Do You Hear What I Hear?
1967 · Columbia 4-44341 · New York City, New York
- Artist
- Anita Bryant
- Title
- Do You Hear What I Hear?
- Release
- Do You Hear What I Hear? / Away in a Manger
- Year
- 1967
- Label
- Columbia # 4-44341
- Format
- 7" · Single
- Language
- English
- Country
- New York City, New York, USA
- Songwriter
- Noël Regney and Gloria Shayne Baker
- Genre
- Traditional Pop · Traditional Pop
- Primary theme
- Home Front Perspective / Soldier's Perspective
Annotation
This is an Anita Bryant cover of the song "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (Columbia Records #4-44341), composed by Noël Regney and Gloria Shayne Baker, said to have been written as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.1The song has sold millions of records, covered by hundreds of artists, such as Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Glen Campbell, Whitney Houston, and Mahalia Jackson. Anita Bryant was a traditional pop artist, born on 25 March 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, USA. This record, and the LP it featured on, called Christmas With Anita Bryant (Columbia Records #CS 9520) received a couple promotional references in Billboard, in November & December 1967, which said that she would be performing songs on television.23 Also in 1967, Bryant released the patriot, pro-government Vietnam song "This Is Worth Fighting For" (Columbia Records # 4-43823). She also released the patriotic record Battle Hymn of the Republic (Word Records # WST 8571) in 1973. The picture sleeve of this version showed Bryant performing to US troops abroad, with the description referencing Vietnam and President Johnson: Anita Bryant has traveled 150,000 air miles with Bob Hope's annual U.S.O. Christmas tour. Each year she has taken time away from her family to travel to such places as Guantanamo Bay, Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Greece, and Vietnam. In a recent personal letter to Anita, President Johnson expressed his gratitude for her continued volunteer work overseas for the United States troops: "I know how many hearts you have lifted in Vietnam - and god will surely bless you for bringing such hope and comfort to your fellow man".Sources1The New York Times↩2Billboard, December 1967↩3Billboard, December 1967↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Annotation — Christmas Songs
This is an Anita Bryant cover of the song "Do You Hear What I Hear?" (Columbia Records #4-44341), composed by Noël Regney and Gloria Shayne Baker, said to have been written as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.1 The song has sold millions of records, covered by hundreds of artists, such as Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Glen Campbell, Whitney Houston, and Mahalia Jackson. Anita Bryant was a traditional pop artist, born on 25 March 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, USA. This record, and the LP it featured on, called Christmas With Anita Bryant (Columbia Records #CS 9520) received a couple promotional references in Billboard, in November & December 1967, which said that she would be performing songs on television.23 Also in 1967, Bryant released the patriot, pro-government Vietnam song This Is Worth Fighting For (Columbia Records # 4-43823). She also released the patriotic record Battle Hymn of the Republic (Word Records # WST 8571) in 1973. The picture sleeve of this version showed Bryant performing to US troops abroad, with the description referencing Vietnam and President Johnson: Anita Bryant has traveled 150,000 air miles with Bob Hope's annual U.S.O. Christmas tour. Each year she has taken time away from her family to travel to such places as Guantanamo Bay, Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Greece, and Vietnam. In a recent personal letter to Anita, President Johnson expressed his gratitude for her continued volunteer work overseas for the United States troops: "I know how many hearts you have lifted in Vietnam - and god will surely bless you for bringing such hope and comfort to your fellow man".Sources1The New York Times↩2Billboard, December 1967↩3Billboard, December 1967↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: Anita Bryant has traveled 150,000 air miles with Bob Hope's annual U.S.O. Christmas tour. Each year she has taken time away from her family to travel to such places as Guantanamo Bay, Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Greece, and Vietnam. In a recent personal letter to Anita, President Johnson expressed his gratitude for her continued volunteer work overseas for the United States troops: "I know how many hearts you have lifted in Vietnam - and god will surely bless you for bringing such hope and comfort to your fellow man".
Notes
Columbia 4-44341 picture sleeve, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" backed with "Away in a Manger". The photograph, repeated across front and back, shows Anita Bryant on an open-air stage, arm raised, singing to a large crowd of uniformed troops below a hillside. The front prints a note that she had travelled 150,000 air miles with Bob Hope's annual U.S.O. Christmas tour to places such as Guantanamo Bay, Korea, Japan, Okinawa, Greece and Vietnam, quoting a personal letter from President Johnson: "I know how many hearts you have lifted in Vietnam—and God will surely bless you for bringing such hope and comfort to your fellow man." Back: "Manufactured by Columbia Records/CBS, Inc./51 W. 52 Street, New York, N.Y.", printed in U.S.A. [From the record sleeve and labels]
About the artist
Born 25 March 1940, Barnsdall, Oklahoma, USA. Died 16 December 2024, Edmond, Oklahoma, USA
Themes
In collections
US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years] · Christmas Songs · Peace, Protest, & Anti-War Songs [War Years]