Christmas In July 2026-Part 39

Good morning, welcome to day 39, the last day of regular Christmas in July posting around here for 2026. This won't be the last post of the season, there are still a couple days of stuff to come, but this is the last normal day. And because I didn't plan ahead very well and found an odd number of shares, there are eleven songs in the pile today instead of the usual ten. So enjoy!

1. Sergio Mendes-My Favorite Things (Sergio Mendes' Favorite Things, 1968)

You wouldn't believe how bad a shape the cover of this record was in, but I bought it anyway just to have another song to share with you. Pretty sure we've done this one in the past, but when I see 'em, I need to buy 'em.

2. Unknown Artists-Pine Cones And Holly Berries (With It's Beginning To Look Like Christmas) (From The Score Of Meredith Willson's Here's Love 10" 33 RPM)

This is the last of the songs from the publisher's demo LP of tracks from the then-new Broadway production of Here's Love, or at least that's the general consensus of what this 10" LP is. No matter what it is, it's filled with great new versions of the songs from the Christmas-themed play.

3. The New Hope Singers, Soloist-Jan Umphress-Bethlehem Town Canticle (New Hope For You!)

This is the headline track of the day and it's the most interesting thing in the stack by far. It's a version of Simon & Garfunkel's Scarborough Fair, but with new lyrics all about Christmas! Give it a listen and I'm sure you'll recognize the tune. I love finding little things like this.

4. Will Glahé And His Orchestra-The Skater's Waltz (The New Beer Barrel Polka, 1965)

A rerun that goes way back to the early days of Christmas In July around here, but always worth a revisit. Who doesn't love a good polka version of the classics?

5. Eydie Gormé-Winter Night (Love Is A Season, 1959)

Been holding this one back all season long, it's the very best track from this LP by Eydie Gorme. If you haven't heard it before, you're in for a real treat. Sorry this is the mono version but beggars can't be choosers. I'm sure there's a stereo version around the blog on one of the Christmas in July best-of collections if you want to hunt around, but I'm too lazy to link to it right now.

6. Joan Morris And William Bolcom, Piano-White Christmas (The Girl On The Magazine Cover-Songs Of Irving Berlin, 1979)

A nice version of an actual Christmas tune here for you. Interesting cover on this, too. Looks like I've shared this with you before, but I don't have any memory of it. Must not leave much of an impression.

7. Sauter Finegan And Their Orchestra-Midnight Sleighride aka Sleighride (The Return Of The Doodletown Fifers, 1960)

This is a remake of my favorite track by Sauter-Finegan. It's a mid-century modern reinterpretation of a tune by Prokofiev and it's a great lost wintry tune. The only real improvement here over their original recording is the use of stereo, but they make the most of that.

8. Moe Koffman-Swinging Shepherd Blues (The Magic Flute Of Moe Koffman, 1984)

A version of this song by it's author, something else I've been hanging onto until the end, so here it is. Looks like he recorded this song quite a few times so I need to keep an eye out for his other versions.

9. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-We Praise Thee, O God (Christmas And Concert Songs For Mixed Chorus)

The last of the tracks I was able to pull from this LP for you. You're still missing two songs that were on the outermost edge of this heat-damaged LP. Someday I'll find a good copy and we can revisit this one.

10. Jenson Publications-Holiday For Winds (Sound Ideas For Concert Band Vol V, 1979)

The last of the left-over tracks from last year, and something else from an LP full of publisher's demos. Love these little bits of filler. I doubt if I'll ever want to hear them again, but I like finding and sharing them with you.

11. Unknown Artists-Sleep, Baby, Sleep (Songs For Kindergarten Children, 1970)

And bringing up the rear on this slightly-longer collection today, this is the last track from the Christmas side of this record for upscale kiddies.

And that's all I've got. Come back tomorrow for the customary Chanukah in August, and then the next day for a thinly veiled surprise that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise if you've been hanging around here long enough. Wink-wink, nudge-nudge, know what I mean...

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 38

38 days into this and we're still truckin'! If I had more material we'd keep going but we're rapidly looking at a dwindling pile of Christmas music from non-Christmas records. This stuff is hard to find and even when I do find it they aren't giving it away for free. So the end is near, as the signs say, but it's not today. Here's another download for you. 

