"A Very Special Christmas" - Various Artists

Compilation Album

U2 Related Content:

Full Track Listing:


CD Release:
  • Santa Clause is Coming to Town – Pointer Sisters (3:21)
  • Winter Wonderland – Eurythmics (3:34)
  • Do You Hear What I Hear? – Whitney Houston (3:31)
  • Merry Christmas Baby – Bruce Springsteen (4:51)
  • Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – The Pretenders (4:40)
  • I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause – John Mellancamp (2:38)
  • Gabriel’s Message – Sting (2:10)
  • Christmas in Hollis – Run D.M.C. (2:59)
  • Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – U2 (2:19)
  • Santa Baby – Madonna (2:34)
  • The Little Drummer Boy – Bob Segar (3:29)
  • Run Rudolph Run – Bryan Adams (2:42)
  • Back Door Santa – Bon Jovi (3:45)
  • The Coventry Carol – Alison Moyet (3:24)
  • Silent Night – Stevie Nicks (4:36)

Other Tracks:

  • I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas – Bon Jovi (4:26)

Background Information

“A Very Special Christmas” was the first in a line of Christmas albums with proceeds from the sales of the albums going to benefit Special Olympics. The first album was overseen by Jimmy Iovine for A&M Records. The “A Very Special Christmas” album was originally designed as a memorial tribute to Iovine’s late father. Iovine’s spouse, Vicki was a Special Olympics volunteer, and suggested to Jimmy that the holiday album should benefit the Special Olympics. The couple won the approval of Special Olympics Founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver and a legacy was born. Artists donated their time and talent, and producers and labels waived their fees. The result is that 100% of the proceeds of sales of the “A Very Special Christmas” album goes directly back to Special Olympics

U2 performs the song “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” a song originally written by Phil Spector. They recorded the track at a 1987 tour stop in Glasgow Scotland. Darlene Love was present to contribute backing vocals to the track. A video was filmed for the song which was released to music television, and the song received high airplay at Christmastime on these stations. Darlene Love has performed the song each year since 1986 on final new episode before Christmas of the David Letterman talk show.

Initial releases of the album contained Bon Jovi’s “Back Door Santa” but later CD reissues dropped this track in favor of their version of “I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas”. As well, a spoken word introduction by a child to the Pretenders “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was also dropped in these later pressings. In 2010 a multi-disc set was produced which contained “A Very Special Christmas” and “A Very Special Christmas 2” on CD, as well as a DVD that features twelve videos from these recordings throughout the years, including the video for U2’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home”. The album also was pressed in the MFSL series of gold albums by Mobile Fidelity.

The album featured Keith Haring’s artwork on the front cover. U2 also used his artwork on the screens behind them on 1997’s Popmart tour during the song “One”.

U2 would later release this song on “The Complete U2” as a song on the “Unreleased & Rare” digital album.

Liner Notes

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home):
Written by P. Spector and E. Greenwich. Produced by Jimmy Iovine. Recorded by Scott Litt and Thom Panuzio with Manor Mobile at sound check in Glasgow, Scotland, July 29, 1987. Backing Vocal: Darlene Love.

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