Author Archives: Kevin Hogan

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 24: “(Everybody’s Waitin’ for) The Man with the Bag”

Kay Starr brought a little hipness to Christmas in 1950 when she released this Irving Taylor, Dudley Brooks, and Hal Stanley penned homage to Santa. Released by Capitol as a single, it is one of Starr’s most famous songs and has been covered most famously by Vonda Shepard on the Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas album.

I like this one a lot better than other Christmas Eve songs like “Here Comes Santa Claus” or “Santa Baby”. Now that it’s time to settle in and wait for Christmas morning, pour yourself a cocktail, sit back and relax to this swinging cut by The Queen of The Jukeboxes.

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 23: “The Twelve Days of Christmas”

One of the oldest Christmas songs, “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” recounts a series of elaborate gifts bestowed upon someone during the course of the 12 days from Christmas (Dec 25th) to The feast of Epiphany (January 6th). The first known appearance of the lyric was a published version from 1780 in England. The version that is sung today comes from a 1909 arrangement by English composer Frederic Austin. This is where the elongated “five gold rings” first appeared.

The reason I included this song is because of the fantastic (and fun) job Straight No Chaser have done with it. They add several other Christmas songs and stray far from the rigid cumulative manner of the published song. This video helped the a cappella group formed in 1996 at Indiana University gain popularity and eventually led to them to a five-record deal with Atlantic Records in 2008.

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 22: “Merry Christmas Polka”

Willie Phelps wrote the “Merry Christmas Polka” sometime around 1962 and it was recorded by Jim Reeves on his Twelve Songs of Christmas album in 1963. He is backed by The Anita Kerr Singers (Anita Kerr, Dorothy Ann Dillard, Louis Nunley, William Wright, Winifred Breast). There is a sub genre of Christmas songs that are Polkas and this is probably the most famous.

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 21: “No Room At The Inn”

As we approach the big day, I would feel remiss if I didn’t include some of the religious songs associated with Christmas. “No Room At The Inn” is a hymn written in 1891 with lyrics by A L Skilton and R Kelso Carter and music by E Grace Updegraff. In 1955 Mahalia Jackson recorded an amazing Gospel version of the song for her Mahalia Sings Songs of Christmas album. She was backed by the Falls-Jones Ensemble: Mildred Falls, piano; Ralph Jones, organ; Lionel Hampton and Robert Prince, vibraphones; and Milton Hinton, Bass. Mahalia was the “The Queen of Gospel” and was in full force on this bluesy, upbeat take on an otherwise somber song.

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 20: “Blue Christmas”

 

 

First recorded in 1948 by Doye O’Dell, it was a minor hit the next year for Ernest Tubb in (Number 1 for the first week of January 1950 on Billboard magazine’s Most-Played Juke Box (Country & Western)), Hugo Winterhalter ( No. 9 on Billboard’s Records Most Played by Disk Jockeys chart) and Russ Morgan (No. 11 on Billboard’s Best-Selling Pop Singles chart). The next year Hugo Winterhalter released an alternate version with shortened lyrics sung by Billy Eckstine that is most akin to the one that has become a holiday standard sung by Elvis on his 1957 LP Elvis’ Christmas Album. In 1974, the song was featured in the children’s Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus.

 

Presley’s version is notable because of the use of the “blue notes” (septimal minor thirds replacing the just minor thirds for you musical people), creating an added layer of depth to the songs content. It just wouldn’t be Christmas without the King singing this Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson’s tale of unrequited love.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kISmy0vvOGY

 

 

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 19: “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”

Originally from ACT 2 Scene 14 of the ballet The Nutcracker, the “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” has become one of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky most famous compositions. Tchaikovsky took eight selections from the ballet and made them into a piece to be performed in concert, sans dancing, called The Nutcracker Suite. The ending to the ballet version of “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” was altered and gained popularity in the late 19th and early 20th century. In 1940 Disney’s Fantasia brought it into popular culture, and its original context, in a Christmas themed ballet, helped solidify it as a concert staple of many orchestras Holiday programs.

