23-Bus 22 To Bethlehem
Took me a few minutes of hard thinking to realize what the theme was here, but it finally came to me. This is a collection of some of my favorite Christmas 45s that didn't fit into some of the other categories I've used this season. Lots of weird and interesting stuff here that I'm sure will give you at least two hours of Christmas listening. In my humble opinion, the best thing here is Karla DeVito singing about Santa Claus coming over to her house. What a party that would be! I happened to watch a short documentary on Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell album recently, and DeVito was in it for a few talking heads segments. She wasn't on the album, but she was on the tour singing all the female vocals opposite Meatloaf every night. I guess Ellen Foley didn't want (or couldn't) go on tour, so all those tour-de-force duets fell into Karla's lap. The clips really make it look like something else. I don't know that I'd consider this song on the same level as a Jim Steinman power ballad, but it's still pretty good. There's also some rare things in here that I just discovered this season and at least one song-poem track that I thought was interesting. Give it a listen and let me know what your favorite track is!
1. The Hopeful-Newscast By Frank Costa-7 O'Clock News (Silent Night)
2. Creeper-Santa Claus Wants Some Loving-Stereo
3. J. Anthoney Scott (The Last Of The Great American Whistlers)-Whistling Christmas
4. Bey Ireland-All I Want For Christmas Is A Go-Go Girl
5. Bing Crosby With The Ralph Carmichael Chorus And Orchestra-Christmas Dinner Country Style
6. Bob Morrison-Santa Mouse
7. Bobby Cole-Bus 22 To Bethlehem
8. Camille-White Christmas
9. Commander Cody-Daddy's Drinking Up Our Christmas
10. Cupid-'Twas The Night Before Christmas
11. Dreams So Real-Red Lights (Merry Christmas)
12. Ed Sullivan Presents Music Of Christmas-Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer
13. Elvin Bishop-Silent Night (Vocal Version)-Stereo
14. Frank Petty Trio-Mike Di Napoli, Piano-Rudolph The Red Nosed-Reindeer--Mambo
15. Gene Marshall-Peppermint Canes
16. George Thorogood & The Destroyers-Rock And Roll Christmas
17. Karla DeVito-Santa Claus Is Coming To My House
18. Kenny Laguna-Home For Christmas
19. Li'l Wally-Christmas In Your Heart
20. Spike Jones And His City Slickers-Vocal Refrain By George Rock And The Mitchell Boychoir-Mommy, Won't You Buy A Baby Brother (Or Sister For Me)
21. Sweathog-Hallelujah-Stereo
22. The Dobro Man & His Country Brothers-Christmas Into The Eyes Of A Country Gentlemen (SIC)
23. The Mom & Dads-Jingle Bell Rock
24. The Mulcays And Their Electric Harmonicas-Silent Night, Holy Night
25. The Schiavone Sisters-Granny Claus
26. The Three Stooges And Orchestra-I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas
27. The Three Suns-Noite Silenciosa
28. Tommy Wills (Man With A Horn)-Blue Christmas
29. Trini Lopez-El Niño Del Tambor (The Little Drummer Boy)
30. WFLA TV's Barney & Hector-The Night Before Christmas
31. The Singers-Johnny's Noel
32. Ebenezer Moog-Silent Night
33. Justin Wilson-Santa Claus Done Brought Himself To Town
34. Louis Prima-Santa, How Come Your Eyes Are Green When Last Year They Were Blue?
35. Marti Mae-Ringing Everyone A Merry Christmas
36. The Kent Harian Orchestra And Chorus-Christmas Kiddie Polka
37. The Roy Meriwether Trio-Jingle Bells (Part II)
38. The Royal Guardsmen-It Kinda Looks Like Christmas
39. Yogi Yorgesson With Johnny Duffy And The Scandahoovians-I Give Up!-What Is It?
40. Don Cornell With Chorus And Orchestra Directed By Norman Leyden-I've Got The Christmas Spirit
41. The Anita Kerr Singers-Christmas Is The Day
42. Guy Lombardo And His Royal Canadians-Vocals By The Lombardo Trio-Christmas Chopsticks ('Twas The Night Before Christmas)
43. Leonard Feather-Ralph Burns And Their Orchestra-Blitzen
44. Ray Conniff-Holiday Greetings 4
45. The Melachrino Orchestra-Conducted By George Melachrino-Mrs. Santa Claus
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More good stuff! Thanks again for the bounty.
ReplyDeleteI was running out of themes, so this became a kind of catch-all. Interesting stuff still.
DeletePretty good catch-all! I like the Christmas square-dance tune from Bing Crosby, the flip of "Do You Hear What I Hear?", which I have in my 45 collection. The Don Cornell cut chosen here is probably my favorite Christmas song from him. A nice surprise to find a Christmas tune from the Royal Guardsmen that is NOT Snoopy's Christmas for a change. Really looking forward to checking out the foreign Three Suns pressing of "Silent Night." And George Thorogood in the mix too? This is really eclectic.
ReplyDeleteOne of my goals was to get the b-sides of familiar Christmas singles out there, the tracks you likely don't know as well as the hit side. And I don't think the Three Suns track is any different from the album, it's just titled in Portuguese. I thought it was pretty neat. :)
DeleteThe Hopeful cut featured here is a cover of the closing selection on Simon & Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme album. Still timely today even though the events in th world have changed considerably.
ReplyDeleteYeah, someone could do the same sort of thing today, though I don't know if many people watch the evening news anymore.
DeleteThe Anita Kerr selection here is one of my favorites; (it is up on YouTube). And what a surprise to see Sweathog's "Hallelujah" on this playlist; it is a favorite of my friend that is on the Songs of the '60's Facebook group.
ReplyDeleteThat Sweathog song is pretty neat, though I'm still not sure if it belongs on a Christmas mix. Beggars can't be choosers. :)
DeleteI'm surprised to see dates as recent as 1988 and 1989 on some of these records. I didn't know they were still made then.
ReplyDeleteI try to shy away from stuff that new, but things crept in. That was before streaming, and pretty early CD days. Still lots of vinyl being pressed at the time.
DeleteHi Ernie,
ReplyDeleteWell, I am finally moving forward with more of your playlist collections. For this one I have two favorites, Spike Jones and Yogi Yorsesson. Favorites are always placed on repeat.
I wish both of those artists had recorded a full Christmas LP. Well, Spike did, but it was too late in his career and it was too normal. Yogi died before his time, but I'm certain he would have made a Christmas album had he lived longer. He released four Christmas singles in the short time he was making records.
DeleteI add this as one of my personal favorites, Louis Prima-Santa, How Come Your Eyes Are Green When Last Year They Were Blue. When I was chosen to be trained for the choir at 8 years of age, I waited until I became a full member at the age of 10 years of age. Then as a surprise for my father when he was alive and to later honor his memory after he passed on, this song or portions of it, were contained in a Christmas medley. This continued with me as a Choir member until I finished College. I did not pursue being in the Choir in Uni. Louis Prima was one of my dads favorites, as he loved The Big Band Era of music.
ReplyDeleteThat was a hard single to find, and not a lot of people know about it. The Mouse needs to do more with it, make it popular!
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