10at10 Club
Main Discussion Area => Stream of Consciousness => Topic started by: RGMike on December 08, 2008, 07:59:55 AM
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With apologies to Gaz, I'd like to steal a page or 13 from his blog and present, for the next 2-1/2 weeks, some of my fave holiday tunes, a song or 2 at a time, with accompanying YouTube clips. I'll try to choose those with actual videos where possible, but with some older songs, my choices may be limited (one of my all-time faves, Martin Mull's hilarious Curtis Mayfield parody "SantaFly", is nowhere to be found on the YT).
We begin, appropriately, with Roy Wood's "I Wish It Could Be Xmas Every Day", from 1973. Wood was one of the founding members of the seminal British band The Move, who were huge in the UK but fairly overlooked here. When the Move broke up in the early '70s, it essentially became 2 bands: the Jeff Lynne faction begat ELO (and we know how that turned out) and Wood formed a group called Wizzard.
In the summer of '73 Wizzard released a single, "See My Baby Jive", a gloriously retro rave-up that was one of the opening salvos in the let's-revive-and-reevaluate-Phil Spector movement that would reach its apex a few years later with Born to Run and the re-release of the Spector Xmas LP. (It's worth noting that for much of the '70s, England was in the grip of a wave of late-'50s/early-'60s nostalgia that made our own obsessions with American Graffiti and Grease seem minor by comparison.) "SMBJ" was a UK #1(but flopped in the US much to my dismay) and its success resulted in Wizzard releasing a similar-sounding holiday single, also a UK success that was barely noticed here until years later. Here it is in all its glam glory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvjWrdt4jlY
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Wow.
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Day 2: In my rush to get this thread up and running yesterday, I totally spaced on the fact that it was the 28th anniv of John Lennon's death. So we'll compensate with a Fab Four twin-spin of sorts: J&Y's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" and a medley of songlets from the Beatle Christmas messages. I still remember the first time I heard "Happy Xmas": it was the Sunday after Thanksgiving 1971, and a local FM station had a sort of free-form music-and-interviews show in the late evening, hosted by a guy named Howard Smith, who was a music writer for the Village Voice and who would go on to win a Best Documentary Oscar for the film Marjoe, about a child preacher who grew up to question his upbringing.
(http://skepdic.com/graphics/marjoe.jpg)
Anyway, Smith world-premiered "Happy Xmas" and I was floored by it -- and even more floored when local Top 40 powerhouse WABC began playing it the following week.
J & Y: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTVmuDoTmW8
Beatles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk4B-k1ld0A
Happy Crimble!
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With apologies to Gaz, I'd like to steal a page or 13 from his blog and present, for the next 2-1/2 weeks, some of my fave holiday tunes, a song or 2 at a time, with accompanying YouTube clips. I'll try to choose those with actual videos where possible, but with some older songs, my choices may be limited (one of my all-time faves, Martin Mull's hilarious Curtis Mayfield parody "SantaFly", is nowhere to be found on the YT).
We begin, appropriately, with Roy Wood's "I Wish It Could Be Xmas Every Day", from 1973. Wood was one of the founding members of the seminal British band The Move, who were huge in the UK but fairly overlooked here. When the Move broke up in the early '70s, it essentially became 2 bands: the Jeff Lynne faction begat ELO (and we know how that turned out) and Wood formed a group called Wizzard.
In the summer of '73 Wizzard released a single, "See My Baby Jive", a gloriously retro rave-up that was one of the opening salvos in the let's-revive-and-reevaluate-Phil Spector movement that would reach its apex a few years later with Born to Run and the re-release of the Spector Xmas LP. (It's worth noting that for much of the '70s, England was in the grip of a wave of late-'50s/early-'60s nostalgia that made our own obsessions with American Graffiti and Grease seem minor by comparison.) "SMBJ" was a UK #1(but flopped in the US much to my dismay) and its success resulted in Wizzard releasing a similar-sounding holiday single, also a UK success that was barely noticed here until years later. Here it is in all its glam glory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvjWrdt4jlY
Since you didn't have a pic of Roy, here's one. Very Christmassy if you ask me! ;) ;) ;)
(http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic200/drP500/P514/P51421EKSDY.jpg)
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Day 3: Strictly Instrumental!
