The latest edition of Billboard magazine is out, featuring charts for the week ending December 21. I used to enjoy reading Billboard when I was in high school and I regularly followed the pop singles and albums charts (the Hot 100 and Hot 200, respectively). In college I continued to follow the charts, and working on the college radio station made it easier to keep up since we had a subscription to Billboard and were visited regularly by a bunch of cool record company A&R folks. After college, I kept up with the music scene pretty consistently until I got into my mid 30s, when the number of artists I didn't know began to outnumber the ones I did.
The methods by which Billboard determines its charts have changed radically over the years. They used to be based almost entirely on record sales and airplay, but today's chart makers have to account for such things as streaming on Spotify, YouTube and other services, digital sales and other factors.
During the holiday season, millions of listeners play their favorite holiday tunes many millions of times, driving a holiday-themed takeover of the Billboard charts. The latest Hot 100 for the week ending December 21, 2024, features 29 holiday tunes, including 11 of the Top 20 and five of the Top 10:
I realize I gripe about this phenomenon every year, and I really don't mean to be trashing the classics that return to the charts each December. I only wish programmers would try out some material that's less than 30 years old. And I wouldn't shed any tears if I never had to hear Mariah Carey or Wham! ever again. Happily, my favorite Christmas song of all time, Darlene Love's 1963 release "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is at #31 on the Hot 100, up from #38 last week. It's also #16 on Billboard's "Holiday 100" chart. The Top 10 Holiday songs for the week ending December 21 appear below:
I hope your favorite holiday song turns out to be a big hit again this year!
I guess it's about time for my annual rant about the appearance each December of a handful of venerable Christmas songs on Billboard's Hot 100. I used to gripe about Billboard's Holiday Sales and Airplay tallies, complaining that for the most part nothing but musty old standards ever made the holiday charts. During the past several years, however, changes to the formula that determines Billboard's weekly Hot 100 have led to a takeover of that chart by a bunch of 50-year-old holiday records each December. The latest Hot 100 reflects the same tired old pattern. Five of the nation's current Top 10 are perennial holiday tunes with an average age of 52 years. Three of the remaining five are by Kendrick Lamar:
Don't get me wrong, I'm fond of lots of the old standards (a class that excludes anything by Mariah Carey or Wham!, both of whom I could happily do without). But Lord knows there's plenty of other great Christmas music that merits a little airplay now and again. I realize that my advancing age has turned me into a curmudgeon when it comes to popular culture, but music, TV, films, the news media and politics had higher standards 40 years ago and lazy and greedy media executives deserve a good share of the blame.
Christmas music continues to dominate Billboard's Hot 100 again this week, capturing eight of the Top 10 spots on the latest chart. Unfortunately, Mariah Carey has returned to the #1 spot with her hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You." I admit it's popular, but I don't like her and I don't like her song. Not much I can do about it, unfortunately.
On a brighter note, "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)," by Darlene Love, has moved up three spots to #18. If this were a just world, Darlene would be sitting at the top of the chart!
Here's a little background on three more of the tracks from my latest holiday mix, Christmas Cheer.
Willie Nelson at His 90th Birthday Concert
Track 26 Holiday Greetings from Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson celebrated his 90th birthday this past April, and while I
can’t claim to be especially familiar with his extensive catalogue, I really
like a lot of the stuff I’ve heard. Beyond that, there’s no disputing that he’s
a bona fide original — a genuine national treasure. From where I sit, his work
ethic, activism and honesty deserve great respect.
A long description of Nelson's myriad contributions to our culture and politics is probably beyond the scope of this blog, and it would take more time than I have available to do justice to the task. I'm just happy he's still "on the road [again], doing well and doing good.
Track 27 Christmas Time for Sailors, Green Monkey Christmas Chorale (2019)
Forty years ago, a Seattle musician named Tom Dyer started a fledgling
underground record label with the idea of producing and promoting some of his
city’s formidable underground music artists. The label, known as Green
Monkey Records, has never been terribly successful financially, but it’s
a gritty little competitor that sprung back to life after an eight-year hiatus in
2009 and is still releasing new music today (albeit from its new location in
Olympia). The label boasts a number of local bands whose sound has been described
as "post-punk/pre-grunge Seattle" and "indy pop music—good
honest, ballsy, delicate, garage-y, punky, folky, mildly trippy pop music."
Since its resurrection 14 years ago the label has perhaps become best
known for its annual holiday compilations,
proceeds of which benefit MusicCares, an industry-based charity
that supports struggling musicians with health care and other basic needs.
Featured artists include such Green Monkey artists as The Green Pajamas,
Donovan’s Brain, The Queen Annes and, of course, The Green Monkey Christmas
Chorale, featuring Dyer himself. That’s the crew that’s responsible for this
wonderful holiday sea shanty, which, as you can see, comes across even better
on video:
Track 28 We Want the Best for You, Radio Station Jingles
This little jingle comes from a short collection calledHoliday
Radio Station Christmas Jingles, Volume 2, which I found on YouTube. It’s
from the Pirate Radio U.S.A. YouTube channel, which features specific audio files collected over the
years by Pirate Radio U.S.A., a non-profit internet radio station that broadcasts
occasionally on the Mixlr application. The content available on this channel is stated to be for educational purposes
only.
