ET was behind the scenes as Dolly recorded 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' for her holiday album 'Home For Christmas' back in 1990.
Dolly does Christmas!
Dolly Parton invited ET to a special recording session for her quintessential holiday release, Home For Christmas, back in 1990. The album marked a follow-up to her 1984 holiday album, Once Upon a Christmas with Kenny Rogers. Unlike the duet album, which included a number of original songs, Home For Christmas was full of classic holiday favorites.
"I've always wanted to do a Christmas album of the all old traditional songs that I've always loved the best," Dolly told ET in 1990. "I don't like new Christmas songs-- even if I do write them!"
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The album featured Dolly's take on Christmas classics like "First Noel," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," the track Dolly told ET has been a favorite of hers since she was a child.
"Well, I just always liked all these songs so every particular song in this album is a favorite of mine," she said. "As a kid I always loved 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town' because it was joyful it was happy and it kind of let you know that it was almost time for Christmas."
In true Dolly fashion, the country star made sure to get the whole studio into the Yuletide spirit by decking it out in wall to wall Christmas decorations. Even though, the album was recorded in July to make sure it was produced and packaged in time for the holidays.
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"If I'm going to do a Christmas album-- especially since I'm like a kid about Christmas anyway-- I like to get into the spirit of things," she told ET. "I thought, well, we can't go in the studio [when it's] 89, 90 degrees outside and really get in the spirit of things! So [we got in] and we decorated."
To see the decorations for yourself and for a special behind the scenes look at Dolly's rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," watch the video above.
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