The Carpenters - Merry Christmas Darling (Bruce Forsyth's Big Night 1978) - live

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The Carpenters (Karen) - Merry Christmas Darling (Bruce Forsyth's Big Night 1978-12-24) - live, stereo. Written-By – Frank Mairich Pooler, Richard Carpenter. Arranged By – Richard Lynn Carpenter. Presenter - Bruce Forsyth (Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson). Sound restoration, additional design by Vladimir Mastica (VM). See also https://youtu.be/upQDiSdk4zc
"Merry Christmas, Darling" is a Christmas song by the Carpenters (music by Richard Carpenter, lyrics by Frank Pooler), and originally recorded in 1970. It was first available on a 7-inch single that year (A&M Records 1236), and was later re-issued in 1974 (A&M 1648) and again in 1977 (A&M 1991). The single went to number one on Billboard's Christmas singles chart in 1970 (and did so again in 1971 and 1973) and peaked at number 41 on Cashbox.
In 1978, the Carpenters issued their Christmas Portrait album, which contained a new version of "Merry Christmas Darling". The original 1970 mix continued to be used for all single releases, however. The major difference between the 1970 and 1978 versions is a newly recorded vocal by Karen Carpenter on the latter, which was done at her request. Richard Carpenter himself calls the original recording one of his sister's very best.
In 2018, a version of "Merry Christmas Darling" featuring Karen Carpenter's vocals with new instrumentation appeared on the album The Carpenters With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, produced by Richard Carpenter.
History:
The lyrics were written in 1946 by 20-year-old Frank Pooler, which, according to him, were about a love interest he had at the time. 20 years later in 1966, when he was choral director at California State University, Long Beach, two of his aspiring music students, Karen and Richard Carpenter, who were beginning to have success as a local band, asked him (their favorite professor) if he had any ideas for holiday songs. According to Pooler, they had become tired of the standard holiday songs they were singing. Pooler gave them the lyrics of the song he had written from years before, and told them he did not think much of the original melody. According to Pooler, Richard wrote a new tune for the lyrics—the tune currently used—in 15 minutes. Four years later, in 1970, the Carpenters first recorded and released it as a single.