My cmnt: This is the first and best version of “All I want for Xmas is you”. Mariah Carey’s version is OK but not near as smooth jazz nor clever as this one. I think that Olivia Olson sings Mariah’s version better than Mariah does.
Vocalist is Lisa Layne – her brief bio appears below
Take back the holly and mistletoe
Silver bells on string
If I wrote a letter to Santa Claus
I would ask for just one thing
I don’t need sleigh rides in the snow
Don’t want a Christmas that’s blue
Take back the tinsel, stockings, and bows
‘Cause all I want for Christmas is you
I don’t need expensive things
They don’t matter to me
All that I want, can’t be found
Underneath the Christmas tree
You are the angel atop my tree
You are my dream come true
Santa can’t bring me what I need
‘Cause all I want for Christmas is you
I don’t need expensive things
They don’t matter to me
All that I want, can’t be found
Underneath the Christmas tree
You are the angel atop my tree
You are my dream come true (dream come true)
Santa can’t bring me what I need
‘Cause all I want for Christmas is you
‘Cause all I want for Christmas is you
‘Cause all I want for Christmas is you
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Andrew John Franichevich / Troy W Powers
All I Want for Christmas Is You lyrics © Warner-tamerlane Publishing Corp., Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Universal Music Corp., Beyondidolization, Tamal Vista Music, Good Ole Delta Boy Music, Songs Of Delta Boy Music, Songs Of Peer Ltd, Peertunes Ltd, Hipgnosis Sfh I Limited
The following bio is from the Oak Cliff Advocate and the Lisa Layne website
Americans have been listening to this tune each holiday season for more than two decades and enjoying the easily followed melody line. Heck, most of us probably know the chorus and can sing along. But one thing Cliffites may not know is that the original vocalist, Lisa Layne, grew up in Oak Cliff, graduated from Kimball High School, and began her career here.
Just one more Oak Cliff success story to add to the list.
Layne’s love of music seems to run in the family, as she began singing at the age of 4 — with her father, who is still a professional musician.
“We were all musically inclined,” she says. “Not all of us performed professionally, however. That’s just what we all do for the most part.”
“No teacher really influenced my music,” Layne says. “I did have a junior high choir teacher who told me I couldn’t really sing. But I decided not to listen to him.”
She lived in the Lenora Kirk Hall district, but because she was a diabetic, Layne attended Martin Weiss Elementary School, where her mother worked.
“Mom wanted to keep a closer eye on me,” Layne says.
Then it was on to L.V. Stockard for junior high. For 26 years, Layne and her family lived close to Westmoreland and Kiest boulevards.
“Living where we did in Oak Cliff was very nice,” she reminisces. “We had a creek and park running alongside the whole neighborhood. Lots of friends there, too. “Oak Cliff is a lot prettier than North Dallas,” she says.
“We ate at Tippy’s Taco House a lot,” Layne says. “My brother, Brett, and I worked there, too, during high school.”
It’s now Herrera’s, and Layne says that when she’s home, she still likes to eat there.
In high school, she sang as a member of the New Tyme Singers and participated in the 1979 school musical, “Bye, Bye, Birdie”. After her 1980 graduation, she joined a guitar-stroking vocal trio named Beaver Creek. Along with Marsha Britton — a friend from Oak Cliff — and a male vocalist/musician from California, “Beaver Creek performed all over [the] North Texas area,” Layne says.
“Most of the clubs and things, well, I can’t recall a name. We did do Johnnie High’s Country Music Revue a lot during the early ’80s,” she says. Layne played bass.
In 1986, she answered a newspaper ad from Vince Vance and the Valiants, “who were looking for three female singers to sing the three-girl group songs,” she says. It turned out to be an event that changed her life.
During her five-year tenure with the band, Layne attracted quite a bit of attention for her mature voice with its heat-filled sound, a perfect fit for Vance’s vision of recording the now-Christmas-classic. And as the saying goes: The rest is history.
Layne then relocated to Nashville, where she joined a successful beach music band, while also doing quite a bit of demo work. In early 1993, she won the role of Patsy Cline in the first national tour of “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline.” After touring with that troupe for the better part of two years, she joined the Nashville troupe as the lead in the same show. Her next move was performing at Nashville’s Texas Troubadour Theater, doing the Patsy show from 1998 until 2000.
Layne is one of only three women certified by the Patsy Cline Association to do official tribute performances to the late singer. Wearing her “Patsy costume” — including the trademark white leather boots — she belts out the familiar Cline tunes to appreciative audiences full of fans both old and young. Layne has appeared with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Hall and Oates, Julio Iglesias, Little Eva, Larry Gatlin, Fats Domino, and Chicago.
Layne has now re-recorded her signature holiday song and added 12 other Christmas classics to the playlist, titling the album “All I Want for Christmas Is You”. She is accompanied on all selections by the world-famous Jordanaires.
Her latest project? The new CD, “A Tribute to Patsy Cline”.
