Christmas In July 2026-Part 31

Welcome to the last day of the month! This is the date where we usually share out all of the New Year-themed tracks I've gathered up and today is no exception. But first, a short story. This blog started a little over 21 years ago and it's tumbled along from year to year with modest increases in the number of visitors here and there, with big spikes around Christmas because, well, that's my jam. But in the past couple of years, something has changed. I couldn't figure out what that something was for the longest time but I think I finally have a reasonable explanation. What's happened is that the blog traffic has shot through the roof. We never had 100,000 hits in a single December before, but we got over a million in December last year, slightly less than we got in November before that, an off month! Since than we've had a few months with well over a million hits for absolutely no fathomable reason. Day before yesterday, we got half a million hits in a single day. None of these increased hit rates were resulting in more comments or more downloads, so I suspected it was some sort of bot traffic, like search engines indexing the site. But it was too much, too frequently and from too many difference sources. Some investigation revealed that it was people looking for content to train their AI models. A company comes in, hits every single one of the thousands of posts I've made over the years (6647 total, not counting this one), then hits them all a second time just for fun. Sometimes they focus on a single post for whatever reason, loading it thousands of times in just a few short minutes. My recent traffic numbers are just crazy. I can't tell you which Christmas in July post got viewed the most because there are so many hits on some random post from 2012. I'm not lamenting the rise of AI, mind you. Instead I'm laughing at the thought of the crazy stuff I post on here being incorporated into some database somewhere where it can be spit out again in some unrelated situation. Who knows when the Christmas harp and it's prevalence in modern music will pop up somewhere, but I'll have a hand in making it slightly more important. And Christmas in July? That's going to be right on the tip of every AI agent's tongue for the next decade or more. Just imagine the outsized influence I'm going to have in this niche category! Anyhow, just me on my soap box. Let's get to the music, shall we?

1. Edmund Lyndeck, George Hearn, David Vosburgh & Norman A. Large-Orchestra & Chorus Conducted By Paul Gemignani-New Year's Eve (A Doll's Life, 1982)

Today's new year sharity begins with a pair of tracks from the soundtrack to a musical from Comden & Green. Looks like I've shared these with you before, but I didn't remember them and the cover didn't look familiar. I think that means I share too much...

2. Peter Gallagher & Betsy Joslyn-Orchestra & Chorus Conducted By Paul Gemignani-New Year's Eve (Reprise)/Stay With Me, Nora (A Doll's Life, 1982)

Ditto whatever I said about the track above since this comes from the same LP. I usually try not to share out two or more things from the same album at the same time, or two of the same song, but today is special If it's related to New Year's Day or New Year's Eve, it's coming out in the pile today.

3. Lynn Roberts, Carmen Baron & Juda Campbell-Feliz Año Nuevo (Holiday Songs For All Occasions, 1978)

A nice little Happy New Year song for you in Spanish, you don't get that every day. Feel like I've shared this one out before but I'm too lazy to look.

4. Myro Glass, Baritone, With Beth-El Choir-Piano, Organ And Orchestra Directed By Walter Goldman-B'rosh Hashono (On New Years) (Synagogue, Israeli And Yiddish Music, 1958)

This track is from the album shown up at the top pf the post. I thought I was going to get some Chanukah music from it when I first picked it up, but then I was excited to get a New Year's song instead. Not that I don't need some good Chanukah music, but I like finding things that I wasn't expecting. And yes, that is the front of the album. I believe the back side was blank.

5. The Daphne Hellman Quartet-Springtime In Scotland: Loch Lomond; The Campbells Are Coming; Comin' Thro' The Rye; Auld Lang Syne (Holiday For Harp, 1959)

You have to sit through a medley to get to the New Year's content on this one, but it's not so bad.

6. The Nighthawks-Auld Lang Syne (S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A. Presents The Nighthawks)

Your only barbershop entry of the day. What did I just say about sharing the same song more than once a day? Well, you're getting this one a lot more than just the once.

7. Ladies Of The Courte, Spoken By Lorna Stephen, Herald's Proclamation By Tom Grieve-Auld Lang Syne (Melodie At Dalhousie Courte, 1975)

I think this is some sort of dinner theater presentation in Scotland. Gotta love finding the interesting records out there. Not sure how much actual New Year content there is here, but the tune is familiar.

8. Maurey Page At The Exciting Hammond Organ-Auld Lang Syne (Organ Oldies, 1962)

Yet another version of Auld Lang Syne brings op the rear of this short set of New Year's music today. Don't forget that we're going to keep the fun going for a few more days next month, so be sure to keep coming back for a little while longer. I assure you it will be worth your time. 

MEGA