Original sheet music for "I'll Be Home For
Christmas," from the University collection
in Owen D. Young Library

A List
12/3/07

'I'll Be Home For Christmas,' By SLU Alum, Among Most Popular Holiday Songs

CANTON - Wynonna Judd performed it in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. New versions by artists ranging from Josh Groban to Toby Keith to "High School Musical" cast member Drew Seeley are among the top-selling holiday songs on Amazon.com. And St. Lawrence University continues to benefit from the enduring popularity of the song "I'll Be Home For Christmas," by Kim Gannon, who graduated from the University in 1924.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) has compiled a list of the Top 25 most-performed holiday songs of the past five years, and "I'll Be Home For Christmas" stands at Number 12. While the song has been recorded by literally hundreds of artists, the most popular version now on radio is by Amy Grant, according to ASCAP.

Its continuing airplay is good news for St. Lawrence, because the University receives a share of the royalties each time the song is performed and played. Gannon, who also wrote St. Lawrence's alma mater, passed away in 1974 and his will stipulated that St. Lawrence receive 30 percent of the royalties from all of his compositions after his wife's death. His widow, Norma Allen Gannon, St. Lawrence Class of 1925, passed away in 2000. Since that time, the University has received, an average of about $21,000 per year in royalties, with most coming from recordings of "I'll Be Home For Christmas." The song was written in 1943 by Gannon, with Walter Kent and Buck Ram.

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More Information: Music at St. Lawrence

Planned Giving at St. Lawrence

A story about "I'll Be Home For Christmas" on North Country Public Radio