Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 15

Well, it's another Christmas Eve, and time now to share some random thoughts about the final two songs on my latest holiday mix, Is There Really a Santa Claus?  The mix is available on my holiday music website, which is called (imaginatively enough) Mark's Holiday Mix CDs. In previous years, I've left the mix up through New Year's Eve, and I'll certainly plan to do that again this year. In fact, I'll probably leave it up even longer for anyone who's interested. Keep in mind that my previous mixes are currently available on the Archive page of my website, with the first 10-12 minutes of each mix also available on the Samples page.*  For anyone who wants to have a downloadable copy of this year's complete mix, by the way, click on the album cover near the top right of the website's Latest page. OK, then, with all that out of the way, on to the final two tracks:

Track 39

Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emanuel, by Boyz II Men (2005)

Boyz II Men, circa 1991

I really fell for this song after hearing it performed by the Front Range Christian School Advanced Band, and it occurred to me that the version I've been holding onto by Boyz II Men for the past few years might be a good song with which to end this year's mix. I first heard of Boyz II Men back in the Spring of 1991 when they released their first single, "Motownphilly," which I loved (and still do). The members of the group met and started singing together at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. In 1989, they managed to snag the attention of Michael Bivens, the former New Edition member who'd moved on to co-found Bell Biv Devoe and was looking for new talent to promote. Impressed by their style as well as their musical abilities, Bivens agreed to manage the group, and worked with Dallas Austin to produce their first album, Cooleyhighharmony, which became a big hit and spawned three other hit singles in addition to "Motownphilly" — "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday," "Uhh Ahh," and "End of the Road." These three songs, each a slow ballad, came to define the group's principal style going forward. That style proved to be extremely successful, but it lacked the energy and kick that marked "MotownPhilly," and I quickly lost interest in the group, even as they became one of the most successful acts of the day.

These guys must like Christmas, as they've released two full albums of holiday songs. The first was the follow-up to Cooleyhighharmony, titled Christmas Interpretations. I can't think of another group offhand that released a holiday album as their sophomore release. "Oh, Come, Oh, Come Emanuel" appears on their second Christmas album, Winter/Reflections, which was apparently only released in Japan in 2005. Both of their holiday releases are good, although neither breaks any new ground.

I should note that Boyz II Men adopt a different form of the song's title than the Front Range Christian School Advance Band. Boyz II Men use more commas in their version and spell Emanuel with one "m" ("Oh, Come. Oh, Come Emanuel"). The Front Range version omits commas altogether and adds a second "m" ("Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel"). I have no idea which version is correct (if either is), so I decided to use each group's version in connection with its respective track.

Listen to the Oh Hellos' magnificent version of the song, which is presented as Mvmt. 1 of their Family Christmas Album (Rejoice! Rejoice!), below:




Track 38

The Christmas Song, by the Cast of "30 Rock," featuring Elaine Stritch (2008)

I've never been a big fan of show tunes or Broadway musicals; it's not that I especially dislike them — and there have been several (Rent, in particular) that I've truly enjoyed — it's just not been my scene. But I've always been keen on Elaine Stritch, who struck me as one hell of a dame. I first took notice of her maybe 25 years ago during one of the many pledge weeks for our local public television station, WGBH (Channel 2) in Boston. I loved Channel 2 growing up. One of the kids on our block (Tracy) was on the popular kids' show Zoom!, and the Channel 2 Auction in June was always a signal that summer had arrived. Anyway, during that one pledge week, the station was giving away a tribute to Stephen Sondheim and aired a clip of Stritch singing her signature song "Ladies Who Lunch" to promote the deal. It blew me away. She looked to be about 102 years old at the time, but her voice was amazingly strong and she sang with a level of emotion and feeling that simply impressed the hell out of me. That song was from Sondheim's 1970 show Company, in which Stritch played Joanne, a cynical, outspoken older woman who drank too much. From all accounts, she was well-suited for the part.

Raised in suburban Detroit, Stritch's parents were extremely comfortable and devoutly Catholic. Her uncle was the Archbishop of Chicago. She took her first drink at 14 and quickly developed a taste for the stuff, and, with it, a passion for performing. After graduating parochial school, she left for New York and began the customary long, hard slog toward stardom. For Stritch, however, things moved relatively quickly. Tapped as Ethel Merman's understudy in Call Me Madam, she assumed Merman's role in the touring company version of the show after first playing a key role in Pal Joey. In 1961, she was selected for a part in the Noel Coward musical Sail Away, and quickly stole the show. In fact, Coward was so impressed that he wrote the other female lead out of the play altogether and combined her part with Stritch's.

After playing Joanne in Company, Stritch moved to London, where she married John Bay, the heir to the Bay's English Muffins fortune. She appeared in films and on the British television show Two's Company during the 1970s, returning to the United States following Bay's death from cancer in 1982. Stritch's drinking became a noticeable impediment to her career after returning to New York, but she started working again regularly after acknowledging and seeking treatment for her alcoholism. In 2001, Stritch mounted a successful one-woman show Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, which won a Tony for Best Special Theatrical Event. In its review of the show, Newsweek offered that it

is in a class by itself, a biting, hilarious and even touching tour-de-force tour of Stritch's career and life. Almost every nook and cranny of "At Liberty" holds a surprise. Turns out she dated Marlon Brando, Gig Young and Ben Gazzara, though she dropped Ben when Rock Hudson showed an interest in her. "And we all know what a bum decision that turned out to be," she says. And then there were the shows. A British writer recently called Stritch "Broadway's last first lady", and when you see her performing her signature numbers from Company and Pal Joey and hear her tell tales of working with Merman, Coward, Gloria Swanson and the rest, it's hard to argue. Especially since she does it all dressed in a long white shirt and form-fitting black tights. It's both a metaphor for her soul-baring musical and a sartorial kiss-my-rear gesture to anyone who thinks there isn't some life left in the 76-year-old diva. "Somebody said to me the other day, 'Is this the last thing you're going to do?'," says Stritch. "In your dreams! I can't wait to get back into an Yves Saint Laurent costume that isn't mine – but [that] will be when the show is over." 