In 2005 The Red Baron remixed the Berlin Symphony Orchestra conducted by Peter Wohler’s 1989 recording, adding a trip-hop beat and accentuating the celesta in the mix. It breathed new life into the 100+ year old song, making it fresh for the new millennium. In 2008 BMW used this version of the song in a television commercial.

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 18: “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy”

“The Little Drummer Boy” (originally known as “Carol of the Drum”) was written by Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. The 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale made the song into a holiday classic. In 1968 it was made into a TV special by the Rankin / Bass team.

In 1977 David Bowie was invited to sing a duet with Bing Crosby for his upcoming television special Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas. At Bowie’s urging a new song, “Peace on Earth,” was composed by Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman, and Alan Kohan, to be added as counterpoint to “The Little Drummer Boy.”

This was Bing Crosby’s last recording, he died October 14 of that year, just five weeks after this recording was made. As beautiful as the duet is, the pair’s witty banter before the song is great fun with Bing quipping “right or wrong, I sing either way” to Bowie’s question “You’re the singer, right?”

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 17: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

Johnny Marks contribution to the Christmas genre includes “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”, “Silver and Gold”, and “Run Rudolph Run”, but his most famous composition was “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. Based on a coloring book commissioned by the Montgomery Ward company that was written by his brother-in-law Robert L. May, it has become an iconic Christmas character, loved by children since it was first released by Gene Autry in November 1949. In 1964, Rankin-Bass adapted the song into a Burle Ives (as Sam the Snowman) hosted tale of redemption and acceptance.

The song has been recorded by many of the biggest names in music over the years including Bing Crosby (1950), Spike Jones and his City Slickers (1950), Paul Anka (1960), Burle Ives (1964), Ringo Starr (1999), Lynyrd Skynyrd (2000) and Destiny’s Child (2004) to name a few. It has also been recorded in a mambo version by Billy May in 1953, doo-wop versions by The Cadillacs in (1957) and The Melodeers in 1960, in country versions by Ernest Tubbs (1964), Merle Haggard (1982), Dolly Parton (1990) and Allen Jackson (1996), and by several Motown artists including The Supremems (1965), The Tempatations (1968) and the Jackson 5 (1970).

Because of the many varied versions I decided to stick with the best-selling and first recorded version by Gene Autry & The Pinafores.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ara3-hDH6I

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 16: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

Judy Garland first sang this Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane composition in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Then in 1957 Frank Sinatra released the definitive version on A Jolly Christmas from Frank Sinatra. This version has the most common set of lyrics, having been modified by Hugh Martin at Sinatra’s urging. “Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow.” was changed to “Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” Even Ms. Garland sang the modified lyrics in subsequent performances.

In 1987, The Pretenders released my favorite version of the song on the LP A Very Special Christmas to benefit Special Olympics. Chrissie Hynde captures the original melancholy and the beautiful hope of the song, bring the best of Sinatra and Garland’s take on the song. The music is simple and straight forward, eschewing the heavy orchestralization found on many versions of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcQU3LYNZQc

25 Days, 25 Songs — Day 15: “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

The 4th most played holiday song as compiled by ASCAP, Edward Pola and George Wyle 1963 “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” is perhaps Andy Williams’ most enduring recording. It first appeared on The Andy Williams Christmas
Album and is immortalized from the performance on his TV show. The lyrics are slightly different then your normal Christmas songs, cataloging some activities not normally associated with Christmas like “telling scary ghost stories” (perhaps a Christmas Carole) and “roasting marshmallows.”

I chose here to place another remix in the list, this time by the duo Shrift, though it seems this is more producer Dennis Wheatley’s vision because singer/songwriter Nina Miranda seems to be absent in the mix. Williams voice is used to great effect here and the track is not over-produced, retaining the original robust warmth while updating it for the new millennium.