Merry Christmas to All!

Let It Snow!, Part 9

Here's the next batch of comments:

Track 30
Person of the Year:  Pope Francis, by Dr. John McLaughlin (2014)

For the past 34 years, there was one unshakeable constant in American politics — namely, whatever was going on in the world, you could hear it discussed over the weekend by Dr. John McLaughlin and his fellow panelists on The McLaughlin Group. The phrase "unshakeable constant" isn't mere hyperbole either, as McLaughlin was on the set in the center chair without missing a single weekly episode throughout the program's 34-year history. 

McLaughlin, a former Jesuit priest who ran for the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island as a Republican "peace" candidate, grew slightly frustrated with politics while working as a speechwriter for President Richard Nixon. He quit his White House job shortly after Nixon quit his, and then he quit the priesthood, too. (McLaughlin, that is, not Nixon. Nixon never was a priest, hard as that is to believe.) In time, McLaughlin drifted from politics to the media, working as a local talk show host in Washington, D.C. and then accepting a job as Washington editor for the National Review. He created The McLaughlin Group in 1982, and I started watching it almost from the start. 

McLaughlin's style was unique. He often came off as a self-important, pompous, and ill-tempered know-it-all, but there was just enough of the imp in him to pull it off without being off-putting. He leaned pretty sharply to the right, but he claims to have voted for President Obama at least once, and I always felt as though he kept a relatively open mind about many things.

Dr. McLaughlin died this past August at the age of 89, and I was very sorry to see him go. The short clip I included is one of him declaring Pope Francis as his "person of the year" during The McLaughlin Group's year-end awards show in 2014. He references the Holy Father's pronouncement that animals can go to Heaven, adding that this gave him hope that his beloved dog, Oliver, would be waiting for him there. Let it be so. Amen.

Track 29

Christmas with Donald Trump, by The Private Gentlemen's Yacht Club (2015)

According to their website, The Private Gentlemen's Yacht Club is

an elite group of individuals who meet regularly to share our love of luxury yachts. Occasionally we have been known to write songs and make videos in order to break up the monotony of our luxurious lives.

They must have had at least a little free time on their hands these past couple of years, as they not only recorded this neat parody of a Donald Trump Christmas album, but a host of other social commentaries, including the song that's currently featured on the front of their website, "All I Want for Christmas Is a Shotgun." (CAUTION: This and most of their material features strong language.)

The group is British, the style is irreverent the politics are leftish, but they nail it on the head in a sloppy sort of way more often than not.


Track 28
Christmas in Chicago, by Leon Russell (1972)

Leon Russell was another true original we lost this year —  a singer, songwriter, musician, and producer who was responsible for a host of solo records and collaborations over the years. In fact, over the course of his nearly 60-year career he recorded more than 30 albums and over 400 songs, including tunes with artists ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beach Boys; and from Bob Dylan to Joe Cocker. The early 1970s were a particularly active period for Russell, when he helped launch the career of Elton John and scored with the best-selling album Carney, which featured the hit single "Tight Rope." He wrote songs for The Carpenters and Helen Reddy, and helped The Gap Band to begin their successful career. He also wrote "This Masquerade," a stunning song that won the Grammy "Record of the Year" honors for George Benson in 1977, and "Lady Blue," a song he recorded himself that still gives me shivers whenever I hear it. He also recorded "Christmas in Chicago," which I added to this year's mix in his honor. This man was a giant, and he will be missed.

I'll be back with more sometime soon. Enjoy Christmas Eve by doing something special.

Let It Snow!, Part 8

Today, we take a quick look at four more tracks from my latest holiday mix, Let It Snow!

Track 27
Chanukah Prayer, by Carole King (2011)

Carole King

If you grew up in the 1970s, you knew Carole King's music, and, if you liked music at all, you probably owned a copy of her 1971 album "Tapestry." King first made a name for herself as a songwriter in the 1960s, writing a number of big hits for other artists including, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," a #1 hit for the Shirelles in 1960; "The Loco-Motion," a #1 hit for Little Eva in 1962 and Grand Funk in 1974; "Up on the Roof," a hit for The Drifters and, later, James Taylor; and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," which became a signature song for the great Aretha Franklin. Many of her songs were co-written by lyricist Gerry Goffin, her husband at the time. But King was not only a talented songwriter, but a terrific singer, too, and at the urging of James Taylor and others, she released an album of her own called "Writer" in 1970. That one didn't attract much attention, but the follow-up, "Tapestry," sure did, topping Billboard's Album chart for 15 consecutive weeks and remaining on the chart for over 300 weeks. At the 1972 Grammy Awards, King pulled off a rarely-seen hat-trick, winning awards for Best Song ("You've Got a Friend"), Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"), and Album of the Year ("Tapestry").