YouTube hosts a wide variety of holiday radio promos, bumpers and
fillers, as well as lengthier tracks such as holiday recordings played in
department stores and shopping centers in the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Links
to just a couple of these offerings appear below. If you check them out, be
sure to read some of the comments posted about these nostalgic soundtracks. While
YouTube comments can sometimes be rather mean-spirited (they’ve cleaned them up
a lot in recent years, thankfully), these comments are mostly touching and
bittersweet, pining for the simpler times of 30 or 40 years ago. I can certainly
understand the appeal.
It was good to see Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 again this week, and only a part of my happiness comes from the fact she kept Mariah Carey out of the top spot. Six of the ten top tunes are old Christmas songs again this week, and my favorite holiday song of all time, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," by Darlene Love, is up six spots to #21 on this week's chart!
I'll be back soon with thoughts on the nine remaining tracks on this year's mix. Stay warm and dry and be of good cheer!
As someone who followed Billboard's music charts religiously in the the 1970s and '80s, I was taken aback by yesterday's news that the #1 song on this week's Hot 100 is a 65-year-old Christmas song by Brenda Lee. Well, Tuesday's the day when Billboard releases each week's full Hot 100 list, and today's chart blew my mind yet again.
In what probably has to be considered good news for seasonal music enthusiasts, six of this week's Top 10, 21 of this week's Top 40 and 26 of this week's Top 50 songs are holiday tunes. (Remarkably, no holiday songs appear in positions 51 through 100.)
Most of the holiday songs that made the Hot 100 this week are vintage tracks. In other words, they're old. The average age of this week's Top 10 songs is 32 years old. Four of the Top 10 tunes were released before I'd entered kindergarten.
Frankly, I'm a little surprised by my reaction to these developments. I should really be elated. I love Christmas music, and I prefer music of all kinds from the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s to the kind of dreck that's dominated the charts since the turn of the millennium. Still, I find it unsettling that Burl Ives currently has the #6 song in the nation. I mean, it's terrific, but I feel like I've entered a strange and frightening new dimension. (The fact that Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is the #2 song in land is just flat out horrifying with no silver lining. Ditto for "Last Christmas" at #5.)
All of this is the result of a long series of changes to the way Billboard tabulates its Hot 100. Back when I followed the charts each week, the Hot 100 included only those songs that had been officially released as singles and their chart positions rose or fell based on radio airplay and singles sales. Today, few songs are even available as singles, so any recorded song can be considered. Positions are based on a host of factors, including not only radio airplay but also downloads and streaming service data. (For a good explanation of the evolving Hot 100 formula, see HERE.) That makes it easy to see what's happened to this week's Hot 100. The start of the holiday season led millions of folks to start playing their sentimental favorites on Spotify, and suddenly a 78-year-old woman has the #1 hit in the country. That's actually kind of sweet. And I'd much rather see Brenda Lee at #1 than another damned song by Taylor Swift or Drake.
I'm starting to feel much better now. I only hope Brenda can keep Mariah out of the #1 spot as effectively as Prince's "Purple Rain" blocked Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark" back in 1984. Not that I think about that very much anymore ...
Music history was made this week when 78-year-old Brenda Lee topped Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart of the nation's most popular songs with "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," a record she released 65 years ago. With this achievement, Lee becomes the oldest artist ever to top the Hot 100. Her song breaks the records for longest time after its original release and longest time since its Hot 100 debut to reach the top of the charts.
Written by Johnny Marks and produced by Owen Bradley, the song first entered the Hot 100 at #64 on December 12, 1960, following four Top 10 singles that Lee placed on the chart in the previous 12 months. Her Christmas song peaked at #14 two weeks later. Following changes in the formula by which the Hot 100 is tabulated, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" re-entered the Hot 100 in December 2019 and has returned in each subsequent holiday season. Lee was 15 years old when she recorded the tune.
This is only the third holiday song in Billboard history to top the Hot 100. The first was "The Chipmunk Song," by The Chipmunks with David Seville, in 1958. The second was Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," which spent combined total of 12 weeks at #1 during 2019-22.
This song is Lee's third #1 hit on the Hot 100. The first, "I'm Sorry," which became her signature song, spent three weeks in the top position beginning July 18, 1960. It was followed by "I Want to Be Wanted," which made it to #1 three months later, during the same week I was born.
The first official music video of the song was recorded only this year to coincide with the 65th anniversary of its initial release. The video features cameo appearances by Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood.
If you follow pop music at all today, you probably check out the sales and airplay charts from Billboard magazine from time to time to see which artists, albums and songs are moving up and down at the moment. Billboard's Hot 100 tracks the top 100 singles every week and the Billboard 200 reflects the top albums or CDs. Most folks in the music interest will tell you that these are the definitive listings when it comes to the current music scene, and Billboard's other charts, including R&B, Dance, Country and Adult Contemporary are equally respected among industry professionals.
Around the beginning of December each year, Billboard features a variety of Holiday Music charts that purport to capture the relative sales and airplay statistics of various holiday tunes. I'm in no position to take issue with Billboard's rankings, one of my greatest pet peeves is the fact that the holiday charts have remained essentially stagnant for the past 20 years or more. Despite the release of a significant number of great new seasonal songs every year, the Top 10 listings feature the same handful of classics at the top of the chart without exception.
Here are two recent charts from Billboard's December 2, 2023 edition, the first of which lists the current Top 10 Holiday Songs, and the second lists the Top 10 Holiday Songs of all time:
Sad, isn't it? I realize many people are reluctant to give new holiday songs a chance because the holidays are a sentimental season and it takes a little longer to grow tired of songs you only hear one month out of the year. I also admit that I never liked the entries by Mariah Carey and Wham! even when they were both fresh and new. But c'mon now! Only one of the current Top 10 Holiday tunes is from this century! The majority are at least 50 years old! We've got to do a little better than this!
Track 8 Journey to Christmas Island, The Rosebuds (2012)
I first mentioned this awesome group here 11 years ago in a short but rave
review of their 2012 album Christmas
Tree Island. I noted then that two of the album’s tracks — “Xmas in New York”
and “Melt Our Way Out” —
were already on my list of all-time holiday favorites, and that each of the 11
other tracks were “bona fide holiday
treats.” I’m no less enthusiastic about the album today, which leaves me
scratching my head as to why it’s taken me so long to include a second song by
The Rosebuds on one of my compilations. (“Melt Our Way Out” was featured on my
2017 mix, It’s Christmas Time Again.)
I truly have no idea; I’m just glad to rectify the oversight with the final
track from their album, which is called “Journey to Christmas Island.” (I guess
you can’t properly call this the title track as the journey here is merely to
Christmas Island. Also, this tune is about a journey, not a land mass, in contrast to the album, whose title
specifically refers to a location, Christmas Tree Island. Are these two completely different islands, or was the
word “Tree” inadvertently dropped from the title in the track listing?
Considering the track is an instrumental, I don’t suppose it really matters too
much.)
Like Dillon Fence, The Rosebuds formed in North
Carolina. Principal members Ivan Howard (vocals, guitar, drums, bass, keyboards
and programming) and Kelly Crisp (vocals, keyboard, drums, guitar and accordion)
met in college in Wilmington, NC and eventually settled in Raleigh after marrying
and forming the band. Like Dillon Fence, the Rosebuds achieved considerable
popularity as an indie band and also claim a particular affinity for holiday
music. Unfortunately, like Dillon Fence, they’ve also disbanded. Their
follow-up to Christmas Tree Island, the 2014 release Sand + Silence,
was their final album. They divorced in 2012. Howard is currently pursuing a solo career on
the West Coast, while Crisp works as writer on the East Coast.
The Rosebuds were active from roughly 2001 through 2014, and during
this period they released over a dozen LPs and singles. I can’t claim to have
heard them all, but they have a unique and pleasant indie sound. True Christmas
music fans should really consider adding Christmas Tree Island to your
collection, although the intimacy and tenderness that makes the album so
special take on an edge of sadness knowing that Howard and Crisp are no longer
together.
Track 9 Holiday Greetings, Former President Ronald Reagan and Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney
I’ve been interested in politics going back pretty much as far as I can
remember, and my interest was warmly encouraged by the adults in my family.
Near as I can tell, our family has always been pretty much solid New England Republican
in its orientation. New England Republicans confound the GOP faithful in other
parts of the nation by staking out relatively liberal positions on issues
involving race, disarmament and individual liberties. They tend to hold views
closer to the traditions of Presidents Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt than Richard
Nixon or Ronald Reagan.
Like many people, college introduced me to new ideas and perspectives
and by the end of my freshman year I’d become the family’s first registered
Democrat. After graduating college I spent ten years as political activist and
neighborhood organizer in Boston, and I’ve remained a stalwart Democrat. To my
great surprise, my Dad, a Republican banker, moved considerably to the left in
his later years. In January 2008, the day before he died, he told me he was
supporting Senator Barack Obama for president. My younger brother, a former
Reagan partisan, is now staunchly anti-Trump and working for a green business in Maine.
I have many friends and a few relatives who are still Republicans, as is their right. It’s a free country. But to me, there’s a big difference
between members of the Republican party and members of the Trump cult. I never
agreed with Ronald Reagan about much, but I respect that he was doing what he
thought was best for the country. I hold a similar view of Liz Cheney, the
courageous Republican who served as vice chair of the U.S. Select Committee to Investigate
the January 6 Attack. Actually I respect Cheney a great deal, because she was
willing to lose her seat in Congress to oppose Donald Trump and bring to light
the facts behind the horrific attack on our nation’s Capitol on January 6, 2021, which Trump
promoted. Unlike Reagan, Trump couldn't care less what's best for our
country. He seeks to benefit only his own twisted self-interest.
This track was produced by Representative Cheney as a holiday message
last December. It consists of an old Christmas message of Ronald Reagan’s followed by a short greeting of her own. The entire track represents a point of
view that has all but disappeared from our land, which is tragic.
Track 10 MAGA Christmas Chipmunks, Patrick Fitzgerald (2022)
There’s an awful lot of history behind this next track, which uses one
of the most recognized holiday songs of all time to take a swing at three of
the most embarrassing characters to ever serve in the U.S. House of
Representatives. The track was released last December by comedian and content
creator Patrick Fitzgerald,
who describes himself as the “[p]oor man's Randy Rainbow[,]” and
“Weird Al [Yankovic] without the accordion or talent.” I’d say he’s a good bit
more talented than he lets on. In just a little over two minutes he manages to
pretty much mop the floor with GOP Representatives Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz
and Marjorie Taylor Green and it’s done in such a light-hearted way you can
almost picture the three of them laughing right along with the rest of us.
