Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 11

Here's some background on the next three tracks on my latest holiday mix, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!

Track 34
My Green Christmas Tree, The '60s Invasion (2012)

This year's mix includes two tunes from the New England-based group The '60s Invasion whose album Incense and Chia Pets is chock full of holiday parodies made from hit songs from the 1960s. In a previous post I offered some information about the band and the first of these two songs, "Christmas in New England," based on the Mamas and Papas' hit "California Dreaming." The second is a parody version of "My Green Tambourine," by The Lemon Pipers, called "My Green Christmas Tree":

Hear The Lemon Pipers' Greatest Hits

Watch The '60s Invasion perform "Love Potion Number 9"

Track 33

Ring Out the Bells, Norm Burns and Singers (1970)

This year's mix includes only one true "song poem," which I suspect a good many will say is one song-poem too many. What are song poems? Well, as the old saying goes, if you have to ask you probably don't want to know. Basically, they're just lyrics written by everyday people and set to music by commercial artists for a fee. I've included more than a few of these little gems on various previous mixes and I've written about them here several times, too, including a post from 11 years ago about the song "Santa Claus Polka," Track 31 from my 2011 mix "Gee Whiz . . . It's Christmas (Again)!" 

This year's entry is "Ring Out the Bells," performed by Norm Burns and featuring lyrics by some unknown but no doubt earnest soul who paid a few hundred dollars to Sterling Records to have their poetry turned into a song. You can hear the result just as I did on Bob Purse's wonderful website The Wonderful and the Obscure. Bob's site is a treasure trove for song poem enthusiasts, featuring several hundred different song poems and lots of colorful background and commentary. Heck, there are more than 40 entries on Norm Burns alone, and Norm is just one of the many folks who made a living setting poems to music for regular folk like you and me. 

For those who would like to know more about the wonderful world of song poems, the following video is a playlist that includes 22 different selections. It is not for the faint of heart, and it includes a couple of tunes that may not be safe for work because of adult language. Aw, who am I kidding, none of these tunes is safe for work unless you want your coworkers to think you've lost your damned mind!

Watch the Trailer for the documentary "Off the Charts: The Song Poem Story"

Track 32

Give Me Your Heart for Christmas, Dora Hall  (1965)

This is the second holiday song I've used by aspiring entertainer and corporate trophy wife Dora Hall following "Kissin' by the Mistletoe,"  which can be found on my 2016 mix Let It Snow. Hall is a former vaudeville performer whose dreams of stardom were rekindled when her husband took over the Solo Cup Company and started promoting her records on every package of Solo Cups. I previously provided some background on Hall, which you can find HERE. I love Dora's story and she brings a refreshing enthusiasm to her work as the spouse of a successful corporate executive. And I salute her husband, too. He used his position to advance his wife's singing career and singlehandedly created one of entertainment's greatest supplies of kitsch.

Watch the "Dora's World" TV Special 

Hear Dora Hall sing "I Like It Like That"

It's been mighty cold in Los Angeles lately, at least by Southern California standards. Hope you're keeping warm wherever you are. I'll be back with more sometime soon.