26 Days Of Christmas-Day 5
A real special treat for you tonight. The first time I Googled this record, I got no hits. I found a version of the same song by The King Sisters, but references to that were pretty sparse, too. I finally found it listed over at Both Sides Now in their Cadence discography, but the spelling was off. But at least they've heard of it. I'm hoping that this song is new to you, because it was new to me, and now I'm loving it. Hurry up and download Commander Shea School Boys' Choir-Chree-See-Mus (Cadence 7" 45 RPM 1375, 1959) so you can hum it for the rest of the week, and possibly on through Christmas. It's so catchy! I'm still having a hard time picturing a group of NYC schoolboys singing this song.
Previous Tunes:
Mickey Gilley-Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Christmas Time
Scott Fagen-Sandy The Blue Nosed Reindeer
Russ Morgan-The Mistletoe Kiss
Sascha Burland And The Skipjack Choir With Mason Adams-The Chickens Are In The Chimes! (Adapted From "The Twelve Days Of Christmas)
Ernie! Holy Smokes! You're smokin' tonight. I thought that I was the only one in the universe with Chree-see-mus by Commander Shea School Boy's Choir! That song was huge in our house growing up! I still have my 45 right here in my room! And yours is in better shape than mine since it's been played to death! Thanks again. I can't imagine what else you've got cooked up.
ReplyDeleteERnie, Do you have the Boston Pops LP for Christmas?
ReplyDeleteI have honestly never heard this before............and it's AWESOME!!! You're right, I'm going to happily have that percolating in my brain for at least a week.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ernie!
Great to have this one digitized---had the 45 for about 10yrs now---I remember putting it on one ofmy annual mix-cassettes seg-wayed out of "Christmas In NY" (Consolidated Water Conditioning/Tony Schwartz) also taped from 7" (that one's been digitized by Basic Hip Digital Oddio) Thanks for posting this!!!
ReplyDeleteI found a tiny bit more on this quite charming song, in case you haven't come across it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boysoloist.com/artist.asp?VID=3449
"Named in honor of Commander John J. Shea, the school is one of two at Saint Cecilia's Parish in New York."
cheers!
dwayne
Yay, a digital version! I found this in a cache of old obscure Xmas 45s that a local radio station I worked at was going to throw away (!) since they were an oldies station and were only going to play the usual favourites from there on in. It was part of a bunch of Xmas discs I loaned to a friend who never got them back to me (including the tree-shaped Rhino Records single), so I'm glad to be able to hear it again. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteNow if I could only find another copy of Here's to You Santa Claus by Canadian folk legend Stan Rogers...
I actually attended Commander Shea School on 11th Street in East Harlem from 1958 to 1966! The school was predominantly children from Puerto Rico or the first generation of Puerto Ricans in New York, mixed with a few of us African Americans. It was actually a wonderful school, but until now I had never heard this hysterical recording. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSherry B.
That should have said 111th Street - in between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue in East Harlem.
ReplyDeleteSherry B.
Wow, and actual attendee of the school in question! Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story!
ReplyDelete