I Want to Come Home for Christmas

"I Want to Come Home for Christmas" is a holiday song recorded by Marvin Gaye in 1972. The song was co-written by Gaye and Forest Hairston and was released on a posthumous Marvin compilation titled, The Marvin Gaye Collection 18 years later.^[1]

Overview

Recording

The idea of the song came to Forest Hairston after seeing pictures of people tying yellow ribbons around trees for Vietnam War troops who were forced to be prisoners of war or P.O.W. Hairston hadn't finished writing the song when Marvin Gaye, who he had become friends with, happened to stop by his house. When Gaye asked Hairston what he was working on, he said he was "messing with a song" in tribute to the Vietnam troops. Gaye had mentioned to Hairston that he wanted to have a holiday song of his own and asked Hairston to play him a bit of it. Gaye stopped him mid-track and began to work more on the track with him, adding in melody and harmony parts.

Gaye later took Hairston's track and went to the Motown Recording Studios in Los Angeles, otherwise known as Hitsville West, and produced the track himself. Gaye finished the recording in one take and after it was recorded on tape, returned to Hairston's apartment and slipped the tape in Hairston's recorder. When Hairston heard it, he immediately hugged Gaye complimenting his talents, to which Gaye laughed.

Issues with Motown and later releases

Gaye struggled to get the song released as a single for Vietnam troops with Motown.Eighteen years after its recording and six years after Gaye's untimely death, the song was reissued on The Marvin Gaye Collection. It also appeared as a bonus track on a later reissue of the compilation A Motown Christmas. Hairston would recall he received a royalty check from the song a few years later after the album's release. Later evaluation of the song by critics labeled it as a "masterpiece". Ever since 1990, especially during the Iraq War, Gaye's song has been played on R&B radio stations during the Christmas season.

Credits

All vocals by Marvin Gaye
Instruments by The Funk Brothers and Marvin Gaye
Written by Forest Hairston and Marvin Gaye
Produced and arranged by Marvin Gaye

References

↑ "The Marvin Gaye Collection". Discogs.com. Retrieved January 12, 2016. previously unreleased

Marvin Gaye singles discography

1960s: (Tamla)	1961 "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" 1962 "Sandman" "Soldier's Plea" "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" "Hitch Hike" 1963 "Pride and Joy" "Can I Get a Witness" 1964 "You're a Wonderful One" "Once Upon a Time" "What's the Matter with You Baby" "Try It Baby" "Baby Don't You Do It" "What Good Am I Without You" "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" 1965 "I'll Be Doggone" "Pretty Little Baby" "Ain't That Peculiar" 1966 "One More Heartache" "Take This Heart of Mine" "Little Darling (I Need You)" "It Takes Two" 1967 "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" "Your Unchanging Love" "Your Precious Love" "You" "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You"/"If This World Were Mine" 1968 "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" "You're All I Need to Get By" "Chained" "Keep On Lovin' Me Honey" "You Ain't Livin' till You're Lovin'" "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" 1969 "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By" "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" "That's the Way Love Is" "Abraham, Martin and John" "What You Gave Me" "How Can I Forget"

1970s: (Tamla)	1970 "Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got" "The Onion Song" "California Soul" "The End of Our Road" 1971 "What's Going On" "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" "Save the Children" 1972 "You're the Man" "Trouble Man" "I Want to Come Home for Christmas" 1973 "Let's Get It On" "You're a Special Part of Me" "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" "Come Get to This" 1974 "You Sure Love to Ball" "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" "Don't Knock My Love" "You Are Everything" "Distant Lover" 1976 "I Want You" "After the Dance" " Since I Had You" 1977 "Got to Give It Up" 1978 "Pops, We Love You (A Tribute to Father)" 1979 "A Funky Space Reincarnation" "Anger" "Ego Tripping Out"

1980s: (Tamla/ Columbia)	1981 "Praise" "Heavy Love Affair" 1982 "Sexual Healing" 1983 "My Love Is Waiting" "'Til Tomorrow" "Joy"

Posthumous	1985 "Sanctified Lady" "It's Madness" "Just Like" 1986 "The World Is Rated X" 1991 "My Last Chance" 1994 "Lucky, Lucky Me" 2001 "Music" 2005 "Let's Get It On (The M.P.G. Groove Remix)"

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