Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! - Part 8

With just over two and a half weeks to go until Christmas we've already looked at a liuttle more than half of the 42 tracks on my latest holiday mix, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof! You can access this year's mix on my holiday music website, HERE. Today, I've got some background on three more tracks. Let's get started!

Track 25
Dead Cowboys Love Christmas, Too, Simons and Cameron (2008) 

Simons and Cameron are a songwriting team founded in 2002 by Gordon Simons and Lane Cameron. Currently based in Reno, Nevada, the group writes and produces music for television and radio and specializes in Halloween- and Christmas-themed music. Both members have impressive resumes. Simons graduated from UCLA in 1990 and got his start creating jingles for Los Angeles radio station KLA, where he also served as an advertising executive. Cameron, who plays guitar, piano, bass and blues harp, attended Boston's prestigious Berklee School of Music. He has played with Steven Stills, the Allman Brothers Band and former Jefferson Starship lead guitarist Craig Chaquico. 

Hear "Dead Cowboys Love Christmas, Too," by Simons and Cameron

Track 24
Goin' Up to Bethlehem, Bob Rivers as John Fogerty (2000)

A former on-air radio personality who worked primarily in the northwest United States, Bob Rivers is perhaps best known for his recorded parodies, many of which involve holiday-related themes. This is the fourth Bob Rivers parody I've used on my annual mixes. Two of the previous three were send-ups of well-known rock tunes that were remade by Rivers with a holiday twist. In 2015, I included Rivers' song "Sled Zeppelin (D'yer Santa)" on my mix "Deck Those Halls." It was a holiday version of the Led Zeppelin hit "D'yer Mak'er" from their 1973 album "Houses of the Holy." Two years ago, I used a Rivers send-up of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" called "Smells Like the Night Before Christmas" on my mix "All Alone on Christmas." My 2016 mix "Let It Snow" included a comedy bit by Rivers about Elvis Presley called "A Message from the King."

Rivers got his start as a radio DJ in Connecticut where he worked for a number of different stations. From there he went to work on WAAF in Worcester, Massachusetts, a station I used to listen to growing up in suburban Boston. It was there that Rivers started creating parody and novelty songs both for his own shows and the "American Comedy Network" syndication service. In 1987 he released his album Twisted Christmas, which contained a variety of holiday novelties and ultimately went gold. It was followed by five additional albums:  I Am Santa Claus, Twisted Tunes 1994, More Twisted Christmas, Chipmunks Roasting on an Open Fire, and White Trash Christmas.

This year's Bob Rivers tune is a set-up of the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit "Up Around the Bend," called "Goin' Up to Bethlehem":

Track 23
Silent Night, U.C. Berkeley Free Speechniks (1964)

This is the third of the short holiday tunes I've included in this year's mix prepared by participants in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California at Berkeley. Background on these songs is available in the write-up from December 1, above, and the lyrics for todays entry are as follows:

Hear "God Rest Ye Free Speech" and Other FSM Carols by the U.C. Berkeley Free Speechniks

I'll be back with more holiday cheer within the next few days. I've nearly finished with all of my holiday shopping and I'm as proud as I can be.