Christmas Sisters

One of my goals this year was to record more singles.  Over the years, I've pretty much stuck to the Christmas albums, because that's what I had, it's what I could find, and they were easier.  But this year, I vowed I would get a stack of singles ready for the holiday season and share them with you.  There seems to be a much great variety of stuff on the small records, or maybe it's just new to my ears.  I think more of it is available to be shared because they are harder to find, so that's a big plus for me.  Today I've got three little records for you, two by The Lennon Sisters and one from Ruby Wright that the Lennon Sisters copied.  First up is Christmas Moon b/w Peppy The Peppermint Bear (Dot 45-16017, Mono, 1959).  I think I shared the Peppy song with you a long time ago in a Christmas And A Half post, but you probably missed it.  Here it is again with better sound, so don't miss it.  If you look close at the label, the credit is actually to Lawrence Welk Presents The Lennon Sisters.  Now that's control! Be careful, though.  This record provided 105% of your daily recommended allowance of harpsichord.  So if you're sensitive, better to only listen to one side a day.

Next up is another, earlier single from the Sisters, Let's Light The Christmas Tree b/w Merry, Merry Christmas (Brunswick 9-55044, Mono, 1957).  The orchestra is handled by George Cates, another cohort of Lawrence Welk, but at least Welk's name isn't on this one directly.  If you look closer still, you'll see both tracks are credited to Ruth Lyons, a name that should be familiar to Christmas music fans everywhere.  It turns out this this single is a side-for-side copy of another record, one directly created by Ruth.

I won't bore you with the story of how this record came to be made, but you can read all about it over at The Captain's excellent Christmas Yuleblog.  As you can see, sort of, both sides are the same as both sides of the Lennon Sisters disc.  Yes, there's a bit of title economizing on the wordy Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Xmas, which I guess also allowed them to spell out all of Christmas as well.  This record has been shared out quite a few times in many places all over the internets (including over at Lee's place just this morning...), but I wanted to do it again, just so you can compare and contrast with the Lennons above.  For the search engines, this is Let's Light The Christmas Tree b/w Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Xmas by Ruby Wright With Cliff Lash And His Orchestra And The Dick Noel Singers (Fraternity F-787, Mono,  1957).

And, if you've read all that, then you deserve to be able to download the music.  Here you go...

MediaFire