1. Marian McPartland-The Things We Did Last Summer (Willow Creek And Other Ballads, 1985)

A nice piano version of this track, and it comes with another story about a record skipping. This one looked shiny and mint, but it had a skip in the first minute or so of the song that I just couldn't work around. I played it backwards and it skipped in a different place. Then I tried splicing the backwards bit into the forward bit but for some reason the two versions sounded different. I've not had that happen before and I'm wondering if I've got something out of adjustment. I was about to throw in the towel and put this record in the small pile of things I just couldn't record this season (I think there are three records in the pile o' shame), then I remembered the conical needle. I normally use an elliptical needle as it's a little more sensitive and provides a greater frequency range, but it's much more delicate and susceptible to skipping. Sure enough, the conical needle sat down in the groove and refused to be pushed out, giving me a complete recording that sounded good to my ears. I hate having to switch back and forth (I think that's how some things get out of adjustment) but I did it and saved another record from the reject pile.

2. Carmen Cavallaro-I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm (The Best Of Carmen Cavallaro-The Poet Of The Piano, 1965)

A fake electronic stereo version of this old chestnut. This was a big double album with all the 'hits' on it, but it didn't look familiar. Not sure if I've ever shared it before.

3. Jose Fajardo-Lead Vocals: Jose "Pepe" Cordo-Navidad Con Amor (Selecciones Clasicas, 1977)

The highlighted LP cover up at the top of the post provided this track for us. Lucky for me, I spotted the word Navidad right there on the front cover and grabbed it. I love hearing new Christmas music like this where you're not expecting it. And it's a pretty good song to boot!

4. Clebanoff And His Orchestra-Bobsled (Strings Afire, 1962)

An old favorite around here, I think I may have shared this track out in the very first season of Christmas in July back in 2006. (There was a Christmas in July during 2005, but it didn't involve any sharity, it was just some doodle images from the back side of Christmas LPs, something I used to share a lot of in the early days.) Anyhow, I've always loved this track and when I saw this budget reissue of the LP I figured I'd revisit it for you and share it in FLAC.

5. The Shawnee Choir With The Shawnee Youth Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-A Christmas Legend (Christmas And Concert Songs For Mixed Chorus)

You'll notice that that's only one track by this group in the folder today. We've finally worked out way through the majority of the LP side and we're able to drop back down to the one-a-day rate that I prefer.

6. Raymond Lewenthal-Piano-Greensleeves (Moonlight And Keyboard, 1957)

Today must be an unofficial piano day. This is the third piano-centric track I've noticed in today's playlist. Hope you enjoy that sort of thing because you're getting plenty of it today.

7. Jamestown High School A Cappella Choir 1990-1991-Madrigal Singers-James A. Bogey, Conductor-A Gallery Carol (Songs Of '91, 1991)

This was the only think left in the unshared pile from last year that was not tied to Jenson Publications. If memory serves, it was an entire LP of Christmas music that I found in a 2-LP set from this school choir. That's still within the rules here for July, but it feels a little like I'm bending them. If you like this group and you want to hear more, you'll have to go back to last year and start downloading.

8. Jaime Mendoza-Nava And His Orchestra-The Big White Land (The Savage Wild, 1970)

Here's the second and last track I am going to share from this obscure soundtrack. I like to pick up just about every soundtrack I see, you never know when something is going to turn up just out of the blue on there. I can't tell you how many great tunes I've discovered hiding in soundtrack albums. If you wanna check out the movie in question, here;s a link to the page for it at IMDB. It looks like there's a bad print of it on YouTube and DVDs exist. Lemme know how it is.

9. Unknown Artists-O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Songs For Kindergarten Children, 1970)

Another record that we've been sharing two tracks a day from and are now down to just the one. And an actual honest-to-goodness Christmas song this time. Good stuff!

