December 11th Past

Another day, another dip. That's right, it's time for some more highlight links into the most recent five years of blog history. Hope you're enjoying these little trips down memory lane!

2016

Christmas with Ford.

2017

 A Christmas secret.

2018

San Francisco & Christmas.

2019

St. Louis & Christmas.

2020

More instrumental Christmas songs from 78s at The Internet Archive. Another huge favorite in a season filled with favorites.

Save Those Seeds

Under the heading of "It was a different time", here is a Christmas record from the science oriented folks at Monsanto. These days, the company is best known for developing superior strains of food crops that increased yield, yet could not reproduce from it's own seeds. They also made it illegal to try and grow their strains from seeds. There's also the whole issue of Round-Up, but I don't know the whole story, and I'm too tired to look it up tonight, but let's just say that their reputation has suffered since this record came out extolling their world-wide production facilities. It's truly a relic of a period when science could cure all our ills. It's also very short, so if you don't like it, just rest assured it will be over quickly. This is Monsanto-We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Canticle Production For Monsanto S-78701/78702 "Made of Monsanto Opalon Vinyl", Mono).

1. We Wish You A Merry Christmas
2. Carol Of The Bagpipers
3. The Holly And The Ivy
4. Patapan
5. What Child Is This
6. The Pinata
7. Now It Is Christmastime
8. Kazoe Uta
9. Three Kings
10. Villancico
11. Fum, Fum, Fum
12. Shine, Shine Over All The World

MEGA

December 10th Past

Hello! And welcome to the December 10th edition of "This Day In Blog History"! What's in the past on this day? Check it out...

2016

More Christmas from Phoenix.

2017

Nice cover, I'll just leave it at that.

2018

Mennonites sing.

2019

Christmas in 1985.

2020

A patriotic Christmas from 78s.

Singles From Warners

If you've hung around the blog at Christmas time lo these many years, you'll remember that one of my early obsessions was the Christmas music from the Warner Bros. label in their early years. Begun in 1958, they jumped right in the deep end of the pool with some great Christmas music from the likes of Billy May, Jimmy Joyce, Ira Ironstrings, Wally Stott and other, lesser names like George Greeley, Gene Lowell, The Guitars Inc, The Children's Choir Of All Nations and even a generic music box & chimes LP. Oh, and how could I forget, the infamous Warner Bros. Stars album! So much great music, and all from LP. What I was ignorant about was their output on singles, the small records that spin faster. I stumbled across the record I'm sharing here on Discogs some time ago, and managed to track down a copy not long after. It collects up a double handful of those singles into LP format and was sent to radio stations in 1960. You get both sides of some records, but only one side of others, so if you like what you hear, track down the original singles and get the rest of this great music. There are a lot of things here that I've never heard before (along with a couple of ringers), it was a real eye opener to those early days at Warner. To the best of my knowledge, this was issued without a specific sleeve, my copy came in a plain green cardboard sleeve, the type commonly used for library records. I hope you enjoy this collection as much as I did!  This is Christmas Hits From Warner Bros. (Warner Bros. 8467/8468, Mono, 1960). Oh, there's a similar record from a year earlier I'd love to have, but it seems to go for crazy money. Not sure why since all the tracks are from LPs that aren't too hard to find.

1. Edd Byrnes-Lonely Christmas
2. The Lollipops-Mister Santa
3. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.-Adeste Fidelis
4. Mel Blanc-I Keep Hearing Those Bells
5. Warren Barker-Midnight In Bethlehem
6. Graham Donald-And It Ain't Paid For Yet
7. Ira Ironstrings-Christmas Is For The Birds
8. Warren Smith-Dear Santa
9. Edd "Kookie" Byrnes-Yulesville
10. The Marquees-Christmas In The Congo
11. Cathy, Jeanette And Jolene-Jingle Bones
12. Red Coffee-Ducky Christmas
13. The Lollipops-Little Donkey

MEGA

December 9th Past

Welcome to our little stroll through the past five years' worth of Christmas posts at Ernie (Not Bert). We're at a unique point in history where you can still download a lot of the old shares from these years' past, so I'm trying to point out some of the highlights from ye olden days. In addition to the things I'm linking to, there are lots and lots of old posts still active, so feel free to poke around, you might be surprised by what you find. But here are some links to get you started.

