But the song’s popularity is a Christmas gift -- literally -- for St. Lawrence University, which benefits from the royalties earned by the estate of its composer, 1924 graduate J. Kimball “Kim” Gannon.
According to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the song received 20,478 “spins” on radio between Oct. 1 and Dec. 1, which is just the start of the holiday music season on radio. ASCAP compiled a list of the Top 10 holiday songs tracked during the period by the radio airplay monitoring service Mediaguide, from over 2,500 radio stations nationwide. “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” is Number 10 on the list, with the most popular version sung by Amy Grant.
Its heavy airplay is good news for St. Lawrence, because the university receives a share of the royalties each time the song is performed and played. Gannon, who also wrote St. Lawrence’s alma mater, passed away in 1974 and his will stipulated that St. Lawrence receive 30 percent of the royalties from all of his compositions after his wife’s death. His widow, Norma Allen Gannon, St. Lawrence Class of 1925, passed away in 2000.
To date this calendar year, SLU has received $31,600 from the bequest, with the majority coming from royalties from recordings and performances of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.” Annual amounts have ranged from about $20,000 to over $30,000.
The song was written in 1943 by Gannon, with Walter Kent and Buck Ram, and first recorded by Bing Crosby. It has been recorded by hundreds of artists since then; new versions this year have been released by the groups Take 6 and the Indigo Girls.