Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 7

Today we take a look at Tracks 19-22 of this year's holiday mix, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!

Track 22
Yoko Ono Holiday Album Parody (2008)

I've always been a big Beatles fan — whether the exuberant innocence of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," the trippy psychedelia of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," or the long medley on the second side of "Abbey Road," I love them all. I like most of their solo stuff, too, with the one sad exception of Paul's "Wonderful Christmastime," which I find utterly unlistenable. In fact, not only do I love everything by The Beatles, I like songs that feature Linda McCartney's vocals. And I'll do you one better. I'm a big fan of Yoko Ono.

I figure most people think I'm joking when I make that claim but it's the God's honest truth. Unfortunately, Ono has been ridiculed and slandered almost constantly since she first became famous worldwide as John Lennon's lady, To some, she's the dragon lady who broke up the Beatles. To others, she's a talentless social climber who used Lennon's wealth and fame to promote her inferior art and atrocious "music." In fact, Ono was a highly respected conceptual artist before she ever met Lennon and her work has long been celebrated in avant gard circles for its originality, insight and wit. She certainly isn't responsible for the disbanding of the Beatles. And while some of her music can be an acquired taste, much of it is profoundly moving and meaningful. You can dance to a lot of it, too. From 2003-2016, remixed versions of 13 of Ono's songs topped the Billboard Dance Club chart. Not bad for a woman who turns 90 years old in February.

Anyway, Track 22 is a short parody purporting to be a commercial for a Yoko Ono holiday album. Clips of the various holiday standards are played and they all consist of a woman screaming indecipherably for five or six seconds. Terrible. So why did I include this track? Well, for one thing it gives me a chance to sing Yoko's praises and I like such opportunities. It's also sort of funny if you're aware enough to see through the preposterous claim that her music sounds alike and sounds awful. Finally, I know Yoko's got a sense of humor and likes to deal with criticism head-on. I doubt she'd be offended.

Watch the "The Case for Yoko Ono" from PBS Digital Studios

Listen to the Album "Between My Head and the Sky" by Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band

Track 21
I Want a Beatle for Christmas, The Fans (1964)

One measure of the size of the cultural tidal wave that hit with the arrival of the Beatles in February 1964 is the number of holiday novelty songs about the group that were released later that same year. I've featured half a dozen on my previous mixes as listed a bunch more in previous posts about the phenomenon, and I've got two more on this year's compilation. 

Track 21 is by a London-based duo called The Fans, which is made up of two friends named Gita Renik and Jeanette Ross. I haven't been able to find out much more about the song or the group than that, however — the song can be found all over the internet but it typically appears with nothing more than the song, artist and year of release.

Hear "I Want a Beatle for Christmas," by The Fans

Track 20
Christmas Song (A John and Yoko Parody), Guppy Pie Productions (2014)

I don't have much of anything to offer about this track either. It's a clip I found on YouTube featured on The Great Movie Channel page. According to the clip itself, it was created by Guppy Pie Productions, which is apparently affiliated with a North Hollywood outfit called Pie Town Productions. I don't know that the singer sounds or looks too much like John Lennon, but it's a cute little clip that suggests both the movie industry and the Bush family are impediments to world peace and I think that's something John and Yoko would probably endorse.

Track 19
(I Want) a Beatle for Christmas, Patty Surbey and The Canadian VIPs (1964)

The last of this year's four Beatles-related tracks (actually the first of the four since we list each day's tracks in reverse order) is by Canadian Patty Surbey, who has been described by the Canadian music website Canuckistan Music as a "perky amalgam of Connie Francis and Brenda Lee, with maybe a bit of Annette Funicello or Cathy Carroll thrown in for good measure." The website gives high marks to this record, too. "Buoyed by a rollicking backbeat supplied by the Canadian V.I.P.s and peppered with Surbey's hiccupy vocals, "(I Want) a Beatle for Christmas" is a fine record on its own and could probably have done well enough without the Xmas or Beatles references."

The song did well in some parts of Canada, but delays in mailing the production master prevented a timely pressing in the United States and Christmas arrived before the record caught on in this country. 

Surbey followed-up this record with another single recorded with The Canadian VIPs called "Hey Boy" that was released in early 1965, but that was pretty much the end of Surbey's music career. She eventually resurfaced in Ontario as an active member of a born-again Christian church.

I'll be back sometime soon with the start of the second half of this year's mix. How's your holiday shopping going?