Released December 6, 1982 Genre ChristmasCountry Label RCA | Format 7" Length 3:37 | |
B-side "Christmas Is Just a Song For Us This Year" (original)"Thistlehair the Christmas Bear" (re-release) | ||
"Christmas in Dixie" is a song by American country band Alabama. It was released as a single in December 1982 from the RCA Records compilation album A Country Christmas. The Christmas song celebrates the holiday in the southern United States. The song was included on Alabama's 1985 Christmas album (titled Alabama Christmas), and has since been included on many Christmas compilations in both the country and all-genre music fields.
Contents
Background
The song is a celebration of Christmas in the southern United States. Each verse begins with two references to non-Southeastern areas (New York City, New York; California; Chicago, Illinois and Detroit Michigan which is referred as "Motown") followed by two references to Southeastern cities (Memphis, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi and Charlotte, North Carolina) and a final reference to Fort Payne, Alabama (the group's hometown).
The version released originally on A Country Christmas, as well as the version most often played on radio in the U.S., features a spoken-word Christmas greeting by each member of Alabama prior to the song's conclusion. The original single release was part of a double A-sided holiday release issued by RCA Records, paired with "Christmas Is Just a Song For Us This Year" by Louise Mandrell and R.C. Bannon. A 1997 rerelease had "Thistlehair the Christmas Bear" as its b-side.
Lawsuit
In 2010, Allan Caswell initiated a lawsuit against ATV/Sony, who published both his song, "On The Inside" and the Alabama song "Christmas In Dixie", because he thought that it plagiarized the theme song he wrote for Prisoner, On the Inside. This action was based on ATV Sony commissioning a copyright expert to provide advice as to whether a plagiarism had taken place.
Chart performance
The original version spent seven weeks on the charts between late 1982 and early 1983, peaking at number 35. It re-entered the chart three times between 1997 and 2000.
Covers
The song was covered by Kenny Chesney on his 2003 album All I Want for Christmas Is a Real Good Tan and featured Alabama's lead singer Randy Owen joining him on the track.