The Fabulous Sounds of Christmas at Disneyland – Redux!

UPDATE: Sharp-eyed reader Magic Joe spotted a missing track, an alternate version of “Ihr Kinderlein Kommet” from the Music Box Christmas album, and I’ve added it below. Al’s track listing has it sequenced right after the Felix Slatkin version of the same tune, but that seemed like overkill to me, so I found it a new home toward the bottom of the playlist. If you don’t want to renumber the last six tracks in iTunes, replace them with the ones below and the sequence will be preserved. The PDF of the album cover art has been updated too!

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For the benefit of new readers, I’m rerunning one of my most popular posts: “The Fabulous Sounds of Christmas at Disneyland.” Scroll down and you’ll find MP3s of every song on Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. Christmas music loop. Happy holidays!

Several years ago, MiceAge.com’s Al Lutz  posted an article (since updated – click HERE!) with a complete listing of the songs played on Disneyland’s Main Street, U.S.A. at the holidays. Even better, he dug up exactly which album each song came from. However, because Disneyland’s Christmas music loop was created around 1972, most of the tracks on it are from albums that are long out of print and have never been released on CD.

As a former college radio DJ and record shop rat, I zealously took on the challenge of tracking down every single song in the Main Street Christmas loop. Starting in the spring, I spent six or eight months combing local record stores, trawling the web, and stalking eBay. Along the way I may have overpaid for a couple of records, but I also enjoyed the thrill of discovery every time I came upon another rare gem.

After I’d collected all the albums (some of which, I realized, may once have been in my Lawrence Welk-loving grandma’s record collection), I had to digitize the songs with a complicated setup involving my record player, a 4-track recorder and my computer, since they hadn’t invented those USB turntables yet. Some of the records were not in the greatest shape, so a few of the songs have quite a bit of authentic hiss and pop that was impossible to filter out.

Next I spent an inordinate amount of time sequencing the songs so that they flowed seamlessly and there were no duplicates of songs or artists back to back (tricky to do when there are two versions of “Jingle Bells” and of “White Christmas,” plus five songs by the same artist). I’m not sure now why I didn’t go with the actual in-park sequence that Al documented…. I guess the me of six years ago thought she knew better than whichever cast member slaved over the very same task back in 1972!

The last project was creating packaging for my new compilation album, which I’d dubbed The Fabulous Sounds of Christmas at Disneyland! I used the various Christmas albums’ art as inspiration and found these blank CDsdesigned to look like 45s, with plastic grooves in the top and everything!

I was so pleased with the results that I made copies of my album for everyone I knew who was even remotely interested in Disneyland and/or Christmas, and it’s become an annual tradition to search out new people on whom to inflict my pet project.

Which is why this year I’m giving The Fabulous Sounds of Christmas at Disneyland! to all of you! Posted below are all the songs, plus a PDF file of the cover art, if you feel like burning the album to a disc. To grab the MP3 file, right-click on the song title and select “Save Link As…” or its equivalent. Note that the songs on my version are not arranged in the order in which they play at Disneyland—for that sequence you’ll have to check out Al’s article. But I did include a bonus track not found on the original Main Street Christmas loop…

And for all you Walt Disney World fans, I’ve noticed that the loop played in the Magic Kingdom at Christmastime sounds an awful lot like Disneyland’s, so maybe this album will work for you too!

The Fabulous Sounds of Christmas at Disneyland

1. White Christmas – Lawrence Welk

2. The Christmas Tree – David Rose

3. Zu Bethlehem Geboren – A Music Box Christmas

4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Ed Sullivan Presents Music of Christmas

5. Twelve Days of Christmas – David Rose

6. Silver Bells – Raymond Lefevre

7. Caroling, Caroling – Hollywood Pops Orchestra

8. Still, Still, Holy Melody – A Music Box Christmas

9. I’ll Be Home for Christmas – Lawrence Welk

10. Jingle Bells – Raymond Lefevre

11. The First Noel – Ed Sullivan Presents Music of Christmas

12. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Lawrence Welk

13. Lobe Den Herren – A Music Box Christmas

14. Toyland – David Rose

15. Deck the Halls – Lawrence Welk

16. Petit Papa Noel – Raymond Lefevre

17. Ihr Kinderlein Kommet – Felix Slatkin

18. White Christmas – Ed Sullivan Presents Music of Christmas

19. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – A Music Box Christmas

20. Carol of the Bells – Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra

21. The Christmas Song – David Rose

22. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Lawrence Welk

23. O Tannenbaum – A Music Box Christmas

24. Christmas Waltz – David Rose

25. Jingle Bell Rock – Hollyridge Strings

26. Ihr Kinderlein Kommet – A Music Box Christmas 

27. Deck the Halls – Felix Slatkin

28. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – Lawrence Welk

29. Jingle Bells – A Music Box Christmas

30. Do You Hear What I Hear? – Ed Sullivan Presents Music of Christmas

31. Believe… In Holiday Magic 

Click HERE to download the CD cover + tray art!

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