There are lots of great Xmas instrumentals, going back to the original orchestral version of "Sleigh Ride", and on thru Booker T and the Ventures. But here are 2 wildly different ones, released about 20 years apart. One you know, and one will probably be new to you.
the one you know: ELP, at the peak of their classically-obsessed powers with "Nutrocker" (itself a cover of an early-'60s holiday novelty by B. Bumble and the Stingers).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX0vOYwHj30
And the one you don't: the Hoodoo Gurus, of all people, doing an Indian-flavored take on "Little Drummer Boy".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKyCeBAEl8U
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Have you ever heard "Donde Esta Santa Claus"? From 1958 by Augie Rios. Greg Kihn played it this morning, and I'd never heard it before. I found the YouTube, but I'll hold off in case you were going to use it
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Have you ever heard "Donde Esta Santa Claus"? From 1958 by Augie Rios. Greg Kihn played it this morning, and I'd never heard it before. I found the YouTube, but I'll hold off in case you were going to use it
OMG -- a classic from my childhood. As you might expect, it was VERY big in NYC, hearing it on the radio is one of my earliest Christmas memories, in fact. I wasn't planning to use it but there's a disco version by Charo (!) with the salsoul orchestra that's cheeze personified (and sadly her version ain't on YouTube).
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Have you ever heard "Donde Esta Santa Claus"? From 1958 by Augie Rios. Greg Kihn played it this morning, and I'd never heard it before. I found the YouTube, but I'll hold off in case you were going to use it
OMG -- a classic from my childhood. As you might expect, it was VERY big in NYC, hearing it on the radio is one of my earliest Christmas memories, in fact. I wasn't planning to use it but there's a disco version by Charo (!) with the salsoul orchestra that's cheeze personified (and sadly her version ain't on YouTube).
Here's the Charo version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExAoFnqHyjc&feature=related) on YouTube, but it's just music over stills, not a performance video. Likewise for the original (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJZEU8YJs14).
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Here's the Charo version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExAoFnqHyjc&feature=related) on YouTube, but it's just music over stills, not a performance video.
Thanks! (I made the mistake of searching for "charo Salsoul" instead of just "charo"). Eeez cheeezy!
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and as long as we're reaching back to our childhoods... here's the orig animated version of "The Chipmunk Song" from The Alvin Show (which actually aired as a weekly series in prime time, circa '61):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmZtDb3ClZo
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Day 4: An '80s three-way! We're running the gamut here...
1) Hall & Oates, "Jingle Bell Rock" -- the first Xmas video I ever saw on MTV; kudos to H&O for having the foresight to realize that MTV would need holiday clips. John Oates' goofy facial expressions are priceless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQXMT_QhguI
2) Ramones, "Merry Xmas (I Don't Want To Fight)". We miss you, Joey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA-HMqBQpQs&feature=related
3) Gary Glitter, "Another Rock'n'Roll Xmas". The '70s glammer made a 1984 comeback with this holiday tune which isn't well known here but was a big UK hit. Given his sordid history, the line "you never know what you'll get from me" seems more threat than treat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn06NJzYQc4
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Mike, I'm just now catching up on this thread, and I LOVE that you're doing it. Kudos! Great write-ups, too.
In that Marjoe pic above, did you notice Thoth in the inset? I used to see him parading about various SF street fairs in the late '90s. (And Mark - he appears on that Songs in the Key of Z comp I foisted on you!)
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Mike, I'm just now catching up on this thread, and I LOVE that you're doing it. Kudos! Great write-ups, too.
Thanks, bub -- glad you're liking it, 'cause I'm stealing another of your bits...
Day 5: Friday Funtime!
One of my favorite obscure Xmas records is this hilarious track from mid-'70s National Lampoon (I think it was on the Radio Dinner LP) that simultaneously parodies holiday novelty records and blaxploitation tunes. Friends, I give you the flaming hunk of political incorrectness that is "Kung-Fu Christmas"!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOo_KcQRWuU
and for some racial balance, a real black person -- James Brown's "Soulful Christmas":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcQJj7d18eA&feature=related
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Day 6: A trailer-trash Christmas!
This has become a small sub-genre in recent years, thanks to people like Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the (not really a) Cable Guy, but it's not exactly new. My fave in this category is still Commander Cody's "Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas", which I couldn't find, but we do have the definitve dysfunctional white-trash family holiday saga, Robert Earl Keene's inspired "Merry Xmas From the Family":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P37xPiRz1sg
Next up, a song originally recorded in the '70s by John Denver, and written by his friends Bill & Taffy Danoff (of Starland Vocal Band infamy): "Please Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)". Denver's version was a bit sappy, but in the early '90s Alan Jackson revived it for his excellent Honky-Tonk Christmas album (one of the best country Xmas CDs evah, IMHO) and his version's a tad more upbeat:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mI8Ybwu30k&feature=related
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Have you ever heard "Donde Esta Santa Claus"? From 1958 by Augie Rios. Greg Kihn played it this morning, and I'd never heard it before. I found the YouTube, but I'll hold off in case you were going to use it
OMG -- a classic from my childhood. As you might expect, it was VERY big in NYC, hearing it on the radio is one of my earliest Christmas memories, in fact. I wasn't planning to use it but there's a disco version by Charo (!) with the salsoul orchestra that's cheeze personified (and sadly her version ain't on YouTube).
