There's one cherished holiday tradition I've really missed over the past nine years, and it's the one that ended when The Late Show with David Letterman went off the air in 2015. For a span of 28 years, from 1986 until 2014, Darlene Love appeared on the final Letterman show before Christmas 21 times to sing her classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." Recorded in 1963 for the iconic album "A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector," it's my favorite Christmas song of all time.
Well, it's not quite the same, but Letterman reunited briefly just the other day with Love, his former band leader, Paul Shaffer, and executive producer Barbara Gaines, to share their memories of this former holiday tradition:
Love first appeared with Letterman in December 1986, when his show was on at 12:30 a.m. on NBC following Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. She returned in 1994 after Letterman moved his show to CBS and appeared every year of its CBS run save for 2007, when a writers' strike preempted most original programming. I didn't watch much late night TV during those years, but I always tried to watch Letterman's final broadcast before Christmas to see Love perform.
There were two other traditional components to the last pre-Christmas show each year. First, Paul Shaffer regaled folks with his story of the appearance of William Conrad, the star of TV's Canon, on the Sonny and Cher Christmas show. Next, Jay Thomas was usually on hand to tell his famous Lone Ranger story. Sadly, Thomas died several years ago and therefore missed this week's reunion. Shaffer did tell his William Conrad story at this year's get-together.
For those others who loved this late night Late Show tradition, super fan Don Giller has created a lengthy tape featuring all of Darlene Love's appearances and other related material that's well worth watching.
Be sure to check out Giller's written description of the video on its YouTube posting page HERE.
Thanks to Don Giller and to all who are responsible for this wonderful tradition and for this year's reunion!
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!
As I've repeatedly pointed out, last night's final pre-Christmas Late Show with David Letterman marked the end of two longstanding holiday traditions. Darlene Love has been on-hand to sing her 1963 classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" for the past 28 years, while Jay Thomas has appeared nearly every year since 1998 to play the Quarterback Challenge and regale us with his famous "Lone Ranger Story," which Dave calls "the greatest talk show story ever told." With Letterman scheduled to retire next May, those traditions effectively ended with last night's show. But last night was also the swan song for another, less well-known tradition — Paul Shaffer's "Sonny and Cher (and Cannon)" Christmas story. Here's Paul on last night's Late Show describing what he remembers about the 1973 holiday episode of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour:
Well, now, this story intrigued me — first, because I'm a fan of bad 1970s television, and, second, because I like Cannon, the famous Quinn Martin detective show starring William Conrad.* (I know, I know. I'm being redundant.) If Conrad was on TV singing Christmas carols in the '70s, I want to see it. So, I went straight to YouTube where I quickly found the clip Shaffer described from a 41-year-old episode of The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour:
All in all, I'd say that Shaffer's description was pretty much spot on. (Conrad saunters at about 1:10 to sing "The First Noel," and Cher, her hands in the famous muff, begins singing "Oh Holy Night" at around 2:50.) I'd never heard Shaffer's rendition before, and even if his telling of it is a genuine holiday tradition, it doesn't hold a candle to Thomas's and Love's longstanding regular appearances. In case you missed it, here's Darlene Love on last night's Late Show with David Letterman:
And here's Letterman's entire last pre-Christmas broadcast from 12/19/14. The Jay Thomas bit begins at 16:32:
How did Thomas feel about ending his traditional pre-Christmas appearances? "I am so friggin' glad this is over," he deadpanned.
Not me.
_______________
*Brave adult readers who are interested in a different perspective on William Conrad than what we saw on Cannon can listen to his X-rated rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" HERE.
Darlene Love singing "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on The Late Show
Tonight's the night for one of my very favorite holiday traditions: Darlene Love joins David Letterman, Paul Shaffer and the gang for the final pre-Christmas Late Show and a rousing rendition of my favorite holiday song, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." This will be Darlene's 28th pre-Christmas appearance on The Late Show, and somehow she seems to look and sound better with each passing year. Unfortunately, Letterman's other holiday tradition has been sidelined this year, and that's the annual appearance of Jay Thomas to compete with Dave in the annual Quarterback Challenge and tell the famous Lone Ranger story. Thomas recently had minor surgery and had to cancel this year's appearance. We hope he returns next year, but, in the meantime, here's a look at the outrageously funny Lone Ranger story he tells each year:
Tonight's the night Darlene Love is scheduled to make her annual visit to CBS's Late Show with David Letterman to perform her holiday classic Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Letterman first heard Love perform the song when she was appearing with band leader Paul Shaffer in a play called Leader of the Pack, and he liked it so much that he's invited Love to perform the song on his show (then NBC's Late Night)– not just once, but every year for the past 27 years! (Tonight will be her 26th live performance, as a writers' strike in 2007 required the airing of a rerun that year.) Darlene typically appears toward the end of the broadcast, but you'll want to catch the rest of the show, too, because Jay Thomas will also be on hand for his annual quarterback competition with the host and to tell one of funniest stories I've ever heard on broadcast TV. For those who want more, Darlene's back on stage tomorrow night for her annual holiday show in Newark, New Jersey, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
One of my very favorite holiday traditions is the annual appearance of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Darlene Love on the Late Show with David Letterman singing what is perhaps my very favorite holiday song of all time, "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)." This song was first released 48 years ago (can you believe it?) on what Rolling Stone has called "[h]ands down, the best holiday album in the history of pop music," A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. Letterman first saw Love perform the song in 1986 in a show called Leader of the Pack, in which his band leader, Paul Shaffer, was also performing. Letterman told Shaffer he loved the song and asked him to arrange for Love to sing it on their show during the holidays that year. That performance must have been terrific, because Love's been invited back to perform "Christmas" on the final pre-holiday broadcast every year since. (There was no Late Show in 2007 due to a writers' strike, but even then CBS replayed an earlier Love appearance.) Well, folks, this year's final pre-Christmas Late Show is this Friday, December 23, so make plans to watch or set your DVR! Also appearing on Friday will be Jay Thomas, who, in another Late Show holiday tradition, will join Dave in a unique football-throwing contest and recount his famous Lone Ranger story. To help get you in the proper spirit, here's a mash-up of clips from Love's various performances over the past 24 years:
Many other artists have tried their hand at cover versions of "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home," but none have been able to approach the indescribable magnificence of a Darlene Love performance. No, not even Bruce Springsteen, who was joined by an all-star cast in a noble attempt at one of his Asbury Park benefit shows in 2001 (below).
As one particularly savvy YouTube commentator noted, "Nice try, but it comes off as souless. This belongs to Darlene Love and nobody else will ever get close." I expect Bruce himself would be the first to concede this point. Certainly, Bruce and E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt were among Love's biggest supporters when she was under consideration for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. A number of years ago, Steve gave Love a holiday tune he authored, "All Alone on Christmas," which Love performed for the movie Home Alone 2:
There's a video out there somewhere of Love playing that one with the E Street Band and its Mighty Horns, but it's not currently available on YouTube. If you get a chance to see and hear it elsewhere, don't miss it! More on Springsteen and company tomorrow, when we look at Tracks 40 and 41 of my 2011 holiday CD.
