1966- "Someday At Christmas"

.....When this single debuted, Ron Miller had been keeping busy around Motown as a pianist and increasingly as a composer since the early 1960's. During that time, as Stevie Wonder got older there came a period after the novelty of his being a prodigy had worn off and before he eventually became a capable composer in his own right. Unlike many child performers, he grew gradually into an adult repertoire without derailing. If there was any awkwardness, it wasn't in his adolescence but in attempts to market him when he was no longer 'Little Stevie' (for example, the 1964 album STEVIE AT THE BEACH could have been rethought). Many of Wonder's early writing credits were collaborations with Sylvia Moy and producers Henry Cosby and Clarence Paul. In 1966 Ron Miller contributed "A PLACE IN THE SUN". A month after it was recorded (but a couple weeks before it would be available as an A-side) Wonder entered the studio to record two more Miller originals for a Christmas single.

• 02:48 "SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS" (Ron Miller, Bryan Wells)
• 02:23 b/w "THE MIRACLES OF CHRISTMAS" (Ron Miller, Aurora Miller)
• performed by Stevie Wonder
• original source: 7" Tamla T-54142 (US) 11/22/66
• and my source: (A-side) CD MERRY CHRISTMAS/SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS Motown/MCA MCD08041MD (US) 1986 and (B-side) VACD CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Motown Master Series 37463-6326-2 (Germany) 10/19/93

.....The following year the A-side, "SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS", would become the title track to a full album produced, as these were, by Henry Cosby. There would be more songs co-written by Miller but none of them would be as arresting as this one, an anti-war song that contrasts Nativity promises of hope against persistent global problems. Both sides were recorded October 9, 1966, the day before the release of the Simon and Garfunkel album LP PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY & THYME Columbia CS9363 (US) 10/10/66 which ends with the duo singing "SILENT NIGHT" over a simulated Seven O'Clock News broadcast. There must have been something in the air, although the tone of the Stevie Wonder single is unquestionably hopeful and the Simon and Garfunkel track seems cynical but is arguably ambiguous and probably deliberately so. That may explain the comparative durability of the Stevie Wonder song. In 2009 Justin Bieber performed "SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS" at the White House for President Obama and the first family (well, let's be honest; the Obamas had two daughters under the age of 14, so this wasn't really for the President). Because the concert was televised as a charity fundraiser there are multiple postings on Youtube. [In a weird coincidence, the performance was recorded shortly after Bieber released his debut EP containing the original song "DOWN TO EARTH", which was also the title of the Stevie Wonder album containing the Miller song "A PLACE IN THE SUN".]

.....The B-side is less weighty, despite the title. It simply lists random images of Christmas decorations and winter scenarios. Although neither song was included on the 1968 company album, "SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS" has appeared on most of the major Motown Christmas compilations including those in 1973, 1995 and 2009 and numerous minor midline and bargain items in between. It also appears on the full album of the same name, which has been reissued regularly in different formats. "THE MIRACLES OF CHRISTMAS" is a bit scarcer but I have found at least three CD pressings containing it and no other vinyl since the single. In all three cases it appears with a similar song called "EVERYONE'S A KID AT CHRISTMAS TIME", an outtake from the 1967 album sessions and also written by Ronald and Aurora Miller. They appear on:

• VACD CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Motown Master Series 37463-6326-2 (Germany) 10/19/93
• VACD A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM MOTOWN Volume 1 Spectrum 544 672-2 (UK) 10/05/01
• CD 20TH CENTURY MASTERS/THE CHRISTMAS COLLECTION: THE BEST OF STEVIE WONDER Motown/Universal B0002831-02 (US) 09/21/04

.....That last title simply adds the two non-album tracks to the end of the 1967 album. That may seem unimaginative, but it does reunite the two sides of the single for the first time in almost forty years.