Disney's Sing-Along Songs: Very Merry Christmas Songs

The title card for the original 1988 release, a storybook opening

The title card for the 2002 re-release

Very Merry Christmas Songs is a Christmas-themed Sing-Along video produced by Walt Disney Home Video, originally released in December 20, 1988. It was the fifth release in the Disney Sing Along Songs series of videos, and was reissued in 1990 and 1994 as Volume 8.

A new version of the video with some new songs added was released in November 5, 2002, with narration by the late Roscoe Lee Browne who voiced Francis from Disney's Oliver & Company.

Songs

The original 1988, 1990 and 1994 VHS releases contained the following songs:

• "From All of Us to All of You" (from the animated special of the same name)
• "Deck the Halls" (from Pluto's Christmas Tree)
• "Jingle Bells" (from Donald's Snow Fight and the Once Upon a Wintertime segment from Melody Time)
• "Joy to the World" (from the Waltz of the Flowers part of The Nutcracker Suite segment in Fantasia)
• "Up on the Housetop" (from Santa's Workshop and The Night Before Christmas with the original title card that says, "Up on a Housetop")
• "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow" (from The Night Before Christmas, Peter and the Wolf in Make Mine Music, Corn Chips, The Wind in the Willows in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, Bongo in Fun and Fancy Free, Mickey's Orphans (Technicolor version), Once Upon a Wintertime in Melody Time, The Cold-Blooded Penguin in The Three Caballeros, Peculiar Penguins, Squatter's Rights, Dumbell of the Yukon, Pluto's Christmas Tree, Chip an' Dale, and the winter ending scene of Lady and the Tramp.)
• "Sleigh Ride" (from Mickey's Christmas Carol)
• "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" (from The China Shop, Broken Toys, Santa's Workshop, and The Night Before Christmas)
• "Winter Wonderland" (from On Ice, The Autograph Hound, The Hockey Champ, Donald's Snow Fight, the winter scene of Bambi, The Cold-Blooded Penguin in The Three Caballeros, Peter and the Wolf in Make Mine Music, and Peculiar Penguins.)
• "Here Comes Santa Claus" (at Disneyland)
• "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
• "Silent Night" (from the Ave Maria segment in Fantasia)
• "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" (ending credits)

The 2002 reissue removed "From All of Us to All of You" from the actual program in addition to adding the following songs:

• "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"
• "Winnie the Pooh's Jingle Bells" (from Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year)
• "Toyland" (from Babes in Toyland)
• "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"
• "Seasons of Giving" (winter version from Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving)
• "As Long As There's Christmas" (from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas)
• "Jingle Bell Rock"
• "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"
• "White Christmas"
• "The Best Christmas of All" (from Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse)

Releases

VHS
Walt Disney Home Video, 1988

VHS
Walt Disney Home Video, 1990

VHS
Walt Disney Home Video, 1994

VHS
Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2002

DVD
Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2002

1st UK VHS release

2nd UK VHS release

1st Japanese VHS release

2nd Japanese VHS release

Trivia

• In the original issues, a still image of the Christmas tree from the animated film Lady and the Tramp is used for the closing credits. The firework shot from the TV special "From All of Us to All of You" is used at the end, as well.
• "From All of Us to All of You" is played at the end of the Advanced level of the Words of the Season vocabulary game on the 2002 DVD release.
• The song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" used footage from the 1948 Max Fleischer cartoon of the same name, as Disney has never made their own Rudolph cartoon. This is due to the cartoon being in the public domain, allowing Disney to use it without any legal trouble.
• The lyrics to the song "Jingle Bells" used footage from the 1949 Famous Studios Screen Song cartoon "Snow Foolin", which was also in the public domain. Much like the modern Sing Along Songs cartoons, the Screen Songs series used sing-along sequences and a bouncing ball to encourage crowd sing-alongs in the movie theaters.
• In the 2002 release, "Winter Wonderland" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" have the same design for the bouncing ball as the 1988 version but looks different. In addition the timing to the words are also different.
• In the 2002 release, the bouncing ball for "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" has the Mickey with the Rudolph design for all of the duration of the song but in the 1988 version, the regular Mickey bouncing ball appears but when it goes to the line, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", the Mickey bouncing ball with the Rudolph design appears and stays there for the rest of the song.
• In the 2002 release, the wraparound segments between each song have been replaced; the 2002 release uses new wraparound segments consisting of live-action Christmas sets with a narration by Roscoe Lee Browne over it. In addition in the 2002 release, the older faded prints of classic Disney cartoons and movies from the 1930s-1950s used in the 1988, 1990 and 1994 releases have been replaced by newer transfers from the 1990s which looked far superior.
• The "Sleigh Ride" sing-along omits the first two lines.
• The "Seasons of Giving" sing along uses the third version (introduction to the Christmas segment).
• The 2002 release is dedicated to Eleanor Richman-Adams.
• The ending from the House of Mouse episode "Clarabelle's Christmas List" with Mickey is featured in the 2002 release.
• There is a different arrangement for the 2002 version of "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers".
• The songs "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "Jingle Bell Rock" use their original Brenda Lee and Bobby Helms recordings.

Replaced by

• Disney Sing Along Songs: The Twelve Days of Christmas

v - e - d

International Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (1986) • Heigh-Ho (1987) • The Bare Necessities (1987) • You Can Fly! (1988) • Very Merry Christmas Songs (1988) • Fun with Music (1989) • Under the Sea (1990) • Disneyland Fun (1990) • I Love to Laugh! (1990) (a.k.a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) • Be Our Guest (1992) • Friend Like Me (1993) • The Twelve Days of Christmas (1993) • Circle of Life (1994/1995 for countries outside of North America) • Colors of the Wind (1995) • Topsy Turvy (1996) [Known as The Hunchback of Notre Dame in releases outside of the US] • Pongo & Perdita (1996) • The Early Years (1997) • The Magic Years (1997) • The Modern Classics (1997) • Sing a Song with Pooh Bear (1999) • Sing a Song with Tigger (2000, not an official Disney's Sing-Along Songs video) Outside of the US (Foreign releases) Let's Go to Disneyland Paris [Similar to Disneyland Fun] (1993) • 101 Notes of Fun (1994) [Similar to Fun with Music] • From Hercules (1997) US Exclusive Releases Honor to Us All (1998) • Happy Haunting: Party at Disneyland! (1998) • Flik's Musical Adventure at Disney's Animal Kingdom (1999) • On My Way (2003) • Little Patch of Heaven (2004) • Disney Princess Sing-Along Songs Vol. 1 - Once Upon A Dream (2004) • Disney Princess Sing-Along Songs Vol. 2 - Enchanted Tea Party (2005) • Disney Princess Sing-Along Songs Vol. 3 - Perfectly Princess (2006) See Also Disney Sing-Along Songs Theme Song