It has a simple and direct letter. Barely six words in Spanish and 13 in English, repeated relentlessly, are enough to build a timeless Christmas hymn. “Merry Christmas” by José Feliciano is one of the must-have classics of this season and it’s possible that in some houses it’s only played at midnight, in that hour of toasts and hugs. Yesterday it was the world’s 10th most-listened-to song on Spotify (more than 4.3 million views in one day) and while it doesn’t quite reach the astronomical numbers of ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’, Mariah Carey’s megahit is breaking all year a record wins in the attachment of several generations.
The song was released in 1970 as part of Merry Christmas, an album of obligatory Christmas songs like “The Little Drummer Boy”, “The First Noel” and “Silent Night”. Unlike other albums of the period, such as those by Frank Sinatra and his family, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald, The Puerto Rico had one difference: it contained songs in Spanish and other instrumental pieces. “I didn’t want to make a honeyed Christmas album,” he recalled years later, speaking to the Los Angeles Times. “I was interested in telling the story of the birth of the Savior in a musical way that people would care about.”
Right in the middle is producer Rick Jarrad, with whom he has already worked on Feliciano! — the album that included The Doors’ hit version of “Light My Fire” — suggested an idea: “We should do an original Christmas carol, do you dare write one?” The suggestion surprised him. “I responded that I’ve never done it before, but that I would try,” he told Billboard. “I thought it was going to be really hard to keep up with ‘White Christmas’ and ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’.”
While searching for inspiration in a recording studio in Los Angeles, the Christmas image of his 11 siblings having dinner thousands of miles away in New York flashed through his mind. He recalled the suckling pig, pies and bottles of rum – a legacy of Puerto Rican tradition – and singing Christmas carols during dinner. He was immediately struck by melancholy, or rather saudade. “I thought about the joy I felt with them every Christmas and how lonely I felt that night,” he told NPR. “I missed my family, Christmas carols and Christmas scenes.”
And there, alone in that Los Angeles studio, he began to write. “The idea of ’Merry Christmas’ was to try and bring people together,” he wrote in 2020. “My idea when I wrote it was that it doesn’t matter what language you sing in, we all share the feeling of Christmas. “
We Three Kings and The First Noel served as models, but Feliciano wanted to differentiate himself. So he wrote a bilingual song. “I was looking for a balance so that there wasn’t an American station that dismissed it as too Latin, nor any Latin American radio that argued it was too English,” he explained. “There have been other bilingual Christmas carols like ‘Mamacita, where’s Santa?’ by Augie Ríos, but ‘Feliz Navidad’ was a whole in itself.”
And while the lyrics didn’t betray the nostalgia Feliciano felt while composing, the music was presented as a tribute to his Puerto Rican roots. Between the bombastic orchestral arrangements and the subtle details of the Christmas bells, the musician inserted a Puerto Rican cuatro, Latin percussion and an irresistible horn section. It was the perfect resource to color the music by uniting the languages of the lyrics.
“Merry Christmas” was released in November 1970 and was an instant hit. It reached number six on the US charts and became Feliciano’s second Top 10 hit, the first being his stripped down, sultry version of “Light My Fire”. But the popularity of this contemporary Christmas carol wasn’t just a pile of royalties for the Puerto Rican; in the United States he liked justification.
It so happens that in 1968, after winning two Grammys — one for New Artist and one for Best Male Vocal Performance for “Light My Fire” — he was embroiled in a controversy that tarnished his public image.
It all happened at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium during the Baseball World Cup: he was invited to sing the American anthem, but his version, with touches of R&B and soul, was taken as an insult by the most patriotic fans. They booed him and he felt humiliated. “It wasn’t my intention to offend her,” he later clarified. “I was just trying to show this country how grateful I am that a poor Puerto Rican kid like me could come down from the mountains and be successful.”
That’s why “Merry Christmas,” which years later the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers would cite as one of the most played and covered Christmas carols in the world, was the revenge the musician so longed for. His Christmas album peaked at number six in the United States, marking Feliciano’s triumphant return to the stage.
Although this success could not be repeated, the song established itself as a timeless Christmas anthem. In 2020, he reversed it alongside 30 artists – including Gloria Gaynor and Michael Bolton – and usually revives each season to position himself among the world’s most listened to.
“The cards that life gave me weren’t very good,” he said as he reviewed his journey. “I came from a foreign land, I had no sight, or at least I thought I didn’t until I discovered I had a vision to see things as they should.” With that of “Merry Christmas” proposed union message, that was clearer than ever.