2016

Phoenix sings.

2017

The Gift Of The Magi.

2018

Christmas in Sacramento with bonus Chanukah content!

2019

Whispering organ sounds for your Christmas enjoyment.

2020

Christmas songs from 78's in languages other than English. Interesting collection.

Whales? Really?

You've heard chipmunks singing Christmas songs. You've heard dogs singing Jingle Bells. You've seen entire albums featuring dogs, cats or cows. You've heard reindeer sing. Even snowmen. But I'm guessing you've never heard whales! Whales with tubas no less! If this doesn't take the cake, I don't know what will. This is The Whales Featuring Rathbone And His Tuba-The Chipmunk Song b/w If It Doesn't Snow On Christmas (Cenpro 7" 45 RPM 45001, Stereo, 1975). If this isn't the strangest animal you've ever heard sing Christmas carols, you'd better leave me a comment and prove it!

Thinking about it, when did those recording of whale songs become popular? I remember getting a National Geographic when I was a wee tyke, and there was a flexidisc in there with whale songs on it. Later on there were whole records devoted to such recordings, I wonder if this was part of that whole fad? Looks like this record preceded the National Geographic one. So much for my theory...

MEGA

December 8th Past

As we get further into this month, I see where I posted stuff in the past that I don't even remember. I guess I have periods where I'm just on autopilot, posting what I can as fast as I can in hopes that something will stick. Perhaps I should seek therapy. In the meantime, here's a list of some stuff that was shared on this day at the blog over the past five years.

2016

Christmas in Hawaii, or at least half of it.

2017

Ronald McDonald on 45 for Christmas.

2018

More Air Force Christmas. I shared a lot of that in 2018.

2019

Carillon Christmas.

2020

Some Jingle Bells at 78 RPM.

Kinda Like Glee

This 10" record is a nice set of carols, many of which aren't that well known, being sung by a college choir from somewhere in the Midwest. I don't think there's anything here that will jump out at you, but it's well done and worth a listen. Sorry if I'm not selling it well, but it's been a rough day and I'm struggling to get some stuff up for you. It does have a great cover though, don't you think?  This is The Concordia Choir-Paul J. Christiansen, Director-Around The Christmas Tree (Allied 10" 33 RPM ARS-LP 2004 Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., Mono). No idea about the date for this one, hard to tell. I just noticed the copy up on Discogs has a single color cover, while mine has two. Maybe mine is an earlier pressing, I don't know.

1. Silent Night
2. How Far Is It To Bethlehem
3. The Three Kings
4. Jesus Was Born On This Day
5. Away In A Manger
6. A Flemish Carol
7. Thy Little Ones Dear Lord Are We
8. The Cradle
9. Jeg Er Saa Glad
10. Be Not Afraid

MEGA 

December 7th Past

A day that will live in infamy. And also a day that I shared some pretty sweet Christmas music in the past five years, but then I think all my shares are sweet. Or bad. One or the other. Sometimes both...

2016

Christmas with six white boomers.

2017

An unknown Christmas album from Miami.

2018

Christmas music from the USAF!

2019

 A yellow Christmas?

2020

Polka music for Christmas! Nice!

Navy 241

In honor of it being December 7th (a day which will live in infamy, just like 9/11), I give you a small treat from the United States Navy. Two treats, actually, though not all is as it seems. This first record is actually a remaster of one I gave you many years ago, in 2007, and is one of the oldest military message records in my collection. I remember using tracks from this album on cassettes I made before the turn of the century! Lots of TV icons on this one, all encouraging you to support your seamen. This is A Different Kind Of Christmas (The United States Navy, No Number, Stereo).

1. Eddy Arnold
2. Phyllis Diller
3. Jack Webb
4. Norm Crosby
5. Florence Henderson
6. Robert Young
7. Gary Crosby
8. Shirley Jones
9. George Maharis
10. Edie Adams

(There are actually songs between each of these messages, but they're not something I should share so I'm not going to mention them.)

