Sunday, December 22, 2013

Part Six: The 1980s



The Twelve Days of Christmas (comedy version)
Christmas Wrapping
Christmas Everyday
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy
2000 Miles
Do They Know It's Christmas?
Last Christmas
The Greatest Gift of All
Thank God It's Christmas
You Make It Feel Like Christmas
Christmas Time
It's Christmas (All Over the World)
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (remake)
Santa Claus (I Still Believe in You)
Driving Home For Christmas
Mistletoe and Wine
All I Want for Christmas Is You
Now the Bells Ring









"The Twelve Days of Christmas" by two Canadian comedians became a hugely popular Christmas song in 1981. It appeared on "The Great White North", a Canadian comedy album by the fictional television characters Bob and Doug McKenzie (portrayed by actors Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas), released by Anthem Records (ANR-1-1036) and distributed in the United States by Mercury Records (SRM-1-4034). The title of the album is a popular nickname for Canada.

At least one million copies of the album were sold within North America, 350,000 of these within Canada alone which earned a triple-platinum certification from the Canadian Recording Industry Association. The Great White North entered the RPM Canadian album charts at #3 on 12 December 1981 and rose to the #1 position the following week where it remained until 23 January 1982. The album peaked at number 8 on the American Billboard 200 album chart in 1982.

http://youtu.be/uHbu01tCRQg


















"Christmas Wrapping" is a Christmas song by the American post-punk band The Waitresses. It was first released on the compilation album A Christmas Record (1981) on ZE Records, and also appears on the Waitresses' 1982 EP I Could Rule the World if I Could only Get the Parts (1982). It has been included on numerous Christmas holiday compilation albums in the US and UK, including Now That's What I Call Christmas!: The Signature Collection (2003). The song received positive reviews from music critics, and Allmusic described it as "one of the best holiday pop tunes ever recorded."

In 1981 ZE Records asked each of its artists to record a Christmas song for a Christmas compilation album, A Christmas Record. Songwriter Chris Butler wrote the song in August that year, assembling it from assorted unused riffs he had saved "for a rainy day". Some of the lyrics were finished in a taxi cab on the way to the recording studio. Butler explained the lyrics came from "just very much that for years I hated Christmas ... Everybody I knew in New York was running around like a bunch of fiends. It wasn't about joy. It was something to cope with."

Written soon after the birth of rap music, the song is "almost rapped" by Patty Donahue; the title is a pun on "rapping!

The song is told from the perspective of a busy single woman adamant not to participate in the exhausting Christmas period. She has "turned down all her invites" and resolves to "miss this one this year". Earlier in the year, she saw a man in a ski shop and got his telephone number, but had no time to ask him out. Despite the pair's attempts to meet in the following months, a succession of mishaps keeps them apart. Finally, on Christmas Eve, as she is roasting the "world's smallest turkey" (courtesy of A&P) for her dinner alone, she realizes she has forgotten to buy cranberries. She runs to a convenience store and, by coincidence, runs into the man (who has also forgotten cranberries as well), bringing her Christmas "to a very happy ending." In the final chorus, she admits that she "couldn't miss this one this year."

http://youtu.be/ARq6uYSsUq0


















"Christmas Everyday" is one of two songs written by Pete McCann especially for Kenny Rogers. It appears on Rogers' first Christmas album released in 1981 by Liberty Records. The album called simply "Christmas" peaked at #10 on the U.S. Country charts and #34 on the overall U.S. charts.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/o0rhoqpykzt3krp/04%20Kenny%20Rogers%20-%20Christmas%20Everyday.mp3?dl=0



"Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" (sometimes titled "The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth") is a Christmas song with an added counterpoint performed by David Bowie and Bing Crosby. "Little Drummer Boy" is a Christmas song written in 1941, while the "Peace on Earth" tune and lyrics, written by Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman, and Alan Kohan, were added to the song specially for Bowie and Crosby's recording.

The track was recorded on September 11, 1977 for Crosby's then-upcoming television special, Bing Crosby's Merrie Olde Christmas. The pair exchanged scripted dialogue about what they each do for their family Christmases, before singing "Little Drummer Boy" with a new counterpoint with original lyrics written for the special, "Peace on Earth".

Bowie's appearance has been described as a "surreal" event, undertaken at a time that he was "actively trying to normalise his career". He has since recalled that he only appeared on the show because "I just knew my mother liked him". Buz Kohan was not sure that Crosby knew who Bowie was, but Ian Fraser claimed, "I'm pretty sure he did. Bing was no idiot. If he didn't, his kids sure did."

According to co-writer Ian Fraser, Bowie balked at singing "Little Drummer Boy": "I hate this song. Is there something else I could sing?", Fraser recalls Bowie telling him. Fraser, along with songwriter Larry Grossman and the special's scriptwriter, Buz Kohan, then wrote "Peace on Earth" as a counterpoint to "Little Drummer Boy". Crosby performed "Little Drummer Boy", while Bowie sang the new tune "Peace on Earth", which they reportedly performed after less than an hour of rehearsal.

Sadly, Crosby died on October 14, just five weeks after recording the special at Elstree Studios near London. In the U.S., the show was telecast on CBS just over a month later, on November 30, 1977. In the United Kingdom, the special first aired on December 24, 1977 on ITV.

The song was available for some years as a bootleg single backed with "Heroes", which Bowie had also performed on the TV special. In 1982, RCA issued the recording as an official single, complete with the dialogue, arbitrarily placing "Fantastic Voyage" from the Lodger album on the B-side. Bowie was unhappy with this move, which further soured his already strained relationship with RCA, and he left the label soon after. The single debuted on the UK singles chart in November 1982, and climbed to position number three on the chart, boosted by a 12" picture disc release. It has since become a perennial on British Christmas compilation albums, with the TV sequence also a regular on UK nostalgia shows.

