Saturday, December 10, 2005

Ponderosa (Not Gunsmoke)


You're probably looking at this cover and thinking "Is he still doing Christmas? That doesn't look very Christmassy", but you'd be wrong. For on the innocent looking single pictured above can be found a couple of previously unknown Lorne Greene tracks in celebration of Christmas. You all of course know about the Ponderosa Christmas album, and the Lorne Greene solo Christmas album (which you can get over on the forums at FaLaLaLaLa) and then there are the radio spots he did back in the 80s. But this single was something that had escaped my notice until today. Please give a listen to Lorne Greene-Must Be Santa (RCA Victor 47-9037, 1966). This record is from Canada, same as Lorne, so maybe this never came out in the US. (I wish I had gotten this record a couple of months ago. Must Be Santa is on my annual Christmas CD, but by Mitch Miller. I would much rather have gotten this version on there. It's a better take on the song, and plus it's Lorne Greene!!!)

4 comments:

  1. Cool....I didn't know I was famous for the 80's christmas radio features posting....I'm glad I kept "The Spirit Of Christmas" web site up all year....thanks for the link...and i'm grabbing this file as well....

    SD!
    producer/co-host
    www.cheezepleeze.com

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  2. Hey, Ernie.
    I have a promo copy of the U.S. release of this single. It's RCA 41-9037 and came in a standard RCA sleeve, so I'm glad to have the pic sleeve you posted. Thanks!

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  3. Ernie you've proven to us all that you sure have a BONANZA of a Christmas album collection. I can't thank you enough for your time and efforts with all the scans,digitizing and posts. I know it is a lot of work and I'm sure many more folks appreciate all that you've been sharing this Christmas that you realize.

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  4. I'm trying to find out some information on a 1966 TV special Lorne appeared on and sang "Must Be Santa." Probably on NBC... would like to know who else was on and who sponsored if that's known...

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