Deck Those Halls, Part 8 (Tracks 22-30)

Merry Christmas to one and all, and my sincere apologies for falling so far behind this year with my summaries of the tracks on this year's holiday mix, Deck Those Halls! It's been a busier December than I'm used to, and there hasn't been much free time to tend to this sort of business, so let me take a few minutes here to at least jot down a few words about some of the other tracks I included on this year's collection.

Track 30
Holiday News Brief, by the American Comedy Network

Dr. Demento

This track was a favorite on the old Dr. Demento Show, which started in the early 1970s on KPPC-FM and later enjoyed considerable popularity in syndication throughout and even outside the United States. Hosted by Barry Hansen, the Demento show featured a wide variety of novelty and comedy bits. I first heard it as a college freshman, where it was popular with a small group of guys in my dorm who played Dungeons and Dragons and dressed up in Star Trek outfits. I gave them pretty wide berth and steered clear of Dr. Demento as well, but I rediscovered the show a few years ago in its current internet version, and I'll be the first to say that I wished I'd started listening earlier. A lot of it's pretty cornball, but there's lots of fun stuff, too. This little clip falls dead center in the cornball bucket, but, what the heck. That's what makes it fun.


Track 29
Claude De Santos, by Mudlow

I love surfing the internet to find new music and other goodies, and I’m pretty good at turning up interesting stuff, as I hope my collections bear out. Unfortunately, I’m not so good at documenting where I’ve been and how to get back there. So I don’t have any idea where I ran across this track, or where you can find a copy of your own. I love this one myself. I love its film noir feel, and its dirty, almost sinister swagger. However, at least several friends have cited this as their least favorite cut on this year’s mix, which is really saying something when you consider it’s a collection that includes selections from Laffy and Little Marcy Tigner. 

I can tell you (and I believe this is reasonably accurate) that Mudlow is “a three piece rock band from Brighton, England, inspired by country, f@#*ed-up blues, garage, striptease, klezmer …  stuff like Bo Diddley, Tom Waits, Morphine and The Cramps.“ I know that because I did manage to save that quote along with the song. But I’ve no idea who “Claude De Santos” is, what he’s got to do with Christmas, or whether he or anyone else really “gave Rudy a red nose with a trash can lid.” Anyone with further information is invited to contact me ... or your local police department.

UPDATE:  This song is currently available on Facebook Video where even folks like me who have never had a Facebook account can listen and watch. I don't know if Zuckerberg and his people can ID visitors to Facebook Video, so I wouldn't watch too long.  Check it out HERE.

UPDATE (10/6/23):  Don't know how I missed this because it's apparently been up for four years, but you can now access this video on YouTube. Hooray!

Visit Mudlow's Bandcamp Page and Buy Claude De Santos HERE

Track 28

Holiday Greetings from Bjork
I actually like Bjork's music -- both her work as a solo artist, and with The Sugarcubes. But I confess that whenever her name comes up, the first thing I think of is this clip from Saturday Night Live, where she's portrayed, believe it or not, by Winona Rider:





Track 27
How NOT to Make Gravy, by Benny Davis, featuring Mark Sutton (2014)
Please refer to the description for Track 25, below.


Track 26
Santa Claus and the Ice Cream Bunny Radio Spot, featuring Jay Ripley as Santa Claus (1972)
This track is a radio ad for a the God-awful monstrosity  we featured as last year's Boxing Day Horror Show, the 1972 film, "Santa Claus and the Ice Cream Bunny." I shudder just thinking about it.

Hear the Radio Promo Spot

Watch the Entire Video (WARNING:  Are You Really Sure You Want to Do This?)

Watch an Excerpt from the RiffRax Version of the Video


Track 25
How to Make Gravy, by Paul Kelly (1996)
I have to admit I had some doubts about including both this track and the 2014 take-off by Benny Davis (Track 27) on the same mix. The Paul Kelly original is a beautifully crafted and touching song written as a letter from a newly imprisoned man to his brother just a few days before Christmas. In it, the author imagines all the fun he'll be missing at the family's traditional holiday gathering, and in so doing, conveys the value of each small piece and the enormity of the loss he will suffer. It's a terrific record and therefore not surprising that it's become a treasured part of the holiday oeuvre in Australia, which is where the artist Paul Kelly resides. I mean, just listen to it:




The Benny Davis send-up, by contrast, is irreverent and unseemly. And yet, from the moment I first heard last year's "How NOT to Make Gravy," I knew I had to use it. It's just too perfect! What do you think?  Appropriate, or not?

