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Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three

2011 studio album by Chicago

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 23, 2025
Entity authorityQ5095851
Source-derived summary

Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three is the twenty-second studio album, the second full album of Christmas songs, and thirty-third overall by the American rock band Chicago. The album was released on October 4, 2011. The collection includes a variety of holiday classics and a new tune, "Rockin' and Rollin' on Christmas Day", co-written by founding trumpet player Lee Loughnane.

The album was produced by veteran producer Phil Ramone, who co-produced the band's albums Hot Streets (1978) and Chicago 13 (1979). The album features guest artists Dolly Parton on Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time", America on "I Saw Three Ships", BeBe Winans on "Merry Christmas Darling", and guitarist Steve Cropper on "Rockin’ and Rollin’ on Christmas Day".

Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three was preceded by Chicago XXV: The Christmas Album in 1998, which, itself, was reissued in 1999 with one new track; and in 2003 under a new title, What's It Gonna Be, Santa?, with six new tracks.

Editorial summary

“Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three” enters the record as 2011 studio album by Chicago. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Chicago, XXXIII and Christmas can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2011, 1978, 1979, 1998—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2011-10-04. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Chicago, XXXIII and Christmas.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Chicago, XXXIII and Christmas provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 23, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5095851. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2011, 1978, 1979 and 1998.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three primary sources, Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three archive and Chicago research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three”?
  2. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Chicago XXXIII: O Christmas Three” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.