1944.

Well, this is something. Bing Crosby in my head and it’s not even Christmas…yet. He’s just warming up, clearing his throat and getting ready.

Written by Cole Porter, this was based on a poem by Robert Fletcher, an engineer with the Department of Highways in Montana. When Porter was asked to write a Cowboy song for the 1934 film Adios, Argentina, he bought the rights to the poem for $250. The song was then resurrected for the 1944 film Hollywood Canteen when it was performed by Roy Rogers.

In the same year Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters recorded the song, in just thirty minutes apparently. On its release it sold more than a million copies and topped the US Billboard chart for eight weeks during 1944-1945.