Songfacts®:

• This Hawaiian-themed Christmas song was written in 1949 by Robert Alex Anderson. The Hawaiian song title translates into English as "Merry Christmas."
• Honolulu-born Robert Alexander Anderson (1894-1995) was a successful businessman who turned his love of songwriting into a very successful second career. "Mele Kalikimaka" was one of a number of popular Hawaiian songs that he composed within the Hapa haole genre. He wrote the song after a stenographer he worked with asked him why there were no Hawaiian Christmas songs.
• Hawaii was nine years away from becoming a state when this song was released in 1950. Most folks on the mainland had never been there, but Bing Crosby knew all about it. In 1937 he starred in the movie Waikiki Wedding, where he sang "Sweet Leilani," an Oscar winner for Best Original Song. He made many trips to Hawaii and became friends with Robert Alex Anderson, who played him this song. Crosby had a steel-trap memory when it came to songs, and when he returned to the mainland, he recorded "Mele Kalikimaka" in Los Angeles and put it out as a single with a Christmas ditty called "Poppa Claus" on the B-side.
• Bing Crosby recorded the best known version of the song in 1950, duetting with The Andrews Sisters, known for their 1941 hit "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy." Other musicians that have covered the tune include Jimmy Buffett, Bette Midler, Jake Owen and KT Tunstall.
• Bing Crosby is best known for his 1940s Christmas classics "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and ""White Christmas," which both have a somber tone in deference to World War II - they are about missing home and resonated with American soldiers. On "Mele Kalikimaka" he lightens up, singing of Christmas joy even if there's no chance of a white Christmas.
• Movies to use "Mele Kalikimaka" include National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), L.A. Confidential (1997) and Catch Me If You Can (2002).
• Jamey Johnson recorded the tune for his 2014 The Christmas Song EP. His version features The Secret Sisters.
  
  Johnson told Billboard magazine: "When I was thinking about who to do the female part, there was only one thought: the Secret Sisters. They are the only ones I know that have that vocal control and that style of harmony. Everything they do is so spot-on. They are our modern-day version of the Andrews Sisters."
• In The Office episode "Doomsday" (2011), Gabe sings this while he hula dances with Darryl's support belt. It was also used in the TV shows Hawaii Five-0 ("Hana 'a'a Makehewa" - 2010), Two And A Half Men ("Give Santa A Tail-Hole" - 2012), Arrested Development ("In God We Trust" - 2003) and Ted Lasso ("Carol Of The Bells" - 2021).