The track is based, of course, on the classic novelty hit “The Chipmunk
Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late),” originally released in 1958 by American singer,
songwriter, record producer, and actor Ross
Bagdasarian under the name David Seville. Bagdasarian, who wrote the 1951
Rosemary Clooney hit "Come
on-a My House," had spent the balance of the decade trying to come up with
a suitable follow-up hit but things weren’t going well and by 1957 his funds
were running out. On a whim, he decided to purchase a fancy new tape machine
that allowed material to be recorded at a variety of different speeds.
Recording at higher speeds produced funny, high-pitched voices, which led
Bagdasarian to create a song called “Witch Doctor,” which was
released by Liberty Records and became his first chart-topping hit. He
continued to fool around with the recorder to create a fictional trio of
chipmunks that he named after the top brass at Liberty Records – Simon, Theodore
and Alvin, and their first single was a smash hit at the end of 1958, selling
over 4.5 million copies in just seven weeks and topping the Billboard Hot 100
for two of them. In fact, “The Chipmunk Song” was the last holiday tune to top
the Hot 100 until Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hit the top
spot in 2019.
My Dad bought me a copy of “The Chipmunk Song” sometime during the
mid-‘60s and I nearly wore it out on my little record player. He was a pretty
good sport about it most of the time, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t his all-time
favorite record.
Bagdasarian did pretty well with The Chipmunks franchise, which
eventually produced not only several additional hit records but a number of
movies, a weekly Saturday morning cartoon series and a variety of television
specials.
We're doing pretty well so far, having offered a few notes about the first 10 tracks on this year's mix before December 1. We've got 27 tracks to go and 24 days in which to describe them. Call me Pollyanna, but I think things are looking good.
I've often used the words Pollyanna or Pollyannaish to describe irrepressible optimists and those who tend to find the good in everything. I'd love to be one of them, though I fear I'm not cut out to be. I learned only today that this word comes from the 1913 children's novel Pollyanna by Eleanor Porter. In the book, a young orphan named Pollyanna Whittier is sent to live with her stern spinster aunt in Vermont following the death of her father, who had taught her the values of gratitude and appreciation before he died. Pollyanna used those lessons to create what she called "The Glad Game," which involved finding something to be grateful for in every situation, no matter how grim. For example, upon receiving a set of crutches rather than a doll as her Christmas present at the missionary home, Pollyanna decided to feel good about the crutches because she didn't need to use them. In the book, Pollyanna shared her outlook with the rest of the adults in the Vermont town she later settled in with her aunt. I'd say I have a lot to learn from young Pollyanna.
I'll be back soon with info about my next three tracks.
My 2023 holiday mix is now complete and ready for you to review and/or
download! It’s called My Christmas Dream, it includes 37 tracks and runs almost
exactly one hour and 20 minutes. For more details and links to the mix itself
visit the “Latest” page
of my holiday music website.
Now that the 2023 mix is available it’s time for this blog to turn its
attention to what is, after all, its primary purpose — namely, providing a
little background on each of the this year’s holiday tracks. We’ll cover
anywhere between two and five tracks each day over the next four weeks, except on
those days when I don’t feel like writing. Hopefully we’ll share a little
something about all 37 tracks by Christmas Eve. Sometimes we make it. Sometimes
we don’t. But I’ve got a good feeling about this year’s endeavor.
One quick and silly note about presentation before we get started. In
previous years, for reasons I can’t begin to recall, we posted each day’s track
listings in reverse order. So, for example, if we opted to post notes on the
first four tracks on Monday and the next two tracks on Tuesday, Monday’s post
would cover Track 4, Track 3, Track 2 and Track 1, in that order, and Tuesday’s
post would begin with Track 6, followed by Track 5. Crazy. This year, the
tracks will be simply be posted in numerical order. Despite the overwhelming
weight of evidence to the contrary, I’d like to think this shows I haven’t
completely lost my mind.
Ready, set … here we go!
Track 1 Jingle Bells, Sonny & Cher
(1972)
During the
1960s and ‘70s, network television was the country’s chief source of popular
entertainment, and all three networks worked tirelessly to prepare the nation
for Christmas each December. Regular weekly series programs, whether comedy or
drama, typically offered at least one holiday-themed show each year; each
network offered a variety of annual animated shows including such favorites as
“A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
and “The Little Drummer Boy”; some
of Hollywood’s biggest names starred in annual variety specials; and, of
course, major sponsors tied the whole package together with an endless stream of holiday-themed advertising,
some of which was at least as popular as the programming the ads supported.
Among the most popular of the variety show programs during this period were the
shows hosted by Sonny & Cher, both together and individually. The first
track of my 2023 holiday mix is the introduction to the 1972 Sonny &
Cher Christmas Special, which features the duo performing a swinging
version of “Jingle Bells.”
Of course,
Sonny & Cher had been popular entertainers long before their 1972 holiday
special aired, and they would go on to
enjoy even greater success afterward. They met in late 1962 while they were
both working as background singers for legendary producer Phil Spector. They
soon became romantically involved and started recording and performing as a
duo. Sonny, who was 11 years older than Cher, managed their career and wrote a
number of original songs they performed. In the summer of 1965 they released
their first album, “Look
at Us,” and topped Billboard’s Hot 100 with a tune of Sonny’s called “I Got You, Babe.” This initial
success led to more, and they followed their first smash with another album, a
string of hit singles including the Top 10 hit “The Beat Goes On,” and
appearances on many of the biggest TV variety shows, clubs and concert venues.
Unfortunately,
by start of their show’s third season the couple’s personal relationship had
begun to come apart. In late 1974, they formally separated. (I don’t know
whether this was a factor in their relationship problems, but it’s worth noting
that Cher released a bunch of successful solo records during the first half of
the 1970s that Sonny didn’t produce, and three of her solo singles hit #1 on
Billboard’s Hot 100 during that same period.) Not surprisingly, the end of the
marriage meant the end of the show. Both Sonny and Cher were each given their
own network shows in 1975, but these were short lived. By 1976, the couple were
back on speaking terms and they returned to television with “The Sonny & Cher Show,”
which had a similar format to the former “Comedy Hour.” The new show remained
on the air for nearly two years, after which Cher turned to acting and Sonny
became involved in politics.
The Sonny
& Cher franchise produced several successful Christmas specials during the
1970s, including “Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour” programs in 1972 and 1973, a
Cher holiday special in 1975, and a “Sonny & Cher Show” holiday broadcast
in 1976. All of these specials followed the same general pattern with an
opening song and welcome from the host(s) followed by anywhere from five to
eight comedy bits and musical numbers featuring a variety of familiar guests
before an emotional send-off.
Among the performances from the 1973 special is
a medley of holiday carols featuring William Conrad, star of the popular ‘70s
detective series Cannon. This number
has become almost legendary thanks to the colorful description Paul Shaffer
repeatedly offered each year as one of the many holiday traditions of The Late Show with David Letterman.
I wrote about Shaffer’s bit several years ago, and you can read about it HERE.
You can also watch the entire 1973 special below. The medley Shaffer discussed begins at 17:50.
Here’s the
first of the Sonny & Cher holiday shows from 1972, with the intro I use to
kick-off “My Christmas Dream” at the very beginning:
Just to
bring things current, Cher recently released her first album of holiday songs
called “Christmas.” She noted on Twitter that while she’d previously been
reluctant to record a holiday album, she’s pleased with result and thinks it’s
as good as any of her other releases. Darlene Love, Stevie Wonder, Cyndi Lauper
and Tyga appear with Cher on this one, and you can preview the album HERE.
Track 2 I Wish You A Merry Christmas, Big Dee Irwin, featuring Little Eva (1963)
The second
track on this year’s mix is a fun little number by New York native Big Dee Irwin.
Irwin got his start as a member of The Pastels, a group he formed in 1955 with
a bunch of air force buddies on Greenland’s Narsarsuaq Air Base. In 1957, The
Pastels won a recording contract as the first prize in a military talent show.
The song they recorded, “Been So Long” became
a hit on the R&B charts and the group hit the road to promote the record,
appearing in Alan Freed’s Big Beat Show with Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and
others.
In 1958, Irwin
set off on his own, and over the next 20 years he released a string of records,
mostly soul and R&B, while also writing songs for stars including Ray
Charles, Bobby Womack and The Hollies. On several recordings, he teamed with
Little Eva Boyd, best known for her 1962 version of “The Locomotion,” written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. The
first of these was their version of the old Bing Crosby song, “Swinging on a Star.” Another was a 1963 song written especially
for Irwin called “Happy Being Fat.” The third release
with Little Eva was this one, “I Wish You a Merry Christmas,” released in late 1963
as the B-side to “The Christmas Song.” Toward the end of this record, Little
Eva jokingly returns to the subject of Irwin’s weight by asking:
Big Dee, did anyone ever tell you you was big … strong … handsome …
kindhearted – and FAT!?
Irwin’s last
record was released in 1978, though he continued to make live appearances for
another 15 years or so after that. He died in 1995.
If you’ve
listened to any of my previous mixes you know that I like to break things up a
little by inserting brief holiday greetings from various celebrities between
the regular songs. They give listeners a chance to relax for a moment in much
the same way that commercials do on television. It’s surprisingly difficult to
find such clips in the form I’m looking for. To work as an audio clip, each celebrity
needs to identify themselves by name and pass along some kind of holiday wish.
The recording must also be free of excessive background noise and irrelevant
content. The first greeting on this year’s mix is from Shirley MacLaine.
Shirley MacLaine
I’ve been a
fan of MacLaine’s for years. She’s a terrific actor, singer and dancer, of
course, and I especially loved her work in Being There (1979), Terms of Endearment (1983), Steel Magnolias (1989) and Postcards from the Edge (1990).Wikipedia notes that MacLaine is known for “her portrayals of quirky, strong-willed
and eccentric women,” which may explain her great success as an actress – after
all, who better fits the “quirky, strong-willed and eccentric” description than
MacLaine herself!
As a child,
it was MacLaine’s love of dancing that led her to pursue a life in show
business. She started ballet school at the age of three and says it was the fun
of performing that really grabbed her interest. She scored her first Broadway
gig before graduating high school. Her next job was as understudy for one of
the major roles in the musical The Pajama Game(the
character who sings “Hernando’s Hideaway”). As luck would have it, the lead
suffered an ankle injury that kept her out of the show for several weeks, and a
noted film producer who saw MacLaine filling in signed her to a deal with
Paramount Pictures. Her first role was in the Hitchcock thriller The Trouble with Harry, for which she won a Golden Globe — and
she was off!
