What a thrill it was last night to see the inimitable Darlene Love reprise one of my favorite holiday traditions by playing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," her classic tune from the 1963 album "A Christmas Gift to You from Phil Spector," on late night TV just before Christmas. She appeared last night with Paul Shaffer, Steve Van Zandt and Van Zandt's band, The Disciples of Soul, on NBC's Tonight Show. Darlene was in top form, as you can see for yourself, below:
This was an especially fine moment, as it resumes a longstanding tradition that began when Love first performed the song on Late Night with David Letterman in 1986. She joined Letterman on his final show before Christmas nearly every year thereafter on both NBC and, after Letterman switched networks in 1993, CBS. Although Love doesn't seem to have lost a step since her last Letterman appearance, it's been exactly ten years. Letterman retired in 2015, and Love last performed this holiday classic for him (and us) on December 19, 2014.
Love's version of the song is currently #31 on Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart. It previously ranked as high as #15.
I've set the video above to start after Jimmy Fallon's introduction and only wish I could edit out Fallon's appearance altogether. I'm certainly glad he had her on the show, but I simply can't stomach his manic, obsequious fawning over every guest. He comes off like an awkward adolescent who's just done a few lines of blow for the first time. (Not that I'd know.) I really miss David Letterman. Why couldn't this have been on Jimmy Kimmel Live instead?
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