Mike's Christmas Countdown

[RGMike]

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).

[RGMike]

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://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

[RGMike]

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

[Tinka Cat]

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?

[RGMike]

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.

[Lightnin' Rod]

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?

[mshray]

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?

[RGMike]

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.

[princessofcairo]

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.

[RGMike]

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...

[urth]

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.

[Tinka Cat]

"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!

[RGMike]

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?

[urth]

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).

[princessofcairo]

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.