OMG again. I totally heard Augie today and made a note to check youtube for it. I think it was on KFOX. Loved it.
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Day 7: Sincere Seasonal Sentiment.
As Billy Squire once sang, "Christmas is the time to say I Love You", and unfortunately it's also the time to get sappily sentimental. It often has nothing to do the song itself; my mom used to cry whenever she heard "Silent Night" and she could never explain why. Sometimes it's warranted: we may hear "I'll Be Home For Xmas" and think it's kinda corny, but during WWII it was actually quite powerful. And sometimes it's just shameful: if you've never heard "The Christmas Shoes", well, lucky you.
Which brings us to 2 of my favorite sentimental Xmas records. The first is the Carpenters' classic "Merry Christmas, Darling", which (as discussed here a number of times) can be interpreted as a song about a young wife whose husband is in Vietnam, tho' I didn't make that connection until years later (ironically, in 1971 it competed for airtime with John & Yoko's "Happy Xmas [War is Over]"). And despite that unfortunate "logs on the fire/fill me with desire" bit of sexual symbolism (whether intentional or not), Karen's sublime vocal elevates it to a level far beyond sap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnT8sYz_ASk
Second, a record that was something of a cult fave (if anything by Sinatra can be called that): "Whatever happened to Christmas?" Frank originally recorded it for a compilation LP that was a store giveaway (Firestone tires, iirc) but the lyric really resonated in the '60s and it got radio play and was eventulally released commercially on a 45 by his record company. It was quite hard to find for years, tho' it's now available on a Sinatra Xmas CD. And it's still lovely. (Gotta love the video of the guy playing it off vinyl):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkdGuI9mOFk
ETA and TANC: Tim Goodman's blog post today reminds me that "Whatever happened..." is a Jimmy Webb composition, and apparently Aimee Mann covers it on her Xmas CD (and surprisingly, not many people have).
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Day 8: Sexy Santas!
It is often remarked that the last decade or 2 have seen a glut of seasonal "product", musically speaking -- everybody and his brother puts out an Xmas LP. (This year alone the list runs the gamut from the Fleshtones to Los Lonely Boys.) And yet that "new" holiday tune that catches on and becomes an across-the-board fave remains elusive. "Grandma Got Run Over" was really the last huge Xmas hit to break through, and it did so the old-fashioned way: released on a tiny label, it made its way around the country, becoming a "cute" seasonal news item (I remember ABC News, where I worked then, doing a story on it) and catching fire from there.
Not that others haven't tried. In the early '90s, Bill Mumy (yes, the red-haired kid from Lost in Space) wrote & produced a clever, "naughty" holiday song, featuring a woman named Sarah Taylor on vocals called "I've Got Some Presents For Santa", a double-entendre-filled fantasy about a tryst with Kris Kringle.
It got quite a bit of airplay on more adventurous stations (Live 105 played it to death, as it was a big fave of Alex Bennett's). And it still tickles me.
(http://the-adventurers-club.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/ive_got_some_presents_for_santa.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4worYOjAcFg&feature=related
But of course the grandmammy of all Sexy Xmas songs is Eartha Kitt's 1953 classic "Santa Baby", controversial in its day not just for Eartha's breathy delivery but for what was seen as crass commercialism run amuck. No wonder Madonna covered it (very very badly) on A Very Special Christmas. And it remains a 'bad girl" fave -- most recently recorded by the Pussycat Dolls. Here's a clever vid version by "Eartha & Friends" that splices an old clip of Ms. Kitt together with some drag queens.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOMmSbxB_Sg
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Day 9: Let's Get Depressed for Xmas!
Tuesday we talked about sappy seasonal sentiment, but there's a sub-genre of songs about being sad and/or alone at the holidays that's really on another plane entirely. Depression (the mental kind) at Xmas is a well-known phenomenon. I looked for the Emotions' wonderful "What Do the Lonely Do (at Christmas)?" to no avail, and of course there's Prince, drinking banana daiquiris 'til he's blind in his great B-side "Another Lonely Christmas". But here's 3 from my depressing seasonal songs catalog.
