Whenever you hear “Holly Jolly Christmas” on the radio around the holidays, you can’t help but bounce along with it. The playful and happy song perfectly captures the festive season, and Michael Bublé’s cover has remained a favorite for years.
Written by Johnny Marks in the early 1960s, “A Holly Jolly Christmas” became a holiday classic when Burl Ives released his version in 1965. The song has been played countless times and is even featured in a scene from the 1964 TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which originally aired on NBC.
Decades later, The Voice Coach recorded his own version. And, believe it or not, Bublé hadn’t originally planned to even include his cover of “Holly Jolly Christmas” on his multi-platinum holiday album, Christmas.
Michael Bublé sang a jazzy cover of “Holly Jolly Christmas” in 2011
In October 2011, Bublé released his best-selling album, Christmas, which included covers of classic holidays songs like “Santa Baby” and a duet of “White Christmas” with Shania Twain. Bublé also sang Marks’ version of “Holly Jolly Christmas” with toe-tapping lyrics like “Oh, ho the mistletoe / Hung where you can see / Somebody waits for you / Kiss her once for me.”
Bublé’s version is unique as it only includes his recognizable vocals as well as a fun electric guitar solo in the middle of the song.
Michael Bublé didn’t originally plan to record “Holly Jolly Christmas” for his Christmas album
Michael Buble appears onstage at Michael Buble’s Christmas in Hollywood. Photo: Vivian Zink/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
In a behind-the-scenes studio clip, Bublé shared that “Holly Jolly Christmas” wasn’t on the original song list for his 2011 Christmas album. But thanks to a little extra studio time, it made the final cut.
“‘[The song] wasn’t even on the radar for us,” Bublé said. “We had just finished the recording session and we found out we had about 40 minutes left of studio time … I kept sort of throwing out [different songs] and I said, well what about [‘Holly Jolly Christmas’]? Why don’t we just try it?”
Music producer David Foster, who’s worked on many of Bublé’s albums, said he “came up with an instant arrangement” to record the song as a quartet, describing the process as “kinda loosey-goosey.”
“Every time you do an album, there’s always that moment where you just go, ‘Oh what about that song?’’ Foster said. “You’re not prepared to do it, you’re not thinking about doing it, it just kind of pops into your head.”
In the end, it was a success. Not only is Bublé’s version regarded by Billboard as one of the most popular Christmas songs of the 21st century, the Canadian singer felt like it’d be a hit and he continues to perform it today. Like he did in a cute Instagram video in November 2024.
“The feeling was so good,” Bublé said of recording the song. “It swung so hard and felt sort of rich and fun. It came out of nowhere, but sometimes that happens when you make a record. You think that you know for sure, the song list, and then something like that pops up and it’s really great.”