Thanks to Stubby's House of Christmas.


Track 24
After Christmas Sale Radio Spot from Crazy Eddie's Appliance Store
The Crazy Eddie's story has an awful, tragic ending, but for a time there in the early- to mid-1980s, you couldn't turn on a TV in the Tri-State area (Connecticut, New York and New Jersey) without hearing one of their advertisements. This is just one of many.





Track 23
We Celebrate Kwanzaa, by the Cast of Sesame Street
I've been looking for quite awhile to find a short clip that actually describes Kwanzaa in terms that are understandable and accessible. This clip from Sesame Street does a terrific job, I think.

Watch the Actual Sesame Street Clip

Read More HERE

Track 22
Poor Mr. Santa Claus, by Andre Williams 

Andre Williams lived a colorful life, and I suspect it was not an easy one. Born in Alabama during the Great Depression, he lost his mother at the age of six and was raised primarily by several aunts. He moved to Detroit shortly after his 16th birthday and launched his music career a few years later with the support of a couple who ran a fledgling record company out of the back of a neighborhood barber shop. Williams worked hard in the 1950s, '60s and '70s and he had a couple of R&B hits including "Bacon Fat" and "Jail Bait." He also wrote songs for other artists and worked as a roadie and manager for such artists as Edwin Starr and Ike Turner, but escalating problems with drugs and alcohol held him back and by the late '80s he was homeless and essentially alone.

Fortunately, Williams managed to claw his way back, starting with a repackaged album of his earlier material and followed by a number of edgy country and punk records. Toward the end of his career, Williams returned to his roots in soul and R&B.

Williams sometimes performed as "Rutabaga" using a distinctive gravely voice and more risque style. I included a track by Williams performed in his Rutabaga style on my 2010 collection, "Winter Wonderland."

Williams was the focus of a 2007 a documentary called Agile, Mobile Hostile: A Year in the Life of Andre Williams. (NOTE:  Williams died in 2019 at the ago of 82.)

Deck Those Halls, Part 7 (Tracks 19-21)

Well, we're now at the half-way mark. There are 42 tracks on my latest holiday mix, Deck Those Halls, and, by the end of this post, we will have looked (albeit quickly) at 21 of them. But we have to offer something about each of these songs to get there, so let's have at it:

Track 21
Jingle Bells, by Laffy (2004)

April Winchell

Ten years ago, I included a little piece of something by an individual named "Laffy" on one of my first mixes, Don't Wake the Kids. It was actually Laffy's unique take on the holiday classic, "Carol of the Bells," which consisted of someone (I assume it was Laffy) basically laughing in rhythm to the song. I'd found it not long before among the hundreds of MP3s posted at the time on April Winchell's excellent website.  I'd never heard anything quite like it before -- I mean, have you?

April was a weekend personality on KFI-AM 640 at the time, and I absolutely loved her show, which was funny, fast-moving and irreverent. The collection of MP3s she offered in the holiday section of her website contributed quite a few tracks to my holiday CDs for a couple of years. Well, I assumed that "Carol of the Bells" was a unique item and that Laffy was a one-hit wonder, though even that may be stretching things beyond what they are. But this past summer I learned there's a whole album of these things. The thrill of that discovery faded quickly, as did my ability to even listen to this schlock for more than 15 seconds. However, I felt a strange sense of obligation to add a second track to my Laffy canon. Here it is, and I'd like to dedicate it to April Winchell. By all means. enjoy!




