Brenda Lee - Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree (Decca Records 1964)

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"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" is a Christmas song written by Johnny Marks and recorded by Brenda Lee in 1958. Although Decca released it in both 1958 and again in 1959, it did not sell well until Lee became a popular star in 1960; that Christmas season, it hit #14 on the Billboard pop chart and turned into a perennial holiday favorite. It continued to sell well during the holiday season, hitting #5 on the Christmas chart. Brenda Lee's recording still receives a great deal of airplay. Despite the song's title, its instrumentation also fits the Country genre which Brenda Lee more fully embraced as her career evolved. Despite her mature-sounding voice, she recorded this song when she was only 13 years old. The recording featured Hank Garland's ringing guitar and Boots Randolph's swinging solo sax break. For decades, Brenda Lee's recording was the only notable version of the song. Radio stations ranging from Top 40 to Adult Contemporary to Country Music to Oldies to even Adult Standards played this version. An instrumental version of the song appears as background music in the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which exclusively featured music written by Marks. It can be heard in the scene where Rudolph first arrives at the "Reindeer Games" and meets another reindeer named Fireball.

Brenda Mae Tarpley known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed only by Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles. She is known for her 1960 hit "I'm Sorry", and 1958's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", which has become a Christmas standard.

At 4 ft 9 inches tall (approximately 145 cm), she received the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite" in 1957, after recording the song "Dynamite" when she was 12, and was one of the earliest pop stars to have a major contemporary international following.

In 1969, Lee returned to the charts with her recording "Johnny One Time" penned by A.L. "Doodle" Owens and Dallas Frazier. The song reached #3 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Chart and #41 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also earned Lee her second Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal. Later success came with a return to her roots as a country singer, with a string of hits through the 1970s and 1980s. She is a member of the Rock and Roll, Country Music and Rockabilly Halls of Fame. She is also a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Lee is the only woman to be inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Rocking around the Christmas Tree
at the Christmas party hop
Mistletoe hung where you can see
Ev'ry couple tries to stop

You will get a sentimental feeling When you hear voices singing
"Let's be jolly; Deck the halls with boughs of holly" Rocking around the Christmas Tree
Have a happy holiday
Everyone's dancing merrily
In a new old fashioned way

Rocking around the Christmas Tree
Let the Christmas Spirit ring
Later we'll have some pumpkin pie
and we'll do some caroling

You will get a sentimental feeling When you hear voices singing
"Let's be jolly; Deck the halls with boughs of holly" Rocking around the Christmas Tree
Have a happy holiday
Everyone's dancing merrily
In a new old fashioned way