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From the archive: Sound of the season

How ‘White Christmas’ invented the modern festive song

13 December 2014

9:00 AM

13 December 2014

9:00 AM

Some songs are hits — No. 1 for a couple of weeks. Some songs are standards — they endure decade after decade. And a few very rare songs reach way beyond either category, to embed themselves so deeply in the collective consciousness they become part of the soundtrack of society.

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This is an edited version of a piece that appeared in The Spectator of 14/21 December 2002.

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