My Favorite Things (song)

"My Favorite Things"
Song
Published1959 by Williamson Music
GenreShow tune
ComposerRichard Rodgers
LyricistOscar Hammerstein II

"My Favorite Things" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music.

In the original Broadway production, the song was introduced by Mary Martin playing Maria and Patricia Neway playing Mother Abbess. Julie Andrews first performed the song in a 1961 Christmas special for The Garry Moore Show, recording it again when she starred as Maria in the 1965 film adaptation of the musical.

Many of the favorite things evoke winter time imagery including warm mittens, packages, sleigh bells, snowflakes, and silver white winters. The song's cozy lyrics inspired its adoption as a staple of the holiday season, significantly bolstered by the movie's popularity.

The screen version of the song was ranked number 64 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs, a 2004 survey of top tunes in American cinema.

Cover versions

John Coltrane played a 14-minute version in E minor as the title track of an album recorded in October 1960 and released in March 1961. It became a signature song for Coltrane in concert, also appearing on Newport '63 in 1963.[1] Coltrane's recording turned the song into a jazz standard that was included in the Real Book.[2]

In 1961, jazz vocalist Mark Murphy recorded the song on his 1962 Riverside Records album Rah track 8.[3][4]

In 1964, Jack Jones became the first of many artists to include the song on a Christmas album.[5]

In 1965, a popular version of the song performed by Diana Ross and The Supremes was included in the group's album release Merry Christmas.[6] Their version was featured in the 2018 Christmas film of The Grinch soundtrack.[7]

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass released a version in 1969 as a single from their 1968 album, Christmas Album. It reached number 45 on the Billboard 100.

Kenny Rogers recorded a version which appeared on his first holiday album titled "Christmas" in 1981.

Lorrie Morgan's version appeared in 1994 and again in 1999 at number 64 and number 69, respectively, on the Hot Country Songs chart after she recorded it for her 1993 album, Merry Christmas from London.[8]

UK R&B group Big Brovaz released a version in 2003 titled "Favourite Things" with reworked lyrics about expensive and glamorous objects.

Chicago dropped a Latin beat onto their 2011 version featured on their album, Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three. It reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

In her 2019 song "7 Rings", Ariana Grande interpolates the melody of "My Favorite Things".[9] The song topped the charts in 15 countries.

Christina Aguilera covered the song in 2025 for her theatrical concert film Christina Aguilera: Christmas in Paris, directed by Sam Wrench.[10][11]

Charts

The Supremes version

Chart (1966) Peak
position
Singapore (Billboard)[12] 10

Glee Cast version

Chart (2011–12) Peak
position
Hot Canadian Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[13] 74
US Holiday Digital Song Sales (Billboard)[14] 21

Christina Aguilera version

Weekly chart performance for "My Favorite Things"
Chart (2025) Peak
position
Costa Rica Anglo Airplay (Monitor Latino)[15] 14

References

  1. ^ Giddins, Gary (October 22, 1998). Visions of Jazz: The First Century. Oxford University Press. p. 485. ISBN 978-0-19-987953-3.
  2. ^ "My Favorite Things", Real Book, 5th Edition. 306.
  3. ^ "Rah - Mark Murphy | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  4. ^ "My Favorite Things by Mark Murphy". SecondHandSongs.
  5. ^ Bronson, Fred (December 21, 2017). "Mystery Solved: Here's How 'My Favorite Things' From 'The Sound of Music' Became a Christmas Song". Billboard. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  6. ^ Merry Christmas at Discogs
  7. ^ "The Grinch (2018) - IMDb". IMDb.
  8. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2.
  9. ^ Hershberg, Marc (February 7, 2019). "Rodgers and Hammerstein Top the Pop Charts". Forbes. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  10. ^ Kaufman, Gil (November 25, 2025). "Watch Christina Aguilera Count Down a Few of Her 'Favorite Things' in Preview of 'Christmas in Paris' Special". Billboard. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
  11. ^ Gray, Melina (November 25, 2025). "A Paris Holiday Moment From Christina Aguilera Turns a Classic New Again". Parade. Retrieved November 26, 2025.
  12. ^ "Billboard HITS OF THE WORLD". Billboard. February 5, 1966. p. 37.
  13. ^ "Glee Cast Chart History (Hot Canadian Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  14. ^ "Glee Cast Chart History (Holiday Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  15. ^ "Top 20 Costa Rica – Anglo – Del 22 al 28 de Diciembre, 2025" [Top 20 Costa Rica – English – From 22 to 28 December, 2025] (in Spanish). Monitor Latino. December 29, 2025. Retrieved January 2, 2026.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.