Be a Santa, Part 4

Here's some background on another set of tracks from my latest holiday mix, Be a Santa, which was created to celebrate the 2021 holiday season.

Track 12
Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas, Eels (2008)

If this song seems slightly familiar, you may recognize it from my 2006 mix, Stop Singing Those Dreadful Songs. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've deliberately included a track I'd previously used in an earlier mix, and I did it for two reasons. First, this is a different and harder-edged version of this Eels holiday song, and I like this version a lot. Second, although the song's been around for years, it seems particularly topical and relevant this season. As near as I can tell, this version was produced a after the version I used in 2006 — possibly for the Useless Trinkets compilation released a couple of years later. But doesn't this sound about right for 2021:

Remember last year when you were on your own

You swore the spirit couldn't be found

December rolled around and you were counting on it 

To roll out

Well everything's gonna be cool this Christmas

Everything's gonna be cool this Christmas

Everything's gonna be cool this Christmas

Well everybody's lookin' for you down at the house

The tree is looking so inspired

There's a yuletide groove waitin' for you to move

I'll go and throw another log on the fire …

Eels is a Los Angeles-based rock band formed in 1991 by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, who also goes by the stage name E. Everett's been rather prolific during the past 20 years, both as the leader of Eel and as a solo artist. Summarizing their stuff in any sort of meaningful way would require more experience with their music than I can claim, but I'm hoping you'll like this neat holiday release as much as I do.

Hear the Earlier Version of "Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas"

Hear the version that appears on Be a Santa 

Track 11

Frosty's Beach Party, The Barbary Coasters (2008)

The Barbary Coasters

One of the interesting facts you learn as a holiday music enthusiast is that the holiday music vaults are comprised of a surprisingly wide variety of styles and subgenres. For example, there's a significant number of beach and surfing-related holiday tunes and groups. I've featured at least a couple such tunes in earlier collections, including "Santa Claus Is Surfing to Town," by Soupy Sales, and "Christmas on the Beach," by Irene, from my 2009 mix, "I Just Can't Wait 'til Christmas," and there's another one this year. "Frosty's Beach Party" is by a group called The Barbary Coasters that was formed in San Francisco in the mid-1980s. Their music has a mid-'60s vibe and includes a number of surf-rock songs and tropical tunes. They also have a sizeable number of holiday tunes in their repertoire, including an entire album of seasonal numbers called "Hark," which is available on Amazon Music, below.

Hear "Frosty's Beach Party," by The Barbary Coasters

Check out "Hark" and Other Barbary Coasters albums on Amazon Music

Track 10

¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?, Augie Rios (1958)

I'm guessing that nearly every song on this year's mix will be new to you. Sure, you've heard some of the songs before, but almost certainly not in the versions offered here. This song is the most likely exception, as it's more widely known both in this version and in several other popular versions, as noted below.  Written by George Scheck, Rod Parker, and Al Greiner, the song was first recorded by 12-year old Augie Rios and the Mark Jeffrey Orchestra in 1958 on the MGM Records' Metro label. Rios' parents were both born and raised in Puerto Rico but moved to New York shortly before Augie was born. He started acting at a young age and reportedly played on Broadway before recording this hit, which he subsequently performed on American Bandstand, the Patti Page Oldsmobile Show and numerous other variety programs. He later appeared on TV in the shows East Side/West Side and Naked City, each time playing a gang member.

In 1978, the song was covered by Charo, Spanish-born actress, television personality and former wife of bandleader Xavier Cugat. It was subsequently recorded in Spanish by Mexican TV host Chabelo and by El Vez and the rock group Guster.

Hear Augie Rios sing ¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?

Hear Charo singing her disco version of ¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?

Watch Charo sing Feliz Navidad while Pee Wee Herman breaks open a piñata

 

Denmark's Surf School Dropouts Dream of California and "Another Christmas with You"

It's a relatively short hop from Sweden to Denmark, which brings us to the latest holiday offering from the Danish group Surf School Dropouts. Formed in 2008 by several friends who shared a love for the music of the Beach Boys, this four-member group relies largely on the internet to promote their growing collection of original material. In addition to the Beach Boys, they count Phil Spector as a key musical influence, noting

[h]armony-laden songs of sun, fun and love - with the occasional dash of melancholia and longing – seem to be what being a Surf School Dropout is all about so far.

Happily for us, they seem to be especially big on Christmas music, and they've just released their latest holiday single, "Another Christmas with You":



These guys aren't new to the holiday song racket, by any means. Last year, they released another Christmas single, which, like "Another Christmas with You," would have been a good fit on Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You, a holiday classic that was first released 50 years ago last month:



This band shows a lot of promise. Watch for their debut album, Summer Is a State of Mind, which drops December 28.

