Acclaimed actor and jazz music great Harry Connick Jr. has had an extraordinary career since his showbiz breakthrough 35 years ago with his 11 songs for the When Harry Met Sally soundtrack. Among his many accomplishments in movies and music is his landmark holiday album featuring a modern Christmas song classic.
Released in late October of 1993, the album When My Heart Finds Christmas features Connick’s covers of such holiday music standards as Sleigh Ride, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow! In addition, the album included such traditional Christmas songs as O Holy Night and What Child is This?
A prolific songwriter in his own right, Connick also included four original compositions on When My Heart Finds Christmas, including the album’s title track.
During a Zoom conversation over the summer for his latest movie, the Netflix romantic comedy Find Me Falling, Connick shared with me his memories of recording the song When My Heart Finds Christmas.
Connick said he had good vibes about when the song was coming together in the studio, but the ultimate validation that he had something special on his hands came from his father.
“I remember writing it, I remember orchestrating it, I remember conducting it and I remember singing it,” Connick recalled. “And then I remember playing it for my dad at the session at the time and he said, ‘Man, that’s a great song.’
“My dad was the most supportive person in the world, but I could tell that he really thought it would be something that people would like, so maybe that was the first time [that I felt I had something special],” Connick added.
Harry Connick Jr. Says He Has To Pinch Himself When The Song Pops Up In Public Around Christmastime
Luckily for Harry Connick Jr., he was able to play many of the selections from his holiday album for The Harry Connick Jr. Christmas Special, which aired on CBS-TV on Dec. 24, 1993. Connick ended the special with When My Heart Finds Christmas.
Connick said he knew he had a memorable song on his hands in the ensuing years when he would randomly hear it in public.
“[I’d be] going around during Christmastime doing shopping and I’d hear it on the speakers in a store and I’d just pinch myself,” Connick said, smiling. “I just try to do the best stuff that I can and the fact [that I hear people like it], I feel like, in real-time, these are the good old days. Hearing stories about [how the song has impacted people] just means the world to me.”
Find Me Falling, starring Harry Connick Jr., Ali Fumiko Whitney and Agni Scott is streaming on Netflix.
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