In the United States, "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" became a staple on radio stations during the Christmas season.

http://youtu.be/ADbJLo4x-tk


















"2000 Miles" is a song by The Pretenders that was released in 1983 as the preceding single to their 1984 album, Learning to Crawl. It was most popular in the UK, where it peaked at No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1983. In the US, it was released as the B-side of both the 7-inch single and 12-inch single remix of the band's hit, "Middle of the Road." Erroneously considered a Christmas song, it has also been released on various compilation albums. While most people believe 2,000 miles is the distance between two long distance lovers who miss each other over the holidays, it is actually meant to be for James Honeyman-Scott, the group's original guitar player, who died the year before the song was released. The official video features lead singer Chrissie Hynde dressed as a member of the Salvation Army in a snowy location.

http://youtu.be/vKgjyutgbwk


http://youtu.be/OxCSo_cJ9mY


















"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 to raise money for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure and released by Band Aid on 29 November 1984.

In October 1984, a BBC report by Michael Buerk was aired in the UK, which highlighted the famine that had hit the people of Ethiopia. Irish singer Bob Geldof saw the report and wanted to raise money. He called Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they quickly co-wrote the song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

Geldof kept a November appointment with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner to appear on his show, but instead of discussing his new album (the original reason for his booking), he used his airtime to publicise the idea for the charity single, so by the time the musicians were recruited there was intense media interest in the subject. Geldof put together a group called Band Aid, consisting of leading British and Irish musicians who were among the most popular of the era. On 25 November 1984, the song was recorded at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, and was released four days later.

The 1984 original became the biggest selling single in UK Singles Chart history, selling a million copies in the first week alone. It stayed at Number 1 for five weeks, becoming Christmas number one, and has sold 3.7 million copies domestically. It remained the highest selling single in UK chart history until 1997, when Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" was released in tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, which sold almost 5 million copies in Britain. Worldwide, the single had sold 11.8 million copies by 1989.

Following the release of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in December 1984 and record sales in aid of famine relief, Geldof then set his sights on staging a huge concert, 1985's Live Aid, to raise further funds.

The song was re-recorded in 1989 by Band Aid II and in 2004 by Band Aid 20, again raising funds for famine relief. The 2004 version of the song sold 1.17 million copies.

And, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original song's release, 2014 saw a new version by Band Aid 30 to raise awareness and funds for Ebola relief.

The full story about the events surrounding the original recording can be found here:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_They_Know_It%27s_Christmas%3F

http://youtu.be/bjQzJAKxTrE



















"Last Christmas" is a song by British pop duo Wham! released on Epic Records in 1984, on a double A-side with "Everything She Wants". It was written and produced by George Michael and has been covered by scores of artists since its original release.

Wham! had been a dominant force in the UK Singles Chart in 1984 and news that they were planning a Christmas single meant that a battle for the coveted Christmas #1 spot in the UK seemed set to be between Wham! and the year's other big act, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who had achieved a third #1 in early December with "The Power of Love". The Band Aid project helmed by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, however, produced the #1 single "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Wham!'s offering peaked at #2 for much of the period, although George's involvement in Band Aid meant that Wham! still had an input. Wham! subsequently topped the monies raised by Band Aid by donating all of their "Last Christmas/Everything She Wants" royalties to the Ethiopian famine appeal!

The single sold well over a million copies and became the biggest selling single in UK chart history not to reach #1. A year later, it was re-issued for Christmas again (this time without a billed flip-side) and got to #6. A second re-issue at Christmas 1986 (by which time Wham! had split) stalled outside the top 40.

"Last Christmas" did make #1 in various other countries. In Germany, the song is the most successful Christmas single of all time, having spent 106 weeks on the German Singles Chart and attained a peak position of No. 4. In January 2008, the song fell from No. 4 to No. 64 there, also making it the biggest fall out of the top ten on the singles chart.

http://youtu.be/E8gmARGvPlI


















"The Greatest Gift of All" was a special Christmas song released by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers from the album Once Upon a Christmas in 1984. The album was accompanied by a now classic CBS Christmas television special titled Kenny & Dolly: A Christmas to Remember that originally aired on December 2, 1984 (which has been rerun numerous years), though never issued on home video or DVD despite public demand.

This album became one of the biggest Christmas albums of the 1980s and still sells today, with "A Christmas to Remember" played by U.S. radio stations and satellite radio during the Christmas holiday season. In 1989 it was certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

http://youtu.be/OmIHqbd3FnA


















"Thank God It's Christmas" is a Christmas pop single by the British rock band Queen. It was written by guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Released on the 26th of  November 1984, the song spent six weeks on the UK charts over Christmas 1984 and new year of 1985 and reached number 21.

The song was not originally released on any Queen studio album, appearing only on Queen's Greatest Hits III, released in 1999, and as the B-side of the single "A Winter's Tale" from the 1995 album Made in Heaven. However, the track was finally included on the bonus EP packaged with the deluxe edition of their album The Works, remastered and re-released in 2011.

No promotional video was filmed for the track, hampering its future use on music TV channels. For that reason it is a lesser known Christmas single. It also appears on several Christmas compilation albums. One of them is the original Now That's What I Call Christmas compilation released in 1985 but deleted in 1989.


http://youtu.be/V7dStS8pQHo



















"You Make It Feel Like Christmas" by Neil Diamond peaked at No. 28 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart in January 1985. The song originally appeared on Diamond's 1984 album Primitive, but was later re-recorded and included on his 1992 holiday release, The Christmas Album.