Marc Peyser, “A Stritch in Time,” Newsweek (February 11, 2002).

Stritch continued to act on stage for another decade after At Liberty — for example, succeeding Angela Lansbury in the revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music. She won three Emmys for her television work during this period, most notably for her role as Colleen Donaghy, the mother of the character played by Alec Baldwin on the hit NBC series 30 Rock. She also performed cabaret at the Carlyle Hotel in New York, where she lived until relocating to Michigan in 2013 to live with family. She died on July 17, 2014 at the age of 89.

I wasn't able to find much in the way of Stritch performing Christmas-related material, but she did shoot two very funny Christmas episodes of 30 Rock and joined Jane Krakowski and Alec Baldwin for a sweet version of The Christmas Song, from which I've added Stritch's part. You should be able to hear the whole song HERE.

Fortunately for Stritch's fans, there is ample evidence of her talent readily available online and elsewhere. I've collected just a few samples, below, that you may enjoy. The first is a clip of Stritch performing the Sondheim classic "I'm Still Here" at the White House in 2010. Her diabetes was beginning to affect her memory by this point, and she seemed very embarrassed to have missed a couple of lines at one point, but I thought she covered pretty well and her presence throughout was just as charismatic as ever (that's Justice John Paul Stevens sitting to the President's left, who had just retired from the Supreme Court at the age of 91):

Here is a film version of Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, her terrific one-woman show, which I offer with a warning — start watching it and you may find it hard to break away:

 

Here's a classic look at Stritch's efforts at recording "Ladies Who Lunch" for the soundtrack of Company, which, after a frustrating series of attempts she finally nails:

Finally, I couldn't resist posting the following cartoon parody, which I trust was made with love and respect:




Well, that's it for this year's mix — and not a moment too soon. Santa has already taken to the skies to begin his long night of work, and I'm hoping he can find a way to sprinkle a little love, compassion and empathy over our heads this year in addition to the toys and gifts I know he has. Those qualities are in woefully short supply.

Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 14

I started this blog in 2011 for the primary purpose of providing some further background information about the various tracks I include on my annual holiday mixes. My latest mix is called Is There Really a Santa Claus, and over the past several weeks I've been posting comments on its 39 tracks. We've now run through Tracks 1-35, which leaves only four more to consider. We'll do two of those today, both of which are among the nine tracks I selected in honor of nine talented individuals who passed away in 2014.

Track 37

Amazing Peace, by Maya Angelou (2005)

I've known of Maya Angelou as a respected poet, author and civil rights activist for 25 years or more, and throughout that period I've considered her to be a talented and accomplished woman who's lived an extraordinary life. But I have to admit that until today, when I read about her life for the purpose of writing this post, I had no idea just how incredible her life truly was. Born to a poor Missouri family in 1928, Angelou had a difficult and traumatic childhood. At the age of eight, she was brutally raped by her mother's boyfriend, and after she reported what had happened, the boyfriend was apparently killed by members of her family. The trauma of these events had a powerful effect on Angelou, who retreated inward and literally became mute for several years. It was during this period that she developed her love for poetry and literature, which were her principal companions.

At age 17, Angelou settled in the San Francisco area, took a job as a streetcar conductor and bore a child out of wedlock. She subsequently studied modern dance, and, beginning in 1954, began to dance professionally. In 1954 and 1955, she toured Europe with a company of Porgy And Bess, after which she recorded an album of calypso music and appeared in an off-Broadway musical review. In the late 1950s, Angelou began to focus more on her writing, joining the Harlem Writers Guild and networking with other writers. After organizing a successful fundraising event for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1960, she was appointed SCLC's northern coordinator. In 1961, she traveled to Ghana, where she worked on an English-language newspaper and as academic administrator. She became a good friend of both Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and helped to build the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Following King's murder, she wrote, produced an narrated a ten-part series on blues music and the African-American experience.

In 1969, Angelou published I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first in a series of widely acclaimed autobiographical books she wrote. Throughout the 1970s and '80s, she continued to write, teach and lecture, receiving over 30 honorary degrees as a result of her increasing body of work. In 1993, Angelou received wide notice for her poem "On the Pulse of Morning," which she read at the Inauguration of President Bill Clinton.

The clip I selected for this year's mix features Angelou's reading of an excerpt from her poem "Amazing Peace" on NBC's Today Show with Katie Couric. She wrote the poem for the 2005 White House Tree Lighting ceremony, where she first read in publicly. The poem was later published as a short chapbook by Random House. Here is the poem itself, followed by a clip of her 2005 appearance at a White House holiday celebration (Dr. Angelou's reading begins shortly after the 2:30 mark).

Amazing Peace

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.

We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortal's, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

― Maya Angelou

Track 36
Snow, Snow, by Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger was a folk singer, songwriter and political activist whose progressive views and commitment to justice left a permanent impression on American society, largely by way of the succeeding generations of schoolchildren who learned and sang his songs as they came of age during the second half of the 20h century. We sang "If I Had a Hammer" and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" around the campfire at night at every summer camp I ever attended. In the fifth grade, I can remember my teacher, Miss Richards, gathering the class around a phonograph to listen to The Byrds sing another Seeger song, "Turn! Turn! Turn!" and using the lyrics as jumping off point for a discussion about the War in Vietnam. Seeger believed in the interconnectedness of things, and he rarely missed an opportunity to get people thinking and promote his world view even as he entertained them.

He was raised in a family of musicians and activists, and his father, who taught music at the college level, was especially interested in American folk music. Seeger traveled with his father and brothers through many parts of the South and the Plains states to perform and collect traditional folk songs. For a time, he worked with his father's friend Alan Lomax in the Library of Congress cataloging the large collection of field recordings that sought to capture the largely unwritten music of the American countryside. In 1941, Seeger began to perform with the Almanac Singers, a group of politically active folk singers that included Woody Guthrie and Cisco Houston. The Almanacs raised a few eyebrows with their position against American involvement in World War II, although they changed their position after Hitler broke his non-aggression pact with Stalin and Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Seeger joined the Communist Party around this same time, although he did not remain a member for long and he openly rejected communism as it was practiced in the Soviet Union.

After serving in World War II, Seeger and several of the other Almanac Singers formed a new group called The Weavers, who scored several big hits in the early 1950s including "Goodnight, Irene" and "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena." Although the Weavers tried to moderate their political activity in the face of growing public fear of the left, Seeger's history with the Communist Party resulted in his being called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, where he refused to answer questions based on the First Amendment. Held in contempt of Congress, Seeger was blacklisted and denied most opportunities to work, just as his music was really beginning to catch on.

In the mid-1960s, when folk music became all the rage and the paranoia of the McCarthy era had finally faded, interest in Seeger's music began to increase. There were more opportunities to work, and coverage of his career became more positive again. In fact, for the balance of his life, Seeger remained very active both politically and musically — right up until his death this past January, at the age of 94.

“He was a very gentle man and intensely optimistic,” British singer and activist Billy Bragg recently told the BBC. "He believed in humanity and the power of music to make a difference, not to change to the world."

The song I chose for this year's mix is a beautiful if less prominent number in the Seeger songbook called "Snow, Snow." It's a sad, wistful sort of song that could be interpreted as speaking about death, which, like a heavy snow, erases most of the defining characteristics and individual features of those it affects:

Snow, Snow

[Chorus (after each verse):]
Snow, snow, falling down;
Covering up my dirty old town.

Covers the garbage dump, covers the holes,
Covers the rich homes, and the poor souls,
Covers the station, covers the tracks,
Covers the footsteps of those who'll not be back.

Under the street lamp, there stands a girl,
Looks like she's not got a friend in this world.
Look at the big flakes come drifting down,
Twisting and turning, round and round.

Covers the mailbox, the farm and the plow.
Even barbed wire seems - beautiful now.
Covers the station, covers the tracks.
Covers the footsteps of those who'll not be back.

— Pete Seeger 

I'll be back tomorrow or the next day with the two remaining songs from this year's mix — a return appearance for a song that's already appeared somewhere among the first 37 tracks, albeit by another artist, and an excerpt from a Christmas classic sung on TV by a legendary woman of the stage.

Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 13

Don't give up yet, friends, because we're now in the home stretch for sure. Counting the two tracks discussed in today's post, we've completed our look at 35 of the 39 tracks on my latest holiday mix, which leaves only four left to review. So let's get on with it!

Track 35
That's What I Want for Christmas, by Shirley Temple (1936)

I was slightly taken aback this past February when I learned that Shirley Temple Black had just died. Frankly, I was surprised she was still among us, as she’d been a well-known celebrity for far longer than nearly any of us can remember. She was fortunate to have lived a long life (85 years), but more importantly, she seems to have lived it to the fullest, from worldwide stardom as a young film actress to her distinguished diplomatic service more recently, including appointments as our nation’s ambassador to Ghana and, during its inspiring Velvet Revolution, Czechoslovakia.

Born in Santa Monica, California in 1928, Temple played her first film role when she was only three. Her mother apparently had dreams of making her daughter a star, and she worked to encourage Shirley's acting, singing and dancing talents. Temple's first roles came in a series of horrific exploitation films in which young children portrayed adults for humorous effect, but in 1933, Fox signed her to appear in Stand Up and Cheer, which was a big hit — and she was off. The nation was still deep in the grips of the Great Depression when Temple first became a star, and she quickly captured the hearts of millions of frightened and weary moviegoers who looked to her for a little relief from the grim news of the day. In the eight years from 1934-42, Temple made 27 films, most of which were box office smash hits and many of which are widely considered to be classics today.

By the 1940s, however, Temple's star had begun to lose at least some of its lustre, and she reduced her work schedule substantially to focus on making a family for herself. Her first marriage to John Agar produced a child but lasted only five years. Her second, to Charles Alden Black, a wealthy and distinguished war hero and business executive, lasted until his death in 2006.

In the late 1960s, Temple, known then as Shirley Temple Black, became increasingly active in politics. She ran for Congress as a Republican but was defeated in the primary by Pete McCloskey, a law professor and staunch opponent of American involvement in Vietnam. Gerald Ford appointed Black as the U.S. ambassador to Ghana in 1974, and under George H.W. Bush, she served as our nation's ambassador to Czechoslovakia. In that position, she played a key role in supporting the overthrow of Soviet control and provided support and assistance with the creation of the new Czech Republic.

"That's What I Want for Christmas" was featured in the 1936 film Stowaway, which also starred Robert Young, Alice Faye and Arthur Treacher.Temple plays a young schoolgirl who's orphaned in China and then becomes in inadvertent stowaway on a ship returning to the United States. You can watch the entire film below:



Finally, you can watch Shirley enjoying Christmas in the following collection of scenes from four different films: BrightEyes (1934), Stowaway (1936), Heidi (1937) and The Bluebird (1940):

Track 34
Sweeney Sisters Holiday Medley, Cast of Saturday Night Live, featuring Jan Hooks (1986)

I've been watching Saturday Night Live (SNL) for as far back as I can remember, so I've probably seen hundreds if not thousands of the show's iconic sketches over the years — good, bad and ugly. If I had to name my single favorite recurring SNL sketch ever, it would have to be the irrepressible if somewhat tacky big-haired lounge act known as the Sweeney Sisters, starring Nora Dunn and the late Jan Hooks as singers Liz and Candy Sweeney. The Sweeneys made their first appearance on SNL in October 1986, and they returned seven more times to charm us with their bubbly personalities, vapid smiles and charming medleys. I don't know what it was about those two, but I could watch them a hundred times and not grow tired of them.

According to Dunn,

[i]t was Jan Hooks who came up with the idea for the Sweeney Sisters. On the spot while we were shooting a commercial parody for Saturday Night Live. It came like a minor explosion, as most of her ideas did, and she delivered the concept and our names in a matter of seconds. Then she started belting out medleys of classic swing songs. There was no way I could keep up with her. She was a seasoned improvisor who never credited herself as a writer and at the heart of her matter she was a genuine actress.

Candy and Liz Sweeney in their milieu

A Georgia native, Hooks broke into show business as a member of the Los Angeles comedy troupe called The Groundlings. She first auditioned for SNL in 1985, but was passed over for the show. When the show tanked during its 1985-86 season, however, NBC brought back former producer Lorne Michaels who set about to rebuild the cast practically from scratch. Hooks was among the group of new additions Michaels recruited to help rebuild the show, including Dunn, Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz and Dennis Miller. Many consider that group to be the strongest cast in the show's history, and Hooks certainly added some incredible firepower to the team. In addition to Candy Sweeney, Hooks also played such characters as Nancy Reagan, Sinéad O'Connor, Tammy Faye Bakker, Kitty Dukakis, and Diane Sawyer, among others. Hooks left SNL in 1991 to join the cast of Designing Women, and she appeared on NBC's Third Rock from the Sun and in a number of films.

Hooks was a wonderful comedic actress, and she always made me laugh. She'll be missed.

Watch the Famous Sweeney Sisters' Holiday Medley with William Shatner

Hear an Audio Version of the Sweeney Sisters' SNL Debut


Only four tracks left to go, so we'll be back soon with more. Hope your preparations for the big day are proceeding apace!

Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 12

As Christmas draws ever closer, here are some notes on two more of the tracks from my latest holiday mix:

Track 33
Casey Kasem’s Christmas Favorites, by Casey Kasem (2004)

"Keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars."

– Casey Kasem

When I heard this past Father’s Day that longtime radio personality Casey Kasem had died, my first reaction was a sense of relief on his behalf. Kasem had been suffering from Lewy body dementia, a progressive neurological disease that’s incredibly painful for the sufferer and taxing on his caregivers. To make matters worse, a pitched battle had apparently arisen between Kasem’s second wife and the children of his first marriage over who should be empowered to make decisions on his behalf. Under such dreadful circumstances, I thought, death would have to be seen as a blessing. Still, I felt the news as a personal blow. Having spent countless hours with Kasem nearly every weekend while growing up, it felt as though I'd lost an old friend. 

Kasem wore many hats during his long career, including actor, investor, philanthropist and political activist. He was an especially successful voice actor, recording hundreds of commercials and voicing the role of Shaggy on the cartoon “Scooby Doo.” But he was best known as the creator and host of “American Top 40” (AT40), the syndicated weekly radio show in which Kasem counted-down the 40 most popular records in the country each week based on Billboard magazine’s latest Hot 100 chart. I was an avid fan of the show throughout my high school and college years, and I'd listen for three hours most weekends while Casey introduced and played the 40 biggest hits of the week. It was always great fun to see how my favorites were doing and to hear Kasem’s observations about the various records and the artists who made them.

I distinctly remember the first time I heard AT40. It was July 1974, and I was spending the first half of the summer at Camp O-At-Ka on Sebego Lake in Maine. I’d just begun to get into rock music in a big way, and throughout the spring I’d been religiously following the local WBZ-FM Top 40 countdown in Boston, which, of course, we couldn’t hear in Maine. Then one Saturday during afternoon rest, one of my bunkmates picked up Kasem’s countdown on his transistor radio. I was thrilled beyond measure, especially when it became clear that this countdown reflected the top songs nationwide, not just for Boston. (Over time, I came to see that Boston’s taste in music is more to my liking than the nation as a whole, but that’s a whole different kettle of fish.) The #1 song that week happened to be my favorite song at the time – "Rock Your Baby," by George McRae, so, for the moment, all was right with the world. For the next several years, I don’t think I missed more than a handful of AT40’s weekly broadcasts, and I kept meticulous notes of the songs that moved up and down the charts. For awhile, I even kept tallies of my own ten favorite songs each week. As a DJ on my college radio station in Baltimore, a friend and I created a weekly show we called “Hotline,” which looking back, was in every way an homage to Kasem. I’m glad to have discovered AT40 on that sunny July afternoon in Maine, and I’m grateful for the long hours spent with him growing up.  

Here's a very funny appearance by Kasem on The Late Show with David Letterman:

Track 32
Susie, the Snow Girl, by Mickey Rooney (1955)
When Mickey Rooney died this past April at the age of 93, the curtain came down on one of the most extraordinary careers in show business history. It was certainly one of the longest. Rooney started acting in motion pictures in 1926 at the age of six, and for the next 85 years he was never out of the spotlight for long. Between the ages of 15 and 25 he made 43 pictures, working with greats like Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland and earning a place as one of the most popular and respected actors of the day. Unfortunately, the start of World War II interrupted Rooney’s acting career just when he was at his peak, but while he never quite regained the stature and popularity he enjoyed in his teens and early 20s, he had a long and varied career and remained vital and active right up until the end.

Like so many of the celebrities of his day, and ours, Rooney was known as much for his personal life as his professional endeavors. He was married eight times, struggled with alcohol and other drug problems, and, despite earning millions, was in financial trouble more than once. Yet, like Lazarus, his career never seemed to stay dead for long. In 1979, for example, he made his Broadway debut in Sugar Babies, which became a big hit. He and co-star Ann Miller would up playing together for over 1200 shows. In 2006, Rooney was cast in the film A Night at the Museum, which not only turned out to be a smash hit but also spawned two sequels in which Rooney played.

In his later years, Rooney acted in and provided voices for a series of Christmas movies and animated films, playing Santa Claus at least five times. These include:

• Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (voice, 1970)
• The Year Without a Santa Claus (voice, 1974)
• Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (voice, 1979)
• It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1984)
• Home for Christmas (1990)
• Silent Night, Deadly Nigh 5: The Toy Maker (1992)
• The Happy Elf (2005)
• A Christmas Too Many (2005)
• A Miser Brothers Christmas (voice, 2008)

“Susie the Snow Girl” is a silly little song that Rooney both wrote and sang. It was never a big hit – in fact it’s sometimes described as a “rare” or “forgotten” entry in Rooney’s catalog. At the time of its release, Billboard magazine, in its December 3, 1955 issue, described it as “[a] personable rendition by the perpetual pixie of a slight winter novelty cleffed by Rooney himself.” Still, it’s kind of cute. And so was he.


