My 17th Annual Holiday Mix Is Here: "Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!"

I'm pleased to announce that my 17th and latest  holiday compilation titled Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! is now available on my holiday music website — just in time for Black Friday and the start of the 2022 holiday season. This year's mix includes 42 tracks with just under 80 minutes of assorted seasonal tunes, comedy clips and holiday greetings. As in previous years, you'll find a grab-bag of styles and offerings of wildly different levels of quality. My goal is to cast a wide net each year and to include a little something for everyone.

The chief purpose of this blog is to provide a bit of background about the various tracks on each of my annual mixes, and we're going to do our best to do meet that obligation this year. My hope is to review the whole mess by Christmas Eve, and, as usual, we'll do this a few tracks at a time in reverse order. Let's start with some background on the first three tracks.

Track 3
Soul Christmas, Graham Parker and Nona Hendryx (1994)

I've been holding on to this terrific track for at least six or seven years now, knowing I'd eventually find just the right time and place to use it. This year, I did. Originally released on the largely overlooked 1994 EP Graham Parker's Christmas Cracker, "Soul Christmas" tells the story of a dull suburban holiday that turns into a genuine celebration after the man of the house invites a lively bunch of soul legends to join the party. Former Labelle vocalist Nona Hendryx joins Parker on lead vocals, and while some were surprised by this pairing of a sultry soul diva and a snarling British punk rocker it actually works rather well. In fact, each of these artists has recorded music in a variety of different styles so their collaboration on this song isn't so unusual as it might first appear.

Graham Parker

I've been a big fan of Parker's since college when his albums Squeezing Out Sparks (1979) and The Up Escalator (1980), both credited to Graham Parker and the Rumour, were never far from my turntable. I've been a fan of Nona Hendryx even longer, thanks to Labelle's fabulous 1974 album Nightbirds, which featured the smash hit "Lady Marmalade." Neither artist has received the recognition they deserve in my judgment, but I'm awfully glad they teamed up for this tune.

Listen to "Soul Christmas" by Graham Parker and Nona Hendryx

Track 2
Christmas Time Is Here, Cast of "Are You Being Served?" (1975)

The second track on this year's mix is taken from one of several holiday episodes of the British situation comedy "Are You Being Served?" (BBC, 1972-85). Created and produced by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, the series is set in a fictitious London department store called Grace Brothers and focuses mainly on the staff of the ladies' and gentlemen's clothing counters. Like many other shows of the period, AYBS features humor based on sexual innuendo, misunderstanding, bruised egos and, occasionally, physical comedy and slapstick. However, a key ingredient of the show's success was its frequent parody of the British class system. The stilted relationships among the staff was a favorite theme of the writers and no doubt a particular source of amusement for American fans like me.

I discovered the show back in the 1990s when it was picked up by WGBH-TV, our PBS affiliate in Boston. I'm guessing it came on before or after one of the PBS shows I regularly watched at the time: Washington Week, Wall Street Week or The McLaughlin Group. I didn't fancy the show right away; in fact, about the only thing I recall was the constantly changing color of Mrs. Slocombe's hair — pink one week, florescent green the next. I happened to catch it again a few years after moving to L.A., and for some reason I started to enjoy it. It's definitely a period piece, and an acquired taste. But each of the characters has their appeal and I enjoy the pomposity and moderately clever repartee. 

The series included three holiday-themed specials, which were broadcast shortly before Christmas in 1975, 1976 and 1979. Each of these episodes has a few funny moments and these holiday shows were apparently quite popular in the United Kingdom. The bit I've included as Track 2 this year features the musical number at the end of the episode titled "Christmas Crackers," (Season 3, Episode 9). Mr. Mash and the maintenance department have just turned the men's and ladies departments into a Christmas-themed grotto and the staff has been ordered to wear various novelty costumes including a prince (Mr. Humphries), an archer (Mrs. Slocombe) and a one-legged pirate (Mr. Lucas).

A clip of the entire episode follows. (Apologies for the quality. While quality clips of most episodes of the show are readily available on YouTube, the available videos of this particular episode seem to be of significantly lower quality.)

Watch Selected Episodes of the BBC Television Series "Are You Being Served?"

Watch the 1977 Feature Film Version of "Are You Being Served?"

  

Track 1
The Queen's Final Christmas Message, H.R.M. Queen Elizabeth II (2022)

The death of British monarch Queen Elizabeth II will likely be considered one of the biggest news stories of 2022. Frankly, I've always found the whole concept of royalty to be rather preposterous myself, so I was surprised to feel a genuine sense of loss upon the Queen's passing in September. Part of this, no doubt, is the result of the astonishing length of her reign — over 70 years! A sizeable majority of the world's people have never known another monarch to occupy the British throne. But another no less important factor is the grace and quiet determination she demonstrated throughout her service. This has been a period of unprecedented change in nearly every area of life and while there were occasional missteps to be sure, Queen Elizabeth II did a remarkable job of guiding her nation through some dangerous and fast-moving waters.

Among the many traditional duties the Queen enjoyed was the delivery of the annual Royal Christmas Message each December — a function launched by her grandfather, King George V in 1932. (An excerpt from that first royal address kicked off my third holiday mix, Let's Trim the Christmas Tree, from 2007.) This tradition was continued by her father, King George VI, during his reign, which included World War II and ended with his death in 1952. Queen Elizabeth a Christmas message in each of the 70 years she was on the throne. Taken together, they address an extraordinary range of issues and offer a summary of the country's progress and development during a period of unprecedented challenges and change.

The Queen's final Christmas message was delivered in December 2021 and lasted approximately five minutes. It included a tribute to her late husband, Prince Phillip, who had died that April at age 99. I have included only a brief excerpt from the Queen's remarks lasting approximately one minute. We assume that the Queen's successor, her son, King Charles III, will deliver his first Christmas message sometime in December. It will seem strange indeed to hear anyone but the late Queen perform this stately function.

Listen to Queen Elizabeth II's Final Christmas Message (in full) from December 2021 

Listen to Queen Elizabeth II's First Christmas Message from December 1952 

Watch a Summary of News Reports of the Death of Queen Elizabeth II

Learn About Nine Christmas Traditions That May Be Confusing to Many Americans