Diamond told The Sun in its December 4, 2009 edition about this song: "I wrote it to reflect my feeling that sometimes Christmas is too much about gifts and parties and the spiritual part is a secondary theme. I wanted to make a point of celebrating that part of the holiday."

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sxip1lhpik13gi8/13%20You%20Make%20It%20Feel%20Like%20Christmas.mp3?dl=0



"Christmas Time" is a song recorded by Bryan Adams in 1985. It was written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance and became Adams' most popular Christmas song. It was originally released on clear, green vinyl with a picture sleeve. It was written and recorded in Vancouver, Canada. Over twenty years after it was first recorded, the song still received significant radio airplay each year during the Christmas season. No music video was shot for the single, although there was a live video made for its B-side, "Reggae Christmas", featuring a guest appearance by Pee Wee Herman. The song won Gold Single Award for 50,000 sales of the 45 RPM single in Canada. It reached #4 at Billboard Christmas Chart.

http://youtu.be/Tcgz08EVKzI


















"It's Christmas (All Over the World)" is a Christmas song written by John Hubbs and Bill House and made popular by the pop group New Edition in 1985. Released on December 12, 1985 on the album Christmas All Over the World, the recording is notable in that it was the final album to feature vocals from original member Bobby Brown who shortly departed for a solo career after its release. The group reluctantly forced him out due to managerial concerns of the group's image being tattered by Brown's outbursts. Brown did come back for the album Home Again in 1996.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sgwvcc1ohioxm6s/New%20Edition%20-%20It%27s%20Christmas%20All%20Over%20The%20World.Mp3?dl=0



"Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (also known as "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town") is an iconic Christmas song. It was written by John Frederick Coots and Haven Gillespie and was first sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934. It was previously noted in the 2nd installment of this blog:- Part Two: The 1930s and 1940s.

One of the most popular remakes of this classic was recorded by rocker Bruce Springsteen in a 1975 live version and eventually released in 1985 as a B-side to "My Hometown", a single from the Born in the U.S.A. album.

http://youtu.be/iSgEDKjmT5o


















"Santa Claus (I Still Believe in You)" was a country Christmas song written and recorded by Alabama. The song appeared on their Alabama Christmas released by BMG in 1985.





"Driving Home for Christmas" is a single written by Chris Rea and released in 1986 as a non-album single. The song peaked at #53 in the UK Single Chart in 1988, and re-entered the chart in 2007, peaking at #33. It was used in Christmas commercials for supermarket chain Iceland in 1997, 1998, and 2011 respectively, with the latter featuring a cover by Stacey Solomon.

In a live interview on the BBC Radio 4 programme Today on 16 December 2009 Rea said he wrote "Driving Home for Christmas" many years before he first recorded it. His wife had come down to London to drive him home to Middlesbrough in her Austin Mini to save money because it was cheaper to drive than travel by train. Inspiration for the song came as she and Rea were stuck in heavy traffic heading out of London with a long drive to Middlesbrough ahead of them. Rea said "Driving Home for Christmas" is a "car version of a carol".


http://youtu.be/gKwP_13qo-I






"Mistletoe and Wine" is a song made famous in 1988 as a single by Cliff Richard. The song was written by Jeremy Paul, Leslie Stewart and Keith Strachan for a musical called Scraps, which was an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Match Girl" set in Victorian London.

 Scraps was first performed at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, London in 1976. The musical was renamed and adapted for television by HTV in 1987, and featured Roger Daltrey, Paul Daneman, Jimmy Jewel and Twiggy. As originally conceived, "Mistletoe and Wine" had a different meaning from that for which it has come to be known. The writers wanted a song that sounded like a Christmas carol, intending it to be sung ironically while the little matchgirl is kicked out into the snow by the unfeeling middle classes. By the time the musical transferred to television, the song had become a lusty pub song sung by the local whore, as played by Twiggy.

Richard liked the song, but changed the lyrics to reflect a more religious theme (which the writers accepted).

Richard's 99th single, it became his 12th UK number one single, spending four weeks at the top in December 1988 - selling 750,000 copies in the process. It was the best-selling single of 1988 in the UK. In December 2007 the single entered at number 68 on the UK Singles Chart by virtue of downloads.

One of the record breaking statistics often cited about Cliff Richard is his achievement of number one hit singles in five consecutive decades, and Mistletoe and Wine is important to this record in being his only number one hit of the eighties.

Richard's version of the song was also used in a British public information film about drunk driving. The film was part of the Drinking And Driving Wrecks Lives campaign during which films were shown during ad breaks over the Christmas period.

http://youtu.be/b7lKKNrXUJg



















"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a Christmas song (not to be confused with Mariah Carey's later title from the 90s) recorded by American novelty act Vince Vance & The Valiants. Initially released as a single in 1989, Vince Vance's version of the song has charted several times on the Billboard country singles charts. It is the most-played Christmas song on country radio, as well as Vince Vance & the Valiants' only chart entry.