That's all for today. I'll be watching Darlene Love tonight on Letterman, and I'll be back tomorrow with another great clip from the SNL archives.

Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 11

Time now for some random thoughts and background on three more tracks from my latest holiday mix, Is There Really a Santa Claus? Track 30 kicks off a string of nine cuts that pay tribute to several gifted and popular entertainers who died during the past year. Only eight tracks to go after today and we've got eight days left before Christmas, so I think we'll make it with time to spare.

Track 31
Merry Christmas, Joan, by the Cast of Pee-wee's Christmas Special, featuring Joan Rivers (1988)
Joan Rivers was a pioneer – one of the very first women to make a name for herself in both stand-up comedy and as the host of a late-night variety show. I'm not sure we ever give sufficient recognition to those who pave the way for others, as Joan did, and in her case it appeared to be an especially difficult climb. But she not only survived, she thrived. I tried to find a funny clip with a Christmas theme, but I wasn't able to. The closest thing I could find was a very short bit of Rivers' appearance on Pee-wee Herman's Christmas Special:




There wasn't much to it, I'm afraid, but you can hear the glow in her voice and you know she was happy doing the thing she liked best – making people laugh.





Track 30
Mork's First Christmas, by the Cast of "Mork and Mindy," featuring Robin Williams (1978)

I was at home the afternoon Robin Williams died, cleaning my apartment. I kept my cell phone close by as I worked so I could watch something light on YouTube. For some reason I chose to watch Robin Williams' 2009 HBO special, "Weapons of Self Destruction." I'm not sure why, for while I loved him in several of his movies, I'd never really seen him do much stand-up. It always seemed too loud and frenzied for my taste. But that afternoon, I found myself really getting into it. <LOL>  At some point, I realized I knew very little about the guy, so I looked him up on Wikipedia I was intrigued by what I read, and I realized there was lots of his stuff I'd never seen before. That was something to look forward to. Later that afternoon, I had to walk across Downtown to pick up a vacuum belt at Target. Walking over, I listened to David Crosby. On the way back home, I switched from mp3s to NPR. They were playing a montage of Williams' best lines when I tuned in, followed by news of his death.

Williams' problems with depression and addiction have been widely reported, and he was remarkably honest about his struggles in this area. In fact, this was a major theme in the show I'd watched on YouTube earlier that afternoon. I can't help but think that this candor, while it didn't necessarily save him, was of inestimable benefit to others by helping to reduce the stigma of these treatable illnesses and encourage a more open dialogue about them.

Williams first came to prominence as the star of Mork and Mindy, an ABC situation comedy that from 1978-82. I don't believe I'd ever seen the show until after Williams' death. (I had no idea until tonight that it was a spin-off of Happy Days, which I don't remember watching, either.) However, I was glad to find that there was at least one Christmas episode, and that it was available on YouTube. I only included a short excerpt from the episode on this year's mix, but here's the whole thing. Watch, laugh and enjoy:

Listen to a Fascinating Conversation Between Robin Williams and David Crosby, Part 1

Listen to a Fascinating Conversation Between Robin Williams and David Crosby, Part 2


Track 29
Christmas in Vegas, by Dale Watson (2001)

I haven't counted, but I'm guessing I've got somewhere between one and two thousand holiday songs and sound bites on my computer. They aren't organized very well, but I do keep a folder marked "NEXT CD" that I use to store the stuff I really like and am seriously considering for my next mix. There are typically a couple of dozen items there, a few of which I've been "seriously considering" for years. In any case, most of the tunes I ultimately select have sat in the "NEXT CD" folder for a spell, which means I'm usually pretty familiar with most of the tracks on each mix long before it's finalized. There are always one or two last-minute additions, however – tracks I stumble on in the final hour and like well enough to bump something else to make room. “Christmas in Vegas” is this year's last minute addition. I happened to hear it as I was finalizing this year's mix and instantly liked it — the lyrics, the tune, and, most of all, its energy. This one also rings some loud bells for me personally, as a couple of good friends treated me and a friend to a weekend in Las Vegas this past September, and it was a blast! 

There are several wholly different songs that go by the title “Christmas in Vegas” – and still others, all different, that use the city’s full name (i.e., “Christmas in Las Vegas”). This tune is by Dale Watson, from his album Christmas Time in Texas. (I've previously credited the song to Dale Watson and His All Stars, but that’s not correct. The All Stars have performed the song with Watson live, but the album version should be credited to Watson alone.) Here's a clip of Watson performing the song live on Christmas Night 2010 at the Continental Club in Austin, Texas:




Watson was born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in a rural area outside of Pasadena, Texas. His father and an older brother were both talented musicians, and Dale himself started young. He was writing songs by age 12 and performing in clubs just a few years after that. During his 20s and early 30s, Watson spent time in Los Angeles and Nashville, where he wrote songs for others and played a variety of local country and western clubs. Watson signed a record deal after relocating to Austin, Texas in the mid-1990s, and he’s kept productive and busy since then, consistently releasing at least one new album per year. This is especially noteworthy in light of the hand he was dealt several years after the release of his first album. First, his girlfriend was killed in a car accident after falling asleep behind the wheel while driving to meet him. Watson attempted to make sense of the tragedy on his 2001 album Every Song I Write Is For You, which is dedicated to her, but he remained powerfully affected by the loss. By 2002, Watson realized he was having trouble coping, and he had himself committed. Thankfully, he made a full recovery, and his story is captured in the 2007 documentary Crazy Again. Watson has remained exceptionally busy in recent years, both in the studio and performing live. He plays regularly at the Grand Ole Opry and Austin's Continental Club and appeared on stage in 2012 in Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, the well-received musical by Stephen King and John Mellencamp.

Watson is often described as an "authentic" country singer, or a "vintage" or "hard-core" country and western star. This harkens back to greats like Hank Williams, George Jones, Buck Owens and Johnny Cash, and it seems right to me. Watson himself prefers to use the term "Ameripolitan" music, explaining that unlike most pf the modern fare now coming out of Nashville, Ameripolitan music has its roots in the local communities instead of some producer's bank account. Ameripolitan music tells stories — honest stories about genuine men and women facing life's challenges. Real stories affect change, which is why I was so pleased to see the video Watson made several years ago to decry the treatment he received at the hands of one particular corporation several years ago. Go get 'em, Dale!

Hear Christmas in Vegas, by the Sin City Sinners

Hear Christmas in Vegas, by Ozark Henry

Watch Los Straitjackets perform “Christmas in Las Vegas,” Live at the Horseshoe

Listen to “Christmas in Las Vegas,” by Richard Cheese

Preview or Purchase the album “Christmas in Las Vegas,” by Wayne Newton

Listen to “Santa Lost His Shirt in ‘Ol Las Vegas,” by Jimmy Limo


I'll be back tomorrow or the next day with more.

Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 10

I hope everyone had a pleasant pre-holiday weekend and managed to enjoy at least part of it away from the shopping malls. Continuing our look at the contents of my latest holiday mix, here's some information about the next three tracks:

Track 28
Santa Claus on a Helicopter, Wing (2010)
Before I offer any thoughts on this little number, I think you should have a chance to see it on video in its original, unvarnished form. Steel yourself. It's not for the faint of heart:



Wow, huh? Take a moment to recover whilst I slowly give you some background about this very unique artist. (Yes, I know the word unique means "one of a kind" and therefore can't properly be modified by an adjective like "very," which describes degree — but, hey, c'mon … if there was ever a singer who's "very unique," it's got to be Wing, right?) Anyway …

Wing has appeared on my various mixes six times with five different songs. (I inadvertently used her version of "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" on both Don't Wake the Kids (2005) and Stop Singing Those Dreadful Songs (2006). It was so good, I guess I just got carried away!) This puts her in second place among frequently featured artists, right behind Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow (7 tracks) and just before Red Sovine (4). Raised in Taiwan, Wing emigrated to New Zealand sometime before the most recent turn of the century. She settled in the Auckland area, where she began to sing on a volunteer basis at various hospitals, rest homes and sanatoria. Several patients apparently urged her to record an album, and, not subject to the oversight of a conservator or guardian yet herself, Wing obliged them with Phantom of the Opera, a collection of songs from the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical. This was followed by a string of CDs featuring various assortments of standards and popular hits. Despite, or perhaps because of, her unconventional style, Wing's recordings began to attract increasing numbers of fans, largely via the internet. In 2005, she expanded her repertoire by recording a series of tribute albums to various groups including the Beatles, the Carpenters, Elvis Presley and AC/DC. That same year, she guest starred as herself on an episode of South Park, called Wing. The singer's first U.S. performance took place in San Francisco on her one-stop "Wing Over America" tour in 2007, and she returned in 2008 to perform at the popular SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas. She's also appeared on television many times, including a live performance of Michael Jackson's hit "Beat It," which you really have to see to believe.

In recent years, Wing's style has evolved in a somewhat different direction as a result of her collaboration with writer/producer Rappy McRapperson. The two first joined forces on the CD Stop the Nonsense (2010), which was followed in quick succession by Wing Sings For All The Single Ladies And Raps For All The Safe Parties (2010) and Carols, Rap and Sing; A Beautiful Christmas (2010). These releases were marked by an emphasis on original songs with topical messages to today's young people. For example, "Stop Smoking Crack" warns against recreational drug use, while "Safe Computer" has something to do with computers (I think): 

Computer sing,
Computer swing.
Computer walk,
Computer moonwalk.

Yeah lets go,
Wiki, Wiki, Wiki, Wiki, Wikipedia.
Wiki, Wiki, Wiki, Wiki, Wikipedia.
Firewall make our computer safe.
Computer.

Stuck up in the clock,
Looking fast like that,
Then safe computer,
Safe computer.
Internet,

Thirty minutes conversation,
Save it.
A good life.
Live it.
Computer dance,
We just beat it.

© Copyright - wing han tsang / wing han tsang (885767652927)

Wing has released 22 albums and EPs to date, including two holiday CDs. The first of these, Everyone Sings Carols with Wing, features ten carols, including three that are sung in Chinese. "Santa Claus on a Helicopter" appears on Wing's second holiday release, Carols, Rap and Sing; A Beautiful Christmas, which, as Wilson and Alroy's Record Reviews point out, is one of the few album titles to include a semicolon. The album consists of just five tracks. Wing was clearly going for quality over quantity. One of the five tracks is her version of "Hallelujah," written by the great Leonard Cohen and originally released on his 1984 album Various Positions. Here, too, Wing's version is extremely unique (see ¶2, above). You've almost certainly heard the song before, It's been featured in dozens of movies and TV shows and recorded by more than 300 different artists. The song is the subject of a fascinating book, The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley & the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah" (2012), by former Rolling Stone critic Alan Light. I don't believe anyone but Wing has recorded "Santa Claus on a Helicopter" to date, but then again the truly great songs can sometimes seem a little too intimidating to attempt.

A few final thoughts:  First, Wing offers a unique (there's that word again) "singing service" to her listeners and fans. For a modest fee, Wing will call the phone number of your choosing and sing one of her songs to the person you identify. I had her call a friend of mine on his birthday several years ago to sing him the "Happy Birthday" song, and I'm pretty sure he has yet to recover from the experience. Details on the service are available HERE. Second, despite the my snarky comments, I honestly like Wing. True, I can't tolerate her singing for more than 10 or 15 seconds at a time, but when you consider her as a complete package, there's something especially endearing about the woman. She seems to love what she's doing and her enthusiasm is contagious. Moreover, she genuinely appears to care about others, whether it's the invalids she sang to at her first sanatorium performance or the stoner teens she's trying to reach with her heartfelt anti-crack message. Mark me down as a "Wing nut." It's not the first time I've been on such a list. Finally, there are actually three different versions of this year's mix in circulation, one of which features a short "hidden track" that follows Wing's offering. If you're lucky enough to have received the version with this hidden track, you'll know right away who performed the track and what it's about. In fairness, I have to admit the underlying piece was edited slightly, but the result is probably a more honest statement about the speaker's true beliefs than the original version was.

