This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human. And we continue with our American stories, and we love telling stories about songs and about music.

Because in the end, music, while it bridges cultural divides, it bridges generational divides, ethnic and racial divides as well.

This one is the story behind David Bowie and Bing Crosby's unlikely Hollywood duet.

There have been other musical collaborations in the past.

In 2001, Elton John performed with M&M at the 2001 Grammys.

In 1984, Spanish pop singer Julio Inglacius and West Texan troubadour Willie Nelson recorded

to all the girls I've loved before.

But of all the unlikely duets dotting pop music history,

the one that brought together 73-year-old American crooner Bing Crosby

and 30-year-old British glam rocker David Bowie is the best. Their collaboration in the fall of

1977 proved to be one of the most enduring recordings of either man's career and an instant

Christmas classic. Indeed, the story of how Peace on Earth little drummer boy came to be is itself classic.

The two men could not have been more different.

They came from different countries and different generations.

And the two men had radically different ideas about almost everything,

including fashion, politics, sexuality, and music.

So how did the two come to make music history?

It turns out that Crosby was on tour in Great Britain at the time,

and his management team figured such a duet would be perfect for his upcoming CBS TV special,

which would come to be known as Bing Crosby's Merry Old Christmas.

Bowie would be one of several pop guests for the special, along with Oliver's star Ron Moody,

...