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a mid-tempo in triple meter, featuring strong lead vocals from Lisa Layne. In it, the female narrator, singer Lisa Layne, explains that she does not want Christmas decorations, or gifts from Santa Claus. Instead, all she wants for Christmas is her lover. The melody used in the song is based on Bobby Vinton's number 9 pop hit single from early 1964, "My Heart Belongs to Only You", with a few minor alterations.


https://youtu.be/w8HWHd0EYJA



"Now the Bells Ring" was a Christmas hit for Rita MacNeil recorded in 1989 and included on an album by the same name. This iconic Canadian singer had two successful Christmas albums which spawned several other popular Christmas songs.

http://youtu.be/iMSQLa44nAo





















Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Part Five: The 1970s




Merry Christmas Darling
This Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
River
Step Into Christmas
If We Make It Through December
I Believe In Father Christmas
When a Child is Born
Please Come Home For Christmas (Eagles version)
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer
Wonderful Christmastime









"Merry Christmas Darling" by The Carpenters was written by Richard Carpenter & Frank Pooler and originally recorded in 1970. At the time, it was first available on a 7" single from A&M Records (1236) and later in 1974 reissued as A&M 1648 and in 1977 as A&M 1991. The single went to number one on Billboard's Christmas singles chart in 1970, and did again in 1971 and 1973.

In 1978, The Carpenters issued their Christmas Portrait album, which contained a new remix of "Merry Christmas Darling". The original 1970 mix continued to be used for all single releases, however. The major difference between it and the 1978 version is a newly recorded vocal by Karen Carpenter on the latter. Richard Carpenter himself calls the original recording one of his sister's very best. The original single version of the song can be found on the compilation albums From the Top and The Essential Collection: 1965–1997.


http://youtu.be/nR34VJ7HWqU







"This Christmas" is a well-known Christmas song originally recorded by R&B singer/songwriter Donny Hathaway and released as an Atco single in 1970. Hathaway co-wrote the song (it is credited to Nadine McKinnor and "Donny Pitts," the stage name Hathaway used). AllMusic shows a Billboard magazine peak of No. 11 on The Hot 100 chart, Joel Whitburn's, Christmas in the Charts (1920-2004), indicates a No. 11 on the Christmas Singles chart. In 2012, "This Christmas" hit the Billboard Japan Hot 100 Singles at No. 92, and again in 2013, at No. 71.

http://youtu.be/pj1mVUEHeUE










"Feliz Navidad" is a Christmas song written in 1970 by the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter José Feliciano. With its simple Spanish chorus (the traditional Christmas/New Year greeting, "Feliz Navidad, próspero año y felicidad" meaning "Merry Christmas, a prosperous year and happiness") and equally simple English verse "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart", it has become a classic Christmas pop song in the United States, throughout the Spanish-speaking world and internationally.

Feliciano's version of "Feliz Navidad" (in which he plays both an acoustic guitar and a Puerto Rican cuatro) is one of the most downloaded and aired Christmas songs in the United States and Canada. The addition of the horns as a final touch was the idea of producer Rick Jarrard. It was also recognized by ASCAP as one of the top 25 most played and recorded Christmas songs around the world.

http://youtu.be/xMtuVP8Mj4o








"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is a song written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in 1971 as a single by John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir. It was the seventh single release by Lennon outside of his work with The Beatles. The song reached No. 4 in the UK, where its release was delayed until 1972, and has periodically reemerged on the UK Singles Chart, most notably after Lennon's death in 1980, at which point it peaked at No. 2. Originally a protest song about the Vietnam War, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" has since become a Christmas standard, frequently covered by other artists and appearing on compilation albums of seasonal music, and named in polls as a holiday favourite.

"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" was the culmination of more than two years of peace activism undertaken by John Lennon and Yoko Ono that began with the bed-ins they convened in March and May 1969, the first of which took place during their honeymoon. The song's direct antecedent was an international multimedia campaign launched by the couple in December 1969 - at the height of the counterculture movement and its protests against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War - that primarily consisted of renting billboard space in 12 major cities around the world for the display of black-and-white posters that declared "WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko". Although this particular slogan had previously appeared in the 1968 anti-war songs "The War Is Over" by Phil Ochs and "The Unknown Soldier" by The Doors (which features the refrain, "The war is over."), its subsequent use by Lennon and Ono may just be coincidental; there is no evidence to confirm whether or not they were acquainted with these prior works

Recognising the accessibility and popular appeal that made his 1971 single "Imagine" a commercial success compared to the other songs he had released up to that point, Lennon concluded, "Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey." He conceived "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" as a means of elaborating upon the themes of social unity and peaceful change enacted through personal accountability and empowerment that served as the basis of the earlier billboard campaign, trying to convey optimism while avoiding the sentimentality that he felt often characterised music of the holiday season.

Lennon was first among the former Beatles to release an original Christmas song after the group disbanded in 1970. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" would be followed by George Harrison's "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" (1974), Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" (1979), and Ringo Starr's album I Wanna Be Santa Claus (1999). From 1963 to 1969, The Beatles issued special recordings at Christmas directly to members of their fan club.

In early October 1971, with not much more than bare-bones melody and half-formed lyrics, Lennon recorded an acoustic guitar demo of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" in his rooms at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City where he and Ono were living at the time. Ono would receive co-writing credit, but the actual extent of her contribution at this initial stage is unclear since she did not participate in the demo, which was atypical of their collaborations. Another demo of the song was made in late October, after the couple had taken an apartment in Greenwich Village. As with his previous two albums, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine (released in the U.S. just several weeks prior), Lennon brought on Phil Spector to help produce. The first recording session was held the evening of Thursday, 28 October, at the Record Plant studio. After the session musicians - some of whom had performed at one time or another as members of the Plastic Ono Band - laid down the basic instrumental backing and overdub tracks, Lennon and Ono added the main vocals. One of the four guitarists needed to fill in for Klaus Voormann on the bass when his flight was delayed out of Germany. Ono and the session musicians recorded the single's B-side, "Listen, the Snow Is Falling", the following day. The Harlem Community Choir - featuring thirty children, most of them four to twelve years of age - came to the studio on the afternoon of Sunday, 31 October, to record backing vocals for the counter-melody and sing-along chorus. Photographs for the original sleeve cover were also taken during that session by Iain Macmillan.


http://youtu.be/z8Vfp48laS8





















"River" is a song by Joni Mitchell, from her 1971 album Blue. Although never released as a single, it has become one of Mitchell's most famous songs.

