Australian singer-songwriter Kevin Johnson has released his version of ‘White Christmas’ for the first time in Australia. It includes the missing, rarely performed missing verse.
In Irving Berlin’s original version, the opening verse is:
“The sun is shining, the grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway
There’s never been such a day
In Beverly Hills, LA
But it’s December the 24th
And I am longing to be up North”
That verse was deleted for the 1942 movie ‘Holiday Inn’ where Bing Crosby first performed the song. The verse about a Christmas summer in Beverly Hills made no sense to the context of the movie so it was removed for the movie scene.
The movie version became the hit and covers that followed were generated down a timeline originating from that point with the original verse rarely included.
Kevin Johnson says, “When I downloaded the sheet music of’ White Christmas’, written by Irving Berlin, I discovered an opening verse which has rarely been used before, if at all in the previous recordings of the song. I liked the verse, and so I have included it in my rendition of the song”.
Johnson added, “These recordings have been out and about in Europe for many years, but for some reason, I have never released them in Australia before now”.
Kevin has released ‘When A Child Is Born’ and ‘White Christmas’ available now from all major digital platforms.
WEBSITE: www.kevin-johnson.net
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