December 18, 2007 question

Here was the inaugural class of the Songwriter Hall of Fame:

Ahlert, Fred; Ball, Ernest; Bates, Katharine Lee; Berlin, Irving; Billings, William; Bland, James; Brockman, James; Brown, Lew; Brown, Nacio Herb; Bryan, Alfred; Burke, Joe; Burke, Johnny; Caldwell, Anne; Carroll, Harry; Clare, Sidney; Cohan, George M.; Conrad, Con; Coslow, Sam; Danks, Hart P.; De Koven, Reginald; De Rose, Peter; De Sylva, B.G. (Buddy); Dixon, Mort; Donaldson, Walter; Dresser, Paul; Dreyer, Dave; Dubin, Al; Duke, Vernon; Edwards, Gus (The Star Maker); Egan, Raymond B.; Emmett, Daniel Decatur; Fiorito, Ted; Fisher, Fred; Foster, Stephen; Gershwin, George; Gilbert, L. Wolfe; Gilmore, Patrick S.; Gordon, Mack; Grofe, Ferde; Guthrie, Woody; Hammerstein II, Oscar; Handy, W.C. (Father of the Blues); Hanley, James F.; Harbach, Otto; Harris, Charles K.; Hart, Lorenz (Larry); Henderson, Ray; Herbert, Victor; Hill, Billy; Howard, Joe; Howe, Julia Ward; Jacobs Bond, Carrie; Johnson, Howard; Johnson, James P.; Johnson, James W.; Johnston, Arthur; Jones, Isham; Joplin, Scott (King of Ragtime); Kahal, Irving; Kahn, Gus; Kalmar, Bert; Kern, Jerome; Key, Francis Scott; Ledbetter, Huddie (Leadbelly); Lewis, Sam; Loesser, Frank; MacDonald, Ballard; Madden, Edward; McCarthy, Joseph; McHugh, Jimmy; Meyer, George W.; Monaco, Jimmy; Moret, Neil; Morse, Theodore; Muir, Lewis F.; Nevin, Ethelbert; Norworth, Jack; Olcott, Chauncey; Payne, John Howard; Pierpont, J.S.; Pollack, Lew; Porter, Cole; Rainger, Ralph; Revel, Harry; Rexford, Eben E.; Rodgers, Jimmie (Father of Country Music); Rodgers, Richard; Romberg, Sigmund; Root, George F.; Rose, Billy; Rose, Vincent; Ruby, Harry; Russell, Bob; Schwartz, Jean; Smith, Harry B.; Smith, Samuel Francis; Snyder, Ted; Sousa, John Phillip; Sterling, Andrew B.; Tierney, Harry A.; Tobias, Charles; Turk, Roy; Van Alstyne, Egbert; Von Tilzer, Albert; Von Tilzer, Harry; Waller, Thomas ("Fats"); Ward, Samuel A.; Weill, Kurt; Wenrich, Percy; Whiting, Richard; Williams, Clarence; Williams, Hank; Williams, Spencer; Winner, Septimus (Sep); Woods, Harry M.; Work, Henry C.; Wrubel, Allie; Youmans, Vincent; Young, Joe; Young, Rida Johnson; Young, Victor

 

And here's who knew: Reg, Micaela, Gene, and Charles. They didn't know all of them. But they each got one. Now here's a Christmas question that I'm regifting, because I'm sure it's been asked many times, many ways:

 

What is the original title of the Clement Clarke Moore poem commonly referred to as " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas"?

 

AND

 

When was it written?