In the song, Mitchell ruminates on the recent breakup of a romantic relationship. Christmas is nearing, and Mitchell longs to escape her emotional bonds, openly wishing "I wish I had a river / I could skate away on", a river so long she "would teach my feet to fly." Furthermore, Mitchell's Canadian past is reflected upon, as her current warm (presumably Californian) climate does not offer her that ice or that chance. It is used in the 2000 film Almost Famous, the 2003 film Love Actually and in episodes of Alias, thirtysomething, The Wonder Years, Ally McBeal, New Girl and ER. There are also numerous discussions of Joni's songs by Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in the movie "You've Got Mail."

Keeping with the Christmas theme of the lyrics, the arrangement of the song on Blue (and on many other covers of the song) starts with a theme reminiscent of "Jingle Bells", and this theme figures several times throughout the accompaniment.

Although merely set near Christmas time rather than being about Christmas as such, the song has become something of a modern Christmas standard. "River" is the third-most widely covered of songs in Mitchell's oeuvre (227 recordings, behind only "Both Sides, Now" and "Big Yellow Taxi"), frequently appearing on albums of Christmas music by pop, folk and jazz artists.

http://youtu.be/KxuIL1W4wGE






"Step Into Christmas" is a Christmas song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and performed by Elton John. It was released as a stand-alone single in November 1973 with the song "Ho, Ho, Ho (Who'd Be a Turkey at Christmas)" as the B-side. It peaked at No. 24 on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, the single reached No. 56 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Christmas Singles chart.

According to liner notes about the song by Elton John and Bernie Taupin (in Rare Masters and Elton John's Christmas Party), the track and its B-side, both produced by Gus Dudgeon, were recorded during a quickie session at Morgan Studios in London, owned by drummer Barry Morgan, who had played on several of Elton's early albums. "Step into Christmas" was mixed to sound like one of producer Phil Spector's 1960s recordings, using plenty of compression and imitating his trademark "wall of sound" technique. This was intentional according to both John and Taupin, and an homage of sorts to Christmas songs by Spector-produced groups such as The Ronettes.

http://youtu.be/tSJMSnj6UUM



 



"If We Make It Through December" is the title of a song written and recorded by American country music singer Merle Haggard. It was released in October 1973 as the lead single from the album Merle Haggard's Christmas Present, and was the title track on a non-Christmas album four months later. In the years since its release, "If We Make It Through December", which, in addition to its Christmas motif, also uses themes of unemployment and loneliness, has become one of the trademark songs of Haggard's career.

While Christmas is a prominent theme of this song, writer Tom Roland said the song is not considered a "pure" Christmas record, as the subject of economics was also explored.

The song spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in December 1973 and January 1974, and cracked the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100. "If We Make It Through December" was the No. 2 song of the year on Billboard's Hot Country Singles 1974 year-end chart.

http://youtu.be/Z-IJxTd8dCo







"I Believe In Father Christmas" is a song by Greg Lake (most famously a member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer), with lyrics by Peter Sinfield. Although it is often categorised as a Christmas song this was not Lake's intention. Lake claims to have written the song in protest at the commercialisation of Christmas. Sinfield however, claims that the words are about a loss of innocence and childhood belief.

The song was recorded by Lake in 1974 and released separately from ELP in 1975, becoming the number two in the UK charts. It is currently his only hit solo release in the UK.

The video for this song, the bulk of which was shot in the Sinai desert and Qumran in the West Bank, also contains shots of the Vietnam War, which has led to complaints from some that it should not be shown with light-hearted Christmas songs. These images of rocket barrages, air strikes, and mobile artillery are a violent backdrop to a peaceful-sounding song and create a hard-hitting message.

 http://youtu.be/RXCEdrnaFlY







"When a Child is Born" is a popular Christmas song. The original melody was "Soleado", a tune from 1972 by Ciro Dammicco (alias Zacar), composer for Italy's Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble, and Dario Baldan Bembo. The English language lyrics were written a few years later by Fred Jay. They do not make specific mention of Christmas but the importance they attach to looking forward to the birth of one particular child somewhere, anywhere, suggests a reference to the birth of Jesus Christ, and the citing of "a tiny star" that "lights up way up high" may allude to the Star of Bethlehem. Fred Jay's lyrics have been sung by many artists, most successfully by Johnny Mathis in 1976.

