<Tr> <Th> Genre </Th> <Td> Christmas </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Songwriter (s) </Th> <Td> Robert Wells, Mel Tormé </Td> </Tr> <P> "The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Bob Wells and Mel Tormé . </P> <P> According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer . In an effort to "stay cool by thinking cool", the most - performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born . "I saw a spiral pad on his (Wells') piano with four lines written in pencil", Tormé recalled . "They started,' Chestnuts roasting..., Jack Frost nipping..., Yuletide carols..., Folks dressed up like Eskimos .' Bob didn't think he was writing a song lyric . He said he thought if he could immerse himself in winter he could cool off . Forty minutes later that song was written . I wrote all the music and some of the lyrics ." </P>

When was chestnuts roasting on an open fire written