Listen to April Winchell's First KFI-AM 640 Radio Show in August 2000

Listen to April Winchell's KFI-AM 640 Radio Show from May 18, 2001

Listen to April Winchell's KFI-AM 640 Radio Show from November 23, 2002


Track 20
Deck the Halls, by Tom's Computer (2001)

I can't tell you much about this one, except that it was sent to me a number of years ago as part of a collection called "Come Deck the Halls with Strangeness," which was put together by Frank "Bongolong" Lord, a longtime collector of offbeat music and pop cultural ephemera. You can read more about him in a nice profile on Blogio Oddio. It's a fascinating collection of tunes and clips, most of which are "nontraditional interpretations" of "Deck the Halls." My 2015 mix, like several of my previous annual mixes, skirts around a sort of loose and unstructured theme. Winter Wonderland offered several versions of that tune, while Let's Trim the Christmas Tree celebrated the holiday stocking. Just kidding. Many of its songs were about Christmas trees. My first several versions of this year's mix included at least three or four additional versions of "Deck the Halls," but that seemed excessive. The final CD has four versions of the song, though it seems like more.  The Bongolong album has 34 versions, more or less! I haven't found anything to report on Tom's Computer, the artist apparently responsible for creating this song, but it's an offbeat track that seems to fit in well. Here are a few versions that got left behind:

Listen to "Wreck the Malls," by Bob Rivers (1987)

Listen to "Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie," by the Crypt Keeper (1994)

Listen to "Wreck the Halls," by The Three Stooges (1960) 


Track 19
Church Chat (Holiday Edition)

In the Fall of 1986, Dana Carvey and four other new cast members joined Saturday Night Live as part of a near wholesale makeover of the groundbreaking show. SNL had been on the air for eleven seasons by this time and the preceding season had been an all-out disaster. Most of the cast from the preceding season were released at the end of the 1985-86 season, and the show itself was on the verge of being cancelled. Between them, however, Carvey and the other newcomers (including Phil Hartman, Jan Hooks, Kevin Nealon and Victoria Jackson) helped turn the show around, and Carvey's signature Church Lady character played a significant role in the revitalization.

The clip I included in this year's mix is a very short bit that opened one of the Church Lady's pre-holiday episodes. It remains rather difficult to find many of the best SNL bits, even when you're willing to pay for them. I'm not sure why, but there's no question that Lorne Michaels or whoever runs the show over there is missing out on some real opportunities.

Anyway, this sketch first aired on December 5, 1987, 28 years ago. I actually remember watching and loving it back then for two reasons:  Jan Hooks' brilliant impression of Jessica Hahn, the woman accused of a sexual liaison in a cheap motel with the Rev. Jim Bakker; and Danny DeVito's appearance with the Church Chat Band doing "Here Comes Santa Claus." NBC has removed the wonderful clip of that performance, so all I have to share is the following Danny DeVito monologue, which is great, but just not the same:

Deck Those Halls, Part 6 (Tracks 16-18)

Greetings holiday music fans. It looks like we're going to have a race to the finish here, because with only nine days to go before the big day I've still got 27 tracks to discuss here in some form or fashion. That's a pretty tall order, so I'd best get to it.

Track 18
C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S, by "Little" Marcy Tigner (1973)

When I put together my first few holiday mixes some 15 years ago, a significant number of the tracks I included were selected solely because of how awful they were. Seriously! Wait, you don't believe me? Try this little number on for size:  Track 32 from my 2005 mix. Or this one:  Track 34 from my 2006 mix. OK, I can hear the cries of "Uncle!" I'll stop. I only wish I'd shown that same sort of mercy and self-restraint when it came to picking this year's Track 18, but for some reason I turned sadistic and chose this monstrosity by the deceitful Marcy Tigner.

News flash! This hateful mess of audio was recorded by a middle-aged woman impersonating a child, and not by a cute little girl, as the "artist" would have you believe. Well, I already wrote about this woman in a 2011 post, and I have nothing more add. I apologize for my cruelty in selecting this track and promise it won't happen again.

(NOTE: I thought I'd amuse myself just now by doing a Google search for pictures of "Little" Marcy and her keeper online and discovered two horrifying facts. First, this obnoxious young child appears to have had quite a time of it in the 1970s, because  my Google Image search turned up at least 20 different album covers featuring her happy little face.  Even worse, tucked among the pictures the search turned up were several of my 2011 mix! Never again – I promise! (Look at this kid closely, by the way. I'm not even sure she's a human being.)