The most successful version of the song is probably the Jack Gold produced version for Johnny Mathis. Entitled "When A Child Is Born (Soleado)" with B-side as "Every Time You Touch Me (I Get High)", it became Johnny Mathis' sole number one single in the UK, spending three weeks at the top of the chart in December 1976 and selling 885,000 copies. In the US, it appeared in the Record World survey in both the Christmas seasons of 1976 and 1977, reaching a maximum position of #123, and racking up 10 chart weeks. In addition, Mathis re-recorded the song as a duet with Gladys Knight and the Pips. This version reached Record World #137 during the Christmas season of 1980, and the UK charts at 79.

http://youtu.be/gjYWYJudTPE







"Please Come Home For Christmas", originally released in 1960 by Charles Brown, became a Christmas classic for The Eagles in 1978. Their version peaked at #18 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the first Christmas song to reach the Top 20 on that chart since Roy Orbison's "Pretty Paper" in 1963. This was the first Eagles song to feature Timothy B. Schmit on bass (having replaced founding member Randy Meisner the previous year). The lineup features Don Henley (drums/vocals), Glenn Frey (piano, backing vocals), Joe Walsh (guitar, backing vocals), Schmit (bass/backing vocals), and Don Felder (lead guitar). Originally released as a vinyl 7" single, it was re-released as a CD single in 1995, reaching #15 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.

 http://youtu.be/sgpgjdkQ6bQ




















"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is a novelty Christmas song. Written by Randy Brooks, the song was originally performed by the husband and wife duo of Elmo and Patsy Trigg Shropshire in 1979. In the lyrics, the grandmother of the family gets drunk from drinking too much eggnog, and, due to having forgotten to take her medication and despite warnings from the family, staggers outside into a snowstorm. In the course of her walk, she is run over by Santa Claus and his reindeer and killed. The second and third verses describe the Christmas party the next day: "all the family's dressed in black" while the widower acts as if nothing's happened, drinks beer, watches football and plays cards with "cousin Mel." The song closes with a warning that Santa, "a man who drives a sleigh and plays with elves" is unfit to carry a driver's license, and that the listener should beware.

The song was originally self-released in the San Francisco area by the Shropshires in 1979 on their own record label ("Elmo 'n' Patsy"), with the B-side called "Christmas". By the early 1980s, the song was becoming a seasonal hit, first on country stations and then on Top 40 stations. In 1982, the "Elmo 'n' Patsy" record label changed its name to "Oink" when the song was re-recorded. Oink Records, still based in Windsor, California, continued distribution of the 45 rpm record in the western U.S., with "Nationwide Sound Distributors" of Nashville, Tennessee pressing and distributing the song on its Soundwaves Records in the eastern U.S., peaking at #92 on the country singles charts. In 1984, with the song now a big hit nationally, CBS Records was interested and signed Elmo and Patsy to Epic Records.

http://youtu.be/MgIwLeASnkw





The Irish Rovers made the song a hit in 1982 with the album "It Was A Night Like This" (Attic Records). Jack Richardson produced the album and the single which rose to #20 on the RPM charts within a week of its release and today remains a 'seasonal holiday anthem'.



"Wonderful Christmastime" is a 1979 Christmas song by Paul McCartney. It enjoys significant Christmas time popularity around the world. The notable synthesiser riff was played on a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. The song was later added as a bonus track on the 1993 CD reissue of Wings' Back to the Egg album.

McCartney recorded the song entirely on his own during the sessions for his solo project McCartney II. Although the members of Wings are not on the recording, they do appear in the promotional music video, which was filmed at the Fountain Inn in Ashurst, West Sussex.

Following its release as a stand-alone single in the United Kingdom, "Wonderful Christmastime" peaked at No. 6 on the United Kingdom Singles Chart on the week ending 5 January 1980. Although the song did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States, it did chart for two weeks on Billboard's specially designated Christmas Singles chart in December 1984, peaking at No. 10.

The song continues to receive substantial airplay every year, although some music critics consider it to be one of McCartney's poorest compositions. Beatles author Robert Rodriguez has written of "Wonderful Christmastime": "Love it or hate it, few songs within the McCartney oeuvre have provoked such strong reactions."

Including royalties from cover versions, it is estimated that Paul McCartney makes $400,000 a year from this song, which puts its cumulative earnings for this seasonal tune at near $15 million.

http://youtu.be/Rspan_NizW0
































Saturday, December 14, 2013

Part Four: The 1960s





Must Be Santa
Please Come Home for Christmas
Baby's First Christmas
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Do You Hear What I Hear?
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
That's What I Want For Christmas
Pretty Paper
Little Saint Nick 
The Man With All The Toys
A Holly Jolly Christmas
Christmas Time Is Here
My Favorite Thing
Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy
We Need a Little Christmas
Snoopy's Christmas
Old Toy Trains
What Christmas Means To Me





"Must Be Santa" is a Christmas song written by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks and first released in November 1960 by Mitch Miller. A cover version by Tommy Steele reached Number 40 on the UK Singles Chart in the same year.

Based on a German drinking song, "Must Be Santa" is structured as a call and response, with the lead singer posing the question of who has a certain feature, with a chorus responding that Santa Claus has said feature. After every other verse, the list of features mentioned up to that point is reiterated, followed by the chorus of "must be Santa" repeated three times and ending with "Santa Claus."

http://youtu.be/k1vf1DYJphA

















In November 2009, Bob Dylan covered Brave Combo's version of the song in a polka style for his Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart. The New York Daily News described Dylan's version as such: "It's sort of unclear if Dylan (...) was aiming to celebrate the holiday, or gently poke fun at the music's Norman Rockwell-esque simplicity." Dylan's version has the names of several USA presidents mixed in with the list of Santa's reindeer--only one of the mentioned presidents had served in the White House when the song was originally published. The song is one of two by Dylan that includes a raucous party in the background.

http://youtu.be/a8qE6WQmNus


















"Please Come Home for Christmas" is a Christmas song, released in 1960 by the American blues singer and pianist Charles Brown. Hitting Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in December 1961, the tune Brown co-wrote with Gene Redd peaked at position #76. It appeared on the Christmas Singles chart for nine seasons, hitting #1 in 1972. It includes a number of characteristics of Christmas music, such as multiple references in the lyrics to the Christmas season and Christmas traditions, and the use of a Church bell type sound, created using a piano, at the start of the song. It is sometimes referred to as "Bells Will Be Ringing", which are the first four words of the song.

http://youtu.be/itdNoGtPQ3I


















"Baby's First Christmas" peaked at No. 7 on Billboard's Middle-Road Singles chart and at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in December 1961; and No. 13 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1965. It was initially recorded by Connie Francis and features the Don Costa Orchestra.

Unfortunately, sometime this past year, YouTube has rendered all copies of Connie's song unavailable! The link I have provided is to the audio file in my Dropbox. Here's hoping you can d/l it for a listen!


https://www.dropbox.com/s/bj7091sljq7fudh/Connie%20Francis%20-%20Baby%27s%20First%20Christmas.flac?dl=0




"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is a Christmas holiday song originally sung by Darlene Love and included on the 1963 Christmas compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. The song was written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry along with Phil Spector, with the intentions of being sung by Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes. According to Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector was not able to put as much emotion into the song as needed. Instead, Love was brought into the studio to record the song which became a big success over time and one of Love's signature tunes.

In December 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" first on its list of The Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs, saying that "nobody can match Love's emotion and sheer vocal power."

http://youtu.be/4EvZOXEoJ84

















Darlene Love has performed the song every year since 1986 on the final new episode before Christmas of Late Night with David Letterman (NBC 1986-92) and the Late Show with David Letterman (CBS 1993–present). One exception was 2007, when Love was unable to perform due to the Writers' Strike, with a repeat of her 2006 performance shown instead. She performs the song with Paul Shaffer and the show's house band (The World's Most Dangerous Band at NBC, now the CBS Orchestra). The band has been augmented over the years by additional strings and other instruments, as well as a full choir. In 2000, the US Air Force Singing Sergeants were the choir.

http://youtu.be/rkaWqneQ0Tg





"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a Christmas song written in October 1962 with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne Baker. The pair were married at the time, and wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists.

Regney wrote the lyrics for the song, while Gloria Shayne composed the Christmas carol's music in October 1962. This was an unusual arrangement for the two writers. Usually it was Shayne who wrote the lyrics for their songs while Regney composed the music, as they did when they wrote a song based on the classic children's song "Rain Rain Go Away".

"Do You Hear What I Hear?" was released shortly after Thanksgiving in 1962. The song was originally recorded by the Harry Simeone Chorale, a group which had also popularized "The Little Drummer Boy" back in 1958. It went on to sell more than a quarter-million copies during the 1962 Christmas holiday season.

http://youtu.be/JmYIbKqH45A








Bing Crosby made the song into a hit when he recorded his own version of it on October 21, 1963, with the record being released as a single on October 26. Crosby also performed the song on a Bob Hope Christmas television special on December 13 of that year. Over the years, Crosby's recording of the song has been widely played on the radio, and has been available on numerous compilation Christmas albums and compact discs put out by Capitol Records. It is perhaps the most often-heard version of the song.


http://youtu.be/cB2rsF8EgEY


















"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is a popular Christmas song written in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle. It was recorded and released that year by pop singer Andy Williams for his first Christmas album, The Andy Williams Christmas Album. However, the song was not released as a promotional single by Williams' record label (Columbia Records) that year, as they instead opted to promote his cover of "White Christmas" as the official promo single from the album.

The song is a celebration and description of activities associated with the Christmas season, focusing primarily on get-togethers between friends and families. Among the activities included in the song is the telling of "scary ghost stories," an activity that is more commonly associated with Halloween than Christmas (although one such story, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, is indeed told most often around Christmas). Other activities mentioned include hosting parties for friends that come to call, roasting marshmallows (presumably over a fireplace and not a campfire as in the summer), and singing Christmas carols.

In a 2005 interview, Williams discusses how The Andy Williams Show figured into his recording of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year": "George Wyle, who is a vocal director, wrote all of the choir stuff and all of the duets and trios and things that I did with all the guests, he wrote a song just for the show - I think the second Christmas show we did - called "Most Wonderful Time of the Year". So I did that, you know, every Christmas, and then other people started doing it. And then suddenly it's become - not suddenly but over 30 years - it's become a big standard. I think it's one of the top 10 Christmas songs of all time now."

In the issue of Billboard magazine dated November 28, 2009, the list of the "Top 10 Holiday Songs (Since 2001)" places the Williams recording of "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" at No. 5. 2001 also marked the first year in which the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (also known as ASCAP) started compiling data regarding the radio airplay of holiday songs, and although the Williams classic started out at No. 25 of twenty-five songs that were ranked that year, it gained steam over the next ten years, reaching No. 18 in 2002, No. 13 in 2003, and eventually getting to No. 4 in 2010.

The song was also selected as the theme song for Christmas Seals in both 1968 and 1976.

http://youtu.be/73UqDX_quk0


















"That's What I Want For Christmas" was originally recorded and made popular by Nancy Wilson in 1963. The song peaked at No. 6 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1963 and at No. 26 on the same Billboard chart in December 1964.

Once again...YouTube has deleted all of Wilson's versions of the song. In its place here is a link to Deja Hall's take on this 60's classic:-

http://youtu.be/i-9DeMnTofc

















Here is another version by Wilson in my Dropbox:-

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vltiw9dw6vzqrdt/Nancy%20Wilson%20-%20That%27s%20What%20I%20Want%20For%20Christmas.mp3?dl=0




"Pretty Paper" is a pop Christmas song, written by country singer Willie Nelson, which was a hit in 1963, when it was recorded by Roy Orbison. It peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and No. 10 on Billboard's Middle-Road Singles chart in January 1964. It also charted on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1964, peaking at No. 27.

http://youtu.be/jOgsyNAsoWc





"Little Saint Nick" is a Christmas song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love and originally performed by their group The Beach Boys. It was first released as a single on December 9, 1963, and peaked at No. 3 on Billboard magazine's special seasonal weekly Christmas Singles chart, while also reaching No. 69 on the regular weekly sales chart surveyed by Cashbox magazine. Despite a media-hushed Christmas in mourning for recently assassinated President John F. Kennedy, the single went into the Top Tensof several major radio markets. Eventually, over several more Christmases, it was credited as an unofficial (non-RIAA audited) million-seller. The song borrows its rhythm and structure from the group's 1963 hit "Little Deuce Coupe".


http://youtu.be/P-vAZabkn3U



















"The Man With All The Toys" is another Christmas song written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love for the American rock band The Beach Boys. It was released on their 1964 album The Beach Boys' Christmas Album. As a single that year it had limited success (No. 6 on the Billboard Christmas chart), but built sales over successive Christmases and is listed by Billboard in the Top 100 selling Christmas songs in history, though well below their 1963 Christmas single "Little Saint Nick".


http://youtu.be/-_vY9S_LCTk


















"A Holly Jolly Christmas" was a huge Christmas hit for Burl Ives in 1964. It peaked at No. 13 on Billboard's Christmas Singles chart in December 1964, and charted again on the same Billboard chart in December 1968 (peaking at No. 29). Written by Johnny Marks in 1962, and first recorded by The Quinto Sisters, it was made famous by Ives in the 1964 holiday television special Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The song subsequently appeared on the album Have a Holly Jolly Christmas released by Decca/MCA Records in October 1965.


http://youtu.be/6ucFNY-1ns0




















"Christmas Time Is Here" is a popular Christmas song written Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi (Hal Leonard Publishing Co.) for the 1965 TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas, one of the very first animated Christmas special produced for network TV in the United States. Since the song had become a hit, it was then released on the album A Charlie Brown Christmas as two tracks: an instrumental version by the Vince Guaraldi Trio and a vocal version as sung by the cast of the television special.

http://youtu.be/GPG3zSgm_Qo



















"My Favorite Things" is a popular show tune, originally from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. In recent times, due to the winter-related imagery in the lyrics, it has become popular as a Christmas song.

The song was first introduced by Mary Martin and Patricia Neway in the original Broadway production and sung by Julie Andrews in the 1965 film.

In the musical, the lyrics to the song are a reference to things Maria loves, such as "Raindrops on roses and Whiskers on Kittens, Bright Copper Kettle and Warm Woolen Mittens". These are the things she selects to fill her mind with when times are bad.

http://youtu.be/t-cLMYWdgiE


















"Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy" is a country-flavoured Christmas song co-written and recorded by Buck Owens. After its recording in 1965, the song has been covered by several country music artists, including Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, and Brad Paisley.

The song was released on November 8, 1965, with "All I Want for Christmas, Dear, Is You" on the B-side. It placed at number 2 on the yearly Christmas singles chart issued by Billboard at the time.


http://youtu.be/1XdnA2DVp5M


















"We Need a Little Christmas" is a popular Christmas song originating from Jerry Herman's Broadway musical, Mame, and first performed by Angela Lansbury in that 1966 production.

In the musical, the song is performed after Mame has lost her fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and decides that she, her young nephew Patrick, and her two household servants "need a little Christmas now" to cheer them up. The original lyrics include the line, "But, Auntie Mame, it's one week past Thanksgiving Day now!" Since the time the song was written the phenomenon of Christmas creep has resulted in the normal holiday season beginning much earlier than it once did, which has led to more recent recordings changing the line to, "But, Auntie Mame, it's one week from Thanksgiving Day now!"

http://youtu.be/_FB3h8IFCro



















"Snoopy's Christmas" is a song performed by The Royal Guardsmen in 1967. It continues to be played as a holiday favorite on most "oldie" radio stations, however is also often played on radio stations playing a Hit Music format as well as Adult Contemporary format stations. While these stations wouldn't normally play music from this era radio stations will make exceptions to mix certain Christmas songs with the usual playlist during the Holiday period. Due to a chart department policy instituted by Billboard magazine, the "Snoopy's Christmas" single never appeared in the Hot 100. It was, however, shown at #1 on a specialty list called "Best Bets For Christmas". Cash Box magazine peaked the song at #10. The publication Record World peaked the song at #17.

http://youtu.be/ruirnUfaC5U


















"Old Toy Trains" is the title of a Christmas song written and recorded by Roger Miller. It was released in late 1967 as a single for Smash Records. Miller wrote the song in 1967 for his son, Dean Miller. Released on Smash Records late in the year, the song ended an eight-year ban on Christmas single releases by the label. An uncredited review in Billboard gave Roger Miller's original version a positive review, saying that "Miller has composed one of his most moving and touching ballads for all ages which he performs to perfection."

Once again, copyright laws have made it virtually impossible to provide a link to original material! Here is a decent cover:-

http://youtu.be/dKAem0FgwFo


















"What Christmas Means To Me" is the name of several different Christmas songs. The most-covered version was written by Allen Story, Anna Gordy Gaye, and George Gordy. It has been recorded by many artists, including the original version from 1967 by Stevie Wonder on the album Someday at Christmas.


 http://youtu.be/qW9HxycgYlg