Feliz Navidad
“Feliz Navidad” is a Christmas song written and first recorded in 1970 by Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple, heartfelt lyrics – the traditional Spanish Christmas/New Year greeting “Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad” (“Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness”), followed by text in English words “I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart” – it has become a Christmas classic and has gained popularity around the world.
In 2010, the 1970 recording of “Feliz Navidad” on RCA Victor Records by José Feliciano was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Feliciano says he recorded the song while feeling homesick at Christmas, missing his family in New York City and his extended family further afield as he sat in a studio in Los Angeles. He remembered celebrating Christmas Eve with his brothers, eating traditional Puerto Rican foods, drinking rum, and going caroling. “It was expressing the joy that I felt on Christmas and the fact that I felt very lonely,” he told NPR in December 2020. “I missed my family, I missed Christmas carols with them. I missed the whole Christmas scene.”
Feliciano’s 1970 recording of “Feliz Navidad” (in which he plays both an acoustic guitar and a Puerto Rican cuatro) is one of the most downloaded and aired Christmas songs in the United States and Canada. It has been recognized by ASCAP as one of the top 25 most played and recorded Christmas songs around the world.
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♪ FELIZ NAVIDAD Lyrics ♪
A donde sea que yo esté
Tu corazón alcanzaré
Y una sonrisa en tu mirada pintaré
No habrá distancia entre los dos
Al viento volaré mi voz
Con mis deseos a tu alma llegaré
Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
Celebremos juntos la vida
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
Y que viva la alegría
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad
Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad
I want to wish you a Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad
From the bottom of my heart
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
Con mis deseos a tu alma llegaré
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
Celebremos juntos la vida
I want to wish you a Merry Christmas
Y que viva la alegría
I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas
From the bottom of my heart
próspero año y felicidadAh
Feliz Navidad
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This 2023 recording of Feliz Navidad by the One Voice Children’s Choir is just plain fun.
