Peter's Home Again for Christmas . . . Or Is He?

My 2010 holiday mix Winter Wonderland included a clip from an iconic holiday TV commercial for Folgers Coffee in which a college student arrives home early for winter vacation and wakes up the family by brewing a pot of Folgers. The folks at Funny or Die have put together the following alternate version of that story, which emphasizes the importance of paying attention:

Rejected Folgers Christmas Commercial - watch more funny videos

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.

Gee Whiz ... It's Christmas (Again!), Part 8

Where are we and what are we doing here? Oh, yes … I’ve been sharing some thoughts about the tracks on my latest holiday CD, Gee Whiz … It’s Christmas (Again!), starting with Track 1 and continuing through all 43 tracks. Well, let’s press on!

Track 34

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (Korean)

I’m not the world’s most organized person, and while I hardly ever lose anything, I do misplace things occasionally. Moreover, I don’t always document everything as well as I should when I’m in a hurry. This was never much of a problem when I was younger because I had a good memory for details. Nowadays, however, with my memory overflowing, I find I need to document things in real time or run the risk of forgetting certain details. For example, sometime during the past several years I downloaded an album of Christmas songs performed in Korean, one of which is the song that appears as Track 34 on my latest CD. It's one of the songs on the album that's pictured above, but, unfortunately, I don’t read Korean and I didn’t keep notes on where this album came from, so I can’t tell you anything more about it. If anyone can help shed some light on this, I'd be grateful!

Track 33

Christmas Lost and Found (Part 8), from Davey and Goliath (1960)

See Comments to Track 6.

Track 32

U.S. Savings Bond Promotion, by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball (c. 1955)

Several years ago, while on vacation with my brother and his family, I played an excerpt from an old episode of I Love Lucy for my young niece, a terrific girl who had celebrated her eighth birthday a few months earlier. Like most children today, she’s used to fast-moving video games and sophisticated high-tech entertainment, but to my delight she immediately fell in love with Lucy, Ricky and their neighbors, the Mertzes. Few shows enjoy this sort of cross-generational appeal and none have survived so well as I Love Lucy. After hearing the pitch on this short promotion, I came awfully close to buying some bonds myself. ("There's no better way to 'spress the spirit of Christmas!") If only we could be sure that our federal Treasury will have the same staying power as the Ricardos!

Track 31

Santa Claus Polka, by Bob Rule and the Rays (1960)

This odd little tune isn’t what it appears to be. For one thing, it’s not really performed by Bob Rule and the Rays. There is no such group. It isn’t really a polka tune, either. It’s just sluggish little number set to music for a fee as part of an assembly line operation tended, among others, by a fellow named Sammy Marshall. You see, Santa Claus Polka is a song-poem -- a uniquely American art form that’s been described as “about half a promise shy of a swindle.” The business of recording song poems was promoted by way of small ads in the back of largely low-brow magazines with headlines reading, “Send Us Your Poems, Earn Thousands of Dollars.” In response to their submissions, budding lyricists were typically sent enthusiastic offers to set their poems to music, but for a fee. Promises to promote the resulting recordings were rarely kept, and the recordings themselves were typically thrown together by disinterested session players using stale melodies and half-baked arrangements. In recent years, however, the song poem genre has begun to attract serious attention as part of a growing appreciation for “outsider music,” material created in relative obscurity that often reflects a slice of popular culture that has been largely overlooked. I don’t know that this track merits such serious reconsideration, but it’s probably worth a quick listen around the holidays.

For more information about song poems in general, you might start with a visit to the American Song Poem Music Archive.

On a related note, I recently heard a story on the NPR series This American Life about a jazz musician named Ellery Eskelin, who never met his father, a giant in the song-poem business, but learned about him after his death primarily by listening to his work. Listen HERE.

More tomorrow, if I feel like it. If not, probably the next day.

