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Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

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"Christmas"
Song

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is a song by Darlene Love from the 1963 Christmas compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. The song was written by Phil Spector, along with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, with the intentions of being sung by Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes. According to Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector was not able to put as much emotion into the song as needed. Instead, Love was brought into the studio to record the song which became a big success over time and one of Darlene Love's signature tunes.

In Other Media

Darlene Love has performed the song on the final new episode of the Late Show with David Letterman before Christmas every year, from 1986 to 2008 (previous to 1994, the performances were on NBC); in 2007, this did not occur due to a writer's strike. The song is always performed with the Late Show's house band, the CBS Orchestra, augmented by additional strings and other instruments, as well as a full choir.

The song was also used during the main titles for the film Gremlins.

Cover versions

The song was not widely recognized after its initial release; however, it has since been covered many times by different artists over the years. The first cover was recorded by Quiet Jungle in 1968 for "The Story Of Snoopy's Christmas" LP. The second and most widely known was recorded by U2 in July 1987 during a sound check at a stop during their Joshua Tree Tour in Glasgow, Scotland. Darlene Love provided backing vocals for U2, and the song was eventually released on the A Very Special Christmas compilation album in 1987, and later on the Unreleased & Rare album on "The Complete U2" digital box set in 2004. Bruce Springsteen covered the song at many of his Christmas shows in New Jersey, however none of the concerts have officially been released.

The following other artists have also covered the song on the respective albums:

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