Percy Faith & His Orchestra - We Need A Little Christmas (Columbia Records 1966)

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"We Need a Little Christmas" is a popular Christmas song originating from Jerry Herman's Broadway musical, Mame, and first performed by Angela Lansbury in that 1966 production. In the musical, the song is performed after Mame has lost her fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and decides that she, her young nephew Patrick, and her two household servants "need a little Christmas now" to cheer them up. The original lyrics include the line, "But, Auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now!" Since the time the song was written the phenomenon of Christmas creep has led to the normal holiday season beginning much earlier than it once did, which has led to more recent recordings changing the line to, "But, Auntie Mame, it's one week from Thanksgiving Day now!"

Percy Faith (April 7, 1908 – February 9, 1976) was a Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the "easy listening" or "mood music" format. Faith became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. Though his professional orchestra-leading career began at the height of the swing era, Faith refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940s.

Haul out the holly
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again
Fill up the stocking
We may be rushing things but deck the halls again now
For we need a little Christmas right this very minute
Candles in the window, carols at the spinet

Yes we need a little Christmas right this very minute
It hasn't snowed a single flurry; oh, Santa dear, we're in a hurry
Climb down the chimney
Hang up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen
Slice up the fruit cake
It's time we hung some tinsel on the evergreen bough
For we need a little music, need a little laughter
Need a little singing ringing in the rafters
And we need a little something, happy ever after

We need a little Christmas now
Oh, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute
Candles in the window, carols at the spinet
Yes, we need a little Christmas, right this very minute
We need a little Christmas now