At the top of my list, Merle Haggard's "If We Make it Through December", a small masterpiece. A sterling example of a political song that doesn't hit you over the head with politics but punches you in the gut nonetheless, it was released in the depths of the "Nixon recession" of 1973. That it not only became a huge country hit but made it into the pop Top 40 as well is some kind of miracle -- will our current economic turmoil produce anything like this song? maybe if Nashville gets their collective heads out of the GOP's ass. (Yeah, Toby Keith and Hank Jr -- I'm loookin' at y'all.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbaxCG6mjMc
Next, a real oddity: The Everly Bros, attempting a comeback in the mid-'70s, released an LP with this song, "Christmas Eve Can Kill You" -- is that a great title, or what? -- about beiong cold, alone and on the road on that night of nights. You'll need a hot toddy after this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDDD3_1udLM
Finally, a sad holiday tune made sadder by the death of its singer. Jim Croce's "It Doesn't have to be that way", one of those can't-we-get-back-together-for-Xmas love songs, was from his 2nd LP and released as a single as a sentimental cash-in for Christmas '73. It's still lovely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNmQr118fio&feature=related
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nice thread, RGM!
It hit me this season that there are a few songs out there that speak to the darker side of the season, the loneliness and poverty, etc.
- "Do They Know It's Christmastime? (Feed The World)," of course
- ELP's "Father Christmas" is pretty dark
Then there's a line in "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" that goes "There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago."
It's not a depressing song, and Andy Williams is not threatening, but I hear that line, and I'm, like, huh?
I wonder if my family just never did Christmas right, b/c we never sat around telling scary stories. (Unless yhou count things like "Lay off the eggnogg, dude. Remember when last year when you got wasted and punched grandma?" ... heh, just kidding! that never happened!)
And what's up with the "tales of the glories" of long ago? Like when we got that coveted bike? or maybe kicked The Evil Anti-Santa's ass?
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Then there's a line in "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" that goes "There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago."
It's not a depressing song, and Andy Williams is not threatening, but I hear that line, and I'm, like, huh?
I wonder if my family just never did Christmas right, b/c we never sat around telling scary stories.
Hah! I've always found that line odd, too. Ghost stories were def NOT a part of any Xmas I've ever experienced. I assume "tales of the glories" etc is a non-specific way of referencing the nativity story without actually mentioning Jeebus.
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Then there's a line in "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" that goes "There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago."
It's not a depressing song, and Andy Williams is not threatening, but I hear that line, and I'm, like, huh?
I wonder if my family just never did Christmas right, b/c we never sat around telling scary stories.
Hah! I've always found that line odd, too. Ghost stories were def NOT a part of any Xmas I've ever experienced. I assume "tales of the glories" etc is a non-specific way of referencing the nativity story without actually mentioning Jeebus.
Must be a reference to A Christmas Carol. Or maybe A Scooby Doo Christmas?
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Must be a reference to A Christmas Carol. Or maybe A Scooby Doo Christmas?
ROTFL on the 2nd point (my kids actually have that DVD), but always thought it was the first.
and Mike, to follow up on your comments about Nashville & the GOP, it raises for me a question: Will NASCAR nation will be giving the same undying support to our next administration as they have to the current one? Or will their sector of the pop culture become one of antagonism?
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Will NASCAR nation will be giving the same undying support to our next administration as they have to the current one? Or will their sector of the pop culture become one of antagonism?
a good question. Even Newt bleepin' Gingrich chastised his own party yesterday for trying to link Obama to Blago, saying (in essence) "the country's in deep shit, let's stick together instead of sniping". But the Faux News types and Rush and his many clones will be there firing up the malcontents. How this impacts country music is too early to tell, I think -- maybe Cowboy Troy will become a Democrat? -- but some good clear-eyed songs about hard times (as opposed to the sappy sentimentality that is Nashville's stock-in-trade) would be welcome. Obviously the alt-country folks, Earle, McMurtry et al, will be writing 'em; whether they get on the radio is another story.
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I'm enjoying all of these videos and posts of songs I've never heard before. I can't remember listening to anything other than Burl Ives, Steve and Eydie, and soul Christmas tunes.
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I'm enjoying all of these videos and posts of songs I've never heard before. I can't remember listening to anything other than... Steve and Eydie
Nothin' like Christmas greetings from a couple o'Jews! I've been meaning to do a Xmas mix CD of all-Jewish artists...
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I wasn't quite in the Christmas frame of mind when Mike started posting these, so I've just started catching up today. Big props to Mike for compiling a bunch of holiday music I've never run across before.
Day 1: Wizzard. Wow. Just wow. Never seen or heard that Wizzard tune before. Saxophones aplenty, two drum kits, singing kids, and a drummer with a HUGE afro. And how many other glam stars can you name in that photo montage at the end? Gary Glitter, Marc Bolan, and was the blond guy Jobriath?
Day 2: the Lennon/Beatles twofer: Both classics. Surprised they didn't include Christmastime is Here Again in the Beatles montage, but that's getting more exposure elsewhere lately, so maybe they wanted to give some of the lesser-heard snippets some play.
Day 3: ELP: Again, somehow I missed this one back when. Looking at the video it could almost be Emerson and Palmer--only time Lake gets any camera time is during the drum solo.
And Donde Esta Santa Claus was very fun too--and was referenced by Cheech & Chong in the intro to Santa Claus and His Old Lady, iirc. "Donde esta Santa Claus, the cat with the hair on his jaws...no, no, no..."
Day 4: Hall & Oates: Love how they're camping it up in the video. And is the guitarist in drag G.E. Smith? I think he was in their band around this time, prior to joining the SNL band.
More kibbitzing later.
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"There'll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago."
Must be a reference to A Christmas Carol. Or maybe A Scooby Doo Christmas?
Rrarry Rristmas! Hee hee hee!
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Day 4: Hall & Oates: Love how they're camping it up in the video. And is the guitarist in drag G.E. Smith? I think he was in their band around this time, prior to joining the SNL band.
Yup, GE Smith was def in their band (I saw H&O twice in the late '70s, and GE was there). Speaking of SNL wasn't he briefly married to Laraine Newman? or Gilda?
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Day 4: Hall & Oates: Love how they're camping it up in the video. And is the guitarist in drag G.E. Smith? I think he was in their band around this time, prior to joining the SNL band.
Yup, GE Smith was def in their band (I saw H&O twice in the late '70s, and GE was there). Speaking of SNL wasn't he briefly married to Laraine Newman? or Gilda?
Gilda, I believe. Before Gene Wilder came along. An odd looking fellow, too. The definition of the term "lantern-jawed" (which i never quite understood the etymology of).
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Day 4: Hall & Oates: Love how they're camping it up in the video. And is the guitarist in drag G.E. Smith? I think he was in their band around this time, prior to joining the SNL band.
Yup, GE Smith was def in their band (I saw H&O twice in the late '70s, and GE was there). Speaking of SNL wasn't he briefly married to Laraine Newman? or Gilda?
Gilda, I believe. Before Gene Wilder came along. An odd looking fellow, too. The definition of the term "lantern-jawed" (which i never quite understood the etymology of).
Def Gilda. Def lantern-jawed, which makes his guitar player face so much more obnoxious. But a rather nice guy.
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Day 10: Celebrate the Solstice!
Sunday is the first day of Winter (amazingly, considering the frigid weather the country's been experiencing for the past week). I've always been fascinated by the fact that so many of what we consider "Christmas songs" are actually "winter songs" that don't mention Xmas at all. "Marshmallow World", "Winter Wonderland", and so on. OTOH, there are winter songs that aren't associated with Xmas (Ginger did a wonderful "winter set" in lieu of a Christmas 10@10 a few years ago) and so here are a couple of fave winter tunes that really should get more play at this time of year.
First, Love Unlimited's fabulous "It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart it's Spring)", produced by the maestro himself, Barry White. He originally produced a version by Felice Taylor in the late '60s, a very Supremes-soundalike fauxtowwn thing. Then he re-did it in '73 with Love Unltd, feat his lovely wife Glodean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgdLDSjfXO8&feature=related
One of my fave forgotten LP tracks of the early prog-FM days is Blood Sweat & Tears' "Sometimes in Winter", the only track on their hit-laden 2nd LP that doesn't feature a David Clayton-Thomas lead vocal. A lovely tune that never really got it's due IMHO. Couldn't find the original, but check out this live concert version from 1971:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHEuOFHd6GQ&feature=related
Finally, solstice reminds us that Christmas was just the church's attempt to re-purpose an already existing pagan feast. So here's Dar Williams inviting "Christians & Pagans" to celebrate together (tho' I suspect Rick Warren is not who she plans to invite).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_KiHRHwaAs
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Love Unlimited's fabulous "It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart it's Spring)", produced by the maestro himself, Barry White. He originally produced a version by Felice Taylor in the late '60s, a very Supremes-soundalike fauxtowwn thing. Then he re-did it in '73 with Love Unltd, feat his lovely wife Glodean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgdLDSjfXO8&feature=related
Marvelous pick, and I agree on the beauty of Glodean and her twin sister. Finally heard the Felice Taylor original this week - it peaked at #42 in '67.
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Love Unlimited's fabulous "It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart it's Spring)", produced by the maestro himself, Barry White. He originally produced a version by Felice Taylor in the late '60s, a very Supremes-soundalike fauxtowwn thing. Then he re-did it in '73 with Love Unltd, feat his lovely wife Glodean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgdLDSjfXO8&feature=related
Marvelous pick, and I agree on the beauty of Glodean and her twin sister. Finally heard the Felice Taylor original this week - it peaked at #42 in '67.
yes, this week was the first time I heard the orig (bless you Barry Scott) -- a total Diana Ross-soundalike to my ears. And BTW this week was the first time I read that whole Barry Scott-vs.-the-P-town-police saga. Jeezus.
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Day 11: Chappy Chanukkah!
One of my earliest memories as a small child riding the NYC subway involves Jewishness: the ubiquitous (in 1960) ads for Levy’s Real Jewish Rye Bread with the famous slogan "You Don’t Have to be Jewish to Love Levy’s." Featuring obvious non-Jews (a Chinese kid, a black guy, a Native American) eating the product, this was multiculturalism decades before the term was invented.
(http://www.alan.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/l-10-1064-you_dont_have_to_be_jewish_to_love_levys_real_jewish_rye-z000lt32.jpg)
There were also ads every December, sponsored by some Jewish group or other, celebrating "Chanukkah", which I of course assumed was pronounced "Cha-NOO-ka". It’s said all Noo Yawkers are honorary Jews, so today I’ll celebrate those 8 Crazy Nights, while keeping this thread an Adam Sandler-free Zone. First up (and pun definitely intended): a "Dreidel" twin-spin!
In late 1972, Don McLean ("NOT a Jew", as Mr. Sandler would say) delivered his follow-up to "American Pie" in a single called "Dreidel". No Chanukkah reference, just a downbeat song rooted in the old adage that we begin dying as soon as we are born. Not surprisingly, it peaked at #21… and he wouldn’t hit the Top 40 again until 1981. But I’ve always liked it and think of it every December regardless. Here's a performance clip from '74"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K164MKTMLVw
But the real meaning of "Dreidel" is highlighted in the wonderful song from the South Park Xmas CD, in which showtune queen par excellence Marc Shaiman turns the traditional folk tune about that little top made of clay into a veritable Broadway extravaganza. Jews! That’s why they’re gay!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnzVq2t7bi4&feature=related
Finally, quite simply one of the greatest holiday clips I’ve ever seen, the SNL classic "Xmas for the Jews", absolute genius (Robert Smeigel RULES!) and sung by the Queen of Christmas herself, Darlene Love (and more on her tomorrow).
http://video.aol.com/partner/hulu/saturday-night-live-christmas-for-the-jews-song/iwbNvcaWbFCEy0CKAPuhxgz3dlsydIa2
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I just want to say how much I've enjoyed the high-quality prose you been puttin' down for us here. Excellent stuff.
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I just want to say how much I've enjoyed the high-quality prose you been puttin' down for us here. Excellent stuff.
Thank you kind sir!
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Day 12: Love for Christmas!
If I've learned anything from David Letterman, it's this: when making a list, it's the next-to-last entry that counts (the #2 item on his Top Ten is always the funniest). And so for our penultimate post, we present quite simply the Greatest. Christmas. Record. EVAH.
I was shocked -- SHOCKED! -- to discover that someone here didn't know whether this song was recorded by Ronnie Spector or Darlene Love. (Oh, the horror...) But "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is Darlene Love's career peak, and while she continues to do fine work -- she's performed it on Letterman every Xmas for the past, what, 15 years? -- she'll never top her blazing vocal on this Spector/Barry/Greenwich comp, the only original on 1963's legendary A Christmas Gift For You.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rZdFwE9SL._SL500_AA280_.jpg)
I actually saw Darlene perform it live in the late '80s, when Paul Shaffer put together a show at NYC's legendary Bottom Line nightclub, in which Darlene, Ronnie and some sterling backup singers (including Ula Hedwig) peformed the entire LP and then some, twice a night for a week in December. Fab. Yoo. Luss. Today, I considered pairing "C(BPCH)" with a link to "All Alone on Xmas", her unofficial sequel from 1992, a fine collaboration with Little Steven and most of the E-Streeters, but the original must really stand alone. Oh, and her distinctly non-Spectorized Xmas CD from a couple years ago is pretty swell too.
(http://www.powerhouseradio.com/images/darlene-love-xmas.jpg)
There were many YouTube clips to choose from, mostly Letterman perfs from the past decade, but the original must be heard in all its Spectorian glory. Happy Christmas Eve Eve to all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV8x7H3DD8Y
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Day 13: Merry Christmas to All!
And so we come to this thread's final post of the year. Warmest wishes to everyone who posts (or lurks) here; this outlet truly helps keep me sane, which may be cold comfort in these times but hey -- it's something. You're all a swell bunch, even when we disagree. Thanks, kids.
Oh, the clips -- just a couple of heartfelt wishes. First, John Denver and Rowlf the Muppet want you to "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdovEOXEQeM&feature=related
And then the granddaddy of Xmas wishes, from Nat "King" Cole. I always knew the season had started when Top 40 WABC in NY played this one in early December each year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_W7p35SzuI
"And tho' it's been said many times, many ways... Merry Christmas to you..."
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One more: Gaz's blog post today, featuring ABBA's "Happy New Year", reminded me how few New Years songs there are. You got your "Auld Lang Syne", you got your U2 "New Years Day", you got your "What Are You Doing New Year's?", covered by everybody-and-his-brother, and there's a New Years song on the Atlantic "Soul Christmas" album whose title escapes me.
And then there's George Harrison's wonderful "Ding Dong Ding Dong", ringing out the old and ringing in the new -- I've always loved this song, and despite making the Top 40 as a single it's completely forgotten -- can't recall the last time i actually heard it on the radio at New Years. So here it is, in a vintage promo clip from '74:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r61noMrx3qw
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Must be a reference to A Christmas Carol. Or maybe A Scooby Doo Christmas?
ROTFL on the 2nd point (my kids actually have that DVD), but always thought it was the first.
and Mike, to follow up on your comments about Nashville & the GOP, it raises for me a question: Will NASCAR nation will be giving the same undying support to our next administration as they have to the current one? Or will their sector of the pop culture become one of antagonism?
I decided to re-read this thread because I'm gonna be posting Xmas clips on Facebook this year, and I saw Mark's comment about NASCAR Nation above. Guess that question has been answered, eh?
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Day 6: A trailer-trash Christmas!
This has become a small sub-genre in recent years, thanks to people like Jeff Foxworthy and Larry the (not really a) Cable Guy, but it's not exactly new. My fave in this category is still Commander Cody's "Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas", which I couldn't find...
went looking for some of the songs that weren't on YT last year, and found this non-clip clip of Commander Cody -- it's just audio with a black screen. Apparently someone taped it off the radio during a Dr Demento broadcast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcsHjlB2Wf0
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and Mike, to follow up on your comments about Nashville & the GOP, it raises for me a question: Will NASCAR nation will be giving the same undying support to our next administration as they have to the current one? Or will their sector of the pop culture become one of antagonism?
I decided to re-read this thread because I'm gonna be posting Xmas clips on Facebook this year, and I saw Mark's comment about NASCAR Nation above. Guess that question has been answered, eh?
TANC, I went to see The Blind Side yesterday, having really liked the book. Good film, quite faithful to the book. Sandra Bullock is good, but it would have to be a weak year for Leading Actresses (or a concerted marketing effort by Warner's) to get her an Oscar nom. But the funniest line in the movie is when Bullock's rich white family is going to see their adopted black son's first football game, and her character (keep in mind that they live in Memphis & she and her husband went to Ole Miss, which is a major plot point) remarks, "I've never seen so many rednecks in one place!" And her precocious elementary school son retorts, "NASCAR. Not even close!"
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I went to see The Blind Side yesterday, having really liked the book. Good film, quite faithful to the book. Sandra Bullock is good, but it would have to be a weak year for Leading Actresses (or a concerted marketing effort by Warner's) to get her an Oscar nom...
It *is* a very weak year, as it turns out. ;) And given the Academy's determination to up their ratings and appeal to a broader audience, I'm guessing she gets a nod. (the movie has made $100M in just 10 days!) Here are the female perfs considered "in play" for a nomination right now:
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Gabby Sidibe, Precious
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Penelope Cruz, Broken Embraces
Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Marion Cotillard, Nine
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Stoning of Soraya M.
Catalina Saavedra, The Maid
I think the first 4 on that list are slam-dunks; the 5th nominee will be one of the others, all of whom are in smaller, little-seen art-house or foreign-language movies except for Clotillard (Nine will be getting a BIG Oscar push). The only other variable is if someone decides Streep is Supporting in J&J and Lead in It's Complicated.
What do you say, re: the criticism that the black kid barely has 10 lines of dialog in the whole film and is portrayed as "a bystander in his own story", to quote one review I've read?
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Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Gabby Sidibe, Precious
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Penelope Cruz, Broken Embraces
Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Marion Cotillard, Nine
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Stoning of Soraya M.
Catalina Saavedra, The Maid
I haven't seen any of these, although Precious is on my list.
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It *is* a very weak year, as it turns out. ;) And given the Academy's determination to up their ratings and appeal to a broader audience, I'm guessing she gets a nod. (the movie has made $100M in just 10 days!) Here are the female perfs considered "in play" for a nomination right now:
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Gabby Sidibe, Precious
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Penelope Cruz, Broken Embraces
Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Marion Cotillard, Nine
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Stoning of Soraya M.
Catalina Saavedra, The Maid
I think the first 4 on that list are slam-dunks; the 5th nominee will be one of the others, all of whom are in smaller, little-seen art-house or foreign-language movies except for Clotillard (Nine will be getting a BIG Oscar push). The only other variable is if someone decides Streep is Supporting in J&J and Lead in It's Complicated.
What do you say, re: the criticism that the black kid barely has 10 lines of dialog in the whole film and is portrayed as "a bystander in his own story", to quote one review I've read?
AMPAS upped the number of nominations *only* in the Best Pic category, right? So we still get just 5 noms in the acting and other categories?
While we were back east, Sarah's aunt & uncle (who we were staying with) went to see The Blind Side, and she just LOVED it, although her taste is nothing if not middle-of-the-road. She didn't mention a dearth of lines for the kid in the film, although it's possible she didn't notice.
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Hey Mike, I'm sure this is on your list of faves somewhere, but a couple days ago on XM's Deep Tracks station I heard Tom Petty's weekly show (which if no one else listens to XM, is a mellowed out version of Underground Garage, but with equally obscure tracks & some commentary by Petty after each 4-5 song set).
Anyway, he played The Staples Singers "Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas?" & I had never heard it before, but totally loved it.
On 96.5 I also heard a Sinatra duet with...wait for it...Cyndy Lauper(!), and I was so stunned when I heard the ID that I forgot which Xmas standard it was that they'd done. ::)
Lastly, I guess this has been around for a while, but I'd never heard it until this year on 101.7, and it's pretty funny. Has anyone heard of the 10-man a capella group Straigh No Chaser? Here's their hilarious take on The 12 Days of Christmas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8), a very unconventional medley.
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Hey Mike, I'm sure this is on your list of faves somewhere, but a couple days ago on XM's Deep Tracks station I heard Tom Petty's weekly show (which if no one else listens to XM, is a mellowed out version of Underground Garage, but with equally obscure tracks & some commentary by Petty after each 4-5 song set).
Anyway, he played The Staples Singers "Who Took The Merry Out Of Christmas?" & I had never heard it before, but totally loved it.
On 96.5 I also heard a Sinatra duet with...wait for it...Cyndy Lauper(!), and I was so stunned when I heard the ID that I forgot which Xmas standard it was that they'd done. ::)
The Staples tune is from their '70s Stax heyday; amazing you'd never heard it, it still gets a decent amount of airplay this time of year (I'd swear Dave played it one year a while back, but then I always say that). The Sinatra/Lauper thing ("Santa Claus is Comin' to Town") is from the 2nd Very Special Christmas CD in 1992; not clear whether they actually got together via satellite as a precursor to the Sinatra Duets sessions or if they just had Cyndi sing with an old Sinatra track and splice 'em together.
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Reviving this thread for another holiday season. Listening to Soma-FM's Xmas stream has uncovered some fine new gems and reminded me of others. This NTM Sharon Jones ditty, "Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects" (!) is actually 2 years old
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bh5Caj2q-_w
and this is one wacked-out German techno Xmas anthem. "spare ribs and eggnog"? WTF?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A3kMTZwSQ8
And, also 2 years old, there's In the Christmas Groove, a compilation of forgotten R&B holiday 45s, mostly one-offs on small labels that never made it onto LPs and were thought lost forever.
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Groove-Various-Artists/dp/B002RB58XO/ref=pd_rhf_gw_cpp_tab0_p_t_1
Some amazing stuff, like the amazing "Black Christmas" by the Harlem Children's Chorus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGwITUq6wao
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Last nite on KPOO, "Grinder's Grooveyard" host Jim Rigsbee played this cool Xmas instrumental medley that was NTM -- and I was gobsmacked to find out it was by... Aztec Camera!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBvmMTVhcjU&feature=endscreen&NR=1
Apparently it's on some rare, out-of-print French Xmas anthology.
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a friend on FB asked why there aren't any funny Hanukkah songs that don't involve Adam Sandler. Well, here's my new fave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSJCSR4MuhU&feature=player_embedded
Wish I could buy it on Amazon -- which reminds me, if any of you are on iTunes, Rhapsody etc... I have a short wish-list of stuff that's not on Amazon.
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a friend on FB asked why there aren't any funny Hanukkah songs that don't involve Adam Sandler. Well, here's my new fave:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSJCSR4MuhU&feature=player_embedded
Wish I could buy it on Amazon -- which reminds me, if any of you are on iTunes, Rhapsody etc... I have a short wish-list of stuff that's not on Amazon.
I've really liked their version of Matisyahu's "One Day"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLDl8fbJx0I
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Ah, folks just never tire of parodying Hall & Oates... even at Xmas. Pretty clever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRTglKhAtC4
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Ah, folks just never tire of parodying Hall & Oates... even at Xmas. Pretty clever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRTglKhAtC4
Nice mustache. Funny stuff.
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The princess shared this on FB earlier -- gotta love it.
(http://probablynotagoodsign.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/FOR-LEASE-NAVIDAD-SIGN.png)