Here Comes Santa Claus, Part 3

My latest holiday mix is called Here Comes Santa Claus, and a couple of days ago I started sharing some of my thoughts about the 38 individual tracks that appear on it. I plan to review a few tracks each day until done, and while I'm reviewing the tracks from first to last, each day's post will proceed in reverse order to yield a final list that runs from 43 to 1 without bouncing back a few spaces at the start of each new post. Today, I've got some background on Tracks 7, 8 and 9:

Track 9
Honky Tonk Hanukkah, by Honky Tonk Confidential (2006)

Bob Scheiffer with his band, Honky Tonk Confidential

I featured a great track by Honky Tonk Confidential (HTC) called Christmas Prison on my 2011 holiday mix, and "Honky Tonk Hanukkah" was a relatively easy choice for the follow-up. It's easy to see why this song is their best-selling download, for like "Christmas Prison" it's got an infectious melody and the band really plays the hell out of it. Based in Washington, DC, HTC's had a lot of press the past couple of years because of their association with Bob Scheiffer, occasional presidential debate moderator and host of CBS's Face the Nation. Scheiffer's one of the few real honest-to-God professional journalists left in Washington, and while he did a fine job moderating the third and final debate this Fall between President Barack Obama and that other guy, he seems to be enjoying himself even more when he's onstage with "his band." Sure looks like fun to me. Incidentally, I wrote a little bit about holiday surf rock instrumentals in yesterday's post and was thrilled (and a little surprised) to discover that this fine country bluegrass band has stuck its collective toe in that water, too. So put on your baggies and check out HTC's surf rockin' version of O Come O Come Emmanuel.

Track 8
Happy Holidays Jingle
I have no idea who produced this track or where it came from, but I've had it kicking around on my computer for at least five or six years and it seemed like a fun little addition to this year's mix.

Track 7
Here Comes Santa Claus, by Esquivel (1959)

Esquivel

The title track of this year’s compilation is a genuine Christmas classic, written in 1947 by Gene Autry and Oakley Haldeman, and while it’s been recorded by hundreds of different artists and was cited by ASCAP several years ago as the 21st most frequently performed Christmas song of all time, this is the first and only time it’s turned up on one of my mixes. The song was inspired by Autry’s participation in the annual Santa Claus Lane Parade, now known as the Hollywood Christmas Parade. Autry was a fixture at the annual event, and as he rode his horse along the route in 1946 he heard crowds of children wherever he was shouting “Here Comes Santa Claus!” From that line, he says, the song was born. Autry's first public performance of the song was on the Gene Autry Melody Ranch Radio Show before a live radio audience on November 30, 1947 (65 years ago tomorrow). The song quickly became a big hit, ultimately reaching #7 on the Billboard singles chart that winter. It’s subsequently been recorded by a wide range of artists including Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Billy Idol, Bob Dylan, and Ludacris, and Autry himself released two additional versions of the song in 1953 and 1957. The version I used for this year’s mix is by the late Juan Garcia Esquivel, better known simply as Esquivel. Originally recorded in 1959, Esquivel’s version was first released that same year as part of the RCA Victor compilation “The Merriest of Christmas Pops,” but it made a bigger splash when it was re-released 37 years later on the last album Esquivel worked on, Merry Christmas from the Space Age Bachelor Pad. In the interim, Esquivel had slowly built an impressive following with his signature blend of quirky instrumental pop that ultimately became known as “sophisticated lounge” or “space age bachelor pad” music. Marked by its wordless vocals, exotic percussion and deliberately overstated dynamic shifts, Esquivel’s style is often described in jazz-related terms, but in contrast to most modern jazz, it tends to be tightly arranged and carefully scripted. I've used stuff from Esquivel on two of my previous mixes – "Stop Singing Those Dreadful Songs," which featured holiday greetings from the artist, and "Hooray for Santa Claus," which included Esquivel’s version of "Auld Lang Syne." He was a cool cat and a solid hipster whose stuff was always in orbit.

Incidentally, the Gene Autry website has a wealth of Christmas-related material in a special section called Gene Autry's Cowboy Christmas. In addition to "Here Comes Santa Claus," Autry recorded dozens of other holiday tunes, and in 1949 his version of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer hit #1 on the Billboard singles chart. It's the only song in Billboard history to ever fall off the chart completely from the #1 position. You can read more about Autry's other holiday releases and even download lots of free stuff including some great desktop backgrounds from the Autry site. But don't delay! There's no guarantee it will remain up past Christmas.

Here Comes Santa Claus, Part 2

Yesterday, I started posting a little background on the various tracks included on my latest holiday mix, Here Comes Santa Claus, and I'm hoping to continue with that until I've provided at least a little information about each of the 38 tracks on this year's CD. With that word of warning, let's press on!

