The Christmas Spirit

Untitled

The Christmas Spirit is the first Christmas album and seventeenth album by country singer Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in November 1963. It contains four original Christmas songs written by Cash and eight tracks originally penned by other artists, including "Blue Christmas" (at this point best known through the version recorded by Cash's former Sun Records labelmate Elvis Presley), "Silent Night" and "Little Drummer Boy".

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Christmas Spirit" (incorporates "O Little Town of Bethlehem")	Cash	5:03
2.	"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"	Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Jean Baptiste Calkin	2:30
3.	"Blue Christmas"	Bill Hayes, Jay Johnston	2:25
4.	"The Gifts They Gave"	Cash	3:34
5.	"Here Was a Man"	Johnny Bond, Tex Ritter	2:44
6.	"Christmas as I Knew It"	June Carter, Jan Howard	3:41
7.	"Silent Night"	Franz Gruber, Josef Mohr	3:29
8.	"The Little Drummer Boy"	Katherine Davis, Henri Onerati, Harry Simeone	2:34
9.	"Ringing the Bells for Jim"	Carter, Howard	2:47
10.	"We Are the Shepherds"	Cash	3:13
11.	"Who Kept the Sheep"	Cash, Carter	1:58
12.	"Ballad of the Harp Weaver"	Vincent Millay	4:22
Total length:			38:20

Personnel

• Johnny Cash - Vocals, Guitar
• Luther Perkins, Grady Martin, Jack Clement - Guitar
• Marshall Grant - Bass
• W.S. Holland, Buddy Harman - Drums
• Hargus "Pig" Robbins, Bill Pursell - Organ, Piano
• Maybelle Carter - Autoharp
• Anita Kerr - Organ
• Bob Johnson - Flute

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1963	Holiday Albums	7

Singles - Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1959	"The Little Drummer Boy"	Country Singles	24
1959	"The Little Drummer Boy"	Country Singles	63

External links

• Luma Electronic entry on The Christmas Spirit