This is indeed a very rare recording as Chip and I both know all too well.  I have been searching for this record for years and I was very surprised to finally find it online and it was reasonably priced.  So I called the company because clicking on it wouldn't let me order it.

They checked, and it had been sold about 2 weeks before, maybe a little more or less.  The company said they left it on the site in the event they ever come across another copy so all they would have to do is enable the link to purchase it.  But since have removed it from their site.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, Ironically, it was Chip who had purchased it.  It is the only song from vinyl in the soundtrack of The Yule Log that I do not own.  I have all the albums that the rest of the songs are taken from.  I keep searching for this beautiful song and I can find copies of the song by Jimmy Wisner who is also the same singer of this song on the flip side of this elusive 45.

I am able to find copies of Jimmy Wisner's version, but the flip side is another song by Jimmy Wisner.  I am hoping that someone will list it on eBay thinking that Jimmy Wisner is the main singer and they list it that way and that the flip side is by "The Singing Angels"  I would easily know that it is the record I am looking for because it is on Princess Records and Jimmy Wisner is on a different record label.

Thank you Chip for Spotlighting this Beautiful Song.  If people today would only listen to what "Maria" says during the song things might be a little better in the world again like it was in 1973.

Thanks for the clarification Chip,

I knew about Arthur Godfrey's version too, but forgot about wasn't thinking of Jimmy Wisner being a musician and composer, etc.  I just knew from the information on Recordfinders website that the flip side was by Jimmy Wisner but have never seen the image of the flip side so I didn't realize it was an instrumental.  I would guess that it probably does state "Instrumental" on the label, but the other listings I've found on eBay don't say it is an instrumental by Jimmy Wisner and I don't remember hearing Arthur Godfrey's version.  I've only seen it listed on eBay.

Also not to confuse anyone, Sammy Davis Jr. did a song under the same title, but it is not the same song by any means.  I believe it is on one of the "Firestone Series either Favorite Christmas Carols From The Voice Of Firestone or Firestone Presents Your Favorite Christmas Music", but I don't remember which one it is on.  I think he also sang it with "The Rat Pack" and possibly as a single, but I am not the expert on this subject.

It's too bad that radio stations across the world aren't able to play the song today so people who don't know about The Yule Log can at least hear Maria's words and how profound they are, especially with all that is going on in the world today.

I'm sure that Jimmy Wisner wrote.Co-Wrote those words, but the way Maria says them, it as if she is saying them naturally as if she is the one who came up with them.  That is how believable they are, at least to me and I would hope to others.

Thanks again for clarifying which record series Sammy Davis' version was released on.  I get Goodyear and Firestone confused and I apologize if I confused anyone else.  I did mention "I think"  but I didn't have access to the records to reference and they haven't been cataloged on my computer yet.  There are just so many and to manually have to type in all the information I have about the albums, takes a lot of time.

I guess I should just mention that it was on a different record series, and left it at that.  But I didn't know who wrote it etc.  Sometimes on the record label or on the jacket, they list the writer and composer and arranger etc. but not always.

Thanks for the additional information and the correct title of the song and series Sammy's version was released on.  I don't know why I was thinking it was the same title.  But i had a bad day yesterday and I may lose my real tree before Christmas.  It's losing all it's needles and not soaking up any water and it was a freshly cut tree when I bought it on Black Friday.

Again I apologize for any confusion.  I know I started out with "Not to confuse anyone", but I guess I probably did being I listed the title as being the same by Sammy Davis Jr.

Sure Chip, rub it in.  j/k lol.  If I had only been a few weeks faster, I might be the one who had this very rare record in my possession.

Not counting saving my children's records, we both have been actively collecting records about the same amount of time.  But again, back when I started, I was just interested in getting an actual album and I've mentioned this before, I didn't know that some were reissues or I didn't realize that ones from the Record Clubs were licensed by the original record label to press these albums themselves and use the same artwork and catalog number, but they also had the Record Club catalog number and "Licensed by, etc." on them.

So once again, I want to thank you and let you know that I am very grateful for you in helping me to find out if I have an original release or a reissue and also directing me in the right places to find the original releases.

But thanks to you, we do have this beautiful song restored for The WPIX Yule Log.  I can't remember if in any of the 2 hour broadcasts this was still played or not.  I did watch it every year, but we didn't have VCRs in the early 1970's and then when I was able to get a VCR of my own, I video taped a few different years, but I have only found one of them.  I think the other's were in a batch of tapes that got ruined when a pipe was leaking in our basement and I lost about 200 video tapes that I had in milk crates stacked on top of each other, so the water leaked down trough the tapes.

Long before this you were able to compile a listing of all the songs that were on the original 3 hours, I don't know if this song was available at WPIX on other versions of the 2 hour broadcast, or if the songs that were omitted to get the Yule Log to fit into 2 hours were forever lost on the cutting room floor.  If it did survive, I don't know what the quality of it would be, so I think it was fate that you were able to get the 45 so it could be restored to the 3 hour broadcast.  I do realize you said "this is one of the 18 missing songs that I added back to the Yule Log soundtrack and it's one of the 12 songs that had to be digitally re-mastered from its original vinyl" So I guess in re-reading your initial post that this song was indeed lost forever on the cutting room floor.

I would guess there is a possibility that someone out there had taped this onto Reel-to-Reel and would have the song, but they could be anywhere in the world and not even know about the Message Board, so finding them would be next to impossible and then who knows what quality the recording would be?  So again, I think it was fate that you were able to find the 45.