Mel Tormé

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.

Jack Frost nipping at your nose.

Yuletide carols being sung by a choir.

And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Very simple story.

Bob Wells and I wrote the Christmas song together.

We were songwriting partners.

I went out to his house in Toluca Lake, California on virtually one of the hottest July days I can remember in 1945.

I went out to work.

We worked every day.

We wrote every day.

walked into the house, he was nowhere to be seen, and I walked over to the piano, and on the piano was a spiral pad, notepad, and on that spiral pad was written in pencil,

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, Yuletide carols being sung by a choir, and folks dressed up like Eskimos.

Now that's a very key line, because when Bob finally came into the room, I said, what is this, Bob, this thing on the piano?

He said, I'll tell you, I was sweltering today.

I was so hot today waiting for you to get here.

He said, I just, I thought I'd write something down, something that would cool me off.

I said, hey, that's a great idea, and you know, this just might make a song.

Twenty-five minutes later, the song was finished.

And that's the way we wrote it.