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Hello, I am Joshua P. Warren, and this is Joshua P. Warren Daily. Around holidays, I like to share funny little stories about the origin of things, and this is one of them. In 1944, a music teacher named Donald Yedder Gardner lived in a sleepy suburb east of New York City called Smithtown. His wife was a music teacher for grade school. Now we're talking about little kids, maybe six or seven years old, and one day, during the busy Christmas season, his wife asked if he could fill in for her. Well he agreed, and the next thing you knew he was standing in front of a wide-eyed group of kids excited about all the gifts they might soon receive. It was a slow, snowy day, so Donald decided to ask each student in the class, What do you want for Christmas? Well the kids were more than happy to tell him all about it. But as the kids talked, there was something that stood out more to him than the gifts they described. He noticed that most of the kids couldn't even properly say the word Christmas. Instead they would lisp Christmas since most of them were missing one or two of their front baby teeth. I think you see where this is going now. So in a flash of holiday genius, Donald Gardner sat down right then and wrote a song in thirty minutes. It was a funny little song, a quirky one, and the kids loved it. From time to time over the next few years he would perform the song for friends and students. And in 1948, Donald stood up at a music teacher's conference and played his silly little Christmas song. And guess what? An employee of a major music publisher was in that audience. And soon Donald's song was on the radio. It was a huge hit. To this day it's been covered by major artists like Ray Stevens, George Strait, Danny Kay, Nat King Cole, the Chipmunks, the Three Stooges, and even Count Von Count of Sesame Street. Donald lived to be ninety-one years old, and in nineteen ninety five he said in an interview, quote, I was amazed at the way that silly little song was picked up by the whole country, end quote. Yes, I'm talking about the song All I Want for Christmas is my two front teeth. And I'll play a sample of it for you now. Hey, this podcast is called Joshua P. Warren Daily. Always short, always free. Follow me on Twitter at Joshua P. Warren or subscribe at Joshua P. Warren.com. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

It seems so long since I could say Sister Susie sitting on a sisle. Gosh, how happy I'd be if I could only whistle. All I want for Christmas is my two friends. My two friends, see my two franky. Gee, if I could only have my two front teeth, then I could wish you Merry Christmas. It seems so long since.