1970 Feliz Navidad

Time for another round of Throwback Thursday!

This is where we get to listen to some great music from days gone by. 

Today’s music comes to us from 1970. In keeping with the Holiday month, I’ve selected a holiday tune for you to enjoy.

Wikipedia tells us this about today’s tune:

"Feliz Navidad"  is a Christmas song written in 1970 by the Puerto Rican singer and songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple Spanish chorus (the traditional Christmas/New Year greeting, "Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad" meaning "Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness") and equally simple English verse "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart", it has become a classic Christmas pop song. 

On the popular 1970 recording by Feliciano, the drummer is Paulinho Magalhães. The addition of the horns as a final touch was the idea of record producer Rick Jarrard.

Feliciano's 1970 recording of "Feliz Navidad" (in which he plays both an acoustic guitar and a Puerto Rican cuatro) is one of the most downloaded and aired Christmas songs in the United States and Canada. As of November 25, 2016, total sales of the digital track stand at 808,000 downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan, placing it eighth on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in SoundScan history] It was also recognized by ASCAP as one of the top 25 most played and recorded Christmas songs around the world.

The original José Feliciano version of the song first charted on the US Billboard Hot 100 more than two decades after it was first recorded reaching number 70 on the week ending January 10, 1998. The song later returned to the US Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated the week of January 7, 2017 reaching number 44 During the 2018 Billboard season, the song re-charted and became Feliciano's first top 40 hit on the Hot 100 since 1968. In 2017, Feliciano released a ska version of the song in collaboration with musician Jools Holland.

See you again soon! Share with me your thoughts about this theme.  If you have a favorite oldies song or artist, let me know and I’d be happy to feature them.