Gee Whiz ... It's Christmas (Again!), Part 5

I've been sharing some background and thoughts over the past several days about the individual tracks on my latest holiday CD, Gee Whiz ... It's Christmas (Again!), which is available now for download from my principal website. Time now for some thoughts on Tracks 17 through 20:

Rev. Horton Heat

Track 20

What Child Is This? by the Rev. Horton Heat (2005)

This is the first appearance of this song on any of my holiday CDs, which is a little surprising to me as it’s always been one of my very favorite holiday tunes. I guess I’ve always been partial to songs that are written in minor keys. There are some interesting stories behind both the music and lyrics of this song, and still more to report about Reverend Heat and his unique interpretation. Of course, I can only scratch the surface here. The carol is credited to the English writer William Chatterton Dix. At the age of 29, Dix suffered a near-fatal illness that left him confined to bed for many months. This brought on a severe depression, which condition apparently spurred Dix to write several notable compositions, including this one. There are numerous different versions of the lyrics, and even two different versions of the title (“What Child Is This?” vs. “Whose Child ...?”) According to the Lutheran Service Book's version, the lyrics not only celebrate the birth of Christ but ultimately go on to preview the manner of his death in rather explicit language:

What child is this, who, laid to rest,

On Mary’s lap is sleeping,

Whom angels greet with anthems sweet

While shepherds watch are keeping?

This, this is Christ the King,

Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;

Haste, haste to bring Him laud,

The babe, the son of Mary!

Why lies He in such mean estate

Where ox and ass are feeding?

Good Christian, fear: for sinners here

The silent Word is pleading.

Nails, spear shall pierce him through,

The Cross be borne for me, for you;

Hail, hail the Word Made Flesh,The babe, the son of Mary!

So bring Him incense, gold, and myrrh;

Come, peasant, king, to own Him!

The King of Kings salvation brings;

Let loving hearts enthrone Him!

Raise, raise the song on high!

The virgin sings her lullaby

Joy! joy! for Christ is born,

The babe, the son of Mary!

I was taken aback upon reading these lyrics for the first time several months ago. My church used a different set of lyrics that replaced the second half of the second and third verses with the second half of the first. The result sounds slightly repetitive, I suppose, but I like it better myself. Of course, we all know what fate had in store for Jesus, but I'm not so sure we need to make such a full disclosure while celebrating the day of his birth. 

The Ranger (Robert Bray) and Lassie

The lyrics are sung to the tune of a traditional English folk ballad titled “Greensleeves.” It’s a hauntingly beautiful piece of music. I remember it best as the theme for the television program, Lassie. I adored that show as a child, and even named our first cat "Timmy" after the young farm boy who owned Lassie on TV. At one point in the show, Lassie left the farm Timmy’s family owned to travel the West with an itinerant forest ranger. The intention, I’m sure, was to provide new plot ideas, but it took me awhile to get used to the change. Once I did, naturally, the producers killed off the ranger in a massive forest fire too big for even Lassie to control. I’m pretty sure that the haunting melody of Greensleeves was playing in the background as the flames consumed the forest. I was pretty upset after watching that episode, and I can still remember my parents trying to explain to me that death was simply another part of life, and that what had happened was only a story, in any case. I didn’t like their explanation then, and I don’t care much for it now.

You want to know more about Rev. Horton Heat? You're welcome to check out his website HERE. His version of this song is less melancholy and maybe a bit darker than most, which is kind of refreshing during certain moments of this festive season.  I'm neither a fine diner nor a wine drinker, but I guess it's like a spoonful of sorbet between courses to cleanse the palate.