“These are some of my favorite Patsy songs,” Layne says, “[the ones] I wanted to record.”
She’s also singing as Patsy in the show “Always, Patsy Cline” at Branson’s God and Country Theatre, where she has been performing for the past seven years.
So this holiday season, when her song blasts over the airways, remember that Lisa Layne is one of us — she hails from the Cliff.
And Lisa, from all of us back here in Texas who love and appreciate you, know that all we Cliffites need for Christmas … is you!
All I Want For Christmas Is You
I don’t want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you
Yeah
I don’t want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need (and I)
Don’t care about the presents underneath the Christmas tree
I don’t need to hang my stocking there upon the fireplace
Santa Claus won’t make me happy with a toy on Christmas Day
I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
All I want for Christmas is you
You, baby
Oh, I won’t ask for much this Christmas
I won’t even wish for snow (and I)
I’m just gonna keep on waiting underneath the mistletoe
I won’t make a list and send it to the North Pole for Saint Nick
I won’t even stay awake to hear those magic reindeer click
‘Cause I just want you here tonight
Holding on to me so tight
What more can I do?
Oh, baby, all I want for Christmas is you
You, baby
Oh-oh, all the lights are shining so brightly everywhere (so brightly, baby)
And the sound of children’s laughter fills the air (oh, oh, yeah)
And everyone is singing (oh, yeah)
I hear those sleigh bells ringing
Santa, won’t you bring me the one I really need? (Yeah, oh)
Won’t you please bring my baby to me?
Oh, I don’t want a lot for Christmas
This is all I’m asking for
I just wanna see my baby standing right outside my door
Oh, I just want you for my own
More than you could ever know
Make my wish come true
Oh, baby, all I want for Christmas is you
You, baby
All I want for Christmas is you, baby
All I want for Christmas is you, baby
All I want for Christmas is you, baby
All I want for Christmas (all I really want) is you, baby
All I want (I want) for Christmas (all I really want) is you, baby
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Mariah Carey / Ellis Williams / Walter Afanasieff / Robert Allen / Ralf Huetter / John Robie / Emil Schult / Arthur Baker / Aasim Bey Bambaataa
All I Want For Christmas Is You (SuperFestive!) lyrics © Warner-tamerlane Publishing Corp., Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Universal Music Corp., Beyondidolization, Tamal Vista Music, Kling Klang Musik Gmbh, Bambaataa Music, Hipgnosis Sfh I Limited
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Song by Gayla Peevey
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
I don’t want a doll, no dinky Tinkertoy
I want a hippopotamus to play with and enjoy
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
I don’t think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won’t have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring him through the front door
That’s the easy thing to do
I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo hero standing there
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuseses
And hippopotamuses like me too
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
A hippopotamus is all I want
Mom says the hippo would eat me up
But then teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
The kind I saw this summer at the zoo
There’s lots of room for him in our two car garage
I’d feed him there and wash him there
And give him his massage
I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my hippo hero standing there
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas
Only a hippopotamus will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like hippopotamuses
And hippopotamuses like me too
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Rox John
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas (Hippo the Hero) lyrics © Folkways Music Publishers Inc.
Santa Baby
Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree,
For me.
Been an awful good girl,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.
Santa baby, a 54 convertible too,
Light blue.
I’ll wait up for you dear,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.
Think of all the fun I’ve missed,
Think of all the fellas that I haven’t kissed,
Next year I could be just as good,
If you’ll check off my Christmas list,
Santa baby, I wanna yacht,
And really that’s not a lot,
Been an angel all year,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.
Santa honey, one little thing I really need,
The deed
To a platinum mine,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight.
Santa cutie, and fill my stocking with a duplex,
And checks.
Sign your ‘X’ on the line,
Santa cutie, and hurry down the chimney tonight.
Come and trim my Christmas tree,
With some decorations bought at Tiffany’s,
I really do believe in you,
Let’s see if you believe in me,
Santa baby, forgot to mention one little thing,
A ring.
I don’t mean on the phone,
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight,
Hurry down the chimney tonight,
Hurry, tonight.
Songwriters: Philip Springer, Joan Javits, Tony Springer. For non-commercial use only.
All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)
Everybody stops and stares at me
These two teeth are gone as you can see
I don’t know just who to blame for this catastrophe
But my one wish on Christmas Eve is as plain as can be
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth
My two front teeth
See my two front teeth
Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth
Then I could wish you, “Merry Christmas”
It seems so long since I could say
“Sister, Susie sitting on a thistle!”
Gosh, oh gee, how happy I’d be, if I could only whistle
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth
My two front teeth
See my two front teeth
Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth
Then I could wish you, “Merry Christmas”
It seems so long since I could say
“Sister, Susie sitting on a thistle!”
Gosh, oh gee, how happy I’d be, if I could only whistle
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth
My two front teeth
See my two front teeth
Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth
Then I could wish you, “Merry Christmas”
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Donald Yetter Gardner
All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc
Lord Buckbeak: "Will you come into my parlor?," said the Spider to the Fly. 