Track 17
Holiday Greetings, by Eddie Kendricks 

Eddie Kendricks

An Alabama native known for his distinctive falsetto voice, Eddie Kendricks is perhaps best known for his work during the 1960s as a member of R&B supergroup The Temptations. From 1965 through 1973 the group had 15 Top 10 records, including four Number One singles:  "My Girl," "I Can't Get Next to You," "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," and "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)." Kendricks sang lead vocals on the latter song, which has been described as "Eddie's finest moment." Another song featuring Kendricks on lead vocals was intended to be the follow-up single to "Just My Imagination," but Kendricks left the band on bad terms around that same time, and the would-be follow-up, "Smiling Faces," was given away instead to the band The Undisputed Truth.

Kendricks was quickly signed by Motown after leaving The Temptations, and though it took awhile to get started, he enjoyed a very successful solo career. I was a huge fan of R&B, soul and even disco when I was growing up, and I first got turned on to Kendricks after hearing his rather touching single, "Shoeshine Boy." That was only a modest hit, but Kendricks also had smash hits like "Keep on Truckin'" and "Boogie Down," which made it to #1 and #2, respectively, on Billboard's Hot 100.

Tragically, Kendricks died of lung cancer in 1992. But he will be remembered as a huge contributor to an era of amazingly rich music.

Listen to "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," by the Temptations, featuring Eddie Kendricks on lead vocals

Track 16
O Christmas Tree, by The Orphan, The Poet

NOTE AS OF 1/1/24:  I recently discovered that the links to online versions of this track posted below no longer work. I've searched the internet high and low for alternate versions but seem to have struck out completely. This track simply doesn't seem to be available online, for purchase or otherwise. Too bad, because it's an awesome song. Sorry. 

Drum roll, please . . . for now we come to my very favorite song on this year's mix, "O Christmas Tree," by the Dayton, Ohio band The Orphan, The Poet. You can hear the song HERE. I've played it at least 30 or 40 times over the past couple of months, and it hasn't lost a bit of its original appeal to me. They also have a number of other awesome holiday tunes kicking around, such as their version of "Have Yourself a Merry, Little Christmas," which, through the magic of the interweb, is available below:



If you're lucky enough to live in Dayton (did I just write that?), be sure to attend the band's Christmas Extravaganza at the Canal Public House in Dayton this Friday night, starting at 7:30. And wherever you're from, check out their beautiful version of "O Christmas Tree."

We'll be back with more sometime soon.

Deck Those Halls, Part 4 (Tracks 10-12)

Here are some random thoughts about the next three tracks on my latest holiday mix, Deck Those Halls!:

Track 12
Holiday Greetings from Bill and Hillary Clinton (1997)
Things can change pretty quickly in politics, but, for the moment at least, it's looking like Hillary Clinton will likely be the Democratic nominee and win election next year as President. I wanted to be president myself when I was a child. Now, I can't imagine why anyone would want the job -- and I'm a little wary, frankly, of anyone who seems to want it too much. Still, perhaps we should all be getting ready to hear at least four more messages like this one, don't you think?

Track 11
Deck the Halls, by The Klezmonauts (1998)
Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, which absolutely makes it a night to celebrate. And what better way to celebrate than with a rousing dose of klezmer music! But a klezmer version of Deck the Halls?! Well, why not? In fact, the Klezmonauts 1998 album Oy to the World gives the klezmer treatment to a collection of traditional songs and the result is a rollicking good time. A customer named Martin Keller wrote a wonderful review on amazon.com that I'd say captures the spirit of things pretty well:

Oy to the World! is an unrepentant collection of traditional carols, hymns, and Christmas high jinks played in the rousing, Jewish klezmer tradition. Talk about worlds colliding, this set throws its considerable, klezmetric weight around, turning the real "Joy to the World" into a dramatic, jazzy piece that swings and romps. With a few witty musical asides sprinkled into select songs among the 10 tracks, the Klezmonauts' only fault is that they may be too hip for the holiday party. Guaranteed either to send goyim fleeing from the room or your Yiddish grandmother rushing into the room to see what's the matter. In any event, it's fun, funny, and as effective as a shot of Jägermeister and just as unkosher. 

