As oddball collaborations go, it takes some beating: veteran crooner with a penchant for cardigans and golf throws his lot in with one of the edgiest and most innovative artists of the age. Neither cared little for each other’s work and the latter reportedly hadn’t even heard of the former. Yet four decades on from its inception, Bing Crosby and David Bowie’s duet on Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy remains a curiously affecting recording and one of the most enduring Christmas songs released.
Perhaps not surprisingly, these two iconic singers had absolutely nothing to do with the idea. It was all engineered by Ian Fraser and Larry Grossman, the two music supervisors on Crosby's A Merrie Olde Christmas special, which aired on CBS in the US, and ITV in the UK.
