"Winter Wonderland" - Part 4 - Child's Play!

So, we saw how "Winter Wonderland" enjoyed a resurgence in popularity with some successful recordings from 1946.

I presume that's what led to a new "children's lyric" being added in 1947, making the song more kid-friendly.

The most noticeable change is that the singer suggests pretending the snowman is a "circus clown" rather than Parson Brown, as kids are more likely to be thinking of frolicking and playing rather than getting married!

A more subtle change is that the new bird is singing a song, rather than a love song, a distinction lost on most versions that include the children's lyric.

That's for children, all right!

Although the children's lyric seems to have been published in 1947, I can't find a recording that includes them until Rosemary Cooney in 1953 on Columbia Records:

That's quite a nice version and Rosemary includes both the original and children's lyrics, sung with the proper wording for maybe the only time?

That seemed to be a new template for versions of the song, to sing the original lyric first, then the children's lyric the second time through the song.

Johnny Mathis recorded perhaps the definitive vocal version for his 1959 "Merry Christmas" album, also on Columbia. singing both lyrics with the verse in between:

Very fun with a great arrangement from Percy Faith, but Johnny sings "he's singing a love song" instead of "he's singing a song" on the second chorus. Was that a flub?

Another intriguing version from 1959 was recorded by Ray Martin for the RCA Victor various artist album "The Merriest of Pops":

The arrangement is kind of half-vocal/half-instrumental with the chorus only singing some of the lyrics, but using the children's lyrics!

I like it!

Perry Como revisited the song in 1959 for his "Season's Greeting" LP on RCA Victor, sticking with the original lyric:

This new version is taken at a much more leisurely pace than 1946's!

Also revisiting the tune around this time was Guy Lombardo, who included it on a couple of albums for Capitol Records, which he joined in the mid-fifties after 20-ish years with Decca.

Let's listen to the 1960 stereo version from the "Sing The Songs Of Christmas" LP featuring long-time Lombardo vocalist Kenny Gardner:

The idea of that album is that you sing along with the kids who are singing along with Kenny. Not sure if it was really recorded live, but the kids are definitely not on the beat! 

Maybe they should have used the children's lyric!

We continue a bit further into the 1960s with the version that I most identify with the "circus clown"  children's lyric - Robert Goulet's from his 1963 album "This Christmas I Spend with You" on Columbia Records:

My mother was a huge fan of Robert Goulet and I heard that album a lot as a kid! Good thing I like it!

We'll make one more stop before we go for now, with one of the odder variations of "Winter Wonderland," this one from Peggy Lee's 1965 Capitol album "Happy Holiday":

Peggy uses only the children's lyric, but she sings "Santa clown" rather than "circus clown," which kind of makes you go Huh?

Lots of versions have followed with lots of variations. I think Parson Brown is still in the lead, though!