Album of the Day

“Driving Home For Christmas” took Chris Rea down a long road, but at its end was a holiday classic. Following a December 1978 recording session at London's Abbey Road Studios, the British singer-songwriter was headed back to his home in Middlesbrough; to save money, his wife picked him up in her car. As traffic slowed to a crawl, inspiration struck when Rea saw frustration on the faces of surrounding drivers; as he recalled, “whenever the street lights shone inside the car, I started writing down lyrics.” It was years later before a melody was paired to the words, and later still before the song was committed to tape – it charted in the U.K. when released as an A-side in 1988, and again in 2007 and 2017. For those of you planning to travel during the holidays, we'll make seasonal favorite “Driving Home For Christmas” our Song of the Day.