Track 27

Santa's Coming on a Whirlybird, by Little Lance and His Friends (1960)
Unfortunately, I don't have very much information to share about this track, which I accidentally stumbled across a few years ago on the Dr. Demento website. Demento, otherwise known as Barret Eugene "Barry" Hansen, is a radio broadcaster and record collector who specializes in offbeat and novelty records. He hosts a weekly internet show that features episodes that are largely organized around specific themes. At least one or two of the shows each December boast holiday themes, and they're a good source for unusual Christmas tunes and holiday comedy. I happened to spot "Santa's Coming on a Whirlybird" in one of my files shortly after I'd selected Wing's helicopter-related nightmare for this year's mix, and I thought the two songs belonged together.

Track 26
Merry Christmas, by Sue and Mike (1971)
This little number has got to be among the oddest of the many odd lots I've featured on my various mixes, and once I fill you in a bit on its history it's going to seem that much odder still. Its origins trace back to a post on Beware of the Blog, run out of free-form radio station WFMU-FM, broadcasting at 91.1 FM in New York and 90.1 FM in the Hudson Valley. There aren't a whole lot of free-form radio stations left today in this land of the free, and that's an awful shame. There aren't many blogs like Beware of the Blog, either. Over the years, it's been the source for more than a few of my holiday mix tracks as well as a bunch of graphics, movies and soundbites I've used elsewhere. The posts are less frequent and less interesting than they used to be, but it's definitely worth a look.

The short clip on my mix was created using the raw audio that was posted on the blog on December 26, 2010. One of the blog's regular contributors collects reel-to-reel tapes that he's found at various garage sales, thrift shops and elsewhere, many of which contain fascinating slices of life,. This was the case with some tapes that were apparently recorded during the 1971 Christmas season by a couple of graduating college students from Omaha, Nebraska, named Sue and Mike. The two had been married for around a year, and it sounds as though the tapes were made to be sent to their parents to make them feel as though they were a part of their holiday festivities.

What struck me most as I listened to their tapes was how different they seem compared to today's college students. Had I not known they were finishing college, I would have guessed they were much older. Of course, if they were making the tapes for their parents, they were no doubt trying to sound more serious and mature than they may have been; but they seem more middle-age in their outlook than young 20-somethings. Consider for a moment how much our culture has changed from their time to today — music, movies, TV, fashion, design, media, technology. My mind hurts just thinking about it.

The excerpt I've included in my mix was actually repackaged from the raw audio by San Francisco producer Matt Valerio, also known as Bomarr, or, formerly, the Bomarr Monk. He creates a dynamic new holiday mix each year, and the clip I chose was first released on his Wild Xmas with Bomarr, vol. 6. I really like what he came up with:




Of course the big question that remains is what ever happened to Sue and Mike? Despite the efforts of several curious WFMU listeners, they have yet to be located. Assuming they were in their early 20s when they made their tapes, they'd be around 65 years old today. Wherever they are, we know they had a lot of fun during the long-ago Christmas season of 1971.

I didn't include this clip on this year's mix, but Bomarr released a second clip from the Sue and Mike chronicles, which you can hear below:




Read the Beware of the Blog Posting about Sue and Mike's Holiday Tapes

Listen to Sue and Mike's Christmas 1971 Tape, Part 1

Listen to Sue and Mike's Christmas 1971 Tape, Part 2

Listen to Sue and Mike's Christmas 1971 Tape, Part 3

Listen to Sue and Mike's Christmas 1971 Tape, Part 4

Visit the Bomarr Blog, featuring Bomarr's Wild Xmas Mixes 

Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 9

As part of our ongoing review of the 39 tracks on my latest holiday mix, today we take a quick look at Tracks 23 through 25:

Track 25
Winter Wonderland, Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow (2004)

This is the seventh "song" by Johnny "Bowtie" Barstow to make its way onto one of my holiday mixes, which makes him the most frequently represented artist (followed by Wing with five "tunes" and Red Sovine with four). Like the previous selections, this track is from Bowtie's 2004 classic A Bowtie Christmas, which features not only 10 classic holiday carols, but 14 additional time-tested standards, including "Mack the Knife," "Oh Danny Boy," and "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover."

I posted some information about Barstow two years ago in connection with the appearance of his song "The First Noel" as Track 29 of my Here Comes Santa Claus CD. I'm not sure how much more there is to add, as there isn't much information about his artistry in general circulation. As for the song, this is the second time "Winter Wonderland" has appeared on one of my mixes. The first version was recorded by Oliver Crumb and appears on my 2011 mix, Gee, Whiz . . .  It's Christmas (Again!). The song was written in 1934 by Felix Bernard, who wrote the music), and Richard B. Smith, who wrote the lyrics.

In its original version, the song’s bridge included the following lyrics:

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
then pretend that he is Parson Brown.
He'll ask, "Are you married?" We'll say, "No, man,
but you can do the job while you're in town!"

When the song was first released in the 1930s, itinerant ministers of various Protestant denominations known as parsons traveled the countryside to perform marriages and other services for those who needed a minister and lacked the resources to find one of their faith on short notice. The original bridge suggested that the couple at issue had to marry in some haste. This was considered an inappropriate topic by some, which may be the reason subsequent versions of the song featured the following, less controversial lyrics:

In the meadow we can build a snowman,
and pretend that he's a circus clown.
We'll have lots of fun with Mister Snowman,
until the other kiddies knock 'im down! 