Track 19

Alka Seltzer for the Holidays, TV Commercial (1979)

For the makers of Alka Seltzer, the coming of each new holiday season provides cause for celebration. This is, after all, an exceptionally busy time of year, and one in which eating and drinking -- even to excess -- is considered more acceptable than usual, even something to be expected. While the occasional night of holiday overindulgence is rarely cause for alarm, this time of year can be particularly difficult for those who suffer from alcoholism, chemical dependency or certain types of mental illness. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the rate of alcohol- and drug-related accidents and illness more than doubles during the holidays, not to mention the anguish of the millions of people each year whose holiday plans, marriages and relationships are ruined due to excessive drinking and drug use. If you or someone you love is affected by alcohol- or drug-related problems this year, help is available. Contact your local Public Health Department or Alcoholics Anonymous. For further tips on healthier living during the holidays, visit the special web page created by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). They've even created their own holiday song for the occasion, which is available HERE.  Incidentally, the part of Santa Claus in the Alka Seltzer commercial is played by none other than Sammy Davis, Jr.!

Track 18

Dean Martin's Christmas in California, NBC-TV Promo (1977)

During my interminable adolescence -- indeed, for some years afterward -- the annual Dean Martin holiday television special was as much a part of Christmas as the three wise men and Rudolph (although from what I recall, Dino was supposed to have had more in common with the latter). The premise of the shows might change from year to year, but whether it was Dean Martin’s Christmas Special, Dean Martin’s California Christmas or Dean Martin’s Christmas at Sea World, they all came with lots of print ads, radio spots and television promos. The clip featured on this year's CD promotes Dean Martin's Christmas in California, an NBC-TV "BIG EVENT" that was filmed "[a]gainst a lovely Hidden Valley setting" and aired in 1977. Growing up in New England, of course, I was fascinated by the notion of Christmas in California. I could barely imagine what it would be like to spend the holidays riding horses in one's shirtsleeves. It was 21 years later before I spent my own first Christmas in California, and I was thrilled to be able to call home to report that I had spent a good part of the afternoon playing miniature golf! Anyway, Dino's guests, while better known than my golfing partners, were no better than B- or C-list celebrities. I was never too keen on Jonathan Winters or Crystal Gayle myself, but Linda Lavin was OK, I guess. I’d never heard of Mireille Mathieu before stumbling on this promo, but I understand she was touted by the French press for awhile as the successor to Edith Piaf, who was, of course, formidable. (A little Christmas trivia: Dean Martin died on Christmas morning of 1995 at the age of 78. Although his public image suggested he was a heavy drinker and probably alcoholic, that was apparently only a comedic affectation. In reality, Martin was reportedly a moderate social drinker.)

Track 17

Candlelight, by the Maccabeats (2010)

The Maccabeats

Founded in 2007, the Maccabeats are an all-male a cappella group from New York’s Yeshiva University. Their song “Candlelight,” which I include on my 2011 mix, was a big hit on the internet during the 2010 holiday season. (That’s me, a dollar short and a year behind!) It’s apparently based on Mike Tompkins' a cappella version of the Taio Cruz smash "Dynamite," which was named Billboard magazine’s top Hot 100 Pop Song of 2011. The Maccabeats’ version tells the story of the Maccabees, a Jewish rebel army whose successful struggle against the oppressive Hellenic regime that ruled Judea approximately 150 years BC led to the founding of the Hasmonean dynasty. This was an important event for the Jewish faith, as it effectively reversed the trend toward assimilation that had begun under Hellenic rule and allowed the faithful to resume the open practice of Jewish rituals and tradition. “Candlelight,” like the song on which it was based, has the kind of infectious beat that sticks in your head after a single listen. If all of history could be taught this way, we’d sure have a few more historians walking around.

That’s it for now.  Stay tuned for another set of comments, hopefully tomorrow.