Track 6 

Window Wonderland Stencils Kit Commercial, Gold Seal Glass Wax (c. 1963)
The sixth track on this year's CD is an edited version of a vintage TV commercial touting the use of Gold Seal Glass Wax with the company's holiday stencils kit to create decorative seasonal images on glass windows. Glass wax, which I vaguely remember, was a popular window cleaner in the 1950s and '60s. Many people disliked using spray or aerosol window cleaners such as Windex because they supposedly left streaks. Glass wax, by contrast, was applied to the glass with a sponge, and, once it had dried it could be easily rubbed off with a dry cloth leaving sparkling clear, streak-free windows. As this commercial explains, glass wax could also be applied with a stencil and left on the window in a distinctive pattern. Once painted on the window, it looked like etched glass or frost, and was easily removed after the holidays. I don't recall decorating our windows with this technique growing up, although I believe my cousins did. I vividly recall cleaning a whole mess of windows every spring, however: regular and storm windows at our home in Massachusetts, as well as the very old glass windows at our summer home in Maine, and at "the Studio" behind my grandmother's home on the Stroudwater River in Portland, Maine. Her home was previously owned by the impressionist painter Walter Griffin (1861-1935), to whom she was related by marriage, and "the Studio" was where he did a lot of his work. My cousins, my brother and I frequently slept there in the warmer months, and I lived there for two summers during college while working as a cook to earn money for school. That place had lots of windows, and over the years I'd guess we used pretty much every possible type of window cleaner on them.


Track 5
Three Blind Christmas Mice, The Bel-Airs (1962)

The Bel-Airs, c. 1961

I can't remember where I first ran across this bouncy little number, but I'm sure glad I did. It's by a group called The Bel-Airs, and it's a great example of the underappreciated surf rock genre that became popular in Southern California and certain other parts of the country in the early to mid-1960s. The Bel-Airs were among the earliest and most influential West Coast surf rock bands. Formed in 1960, they had their biggest hit the following year with an instrumental titled Mr. Moto, which was apparently based on the fictional Japanese secret agent created in the 1930s by author John Marquand. Three Blind Christmas Mice, also known as "The Three Blind Mice Make It to Santa's Village," was released in 1962 and appears to be the only holiday song The Bel Airs recorded. It's an instrumental mash-up of "Jingle Bells" and  the popular children's tune "Three Blind Mice," but it's the high-octane surf-rock beat that makes it great. Sadly, the surf rock scene pretty much fizzled out with the arrival of the British invasion, and by 1964 The Bel-Airs were gone. Happily, most of the members remained in music after the break-up. Guitarist Eddie Bertrand formed Eddie & the Showmen in 1964, while guitarist Paul Johnson joined Cat Mother & the All Night Newsboys in 1970. Original Bel-Airs drummer Dick Dodd joined Bertrand in Eddie & the Showmen, and later joined the legendary Los Angeles garage band The Standells, playing drums and singing lead on their 1966 surf-style hit, Dirty Water, which is pretty much the national anthem of Boston rock. That's right, surf rock's always been big in Boston, and it doesn't come as easily to folks in Massachusetts as to residents of California. For proof, check out one of my favorite Boston rock classics, the Gremies' No Surfing in Dorchester Bay.  

Track 4
Holiday Greetings from the S.O.S. Band (c. 1987)

The S.O.S. Band

I've been using celebrity holiday greetings between songs ever since my very first holiday mix, although I use them less frequently with each successive mix.  They're an easy way to transition from one song to another, much as commercials were back in the days of Top 40 AM radio. It's hard to segue directly  from an uptempo song to something sad, for example, without some kind of bridge, and devices like the celebrity greeting allow you to make those transitions without a whole lot of thought. (Former American Top 40 host Casey Kasem addressed this topic in one of the most famous backstage rants to ever hit the internet.) Depending on who's involved, celebrity greetings can also add a certain cachet to a project, or at the very least a sense of recognition or familiarity. The ones I like best, however, are the ones from B-, C- or D-list celebrities -- the clips that leave you wondering "who the hell is this person and why do I care that he's wishing me a Merry Christmas?" Which brings us to the S.O.S. Band. Well – no, wait. That's not really fair to them. In fact, I really liked this band, back in the day. You may remember their first single, Take Your Time (Do It Right), which was a huge hit during the Summer of 1980. I was living in New York City that summer and had just discovered the club scene there, and I guess I'll always associate this song with a set of experiences and memories that have no place in an upstanding holiday music blog like this. If you want to know more about the S.O.S. Band, you can look them up on Google. I'm too busy right now enjoying the first rays of sunlight on a long-ago July morning, as I make my way up Eighth Avenue with the beat of the disco still thumping in my ears.

PS: Casey Kasem offers a snapshot of the top-selling records of that summer in the America's Top 10 broadcast that aired on August 17, 1980. The YouTube clip notes at 5:20 that "Take Your Time (Do It Right)" was the number three song in the country that week. What was #1? Olivia Newton-John's "Magic," God help us all. Incidentally, Newton-John and John Travolta recently released an album of holiday music that Travolta describes as "intimate," and "not [ ] too ostentatious or showy." Benefits from the album go to charity, which seems to be the record's one redeeming feature.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow.