Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 10

My latest holiday mix for 2022 is called "Hey! You! Get Off of My Cloud," and it's available for you to listen to or download on my holiday music website. This year's mix contains 42 audio tracks, which range from short celebrity greetings to fine-sounding holiday tunes to purported songs that sound anything but fine. My aim in creating thee mixes is to assemble a grab-bag of noises that will entertain and intrigue a wide range of jaded and open-minded listeners. The main purpose of this blog is to provide some interesting background on the various tracks. Mission accomplished with respect to the first 28 tracks, and today we're going to look at three more. Let's get started.

Track 31

A Lot of Talk About Jesus Christ and Love, Bill Macy as Walter Finley from "Maude" (1975)

Walter and Maude Findlay

I watched a fair amount of television when I was growing up in the 1970s, and as I recall some of it was pretty good. I especially liked the shows created by famed producer Norman Lear, who is still active at age 100. Remarkably, Lear produced, wrote, created or developed more than 100 different shows, many of which were phenomenally successful. His most iconic series, All in the Family, was launched in 1971 and dominated both the Neilson ratings and awards shows throughout the decade. Moreover, it spawned seven additional shows, including the hit series Maude. Maude starred Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay, Edith Bunker's feisty liberal cousin. I don't recall watching Maude during its original run but in recent years I discovered the show on Hulu and binge-watched a couple of seasons' worth. It's not exactly high-brow fare, but it sure brought me back in time. There were more than a few Walter and Maude Findlay types  in our neighborhood in the late '70s.

Stephanie

In any case, the very short clip I've used as Track 31 this year is from Maude, Season 4 Episode 14, "The Christmas Party," which first aired on December 22, 1975. With Christmas approaching, an old school friend of Maude's named Stephanie is staying with Maude and Walter. Stephanie, like Maude is an ardent feminist, although she insists on injecting her views into every conversation to the point where even Maude is put off. Walter and Maude are hosting a Christmas party for Walter's employees and Walter is worried that Stephanie's dogged determination to push her agenda might put a damper on the festivities. This leads to the following exchange:

Walter:    Tonight's not a soapbox, it's a Christmas party!

Stephanie:    Good, what better place? Don't you realize Jesus Christ was the first feminist? He taught the world that love begins with equality.

Walter:    My employees are coming here to have fun. It's Christmas and that's no time for a lot of talk about Jesus Christ and love!

So many of us have conflicting thoughts about the true meaning of Christmas. Part of this is no doubt because we use the holiday for so many purposes. It's a time to express our feelings for those we love and to separate what's important from the trivia of daily life. We're encouraged to think of the plight of the poor and the needy while at the same time being urged to splurge on lavish and showy gifts and parties. We're told it's a time to be joyful and happy to the point where too many feel the need to find relief in the bottle or by way of other drugs. Walter's misguided frustration is as understandable as it is preposterous, and while I don't have any simple solution to the conflicting pressures so many of us face at this time of year, it's probably worthwhile to remember that you're not alone in facing such challenges. Why not play something awful by Red Sovine and count your blessings?!

Watch the Maude episode "The Christmas Party" (1975)

Track 30

Out on the Road for Christmas, Red Simpson (1975)

Red Simpson

Regular listeners will recall that my previous mixes have featured multiple tracks by a trucker named Red — Red Sovine, creator of some of the most depressing songs in music history. Well, believe it or not there's another guy named Red who sings sings songs about truckers and has his own album of Christmas-themed trucker songs around and his name is Red Simpson. His holiday album includes a song called "Out on the Road for Christmas," which is about a poor guy alone behind the wheel on Christmas with only the promise of a quick meal at some some truck stop to look forward to. While this may sound rather poignant at first, Simpson's song sounds like "Happy Days Are Here Again" compared to Sovine's standard fare. There's none of the exaggerated pathos of Red Sovine here. Red Simpson's got a job to do and while his work isn't always easy he's going to take whatever solace he can from the satisfaction of doing it well.

The youngest of 12 children, the Arizona-born Simpson was raised in Bakersfield, California. He was interested in music from a young age and started playing piano in the local music clubs right out of high school. Country music was all the rage in Bakersfield at the time, and a number of local musicians led by Buck Owens were pioneering a style of music that became known as the Bakersfield Sound. Buck was impressed by Simpson and the two wrote a number of songs together in the early 1960s. In 1965, a Capitol Records producer who was looking for someone to put together an album of songs about truckers was introduced to Simpson and his first album release, Roll Truck Roll, was released the following year.

The truck thing seemed to work for Simpson, who followed up his first LP with another 10 albums of truck-related tunes. He enjoyed the business of making music, and didn't mind the extensive travel that was required. He didn't mind being typecast either, although he acknowledged some frustration at being continuously mistaken for Red Sovine. As he noted in his song "My Name Is Simpson," from the album "I Am a Truck":

My name is Red Simpson, not Red Sovine,

So don't ask me to sing "Phantom 309,"

I don't know "Giddy up Go,"

And I won't change my mind

My name is Simpson

Not Sovine.

Check the links below to hear this track. Here's Track 30 from this year's mix:

Join Merz Mark as he pays "A Visit with Country Legend Red Simpson"

Watch Red Simpson Sing "Runaway Truck" and more on the Buck Owens Show

Hear Red Simpson's "My Name is Simpson"

Track 29
Riding Unarmed in a One-Horse Open Sleigh, Jaston Williams (2010)

Texas is an awfully big state with an incredibly diverse population, and one of the few things bigger than the state itself is its reputation among the residents of the other 49 states. Back in the days when the governor of the state was a liberal Democratic woman, at least a small part of its reputation was built on the work of Jaston Williams, Joe Sears, and Ed Howard, creators of a series of comedic plays about the fictional town of Tuna, purportedly Texas' third smallest town. "A Tuna Christmas" was the second of these plays, following "Greater Tuna" and "Red, White and Tuna." The plays have been described as an affectionate look at small-town southern life and feature more than 20 eccentric characters played by two very busy actors.

The plays were performed in cities and towns across the country from 1981 through 2012, and recorded versions of the performances were produced and sold on videotape and DVD. "Greater Tuna" and "A Tuna Christmas" were performed at the White House at the request of President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush, both of whom gave every indication that they enjoyed the shows.

Track 29 is a short clip from "A Tuna Christmas" featuring Jaston Williams as Didi Snavely, owner of Didi's Used Weapons, a store with the motto "If we Can't Kill It It's Immortal." 

You can enjoy "A Tuna Christmas" in its entirety below:

We've got 11 more tracks to review between now and Christmas, so I'll be back soon with more. Stay warm and dry 'til then!