MacLaine was
nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award five times for her work in Some Came
Running (1959), The Apartment (1981), Irma la Douce (1964), The Turning Point
(1978) and Terms of Endearment (1984), winning for the last of these. She also
won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special for her 1976 show “Gypsy in
My Soul.” In 1998, she earned a Cecil B. DeMille Golden Globe Award, and in
2013, President Obama awarded her the Kennedy Center Honors for her contributions to American
culture.
For me,
MacLaine’s professional achievements are only part of her appeal. I also enjoy
her forceful personality, her political activism and her unique range of
interests and enthusiasms. She’s a genuine character, and we’re all the better
for having her among us.
Track 4 Christmas Cheer, The MSR Singers
(1978)
Folks who
follow this blog and/or listen to my annual mixes know that I’m nuts about
“song poems,” an offbeat and sometimes outlandish subgenre within the larger
and increasingly popular category known as “outsider music.” Outsider music
refers basically to material created outside the professional music industry,
often by members of marginalized or disfavored communities. Song poems
typically feature lyrics written by non-professionals that are set to music and
recorded for a fee by companies set up for that purpose.
Throughout
most of the 20th century, song-poem companies advertised in the back of pulp
and other general interest publications offering to set amateur poems to music to
satisfy the demand for new music and help would-be lyricists become famous and
rich. The going rates were generally between $100 and $500 in exchange for
which the submitting poet would get a couple of 45 RPM discs of their fully
realized songs. The quality of the final product varied wildly, of course, as
did the submitted lyrics. But thanks to the song poem, more than a few ordinary
citizens had the thrill of hearing their words come to life as actual songs on
the family stereo.
Well, this
year’s mix is truly top-heavy with song poems — nine in all — and this first
one, “Christmas Cheer,” is a true classic. Released in 1978 as part of a full
album of holiday song poems, “Christmas Cheer” was produced by an outfit known
as MSR, one of the largest song-poem factories. The performance is credited to
The MSR Singers, a group of paid employees who sang on dozens if not hundreds
of songs MSR created from lyrics they received from their paying customers. The
lyrics of this little gem are by Joan Tomaini, and they’re truly special,
indeed:
Christmas is a glad
time,
Christmas is a sad
time,
It’s a time of joy,
For every girl and
boy.
But how about the
lost souls,
The ones whose lives
never unfold,
Does anyone ever
think of those
whose life compares
to a dead rose?
They’re living, too.
And every day gets
duller and duller in every way.
Who is going to
bring them cheer?
Isn’t that why you
and I are here?
Think of them at
Christmas time,
As you go bustling
in your prime,
And when somebody
says, “Brother, can you spare a dime?”
That this could
happen to you sometime.
Now, the sentiment that folks should help cheer the less fortunate at
Christmas is a common holiday theme. There’s nothing novel about that. What
makes this song incredible is its dramatic descriptions. “Does anyone ever
think of those whose life compares to a dead rose?” Wow. “Every day gets duller
and duller in every way.” This is the kind of Christmas cheer I suspect many of
us would just as soon do without!
Power-pop singer-songwriter Dwight Twilley who enjoyed chart success in the 1970s and '80s with the hits "I'm on Fire" and "Girls," died this past Wednesday, October 18, in his native Tulsa, Oklahoma at the age of 72. According to the Los Angeles Times, Twilley suffered a stroke while driving his car last weekend and sustained serious injuries when the car struck a tree. He died of those injuries four days later.
Interested in music from a young age, Twilley paired up in 1967 with fellow Tulsa resident Phil Seymour, whom he met at a screening of the Beatles' film "A Hard Days Night." The two started writing and playing songs together almost immediately and formed a band they called Oister. They developed a sound that emphasized hooks, harmonies and ringing guitars — a sound that came to be known as "power pop." After meeting with executives at Sun Records in Memphis, they began recording for Shelter Records in Los Angeles. In 1975, Shelter released their song "I'm on Fire" under the name the Dwight Twilley Band, and the song became a surprise hit, reaching #16 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Unprepared to take advantage of their initial success, their first album was thrown together quickly but not released until late 1976. The follow-up album "Twilley Don't Mind" earned strong reviews but disappointing sales. Seymour left the group in 1979, leaving Twilley to soldier on as a solo performer. While his single "Girls" became an early hit on MTV and also made it to #16 on the Hot 100, subsequent releases failed to match his early success or industry expectations.
I recall buying and enjoying "Twilley Don't Mind" back in 1977."Looking for the Magic" was among the most frequently played songs on my weekly show on WJHU-FM in Baltimore during the fall of 1978.
Although he never enjoyed the popularity he deserved, Twilley left his mark on popular music. He'll surely be missed this Christmas.
I hope everyone's enjoyed a pleasant Thanksgiving weekend, but that's coming to a close today and it's time to start getting serious about the upcoming holidays. Only 27 shopping days left until Christmas!
Let's get back to our ongoing effort to provide a little bit of this and that concerning the 42 tracks on my latest holiday mix, Hey! You! Get Off of My Roof!