The following late-night television commercial gives you some additional flavor of Bowtie's work:



He's certainly one-of-kind, wouldn't you say?


Track 24
I Like Christmas, Franklyn MacCormack (1950)

Franklyn MacCormack

"Hello there. Welcome to the old study. Won't you come in? So nice to have you here on a night like this, when we can share a dream together as the night grows late."

— McCormack's Nightly Radio Greeting

Franklyn MacCormack (1906-71) was the longtime host of a popular radio show called The All Night Showcase on WBBM and WGN (720 AM) in Chicago. The show ran from 11:05 pm to 5:30 am six nights a week, and MacCormack was its self-styled "host and companion" throughout the late 1950s until his death, on the air, in 1971. It featured moody, thoughtful music, including lots of outstanding jazz, interspersed with stories, observations and poetry. MacCormack developed a considerable following among late-night listeners, and his mellifluous baritone was a perfect match for the atmosphere he worked to create.  

In addition to his radio program, MacCormack produced an impressive number of records, many of which tried to recreate the feel of his radio program by combining music and spoken word selections. "I Like Christmas" was released as a 45 RPM single in 1950. The B-side was called "My New Year's Wish for You," which is available on my second New Year's collection, titled Ringin' In a Brand New Year. I love old radio programs, and it sounds to me as though Franklyn MacCormack had a winner.

Listen to Franklyn MacCormack's All Night Showcase from 8/15/64

Listen to Franklyn MacCormack's All Night Showcase from 6/27/65


Track 23
Hallmark Christmas Countdown (2013)

This comedy track was broadcast during the 2013 Christmas season on NBC's Saturday Night Live. It's a parody of the types of shows often featured on the Hallmark TV channel. Many of the channel's shows are very good, but there's also a fair amount of lower-quality, predicable fare as well. Take a look at this:

IMPORTANT NOTE TO CHROME USERS (12.13.14): I haven't been able to figure out why, but the SNL videos I've posted no longer seem to be playing in the Chrome browser. They appear to work fine in Internet Explorer and Firefox, and they worked in Chrome until about 36 hours ago, but they no longer seem to. I'm not the most tech savvy guy in the world, but I am looking into the problem and will try to correct it. For now, however, you might try an alternate browser if you have problems with Chrome. Sorry for the inconvenience. 

Is There Really a Santa Claus, Part 8

We've been reviewing the 39 tracks on my latest annual holiday mix, and today's installment features a three-pack of hits especially for Beatles fans:

Track 22
I Want a Beatle for Christmas, by Becky Lee Beck (1964)
It was 50 years ago this past February that the Beatles first stormed American shores, kicking off the nationwide epidemic known as Beatlemania. Their famed performance on the Ed Sullivan variety program took place on February 9, 1964, and within two months the group had twelve records on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 singles chart, including all of the top five spots.



Beatlemania remained in full effect as the 1964 holiday season began, and you can bet that there were thousands of Beatles records under this nation's Christmas trees that year. There were also a number of novelty records that celebrated the Beatles that year, including Becky Lee Beck's "I Want a Beatle for Christmas," Track 22 on Is There Really a Santa Claus?



Beck doesn't seem to have released many other records, but quite a few other singers released Beatle-related songs that Christmas. I featured "Ringo Bells," by Three Blond Mice on my 2008 mix, Home for the Holidays. Here are some of the others:

Hear "(I Want a) Beatle for Christmas," by Patty Surbey and the Canadian VIPs 

Hear "All I Want for Christmas Is a Beatle," by Dora Bryan

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

Hear "Bring Me a Beatle for Christmas," by Cindy Rella

Hear "Santa, Bring Me Ringo," by Christine Hunter


Track 21
Silent Night, by The Fab Four (2002)

The Fab Four

From 1963-69, the Beatles celebrated each holiday season by releasing a new holiday single to the members of their fan club. These were primarily comedy records that featured mostly informal banter as opposed to actual Christmas carols. But for those who'd like to hear John, Paul, George and Ringo belting out some standards, the California-based Beatles tribute band The Fab Four have released two albums of holiday classics sung Beatles style.
What makes these songs so much fun is that each one starts out sounding like an actual Beatles original only to magically morph into a familiar carol without missing a beat. The following clip from Good Morning America introduces the group:



Buy the Fab Four's Holiday Albums

Listen to the real Beatles' Christmas Singles

Hear "Silent Night" by the Fab Four Holiday Ensemble


Track 20
Holiday Greetings from John and Yoko (1971)

John Lennon and Yoko Ono honeymooning in Amsterdam

John Lennon and Yoko Ono first met in the mid-1960s, and while there are two conflicting stories about the circumstances of their meeting, it seems pretty clear that the two were quickly taken with one another. Ono apparently began calling Lennon at home, which aroused the suspicions of John's wife, Cynthia. Lennon explained that Ono was calling to try to get him to invest in some of her "avant-garde bulls**t." However, Lennon and Ono took their relationship to a new level in May 1968 while Cynthia was on vacation in Greece. As Lennon later explained:

Well, after Yoko and I met, I didn't realize I was in love with her. I was still thinking it was an artistic collaboration, as it were – producer and artist, right? ... My ex-wife was away ... and Yoko came to visit me. ... instead of making love, we went upstairs and made tapes. I had this room full of different tapes where I would write and make strange loops and things like that for the Beatles' stuff. So we made a tape all night. She was doing her funny voices and I was pushing all different buttons on my tape recorder and getting sound effects. And then as the sun rose we made love and that was [the album we later released called] Two Virgins.

Some time later, Cynthia Lennon walked in on the pair while they were in a compromising position, and divorce proceedings were soon begun. John and Yoko were married in Gibraltar on March 20, 1969. They celebrated their honeymoon at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel by staging a weeklong "Bed-In for Peace." These events are recounted in "The Ballad of John and Yoko," which was recorded by Lennon and Paul McCartney without band members George Harrison and Ringo Starr and released by the Beatles as a single in May 1969. This little holiday greetings clip was recorded by Lennon and Ono in 1971.