10. Jenson Publications-Trilogy Of Carols (Superior New Works For Concert Band-Vol. IX, 1981)

And the last track of the day is from a group that we've boon doing two-a-day from, although they haven't always been from the same album. It's hard to space these things out properly when you don't have all the tracks available from day one. And even then, I know there were quite a few days during the month when I shared out more than one version of the same song in a day. I hate doing that, but I don't pay enough attention to my selections each day to prevent it from happening. Maybe I need an assistant to help me work on this stuff. Nah, that takes all the fun out of it.

That's it for today, hope you found something great in the stack. Not many more days to go, but keep coming back until I tell you to stop. You'll know it's the end, believe me. 

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 37

Day 37, I'm really dragging this out, but I think in this case it's a good thing. How can you go wrong with more Christmas music? Here are another ten tracks for the collection.

1. Leonard Bernstein With The New York Philharmonic, The Camerata Singers-Abraham Kaplan, Director-Thanksgiving And/Or Forefathers' Day (Leonard Bernstein Conducts Charles Ives' "Holidays" Symphony, 1967)

Another Thanksgiving track I didn't have until recently. This should have gone in with all the Thanksgiving music on the first day of the month, but that didn't happen. And it's a long one, too. Pretty sure I've shared this one out before but it's been a long time.

2. Eddie Higgins-Piano With Milt Hinton-Bass And Bobby Rosengarden-Drums-Sleigh Ride (By Request, 1986)

Another record that I've shared before, but it's so good that I had to grab another copy when I saw it recently. A great version of Sleigh Ride here that opens with a medley of other Christmas songs at the beginning before building to a rousing piano-led version of this classic. I like it, you'll like it. I even made it the lead-off LP cover of the day I liked it so much.

3. Eddie Fisher-Arranged And Conducted By Jerry Fielding-Count Your Blessings (When I Was Young, 1965)

I threw this one in because some people think of it as a Christmas song, and I guess you could make that case. I usually ignore it but as the season drags out and I get desperate for more music I tend to look upon it a little more favorably. Wish I'd found a stereo version, but this one will do for now. The conductor, Jerry Fielding, released a scarce Christmas record back in the day, you can download it from me right here if you're interested. It's a good 'un.

4. Joe Maphis With Rose Lee & Dale-Snowflakes (Dim Light, Thick Smoke (And Good Old Country Music), 1978)

From the guy that brought you the country classic of the LP title (though the hit version was released in the early 50's), this is a nice little song sung by a lady I believe was his wife.

5. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-Jesus, Jesus We Adore Thee (Christmas And Concert Songs For Mixed Chorus)
6. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-O Listen To The Angels' Song (Christmas And Concert Songs For Mixed Chorus)

Two more tracks from this publisher's demo LP. There are plenty of records out there by these folks in addition to this one. I think I've got three or four of them recorded already this year for possibly sharing near Christmas. So if you really like this sort of thing, don't forget to come back at the end of the year.

7. Janet Baker, Mezzo-Soprano-Ave Maria! Jungfrau Mild, D.839 (Ave Maria! Maiden Mild) (Janet Baker Sings Schubert, 1971)

If you like the sort of music where they have to tell you what range the singer is singing in, then this is for you. I rarely care unless it's some good basso-profundo from Thurl Ravenscroft or J.D. Sumner.

8. Unknown Artists-Shepherds Leave The Hillside (Songs For Kindergarten Children, 1970)

First of two from this LP with some vague connection to the Mennonite community. Short but sweet.

9. Jenson Publications And Purifoy Publishing-That Holy Night (Choral Celebration Vol. VI, 1984)

Yet another publisher's demo track, and thankfully the only one from Jenson in the pile today. Have I mentioned lately that we're getting near the end finally? Trust me, it's coming.

10. Unknown Artists-O Come, Little Children (Songs For Kindergarten Children, 1970)

And a second track from the kindergarten record. Why didn't I list both of these together? I don't know, the software puts the tracks in some sort of order and I rarely bother to mess with it. 