Of course, after a smash like "Tapestry," it's awfully hard to top yourself, and while she continued to release albums at a pretty good clip through the 1970s and '80s, King pretty much stopped making records in the early 1990s. It was pretty good news then when the word leaked out in 2011 that King's daughter, Louise Goffin, was working with her to prepare a holiday album, "A Holiday Carole." It's a wonderful album that spans a variety of musical styles, leaning heavily in favor of more contemporary songs, a number of which were hits for other artists. Interestingly, none of the songs are written by Carole herself, although Louise Goffin co-wrote several.

"Chanukah Prayer" is my favorite song on the album — built around a traditional Jewish prayer. As King later explained,

Louise had the brilliant idea to take the Chanukah prayer that I learned from my parents, and they learned from their parents, and back through generations. She said 'I want to record you singing that and I'm going to build a track around it.

The result is a warm, jazz-inflected tune that brings together three generations on vocals: King, her daughter, and grandson. It could almost be the early 70s all over again.

Hear Carole King's "Chanukah Prayer"

Watch "The Making of 'A Holiday Carole'"

Track 26
Hark! The Angels Sing, by The Fab Four (2002)



When the history of rock-and-roll modern music is finally completed, few acts will loom quite so large as The Beatles, and when the history of Beatles Tribute Bands is definitively written, it will probably include a thing or two about The Fab Four. I previously included one of their tunes on "Is There Really a Santa Claus?" And there are a dozen or more yet to choose from.

Track 25
Ringo Deer, by Gary Ferrier (1964)

While I recall nothing about this phenomenon personally, I understand that large parts of our planet went a little crazy for the Beatles shortly after they started to become known. This enthusiasm manifested itself in various different ways, the best known of which is the non-stop shrieking of teenage girls whenever John, Paul George or Ringo was spotted. Another symptom was the rash of tribute songs recorded about the "Fab Four." Some of them had Christmas themes, many were about drummer Ringo Starr, and a few were Christmas-themed songs about Ringo. One can be found on my 2008 mix, "Home for the Holidays," and another is Track 25 on this year's mix.

I don't know an awful lot about this record, except that it was recorded by Garry Ferrier, a disc jockey for CHUM in Toronto and promoted by the Canadian arm of the Capitol Records publicity team. The lyrics aren't exactly bold or beautiful, but they're fun, as is the song — and the song's subject, too:

The North Pole’s all abuzz these days,
With news that’s really new,
Santa Claus has got a brand new reindeer now for you,
He's a swinging kind of reindeer and very, very rare,
Instead of antlers on his head,
He's got Beatle hair!

They call him Ringo, Ringo, Ringo Deer,
A Ring along  Ringo, Ringo, Deer,
Ringo, Ringo, Ringo Deer,
He's with Santa Claus this year.

I've got at least one more Ringo-themed Christmas song in my collection, so at least we've got that to look forward to!

Track 24
Christmas in the Country Radio Promo (Patriotism), by Van Trevor (1968)

This little number is from the same promotional record as Track 18, which I posted about several days ago. As I noted in my posting, I discovered this record on the now-defunct "Beware of the Blog" website created by community radio station WFMU in Jersey City, NJ. Interestingly enough, one of the four artists who added tracks to the mix, singer Lynda K. Lance, posted a comment to the piece that presented the audio:

Greetings, surprised you found this. we all moved to Nashville, Dick Heard, Van Trevor,Eddie Rabbitt & myself(right after HS graduation & Viet Nam)at the end of '68.Neil Bogart of Buddah(later Casablanca Records)was setting up a label(Royal American) in Nashville under Dick Heards management. Dick and Eddie were in Greenwich Village NY. Van & I met doing performances in the Northeast. this was Dicks idea to borrow something we all took part in regularly for the CMA, PSAs by country music entertainers held in recording studios on Music Row. we would all line up at the mike,a real cattle call, walk thru read copy, sometimes with call letters.that's when you got to hear Tex Ritter tell all his great old stories.glad to see so many collectors like me of info out there. ck my website to see new stuff...wanted to call project "not dead yet"...but wouldn't you know, it was taken! Lynda K.

Lynda's website can be found HERE.

Thirteen tracks left to go, which we could complete by Christmas Eve if we choose to. But I don't think that's in the cards. We'll get them done, but it will be sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day when we do it. Hope that's cool with you.

Let It Snow!, Part 7

Track 23
Santa Claus and Popcorn, Merle Haggard (2004)

I'm not especially knowledgeable about the country music scene, but I can't recall a time when I wasn't aware of who Merle Haggard was. I knew he was a country singer, and I knew he was a genuine original. I knew that he'd known more than his fair share of trouble and then some, and that he'd overcome more problems than most of us will ever know. And I knew that despite all of this, he managed to put together a life and career marked by decency, fair play and respect.

Born near Bakersfield, California in 1937, Haggard lost his father at a young age, which knocked him off course pretty quickly. As a teenager, he was in and out of jail repeatedly and initially showed few signs that he'd learned anything from these experiences. Moreover, he didn't seem to have any real idea of what he wanted to do with his life. But then he discovered country music, which he liked and was good at, so for the next several years at least there was something to compete with the worser angels of his personality and keep him on the straight and narrow sometimes.
Too soon, however, he found himself behind bars again. Sentenced to prison, Haggard organized a gambling ring and tried to escape, but his effort fell short. Frustrated by the course his life was Taking, Haggard began to reflect on his options. Soon, he began taking GED courses and flirted with the idea of joining the prison band. He attributes his ultimate decision to straighten himself up to a concert he attended on New Year's Day of 1959 featuring Johnny Cash. The rest, as they say, is history.

Haggard had a remarkable career and became one of the most successful country music performers of all time.

During his long career, Haggard received numerous awards from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, and National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (the Grammy Awards). He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1977, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 1994, and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 1997 In 2006, he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and was also honored as a BMI Icon at the 54th annual BMI Pop Awards that same year. During his songwriting career up to that time, Haggard had earned 48 BMI Country Awards, nine BMI Pop Awards, a BMI R&B Award, and 16 BMI "Million-Air" awards, all from a catalog of songs that added up to over 25 million performances.

In later years, he became known for his progressive political positions, and, in particular, his stalwart support of President Obama. I really enjoyed his visit to liberal comedian Bill Maher's show Real Time in 2016, where he talked about his political philosophy . . . and the time Hillary Clinton visited with a group of musicians on Willie Nelson's bus:



"Santa Claus and Popcorn" was written by Haggard himself and first released in 1973 on the LP "Merle Haggard's Christmas Present," which made it all the way to #4 on Billboard's Hot 200 Albums chart. The song was later included on several subsequent Haggard holiday albums, including 1978's "Goin' Home for Christmas" and "A Country Christmas with Merle Haggard," released in 1992. This isn't the first time I've featured a Merle Haggard tune on one of holiday mixes. My 2008 mix "Home for the Holidays" featured Haggard's song "If We Make it Through December," which was an especially fitting tune considering the state the country was in at the time.

Track 22
Holiday Thoughts, by President Jimmy Carter (1979)

President Jimmy Carter and his daughter Amy
light the National Christmas Tree in 1979.

Track 22 is an excerpt from a statement made by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, just under two months into the Iranian Hostage Crisis. For those who don't recall that particular Christmas season, it was a difficult time. In early November, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 52 of the American employees there hostage. Earlier that year, the people of Iran had overthrown the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a U.S.-backed tyrant who had subsequently fled to the United States, where he was being treated for lymphoma. Many in Iran wanted the U.S. government to return the Shah to Tehran to stand trial for his crimes, but the Carter administration opposed that request. The students who ultimately seized the embassy originally planned to remain there for no more than an hour or two, but popular reaction to their occupation was strongly favorable and they had the full support of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, so it continued throughout the whole of 1980 and into the start of the administration of Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan. 

To symbolize the plight of the American hostages and the sad mood of the country, President Carter decided that the national Christmas tree should be lit by no more than a single star until our hostages were safely returned. Eventually, they did return home. But the crisis played a major role in the unraveling of the Carter presidency and served as the prologue to our current era of hostility with the Arab world.This clip harkens back to that difficult time. It also spotlights our 39th president, whose administration will likely never achieve the respect that Carter's post-presidential achievements appear to have earned.

Track 21
We're Getting Pa a Brand New Still for Christmas, Little Lou and Her Country Folk (1956)
This one's rather rare, and the reason I know is that just searched on Google for five words from the song's title in quotation marks and came up with exactly three matches. That's very unusual. And so, of course, is the song:



Fourteen left to look at before we're done. It's unlikely we'll finish the lot of them by the time Santa arrives, but we'll try. If we have to finish things up within a few days of the 25th, that shouldn't be too problematic I hope. So long for now!

Last Christmas with President Obama

I saw this clip last night on Saturday Night Live and was laughing out loud the entire time through my tears: