Faith: A Holiday Album

Faith: A Holiday Album
Studio album by Kenny G
Released	November 16, 1999
Genre	Jazz
Length	36:37
Label	Arista
Producer	Kenny G Walter Afanasieff
Kenny G chronology
Classics in the Key of G (1999) Faith: A Holiday Album (1999) In America (2001)

Faith: A Holiday Album is the second holiday album by saxophonist Kenny G. It was released by Arista Records in 1999, and peaked at number 1 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, number 4 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, number 5 on the Internet Albums chart and number 6 on the Billboard 200.^[1] The album also received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Album.

Faith: A Holiday Album was also the best-selling holiday album of 1999 in the United States according to sales figures from Nielsen/SoundScan, with total sales of 1,575,000 copies that year.^[2] As of November 2014, the album has sold 2,750,000 copies in the U.S. according to SoundScan.^[3]

On November 5, 2002, Faith: A Holiday Album was certified Triple Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of three million copies in the U.S.^[4]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[5]
Chicago Tribune	(unfavorable) [6]

Track listing

1. "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" (Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne) - 3:08
2. "The First Noel" (William Sandys) - 3:08
3. "I'll Be Home for Christmas" (Kim Gannon/Walter Kent/Buck Ram) - 3:33
4. "Sleigh Ride" (Leroy Anderson/Mitchell Parish) - 3:48
5. "The Christmas Song" (Mel Tormé/Robert Wells) - 4:02
6. "Medley: We Three Kings/Carol of the Bells" (John Henry Hopkins/Mikhail Leontovich/Peter Wilhousky) - 4:07
7. "O Christmas Tree" (Traditional) - 2:39
8. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (J. Fred Coots/Haven Gillespie) - 3:52
9. "Eternal Light (A Chanukah Song)" (Walter Afanasieff/Kenny G) - 2:53
10. "Ave Maria" (Franz Schubert) - 4:30
11. "Auld Lang Syne" (Robert Burns/Traditional) - 4:56
12. "Auld Lang Syne: The Millennium Mix" (Robert Burns/Traditional) - 7:53
13. "Voice" (Bonus track) - 7:53

Singles

Information taken from this source.^[7]

Year	Title	Chart positions
		US Adult Contemporary	US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	US Hot 100	US Adult Top 40	US Hot Country Singles & Tracks	US Top 40 Mainstream	US Top 40 Tracks
1999	"Auld Lang Syne"	#3	#57	#7	#15	#49	#40	#30

The Millennium Mix

Auld Lang Syne: The Millennium Mix consisted of Kenny playing the song on the saxophone while historical sound clips were played over the recording. The clips followed a rough chronological order, beginning with Thomas Edison's invention of recordable sound to the year of the song's release. The clips focused on American, and to a lesser extent, British history. The song included six clips from baseball and at least six clips from American television programs. Kenny performed this version of the song live on December 31, 1999 at Times Square and Used after Times Square Ball dropped become to new year in 2000-2002.

The clips included in the recording:

• "The first words I spoke in the original phonograph: "Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure to go." - Thomas Edison (1927 re-enactment of 1877 recording)^[8] (appears 0:01 into the "Millennium Mix" track)
• "...the Distinguished Flying Cross upon Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh." - Calvin Coolidge (June 11, 1927) (0:44)
• "Today, frightened investors ordered their brokers to sell at whatever the price and the stock market crashed." - Unidentified Reporter (October 29, 1929)
• "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first inaugural address (March 4, 1933) (0:55)
• "It's a horrific crash, ladies and gentlemen, it's smoke and it's flames now. Oh, the humanity!" - Herbert Morrison reporting the Hindenburg disaster (May 6, 1937)
• "Now with the help and support of the woman I love..." - Edward VIII abdicating the throne (December 11, 1936) (1:04)
• "...urging the people to evacuate the city as Martians approach." - The War of the Worlds radio broadcast (October 30, 1938) (1:07)
• "...never to go to war with one another again." - Neville Chamberlain after the Munich Agreement (September 30, 1938) (1:10)
• "...dann wird den Juden..." ("...then the Jews...") - Joseph Goebbels speaking in German referring to the Jews
• "This country is at war with Germany." - Neville Chamberlain bringing the United Kingdom into World War II (1:13)
• Attack on Pearl Harbor
  

  Ships burning at Pearl Harbor
  • "December 7, 1941..." - Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Infamy Speech (December 8, 1941) (1:16)
  • "The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor." - Unidentified Reporter
  • "...a date which will live in infamy" - Roosevelt (1:21)
• "This is Bob 'Command Performance' Hope telling each Nazi that's in Russia today that Crimea doesn't pay." - Bob Hope (from a Command Performance radio program) (1944)
• "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." - Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium (July 4, 1939) (1:29)
• "President Franklin D. Roosevelt stricken late today..." - Unidentified Reporter on the death of Roosevelt (April 12, 1945)
• Who's on First? routine by Abbott and Costello
  • "Well then who's on first?" - Costello
  • "Yes." - Abbott
  • "I mean the fellow's name." - Costello
  • "Who." - Abbott
• "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima" - Harry Truman (August 1945) (1:39)
  • "Who is on first!" - Abbott
  • "Now what are you asking me for?" - Costello
• "Reports from the new Germany tell of horrors leading to the total extermination of the Jews of Europe." - Unidentified Reporter (1945)
• "...iron curtain has descended across the continent..." - Winston Churchill (March 5, 1946) (1:49)
• "Jackie Robinson goes to bat for the first time in the Major Leagues." - Unidentified Reporter (April 15, 1947)
• "Old soldiers never die. They just..." - Douglas MacArthur (April 19, 1951)
• "Lucy?" - Desi Arnaz on I Love Lucy
• "...fade away." - MacArthur
• "Ahhhhh!" - Lucille Ball
• "There was a little cocker spaniel dog. And our little girl, Tricia, the six year old, named it 'Checkers.'" - Richard Nixon (September 23, 1952) (2:01)
• "Are you a member of the Communist Party?" - Joseph McCarthy
• "Oh, a cop, eh?" "Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo..." - Curly Howard of The Three Stooges (from film short "A Plumbing We Will Go") (1940) ^[9]
• "Or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" - McCarthy
• "The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" - Russ Hodges calling Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard 'Round the World" (October 3, 1951)
• "Baby, you're the greatest." - Jackie Gleason on The Honeymooners
• "...from Sun recording artist, Elvis Presley." - Steve Allen (from "The Steve Allen Show") (July 1, 1956)
• "I'd like to thank all, all the wonderful folks, and I'd like to thank you, too." - Elvis Presley (July 1, 1956)
• "Three young singers were killed today in the crash of a light plane." - Unidentified Reporter (February 3, 1959)
• "American Bandstand. And now, here is the star of our show, Dick Clark!" - Unidentified Announcer
• "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." - John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address (January 20, 1961) (2:34)
• "They're standing up, waiting to see if Maris is going to hit number 61" - Phil Rizzuto (October 1, 1961)^[10]
• "Godspeed, John Glenn." - Scott Carpenter during the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission (February 20, 1962) (2:45)
• "Happy Birthday, Mr. President." - Marilyn Monroe (May 19, 1962) (2:46)
• "...wondering how and why, Marilyn Monroe died." - Unidentified Reporter (August 5, 1962)
• "Something has happened in the motorcade route." - Unidentified Reporter in Dallas, Texas (November 22, 1963)
• "President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central Standard Time" - Walter Cronkite
• "Lee Harvey Oswald was shot..." - Unidentified Reporter (November 24, 1963)
• The Civil Rights Movement
  

  March on Washington
  • "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." - Martin Luther King, Jr. (August 28, 1963) (2:57)
  • "And I say segregation now..." - George Wallace in his first inaugural address (January 14, 1963)
  • "What we have foremost in common is that enemy..." - Malcolm X, "Message to the Grass Roots" (November 10, 1963)^[11]
  • "...segregation tomorrow..." - Wallace
  • "...the white man." - X
  • "...and segregation forever." - Wallace
  • "He's an enemy to all of us." - X
  • "I have a dream today!" - King
  • "I am about to sign into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964." - Lyndon Johnson (July 2, 1964) (3:21)
• "The Beatles!" - Unidentified Announcer
• "I have today ordered to Vietnam the Airmobile Division. Additional forces will be needed later and they will be sent." - Lyndon Johnson (July 29, 1965)
• "I have very sad news for all of you. Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee." - Robert F. Kennedy (April 4, 1968) (3:35)
• "Senator Kennedy has been shot! Is that possible?" - Andrew West (June 5, 1968)
• "As he said many times in many parts of this nation, 'Some men s-see things as they are and say "Why?" I dream things that never were and say "Why not?"'" - Ted Kennedy eulogising his brother by paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw (June 8, 1968) (3:53)
• "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." - Neil Armstrong first setting foot on the Moon during Apollo 11 (July 21, 1969) (4:06)
• The Woodstock Festival (August 1969)
  • "It's a free concert from now on." - Chip Monck^[12]
  • "We must be in Heaven, man!" - Wavy Gravy (4:14)
• "Four persons including two women were shot and killed in Ohio today. Hundreds of students were involved as National Guard..." - Unidentified Reporter (May 4, 1970)
• "There will be a killer and a thriller and a chiller when I get the gorilla in Manila." - Muhammad Ali (1975)
• "I have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam." - Richard Nixon (January 23, 1973) (4:28)
• "There's a drive into left center field. That ball is gonna be, out of here! It's gone! It's 715! There's a new home run champion of all time and it's Henry Aaron!" - Milo Hamilton (April 8, 1974)
• "Well, I'm not a crook." - Richard Nixon (November 17, 1973)
• "Heeeeere's Johnny!" - Ed McMahon on The Tonight Show (4:46)
• "I shall resign the Presidency effective at noon tomorrow." - Richard Nixon (August 8, 1974) (4:51)
• "...an absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon." - Gerald Ford (September 8, 1974)
• "My name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm running for President." - Jimmy Carter in his acceptance speech at the 1976 Democratic National Convention (July 15, 1976)^[13] (4:55)
• "Live from New York, it's Saturday night!" - Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live
• "Elvis Presley died today at Baptist Hospital in Memphis." - John Tesh (August 16, 1977)
• "John Lennon was brought to the emergency room. He was dead on arrival." - Dr. Stephan Lynn of Roosevelt Hospital (December 8, 1980)
• "Today marks day number 64 in the hostage crisis in Iran." - Unidentified Reporter (January 7, 1980)
• The wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana (July 29, 1981)
  • "I, Diana Frances, take thee, Philip Charles Arthur George" - Diana
  • "...to my wedded husband." - Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury
  • "...to my wedded husband." - Diana
• "...a disease striking primarily in the gay community called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome." - Unidentified Reporter
• Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (January 28, 1986)
  

  Challenger explodes
  • "Liftoff of the 25th Space Shuttle Mission, and it has cleared the tower." - Hugh Harris, television reporter
  • "Roger roll, Challenger." - Dick Covey, Mission Control^[14]
  • "We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of God." - Ronald Reagan eulogizing the Challenger crew by paraphrasing the poem High Flight by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (5:32)
• 1988 vice presidential debate (October 5, 1988)
  • "I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the Presidency." - Dan Quayle (5:50)
  • "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." - Lloyd Bentsen (5:55)
• "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." - Ronald Reagan (June 12, 1987)
• The Iran–Contra affair
  • "I don't think it was wrong." - Oliver North (July 9, 1987)
  • "We did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages." - Ronald Reagan (November 13, 1986)
  • "I think it was a neat idea." - North
• "Everyone on Sesame Street is always talking about love. Yuck." - Caroll Spinney as Oscar the Grouch
• "Hundreds of Berliners from East and West standing atop the Wall, with chisels and hammers..." - George H. W. Bush (1989)
• "The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated." - Bernard Shaw reporting on the Gulf War. (January 16, 1991)
• "Read my lips." - George H. W. Bush (August 18, 1988) (6:19)
• "We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder, a felony upon Nicole Brown Simpson, a human being..." - Deidre Robertson, clerk to Lance Ito, reading the verdict of the O. J. Simpson murder case (October 3, 1995)
• "Princess Diana died of injuries suffered in a car accident in Paris..." - Unidentified Reporter (August 31, 1997)
• "I'm Ellen and I'm gay." - Ellen DeGeneres (1997)
• "Yeah, baby! Yeah." - Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997) (6:33)
• "There it is! 62, folks, and we have a new home run champion: Mark McGwire." - Mike Shannon (September 8, 1998)
• "Welcome. You've got mail." - Elwood Edwards, the voice of AOL (1989)
• The Lewinsky scandal
  • "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." - Bill Clinton (January 26, 1998)
  • "This vast right-wing conspiracy conspiring against my husband." - Hillary Clinton (January 27, 1998)
  • ("Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat." - Bill Scott as Bullwinkle J. Moose)
  • "Indeed I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate." - Bill Clinton (August 17, 1998)
  • ("Again?!" - June Foray as Rocky the Flying Squirrel)
  • "In fact, it was wrong." "I need to go back to work for the American people." - Bill Clinton
• "The young killers of Columbine High School do not stand for the spirit of America. We can rise up and we can say 'No more.'" - Al Gore (in his Columbine Memorial Address) (April 25, 1999)^[15]
• "Let the word go forth from this time and place, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans." - John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address (January 20, 1961)

A few years later a similar version of the song was produced to include the September 11 attacks, and was dubbed the Freedom Mix.

References

1. Charts & Awards at Allmusic
2. "Chart Watch Extra: Bring On Christmas!". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
3. "The Gifts That Keep on Giving: Biggest Radio and Album Hits of the Holidays". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 1, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2014.
4. "RIAA Searchable Database - Gold & Platinum Certifications". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2014-12-02.
5. Allmusic review
6. Chicago Tribune review
7. Billboard Singles at Allmusic
8. Edison's Recordings
9. A PLUMBING WE WILL GO at The Three Stooges Online Filmography
10. Roger Maris: The 61st Home Run, October 1, 1961
12. BEING AT WOODSTOCK: THE MUSIC OF ALIENATION
13. 1976 Democratic National Convention Acceptance Address
14. Challenger timeline
15. Columbine Memorial Address