Aaaaaaaand I think that's it for today. Better grab this download while it's hot, you wouldn't want it to get old and stale. And speaking of old and stale, there are a lot of old and stale Christmas in July shares still in the archives and available for download. Here are links to the first day of sharing from July of 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 & 2025. (There were a lot of Christmas in July celebrations before these, going all the way back to 2005, but these are the only ones where the downloads are still good.) You can work your way down through the month by just hitting the 'Newer Post' text near the bottom of the page. Some seasons lasted longer than others, but they all have a minimum of 31 days of good songs for you. Well, I think there's one year where I didn't have much at all to share and I did some second-best-of collections and whatnot, but those are worth revisiting as well. Enjoy, but don't forget to grab the collection for today before you go down that rabbit hole of links.

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 36

Day 36, we're really stretching this out into August. Don't worry, we're almost at the end, this isn't going to go nearly as long as Christmas did earlier this year. Maybe you thought that was a good thing but it was hard on me and I don't need the headache. So I'm going to take an aspirin while you check out what's in Santa's sack today.

1. The Shawnee Choir-Soloists: Gertrude Hippler, Soprano; Jean Ann Wolbert, Alto-Earl Willhoite, Director-Christmas Tree (Christmas And Concert Songs For Mixed Chorus)

This is the first track of the day from this recently-found publisher's demo LP. And I think this is the track from it that I had the most trouble recording. I had to use a conical needle (instead of my usual more-sensitive elliptical one) and then slow the turntable down by 10%. Hope it sounds OK. And I believe this song was written by Harry Simeone but I'm not familiar with it. Did he record it somewhere?

2. Leopold Stokowski And His Orchestra-Concerto Grosso In G Minor, Op. 6, No. 8, For The Evening Of The Nativity (In Dulci Jubilo-A Baroque Concert, 1967)

A very classical track to celebrate the holiday with. When people imagine classical music in their head, I believe this is what they hear, or at least I do.

3. Bob Bradburn-Tiny Tony (Happy Holiday With CHQT Radio's Bob Bradburn And The Jasper Place High School Stage Band)

The final and best track from this Canadian LP, so I made it the headliner of the day. I think I shared this track from a 45 at one point a couple year's ago, but if you missed it then, don't miss it now. It's the only song I know of that talks about Santa's barber.

4. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-Calypso Noel (Christmas And Concert Songs For Mixed Chorus)

Second track of the day from this LP. Sorry to have to double up on them like this, but it's the only way to get them all in before the season ends. I found this record too late to spread the tracks out over the month.

5. Stanley Black Conducting The London Festival Orchestra AKA The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra-Dance Of The Flutes (Tchaikovsky-Nutcracker Suite/Serenade For Strings, 1967)

Is this the only Nutcracker track for the day? I think so, and it's the last track from this side of the LP I have to share. If you're really paying attention, you'll notice that I skipped the first track on this side. That's because I couldn't get it to quit skipping. I tried every trick in the book, but nothing worked. So we'll have to find another copy and try again one day.

6. The Crane Wind Ensemble, State University Of New York At Potsdam-Anthony J. Maiello, Director-Toy Box Concerto (Music For Concert Band, 1985)

I love when they announce the name of the track on these publisher's demos.

7. Jenson Publications And Purifoy Publishing-I Have Seen The Child (Choral Celebration Vol. VI, 1984)

The only track I have today from this particular LP, but not the only track from Jenson. As I mentioned, this was something recorded last year but I forgot to share it before the end of the season, so it's sat in a folder until now. Hope it's not too stale.

8. Unknown Artists-Mary's Lullaby (Songs For Kindergarten Children, 1970)
9. Unknown Artists-Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (Songs For Kindergarten Children, 1970)

Two tracks from one of the LPs I found just this past weekend. Some days I come home with nothing at all, some days I come home with ten different records that I can pull something from. You just never know.

10. Jenson Publications-The First Noel (New Music For Concert Band-Volume 27-Easy Edition, 1990)

The second track of the day from Jenson, but at least it's from a different LP than the other one.

And that's all I've got for today. I'll be back again tomorrow with more for you, don't miss it. 

MEGA 

Christmas In July 2026-Part 35

Just when you thought the season might be close to winding down, I had a good weekend at the thrift stores and brought home thirty more tracks to share for the celebration. That means we've got three more days worth of music in the pile now. However, a couple of those records had a lot of tracks on them, so I need to share more than one selection from each one for the next few days to get all the songs in. I don't like doing that, but I'm going to do it because I have to. I think it's a small price to pay for a longer Christmas in July. Let's see what's in the wheelbarrow today.

