Now, back to the task at hand:
Track 14
Christmas in New England, The '60s Invasion (2015)
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| The '60s Invasion |
I grew up in a house where music was almost always playing, and the first music I remember getting excited about was the stuff I heard coming out of my AM transistor radio in the late 1960s. Popular music in those days was exciting, novel and diverse. Stations weren't hyper-focused on narrow demographics as they are today — you'd often hear songs by such disparate acts as the Doors, the Temptations, Herb Albert, Cream and The Lemon Pipers one after the other on the very same station. To this day I'm not sure there's ever been a time when there was better music coming over the radio airwaves. Small wonder then that I was immediately taken by the sounds of a New England-based covers band called The '60s Invasion when I first heard them several years ago. I was even more excited to learn that they'd recorded an entire album of holiday songs based on various '60s classics. The album, released in 2012, is called Incense and Chia Pets, and it features 13 clever holiday take-offs on popular '60s hits that even most Millennials are sure to know. I've used two selections from this great album on my 2022 mix, the first of which, "Christmas in New England," is a holiday version of the Mamas and the Papas smash hit "California Dreaming."
The '60s Invasion consists of Gino DiMaio on keyboard and vocals; Jack Little on bass and vocals; Artie Shannon on drums and vocals; Rich Ranalli on guitar and vocals; and Jake Smith on guitar, keyboard and vocals. The guys are primarily based in Massachusetts and Maine, and you can find out more about each of the members on their website, HERE.
Another song from the '60s Invasion pops up as Track 34 of this year's mix, which still leaves 11 other holiday-themed songs from the '60s to mine from their album. I have to confess, they're all great songs, so picking even two tracks to feature was no easy task.
Track 13
God Rest Ye Free Speech, U.C. Berkeley Free Speechniks (1964)
While it didn't really start off this way, the 1960s also became known as a time of increasing activism and political protest, and one of the first major protests to attract widespread and serious attention was the so-called Free Speech Movement (FSM) that began at the University of California's Berkeley campus in 1964. Historians have noted that the FSM was the first significant protest to utilize some of the tactics developed in the civil rights movement on a university campus.
Prior to the Fall of 1964, the corner of Bancroft and Telegraph in front of the southern entrance
to the Berkeley campus had served as an informal gathering place for students to distribute political information and set-up tables for petitions and the distribution of literature. With increasing numbers of students becoming active in off-campus causes, however, the area had become somewhat unruly. In addition, increasing numbers of the activists who gathered there had no connection to the university. In late September, the school administration announced that tables would no longer be permitted in the area and collecting money or distributing information for or about outside causes would no longer be allowed.
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| Mario Savio Addresses Protestors |
Describing the events that played out at Berkeley that Fall would require hundreds of pages and obviously take us far from the focus of this blog. Suffice it to say that while it took until the Christmas vacation, the forces that opposed the school's crack-down ultimately gained the upper hand. But it was a difficult fight that required the hard work of many committed participants. One of the most forceful and articulate of these was Mario Savio, whose remarks on the steps of Sproul Hall on December 2, 1964, are often cited as among the most powerful orations of the 20th century.
As events neared their climax in December, a group of students who called themselves the Berkeley Free Speechniks reworked the words to a number of Christmas carols to press some of the points they were arguing in their struggle against the administration. I happened to discover a number of these short clips this year and I've included three of them in this year's mix. Each clip lasts only about 30 seconds, and I thought it would be useful to have these short snippets from history to remind us of what a dedicated group of students was able to accomplish against a powerful university administration 58 years ago.
It may be worth noting that the Free Speechniks released the following statement at the time their short carols were released:
In the spirit of farce, and of Christmas, these songs were written and sung. We of the FSM are serious, but we hope we are still able to laugh at ourselves, as well as those who would restrict our Constitutional freedoms.
The first clip is based on the familiar carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," and while the name of this clip strikes me as odd, it really is titled "God Rest Ye Free Speech." The lyrics are as follows:
Track 12
Santa's New Bag, Rudi and the Rain Dearz (1966)
Santa's New Bag, Rudi and the Rain Dearz (1966)
As noted in yesterday's posting this year's mix includes three different versions of "Santa's Got a Brand New Bag," and that count does not include "Santa's Got a Bag of Soul," at Track 4, or this number at Track 12, "Santa's New Bag," by Rudi and the Rain Dearz. In fact, a close listen to this tune reveals that it seems to be based more on "Jingle Bells" than anything by James Brown.
This tune appears on Volume 3 of the terrific compilation series "Santa's Funk and Soul Christmas Party," released on the Tramp Records label in 2015. Unfortunately, Rudi and the Rain Dearz appear to have released only this one tune before calling it quits. They didn't even record the B side of their own single — that went to a song called "I Stole Away on Christmas Day," by a group called Pretty Polly Pinecone.
I'll be back with more before too long. Only 24 more shopping days until Christmas!
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