countless artists across genres, from Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley to Michael Bublé. Over time, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” has come to symbolize not just wartime separation, but the universal yearning for togetherness during the holidays—making it one of the most poignant and enduring Christmas songs ever written.
