"I Want to Come Home for Christmas" is a holiday song recorded by Marvin Gaye in 1972. The song was co-written by Gaye and Forest Hairston and was released on a posthumous Marvin compilation titled, The Marvin Gaye Collection 18 years later.[1]
Overview
Recording
The idea of the song came to Forest Hairston after seeing pictures of people tying yellow ribbons around trees for Vietnam War troops who were POWs. The song was unfinished when Hairston's friend Marvin Gaye made an unexpected visit to Hairston's apartment, when "messing with a song" in tribute to the Vietnam troops. Gaye was interested in a holiday song of his own had Hairston play it. Gaye stopped him mid-track and began to collaborate, adding in melody and harmony parts.
Later, Gaye would continue working on it at the Motown Recording Studios' Hitsville West in Los Angeles. Gaye would produce the track solo and record it in one take. Gaye returned to Hairston's apartment for him to take a listen. Hairston heard it, immediately hugged Gaye complimenting him on his talents, then Gaye laughed.
Issues with Motown and later releases
The song was to be part of a Christmas-themed album by Gaye, was issued the Tamla number T-323L and scheduled for release in late 1972. But the album was never released.[2] Gaye struggled with Motown for the song to be released as a single in tribute of Vietnam troops. Eighteen years after its recording and six years after Gaye's untimely death, the song was reissued on The Marvin Gaye Collection. It has appeared as a bonus track on the later reissue of the compilation A Motown Christmas. Hairston would recall he received a royalty check from the song a few years later after the album's release. Critics would later label it as a "masterpiece". Ever since 1990, especially during the Iraq War, Gaye's song has become a staple on play lists for R&B radio stations during the Christmas season. The song was featured on the 2019 release of the posthumous Gaye album You’re The Man.