As much as I truly enjoyed the group's treatment of the traditional carols, my personal favorite has got to be Santa Gey Gezunderheit (Santa, Go in Good Health). Would that we could all enjoy a little more of this kind of fun over the holidays, secure in the knowledge that nobody was going to be shot as a result.



Track 10
Christmas at K-Mart, by Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band (1979)
Here's another artist from Bawlmer, and like "Fat Daddy" Johnson, the "the 300-pound King of Soul" who was responsible for creating one of yesterday's featured tracks, Root Boy Slim lived awfully fast and died way too young. Born in Asheville, NC as Foster MacKenzie III, he bounced around among a number of elite prep schools before winning a full scholarship to Yale. In New Haven, he played football, majored in African American studies and pledged for the same fraternity as George W. Bush. In fact, Bush allegedly had MacKenzie banned from the house after he tried to visit the place after graduation. 

Foster MacKenzie III

Armed with his Yale diploma, MacKenzie held a variety of short-term largely unskilled jobs for a while, including a stint as an ice cream truck driver. He was allegedly arrested for climbing the White House fence after taking LSD and wound up being committed to St. Elizabeth's mental hospital, where he was diagnosed as schizophrenic.

By the mid 1970s, MacKenzie had formed a band called Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band, which eventually made quite a name for themselves in the mid-Atlantic area. I can remember seeing them perform at The Marble Bar in Baltimore when I was in college; in fact, the crowd I hung with at the time was especially keen on Root Boy and The Original Fetish, another band with a sizeable following in the DC area. 

I'm not sure quite what I can tell you about "Christmas at K-Mart" other than the fact I've been meaning to include it on one of my mixes for at least the past several years. It's a classic. And so was Root Boy.

Deck Those Halls, Part 3 (Tracks 7-9)

I'm running behind schedule this year, which is hardly unusual, but it is frustrating. Due to printer problems, I haven't even started making the discs I send to friends and family yet, and with a mere 20 days to go before Christmas, I've only written about six of the 42 tracks on my latest mix, Deck Those Halls! I'd say it's time to pick up the pace a little, right? So without further ado . . . here's the lowdown on tracks 7 through 9:

Track 9
Holiday Greetings from Tito, Marlon and Jackie Jackson

Tito, Jackie and Marlon Jackson

The story of the Jackson family is a truly extraordinary saga that contains just about every element of the human condition. Born into relatively modest surroundings, the children of Joe and Katherine Jackson have experienced unbelievable levels of success and adoration, and yet they also seem have known more than their share of hardship and adversity. I can't say I follow them all that closely, although they've certainly provided us with some great entertainment over the years. I've always felt a little sorry for Tito, Jackie and Marlon -- well, and to Rebbie and LaToya, too, of course. It mustn't have been easy to have been so completely eclipsed by your younger brother. Anyway, it was nice for them to have taken the time to send along their holiday greetings.
Same to you, gentlemen.

Track 8
Fat Daddy, by Fat Daddy (1963)
This is a wonderful old tune that I'll wager is all but unknown to most anyone who didn't grow up in Baltimore. But if you're a native of Bawlmer, the sounds of "Fat Daddy" will almost certainly tug at the heart. You see, Paul "Fat Daddy" Johnson, "the 300-pound King of Soul," was the host of The Fat Daddy Morning Show on WWIN-AM throughout most of the 1960s. His show primarily featured hits from the R&B and soul genres, but its popularity came as much from his oversized personality as it did from anything he played.

In a 2001 tribute by Frederick N. Rasmussen, the Baltimore Sun, described Johnson's style in colorful terms:

His voice and delivery have been described as "precise and sonorous" yet "high-pitched and pressurized." His outrageous monologues rolled forth with a "gospel-like fervor."

"Hear me now," he'd hiss into the mike.

 "Up from the very soul of breathing. Up from the orange crates. From the ghetto through the suburban areas comes your leader of rhythm and blues, the expected one - Fat Daddy, the soul boss with the hot sauce. Built for comfort, not for speed. Everyone loves a fat man! The Fat Daddy show is guaranteed to satisfy momma. I'm gonna go way out on a limb on this one, Baltimore. Fat poppa, show stoppa."

