Almost Hits: Stevie Wonder - Someday At Christmas (1966)

It may not be as worn out as many other Christmas classics heard on the radio every holiday season, but Stevie Wonder's "Someday at Christmas" has still become a much loved standard. 

Wonder's first Christmas song is not a party record. Motown released the single in November 1966, probably in response to the tumultuous times America was living through that winter just a few months before the Summer of Love. Racial tensions were at a high point while the war in Vietnam was raging and becoming the biggest issue of division between hawks and doves, young and old.

Despite the factional tensions, the record takes a positive tone that all poverty, war and hate will be overcome in the future, even if it doesn't happen in our lifetime. Both subjects are addressed in the opening stanza. "Someday at Christmas, men won't be boys, Playing with bombs like kids play with toys, One warm December our hearts will see, A world where men are free."

"Someday at Christmas" was written by Motown staff writer Ron Miller with Bryan Wells and, it was produced by Henry Cosby. Miller and Cosby were two of Wonder's top collaborators in the days before the young singer was allowed to compose and produce his own records. When it was released the star was only sixteen years old and still several years away from proving to the world he was a musical genius.

The song reached #24 on Billboard's Christmas singles chart that year but failed to crack the Hot 100. The following year it was released as the title track of Wonder's eighth studio album, a twelve song Christmas LP issued by Berry Gordy's Tamla label.  

The Motown superstar recorded an updated version with singer Andra Day in 2015.

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Almost Hits is an occasional exploration into songs that failed to reach the top 20 on the American Billboard Hot 100. Many have become classics despite what their chart position may indicate.

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