Track 8
Holiday Greetings, Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
I'm not sure when this short holiday greeting was recorded, but I'm guessing it was sometime after the final episode of The Cosby Show aired on April 30, 1992. The first 20 or so years that followed the closing of this renowned series were pretty good ones for the cast and others associated with the show, as the respect they had earned opened countless doors in the entertainment industry. But after the show's principal was unmasked as a serial sexual abuser, the program lost some t of its luster. Among the consequences of Cosby's unforgiveable behavior was the devaluation of his hit program and the harm this caused to the many talented people who made the program successful. I can't be the only one who still sees Malcolm-Jamal Warner and thinks of Theo Huxtable, and wrong as it is this association is a little unsettling.
Happily, Warner's resume includes far more than his excellent work on The Cosby Show. Born in 1970, Warner was named for Malcolm X and jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal. Like his name, his career includes components that are both diverse and impressive. For one thing, he's had a variety of other great acting roles on TV. For example, he played Malcolm McGee on the hit
UPN sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, and Dr. Alex
Reed in the sitcom Reed Between the Lines on BET. He also served as executive producer for the
PBS children’s series The Magic School Bus. He has appeared in numerous films
and acted in and directed a variety of other television shows. Warner is also a
respected performance poet and plays bass guitar.
I was pleased to run across his recorded holiday greeting and am glad to include it on my 2022 mix.
Get Off of My Roof, Jerry and the Landslides (1965)
The title track of this year's mix is, of course, a novelty adaptation of the classic Rolling Stones song "Get Off of My Cloud," which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in November 1965. The song was featured on the group's album December's Children (And Everybody's), which was released the following month. The adaptation I've included on my mix is a holiday novelty record that was put together by Jerry Worsham, a Connecticut-based DJ who apparently intended to use it primarily to spice up his own show. According to Captain Wayne's Mad Music website, the Landslides were a group of Long Island musicians assembled by producer Ed Chalpin to record the music behind Worsham's lead vocals. According to the Mad Music site, Worsham laid down the lead vocal track by himself and never met the hired musicians who recorded the balance of the song. It doesn't appear that Jerry and the Landslides ever recorded a follow-up, or anything else for that matter, but luckily their holiday version of this 1965 hit was pressed and released by PPX Records so we can still enjoy it today.
I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas, Betty Johnson (1954)
The oldest song on this year's mix was recorded 68 years ago by Betty Johnson, a 25-year-old North Carolina native who'd already been singing professionally for 16 years by the time she cut this record. Remarkably, she's still going strong today; in fact, her most recent album, a collaboration with two of her daughters and a granddaughter, was just released in 2018.
Johnson started singing with her parents and two brothers as The Johnson Family Singers in 1938. After winning a local talent competition, the group was signed by a popular AM radio station in Charlotte and before long Betty was given her own 15-minute show. As a teenager she was signed by Columbia Records but does not appear to have released any material for that label. In 1954, after releasing a children's album with country singer Eddie Arnold, Johnson recorded "I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas," which was written by Joan Javits and Phil Springer, who previously wrote the hit "Santa Baby."
I suspect that many folks reading this today will be unfamiliar with the object of Betty's desire. Well, at the time this record was recorded, Eddie Fisher was among the country's biggest pop stars — earning fame as a singer, initially, and later starring in a number of hit movies. During the first half of the 1950s, 17 of Fisher's single records made Billboard's Top 10 with an additional 25 hitting the Top 40. Johnson was hardly the only woman to express an interest in the young Hollywood star. In 1955, Fisher married "America's sweetheart," actress Debbie Reynolds. Several years later Fisher divorced Reynolds and married actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Johnson remained active in show business for many years, juggling her recording and singing appearances with her family activities. She lived in New York City for a time and appeared on such programs as The Arthur Godfrey Show and The Tonight Show with Jack Parr.
She continued to make records through the 1960s and beyond, although her biggest hits were released in the '50s, including "I Dreamed" from 1956; "Dream," released in 1958, and "You Can't Get to Heaven," from 1959.
Johnson was married three times and recently released "Four Shades of Gray," with her daughters and granddaughter.
It's Christmas Eve, everybody — that magical evening when many families around the world will be spending time together in anticipation of Christmas Day. I've got time to share just a little bit of background about the remaining three tracks on Be a Santa!, my holiday mix for 2021. I'll probably have some additional comments over the next few days before we close out this holiday season, but for now let me wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Here's some thoughts on Tracks 35-37 of this year's mix:
Track 37 Peace at Least, Rotary Connection (1968)
The Chicago-based band Rotary Connection was founded in 1966 by Marshall Chess, the son of the founder of Chess Records. Most of the groups on the Chess label played either rock or blues and Marshall was hoping to lead his new group in a different direction. His wanted Rotary Connection to experiment with different styles of music, so he recruited musicians of varied backgrounds and styles to join, many pf whom had previously played with other Chess bands.
Among the last to join the new band was the label's receptionist, Minnie Riperton, who would later go on to have a successful solo career that was tragically cut short due to her death from cancer in 1979. Riperton, who topped Billboard's Hot 100 in 1975 with her hit "Lovin' You," was the mother of actress and comedienne Maya Rudolph.
As its founder had intended, Rotary Connection proved to be a difficult band to characterize, although a number of critics have described the group's style as "psychedelic soul." Unfortunately, the lack of a signature sound effectively limited the group's popularity and while their first two albums attracted attention in some quarters, neither sold especially well.
Their third album "Peace," released in late 1968, featured a collection of Christmas songs, nearly all of them original. True to form, the musical style of the album varies from one track to the next; however the emphasis on peace and love never wavers, and it made the album the perfect tonic for the end of traumatic year then winding down. "Peace" was only a modest success commercially, but in many homes its socially conscious message made it among the most consequential holiday albums ever recorded.
"Peace at Least" is a particularly impious track, suggesting, as it does, that Santa's generosity and goodwill is the result of smoking mistletoe.
Every year, I have the same question Something that puts me so very uptight Where does Santa get all those gifts from Why is he riding so late at night I know why (I know why) The kid is high (he's high) The kid is stoned (stoned)
'Cause he smokes (mistletoe) I said, I said he smokes (mistletoe) Oh, he smokes (mistletoe) Everyone should have a peace at least once a year
But he's an institution We like him like he is What would ever happen If he gave some to the kids
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, William Shatner, featuring Billy Gibbons (2018)
Track 35
Santa Rides Again, Sam Watt and the Gang at Gallo Wine (1950)
This track comes from a promotional record produced and presumably circulated in 1950 by the E.& J. Gallo Wine Company of Modesto, California. It seems to have been created to promote Gallo Wine, to thank the company's customers and to give listeners a healthy dose of holiday spirit:
The folks who sell you Gallo wine are really most sincere
When we say "Merry Christmas and a Happy, Bright New Year!"
Thanks to you and you and you — the friends of Gallo Wine
We're lucky to have friends like you
We hope you're doing fine
All year long we tell you that Gallo can't be beat
But leave that for another time, right now let us repeat
Thanks to you and you and you — the friends of Gallo Wine
We're lucky to have friends like you
We hope you're doing fine
These sorts of holiday promotions were not uncommon in the 1940s, '50s and '60s, as they were a good way for businesses to thank their customers and encourage them to maintain their relationships in the year ahead.
One of the better known such holiday promotions was by the Line Material Company, a manufacturer of electric equipment. From 1957-62, Line Material produced a series of annual promotional records that were send to employees and customers to celebrate the holidays. These holiday tunes were produced by a fellow named John McCarthy, and they were both entertaining and professional. I've included a number of these songs on previous mixes of mine, including the title track to my 2007 "Let's Trim the Christmas Tree" mix and "The Day that Santa Was Sick," which appeared on last year's mix, "All Alone on Christmas." I and most other holiday music collectors first learned of these Line Materials tracks from Lee Hartsfeld, who curates the terrific "Music You Possibly Won't Hear Anyplace Else" blog.
Here's the Gallo Wine promotion included on this year's mix:
Track 34 Christmas at the Airport, Nick Lowe (2013)
Nick Lowe
Around the time I left for college in the late '70s there were some big changes taking place in the American rock music scene. I'd been into the whole California soft rock scene (CSN and CSNY, Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles, Steely Dan); I loved the Beatles, the Stones and David Bowie; I was crazy about Motown and all kinds of R&B — hell, I was even getting into disco. I had a couple of shows on our college radio station and hung around with other folks who were big into music and what was really capturing the attention of my edgier friends was the punk, new wave and power pop stuff that was coming out of London and New York — The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Police, Talking Heads … and British rocker Nick Lowe, for example.
Lowe earned his chops on the London pub scene in the early to mid '70s as a member of the band Brinsley Schwarz. After leaving that band in 1975, Lowe played with Rockpile with Dave Edmunds, recorded a number of well-received solo albums and produced records by such artists as Elvis Costello, Graham Parker and the Rumour and The Damned. He was a prolific songwriter during this period, writing or so-writing such hits as "So It Goes," "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass," "Cruel to Be Kind," and "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." Lowe's version of "Cruel to be Kind" made it all the way to number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979, and his singles "Crackin' Up" and "Switchboard Susan" were also big hits.
Although he released a string of fine records over the next 30 years, Lowe wasn't able to match the success he enjoyed in the late 1970s. To be honest, I sort of lost track of Nick Lowe until 2013, when he released a terrific holiday album called Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family, which record I'm happy to say was noted in this blog. David Letterman had Lowe on the Late Show in December 2013, and we reported on that here, too. For some reason, however, I've never included anything from Quality Street on my previous mixes. I'm happy to remedy that oversight this year by featuring "Christmas at the Airport."
Rudolph (You Don't Have to Put on the Red Light), mojochronic (2010)
I found this little number in a file on my computer marked "Holiday Mashups," where it's been sitting for about ten years. I can't say I know a whole lot about mojochronic, but from what I can tell it's a person or group of people who combine two or more individual tracks into surprising and not-quite-discordant mashups. The two songs mashed together here, of course, are Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Roxanne, by The Police. The common element is that Rudolph's nose is red and Roxanne, a prostitute, likely plies her trade in a red-light district. I'm not sure there's very much more that needs to be said about this one, other than the fact that the video does a great job of cutting up the classic 1964 Rankin Bass television special to track to the beat of The Police. Enjoy.
Track 32
St. Nicolas, Filobin (1978)
This is another track I've had on my computer for quite a while but haven't found the right spot for until now. Unfortunately, I don't have a whole lot of information about this track. All I can really report is that Filobin is the stage name of Guy Philobin, a French animator and musical clown who released this holiday single in 1978 with a B-side titled "The Toys of a Wise Child." It's a cute little number, and I remember just enough of my high school French to be able get a rough gist of what the guy's saying.
Only three more tracks to review, and I'm hoping to post something on them around the same time Santa finishes his Christmas Eve deliveries in France tomorrow night!