1. Jaime Mendoza-Nava And His Orchestra-Death In The Snow (The Savage Wild, 1970)

Soundtrack to a movie I've never heard of that takes place in Canada's snow-swept central plains, so there are a couple of snow songs to share from this one. This is the more somber one as you might imagine.

2. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-Mary's Baby (Christmas And Concert Songs For Mixed Chorus)

The first of two tracks from this release that I just grabbed this past weekend. Turns out that the vinyl was in horrible shape, likely from having gotten too hot at some point. It wasn't really warped but it was deformed out near the edges. I was only able to get the songs that were further in the radius, and even then I had to change needles and slow down the rotation to get it to track properly. Unfortunately, I then promptly forgot to turn the speed back to normal and recorded five instrumental tracks at the wrong speed. Had to go back and fix all of them once I realized my mistake. My life is hard.

3. Tougaloo College Choir-Ariel M. Lovelace, Conductor-Mary Had A Baby (To You-From Tougaloo, 1968)

And the award for best named college is Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi. Nice little song from these folks, too, but I just love their name.

4. The Blue Ribbon Strings-Tchaikovsky's Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies (Jewels Of The Classics aka Jewels From The Classics)

The Nutcracker piece for the day comes from this budget LP. It's so budget that the title changes from the front of the record to the label. And they've changed the number of fairies from one to many. Not sure how the song got so short with so many fairies dancing around in it.

5. Maynard Ferguson And His Orchestra-Humbug (A Message From Newport, 1958)

The lead-off LP cover hails from this record today. I put it up there so I could remember to tell the story about finding it. There were three copies in the pile at the Salvation Army. That happens sometimes, usually when a store dumps dead stock as a donation, so you'll find multiple copies of things that didn't sell, sometimes in alphabetical order for easy searching. Anyhow, there were two mono copies and a stereo version. I spotted one of the mono copies first, saw the Humbug title and put it in my pile. Then I saw the stereo copy and thought great, I'll grab that one instead. Instinct made me scan the tracklist again and I couldn't find the song I had keyed in on the first time. Turns out this track is only on the mono versions. This was 1958, stereo was new and the grooves were a little harder to fit in place. Sometimes they would omit a song on a longer side to fit the stereo version in. And this happened to be the sacrificial track here. Looks like it eventually came to CD and all the tracks are there. No idea if they're all in stereo though. And with all that, the song doesn't sound very humbug to me.

6. The Shawnee Choir-Earl Willhoite, Director-Beside Thy Cradle (Christmas And Concert Songs For Mixed Chorus)

Another track from this side-long collection of Christmas tunes. You'll be sick of this one before I'm done.

7. Unknown Artists-Song Of The Seasons (Songs For Kindergarten Children, 1970)

This is the first track from another record you'll see a lot of each day between now and the end. Maybe not so many as the others, but more than a little bit. I'm calling it an Unknown Artist, but there were actually lots of credits on the back of the LP. Problem is, they didn't tell you who played on what, so I didn't know which of the multiple groups and individual artists to credit where. So it's a bit of a mess, sorry.

8. Jenson Publications-O Holy Night (Sound Ideas For Concert Band Vol V, 1979)

First of two publisher's demo tracks today, both of which are from the same publishing house, though not the same LP. Thank heaven for small favors.

9. Jenson Publications And Purifoy Publishing-Sweet Baby Jesus (Choral Celebration Vol. VI, 1984)

And this is the other track from Jenson, five years after the last, and in association with another publishing house. Not sure if they'd merged or bought someone out or what, but it's a bit of a change.

10. Unknown Artists-The Friendly Beasts (Songs For Kindergarten Children, 1970)

And here is the other track from the kindergarten music record. There was some connection on the back of this one to the Mennonites, but I don't remember what it was. 

That's all I've got for today, more of the same tomorrow, literally in some cases. Enjoy! 

MEGA

Christmas In July 2026-Part 34

Here we are on the 34th day of Christmas in July, it's not even July anymore but I'm still finding more stuff to share with you. In fact, I found eleven leftover tracks from last Christmas in July that I never got around to sharing! If you were around then, you might remember that I had a couple dozen of those arrangers' demo albums to share, many of which had a dozen or more tracks which made it hard to get them all shared in my allotted time. When the end of the month came along, I had these eleven tracks left, but they were almost all from the same company and from only a small handful of different albums. If memory serves, I had to go somewhere near the end of the month and was unable to post for a few days. I intended to post more when I returned but never got back into it. So those tracks have sat there unused for a year now and I figured I'd sprinkle them into the pile and make this year's sharity go a little further. Still going to have to duplicate some albums from day to day, but it's not as bad as doing it all in one day. Wish I had remembered I had those unused shares earlier in the season, but better late than never. Let's see what's in the stack!

1. Hylo Brown & The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers-Little Footprints In The Snow (Hylo Brown Meets The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, 1963)

We start the day off with some bluegrass featuring a couple of established artists joining forces on a great track.

2. Hoagy Carmichael With The Pacific Jazzmen-Arranged And Conducted By Johnny Mandel-Winter Moon (Hoagy Sings Carmichael, 1957)

The headline track of the day is the great Hoagy Carmichael. I really love that cover picture of him, huddled over that piano like he's tuckered out after a long piano recital. He doesn't have the best voice (like Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen or Tom Waits) but he makes up for it in feeling. He wrote a Christmas song that I've heard as performed by The Mills Brothers, I wonder if he recorded it at some point himself? Yes, looks like he did, and I shared it here, but it's not him on vocals. Looks like I actually shared out the track in question today sometime back nine years ago, but it was from a reissue, this time I've got the original LP.

3. Reginald Foort, F.R.C.O.-Nutcracker Suite: Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairies (Waltz And Ballet, 1956)

The Nutcracker nut of the day is from this organ spectacular album. I think this is also the last track from this LP I have to share with you. Getting closer to the end so I'm wrapping up a lot of different series pretty quickly. Can't have any loose ends, unlike last year...

4. Stuttgart Festival Band-William Harrison, Conductor-Greensleeves (Have Band Will Travel-Music Minus One Trombone)

The last of the play-along tracks from this album. Anybody out there play trombone? I don't think I know anyone who ever played that instrument.

5. The Drew University College Choir-Lester Berenbroick, Director-Carolyn Kessinger, Double Bass-This Day A Child Is Born (In Concert)

I kind of like the simple green cover of this one. The music is OK, but I was really drawn to that cover. I think if you put a great cover on a mediocre record, it sells better than a great record with a mediocre cover. You can't help but judge the book by it's cover sometimes.

6. The Robert Shaw Chorale-RCA Victor Orchestra-Robert Shaw, Conductor-Ave Maria (Hallelujah!-The World's Favorite Choruses, 1977)

Don't ask me which version of Ave Maria this is, I don't remember. They all seem to run together.

7. Mary O'Hara-Song For A Winter's Night (Mary O'Hara At The Royal Festival Hall, 1984)

I almost made this the featured LP today but I really liked that picture of Hoagy so I went with that. I think this is a Gordon Lightfoot song that's not very well known, but I always enjoy it when I hear it. This is supposed to be a live album, but the applause sounds dubbed in to me and the music sounds like it's from the studio, not the concert hall. Your mileage may vary though.

8. Jenson Publications-I Saw Three Ships (Superior New Works For Concert Band-Vol. IX, 1981)

And now we get into the leftover tracks. As I mentioned, these are all demo recordings of fancy arrangements being marketed to high school bands. They're not bad, but they're often simplistic and frequently faded out out long before the song is over. Can't be giving away complete tracks that somebody might try to steal and share during Christmas in July 45 years later...

9. Jenson Publications-Snow Trail (Superior New Works For Concert Band-Vol. IX, 1981)

Another song from the exact same album as the last one. Just go back and read what I wrote above one more time.

10. Jenson Publications-Christmas Greetings (New Music For Concert Band-Volume 27-Easy Edition, 1990)

At least this one is from a different LP, but it's still more of the same. That's all I've got for you today, so take it or leave it. Thanks for stopping by, we'll see you tomorrow. 

MEGA