Ringing bells gave way to several pulses of the organ followed by the recorded voice of a young girl saying, "Lay it on me, Fat Daddy, lay it on me."

"Fat Daddy, your king, and I've got soul for you. This is for all the foxes wakin' up this morning. Here's a soul kiss for ya, mmmmmmmh! From the lips of the high priest, from the depth of a fat man's soul. ..."

Here's a taste of the Fat Daddy style from a July 1966 aircheck recording:


Back in the '60s, '70s and early '80s, the most popular radio DJs in any city had sizeable followings and were genuine celebrities in their market. Of course, in those days, each station had its own unique personality, and individual announcers typically enjoyed considerable discretion in choosing what to play on their shows. It wasn't at all unusual for announcers to record various records of their own, sometimes wearing their announcer's hat, and other times performing music of their own. Johnson recorded "Fat Daddy" in 1963, and it became an instant hit in and around Baltimore, where it was played repeatedly throughout every holiday season. In recent years it's enjoyed something of a comeback thanks to its inclusion in the John Waters collection, "A John Waters Christmas." It's a sad and yet wonderful thing to watch the styles and features you think of as ordinary and everyday gradually pass into nostalgic, and this number's pretty much done that on three or four different levels. Here's to Fat Daddy -- the song, the DJ and the recording artist. And here's to a time that will never come again.





Track 7
Holiday Greetings from the Cast of Sanford and Son, featuring Redd Foxx and LeWanda Page (1975)

Redd Foxx and LaWanda Page

Sanford and Son was a situation comedy that aired for six seasons on NBC, starting in early 1972. Based on a British comedy called Steptoe and Son, it was supposed to be NBC's answer to All in the Family. Both were adapted for television by Norman Lear; both deliberately fought prejudice with humor, and both used bigoted, narrow-minded, middle-aged men to do the job -- one black, one white, and each more like the other than either could admit.

One of the most memorable recurring characters in the show was Aunt Esther, Fred's irascible, Bible-toting sister-in-law, played by the one and only LaWanda Page. Fred and Esther were always fighting and trading insults with one another, as in the clip that appears as the seventh track on this year's mix. It comes from the very beginning of the episode "Ebenezer Sanford," which I think is the only Christmas episode of the series. The entire episode is no longer available on YouTube, only the excerpt that appears below. Enjoy!

Deck those Halls, Part 2 (Tracks 4-6)

We've just started to examine the 42 songs on my latest holiday mix, Deck those Halls, and being that this is only the second installment in our series, the spotlight today is on Tracks 4 through 6 -- three cute little clips that we can handle with dispatch. Don't believe me? Just watch . . .

Track 6
Merry Christmas, Loopy Lu, by The Kaisers (2003)

I can't remember where I first heard this song, but I know that for at least a year I was under the impression that it was at least 20 years old and that The Kaisers were a very talented American band from the 1960s or thereabouts. Well, they're not. They're a successful and talented Scottish beat band formed in 1992 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Known for their lengthy and amazingly energetic shows, The Kaisers recorded six albums before disbanding in 2002. "Merry Christmas, Loopy Lu" is a fun,pop-style tune that really does seem to have come from a different age, don't you think? I've listened to a number of their other records now, and they certainly were good.

Track 5
Christmas Is Great, by Gentlemen on Escalators (2014)

This is another song I discovered on Stubby's House of Christmas, where it earned barely a mention: 

"Gentlemen On Escalators' single is stupid and yet... "

That was it -- well, those few words and a download link. Yet such is the power of Stubby's that even the least consequential offhand mention can yield results. I have to agree with Stubby's assessment. This is a stupid little song, and yet there's something powerful in its simple and straightforward assertion. I haven't heard anything else by the group, but I have a strong feeling that I wouldn't like it if I did. For the fifth track of this year's mix, however, they're perfect.

Track 4
Holiday Greetings from the Producers of Tarzan
I have no idea where this track came from, either, but it cracks me up all the same. The announcer sounds like it could be Johnny Carson. What do you think?





We'll be back tomorrow with more. Hope to see you then.