Saturday, July 18, 2009

Christmas In July 2009-Day The Fifteenth

Here's one of the days I've been looking forward to this month. All of the songs I'm sharing out today are humorous little Christmas songs, or something similar to Christmas songs. Well, at least they are all meant to be funny. Let's just drop right in, shall we?

Tracks one and two are both from self described "international concert comedienne" (says so right here on the LP sleeve) Anna Russell. Both tracks come from her album A Square Talk On Popular Music (Columbia Masterworks ML 5036). Side one is subtitled The Decline And Fall Of The Popular Song and side two is subtitled Survey Of Singing From Madrigals To Modern Opera. The first track, from side one, is Please Santa Claus. I shared out an edited version of this one (just the music) some years ago on one of my Days Of Christmas collections. I think I also shared the full version elsewhere, but few people saw it. So here it is again, in a fresh new dub from the vinyl. Track two, from side two, is the sorta Christmassy Let Us Hang The Holly. At least you get a few fa-la-la-la-la's in there.

Track three is Fay McKay performing her near-classic Twelve Days Of Christmas from a compilation LP of hers, the only one of hers I've ever seen, actually, A-Live At The Dunes (MLG Records 1021). I first heard of Ms. McKay over at The Christmas Yuleblog, where you can read more about this particular song. I found this record still sealed, I opened it just now to record it for you guys. I think you'll enjoy it. Oddly enough, in small type, at the bottom of the back cover, it says "This album was recorded in Denver, Colorado". Sorta odd for a record titled A-Live At The Dunes. Oh, and the liner notes are written by Liberace!

Track four is from an odd little LP by Kaye Ballard & Arthur Siegel, Music By Fred Karlin, called Good Grief, Charlie Brown! Peanuts (Harmony (Columbia) HS 11230). The song is Snowflakes And Stars, and I think at least the snowflakes part is appropriate to our seasonal celebration here. The cover features a panel from a Peanuts strip by Charles Schulz, and the two leads are supposed to be Lucy Van Pelt and Charlie Brown. I don't know if this was a record-only thing or if it was a play or what. It's a little odd. The music just consists of various noises, like clunks and peeps. You'll see...

Track five has no music at all, it's entirely spoken word, courtesy of Eddie Lawrence, The Old Philosopher, from his album Is That What's Bothering You, Bunkie? (Epic LN 24159, 1964). The track in question here is What Do You Want For Christmas, so you know it's got to have something to do with Christmas, and indeed it does. This was my first exposure to Mr. Lawrence, but I'm going to keep an eye out for him from now on.

There, I think that's it for now. Here's the download link, thanks for visiting!

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