Gee Whiz ... It's Christmas (Again!), Part 3

My 2011 holiday CD is titled Gee Whiz ... It's Christmas (Again!), and my first posts on this new blog have featured some of my thoughts about the individual tracks that appear on this year's release. I'm reviewing the 43 tracks from start to finish, however, the tracks will be presented in reverse order within each day's individual post. Today's post looks at Tracks 8 through 12:

Track 12
Happy Christmas Time, by Linn, Linda & the Jordanaires (c. 1957)

This track was the "B side" of a rather sad holiday single called "Christmas Orphan" by an all-but-forgotten act who went by the name Linn and Linda. I haven't been able to find out much about them or this song. From the look of the disc label, this could have been a low-budget vanity release, except that Linn and Linda secured The Jordanaires to sing back-up for them. The Jordanaires were closely associated with Elvis Presley throughout most of his career, frequently touring with him and singing back-up on many of his biggest hits. That's a pretty high-powered back-up group for a vanity act. In any case, this is a sweet little tune that I like a lot. I'm especially keen on the lyrics about the holiday gifts received by members of the household:

Daddy got an electric razor,

That’s the fad these days,

Mommy got a hair kit,

Makes gray hair fade away.

Me I got a dolly,

My sister got the bed,

And we got some doll clothes,

And bonnets for our head . . .

And little Junior got his gun.

Christmas time is happy,

Excitement everywhere,

There’s fun for everybody,

So throw away your cares.

There’s so much to do now,

There’s so much to see,

Everybody’s playing, so merrily . . .

And Little Junior broke his gun.

Sounds like the perfect Christmas to me!

Track 11

Christmas Lost and Found (Part 2), from Davey and Goliath (1960)

See Track 6 comments.

Track 10

Christmas Is On Its Way, by Little Marcy Tigner (1973)

Little Marcy (left), with her creator

Gospel singer, trombonist, and fledgling ventriloquist Marcy Tigner couldn’t seem to find her niche in the entertainment world until the early 1970s, when her husband, Everett, overheard several record company executives discussing plans to recruit youngsters to record a new children’s record. After sharing this news with Marcy, Everett helped his bride cut a demo tape, which consisted of several Bible songs rendered in the style of a very little girl. Well, Marcy not only got the gig, but she also got herself an imaginary friend in the form of her new alter ego, Little Marcy. Tigner and Little Marcy were prolific during the 1970s, releasing more than 30 children’s records, nearly all of which focused on Christian themes. In fact, the act became so popular that a Little Marcy doll was mass produced and marketed along with the records and, eventually, videocassettes. This song is the title track from one of Little Marcy's 1973 albums, and, in case you're wondering, it doesn't fall under the category of Mark's Genuine Favorites. Quite the opposite. I’ve always thought that including some truly awful material on my annual CDs makes them more entertaining and memorable. My first several CDs were almost entirely made up of stuff like this. In time, I’d like to think I managed to strike a more appropriate balance between good and awful. Retaining a sizable sample of kitschy numbers not only makes you laugh, but it helps make everything else sound that much better, don’t you think? 

Track 9

Christmas Seals Promotion, by Ricardo Montalbán (1965)

For more than 100 years, the American Lung Association has depended on the annual Christmas Seals campaign for a major portion of its funding. Colorful stamps are typically sent free of charge to households across the country every Fall in order to raise awareness of lung-related diseases and solicit contributions. The late Ricardo Montalbán recorded this promotional message in 1965.

Track 8
Another Xmas Day Can Only Disappoint U, by Payroll (2006)
This track’s a mystery to me in that I can’t tell you much of anything about the band that performed it, what its lyrics mean, or the context in which it was created. I found this song several years ago on a compilation record called A Very Booty Christmas. Although the title sounds rather cynical and depressing, the tune is upbeat and pleasant, and it struck me as a good track to follow Wish List. I’ve searched the internet for more information about Payroll, but about all I found was a listing in the All Music database that they released an EP in 1999 on the Anvil Records label. Anvil seems to be almost as mysterious as Payroll, although I did discover a My Space page that suggests the label has six bands on its roster and is run by a fellow named Colin Bartram, who is based in Moltonborough, New Hampshire. I went to summer camp near Moltonborough for several years, and I can tell you it's not exactly the musical capital of the Northeast. In any case, I like this song a lot. If you know anything more about it than I do, I’d love to hear from you.

Watch for thoughts on the remaining tracks from this year's CD in the coming days. Meanwhile, I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season!