MEGA

And that brings us to this record, which was actually one of the things I found in the past year and was excited to share this season. But as I was recording and listening to it, it sounded very familiar. A little research led me to discover that it's the same as the record shown at the top of this post, only in a different order, and missing the greeting from Phyllis Diller. Not sure what happened to that track, but it's the only one missing from this record. So you really don't need to download this one since you already got it up above, but I've learned over the years that some people want the record they had, not just the same tracks. So if you really need this one, please feel free to download A Christmas Message (The Navy, 71349, Stereo). No firm idea when either of these records was released, but I'd say early Seventies is a good bet.

MEGA

December 6th Past

Moving right along, here are a few links to items shared on this day in the past five years.

2016

Shari Lewis & Lambchop didn't record much Christmas music, but here's a little bit that you've probably not heard before.

2017

An oldie but goodie repost this day from queen of the zither, Ruth Welcome.

2018

Christmas in Europe!

2019

Boystown...

2020

Christmas songs from 78's that feature the first person. I this and I that. OK, it made sense at the time...

Jerry's Cousin

This is the first in what I hope is a series of Christmas records I dig up on the fabled Playboy label. To be honest, I only know of one other, but a guy has got to have a dream, right? For the record, I'm also working on Christmas singles from the Plantation label, but that's likely to be a pipe dream. Anyhow, this appears to be a non-LP single from the great Mickey Gilley, cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis & Jimmy Swaggart. With a family like that, you just never know what's going to happen. I was hoping this single would reflect the cool stuff found on Gilley's actual Christmas album, but I don't think there's anything here that tops the opening track on that album, a Christmas rewrite of his hit "The Girls All Get Prettier At Closing Time (or Christmas Time for our purposes). But it's still a nice single, with a George Jones song on one side and the old Roy Orbison Christmas chestnut on the other, authored by Willie Nelson. So the provenance is there. I think there's plenty to enjoy here. Why not download and listen to Mickey Gilley-Lonely Christmas Call b/w Pretty Paper (Playboy Records 7" 45 RPM P6095, Stereo, 1976)?

MEGA

December 5th Past

A collection of links to shares from Christmas past. There's great stuff in the archives, you just don't know it.

2016

A rare selection for a 78 in my own collection, long before I started sourcing stuff from The Internet Archive. This one is probably available from them as well, but this was my copy.

2017

An older share, but a rare one, featuring Alfred Apaka and some Hawaiian Christmas!

2018

Christmas in France!

2019

Some weird gospel music. Well, I shouldn't say weird, just unheard. I'd certainly never heard it before.

2020

A kiddie Christmas on 78s. Most kiddie Christmas records on brittle shellac didn't survive their era, but here's a nice collection of the stuff that did survive.

Little Drum Boys

Time to travel to some imaginary point in space and time. The space is somewhere between Ridgeville Corners, Ohio, USA and Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The time is probably 1982, based on the catalog number. What sort of music fits that description? Well, it's firmly rooted in polka, but it's, well, not really polka. Least not what I think of when I think polka at that time and place. This is certainly an interesting album, and I'm sure it will find a place in your collection. If you know anything more about this LP or these artists, please leave us a comment and fill in the blanks.  This is The Music Masters Orchestra Featuring Steve Acott & Dan Witucki-Christmas Is A Feeling With The Music Masters Orchestra Featuring "Please Santa Claus I'd Like A Drum" (Dan Witucki DW-XMAS-82, Stereo, 1982).

1. Please Santa Claus I'd Like A Drum
2. Dance A Merry Christmas Polka
3. Christmas Goose
4. Santa Medley: Tell Santy; Up On The Housetop; Here Comes Santa Claus
5. Silver Bells
6. A Merry Christmas Cheer
7. Christmas Is A Feeling
8. Winter World Of Love
9. Let's Have An Old Fashioned Christmas; Let It Snow
10. Guten Abend, Guten Nacht

MEGA