Used Music-Track Twenty Six

We're heading out West for the Used Music track tonight. Not all the way to the Pacific, though, just far enough to reach the Lone Star State. Please get your spurs out and download Tex Ritter-Ole Tex Kringle from An All-Star Country Christmas (Capitol STBB-248). This is a great track that I'm sure you're going to love. Remember this great share when you listen to the next thing I share out tonight. Did you know that Tex Ritter is the father of John Ritter? Oh, well, if you already knew that, why didn't you say so earlier? Oh, this track appears to have originally been released in 1954. The comp I pulled it from looks like it came out in the seventies sometime.

Previous Tracks:
The Sanborn Singers-Jingle Bells
Les Baxter Orchestra And Chorus-Hang Your Wishes On The Tree
Sandler & Young-Mister Santa
Peggy Lee-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Danny Kaye-Deck The Halls (With Boughs Of Holly)
Debbie Reynolds-There's No Place Like Home
Claudine Longet-Snow
The Glad Singers-We Three Kings Of Orient Are
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Mills Brothers-You Don't Have To Be A Santa Claus
Patti Page-'Twas The Night Before Christmas
George Melachrino-Fairy On The Christmas Tree
The Beneficial Singers-Joyous Christmas
Marlene Dietrich-Little Drummer Boy
Dorothy Collins-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Red Foley-Frosty The Snowman
Bing Crosby-Christmas Dinner Country Style
Fred Waring-White Christmas
Walter Carlos-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
Ed Kinney-The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Les Brown-We Wish You The Merriest
Maurice Chevalier-Jolly Old St. Nicholas
The Ames Brothers-Good King Wenceslas
The Lennon Sisters-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Jerry Colonna-Too Fat For The Chimney

Still Winter

The final piece of the Winterhalter puzzle for you tonight is this great single from sometime during the Cha Cha craze of the late fifties/early sixties. If these two arrangements don't get you out on the floor and cha-cha-ing around the Christmas tree, then nothing will. Please download Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra-The Christmas Song Cha Cha b/w Rudolph The Red-Nose Cha Cha (RCA Victor 7" 45 RPM 47-7397). I found a version of the Rudolph track sometime last year on an Italian pressing of Hugo Winterhalter Goes...Latin and shared it out during Christmas In July here. I think the track came from this single originally, so I'm sharing it out here again. Funny story about this single... It appears to be pressed off-center. When the stylus is in the groove, the tonearm sways back and forth as the record rotates. And it moves so much that the pitch of the music goes up and down. Don't worry, I came up with a solution to that problem before I recorded the record, but I found it sort of odd. I wound up playing the record without an adapter in the middle like you'd normally use when you play a 45. Then I put some weight in the center of the record to hold it in place as it spun. Through a lot of trial and error, I was able to get the record to lie in the center of the groove spiral when it played, or at least close enough that I can't hear any problems in the playback. Loads of fun. Wanna hear what it sounded like before I went to all that trouble? Download this, but don't say I didn't warn you!

Winter Returns

This is the second bonus track I offer up for your added listening enjoyment of Hugo Winterhalter. Stuck in the middle of Wish You Were Here (RCA Victor LSP-1904, 1959) is a great version of Sleigh Ride. I'd previously shared this track with you in mono, then I snuck the stereo version in during Christmas In July, but posted on the 1st of August. This is the first time I'm posting it complete with that great artwork. There's even a doodle on the back that you can see here, along with an RCA Tag at upper right. This album is just full of good stuff!

Winter Is Back

I mentioned that I didn't think Hugo Winterhalter's Christmas record was long enough, and this is the first thing I have to add to it, both sides of a single where he plays Blue and White Christmas. I think one of these is on the previously shared album, but the other is not. I don't remember right now which one is which, but you get both of them in the download. Please go get Hugo Winterhalter-Blue Christmas b/w White Christmas (RCA Victor 7" 45 rpm 47-3937). And I'm not done yet, so come right back when the download finishes, or when Rapidshare lets you download more stuff.

Winter Is Here

One of my favorite releases of years' past (2005 & 2006) is this great album by Hugo Winterhalter. The only problem I have with it is that it's too short. But I have a plan for that. Go download Hugo Winterhalter And His Orchestra And Chorus-Christmas Magic (RCA Camden CAL-449, 1958) and then come back for more. Oh, this record appears to have first been released as a 10", Christmas Magic (RCA Victor LPM 3132), shown below, then later expanded with two not-very-Christmassy tracks to the 12" I've shared above.

The 700 Club

Congratulations to me on post number 700 of the year! That's the biggest year yet, which I guess isn't saying much since I've been doing this for less than 3 years. But it still feels like a pretty big accomplishment. Thanks to all of you for your support. I've got four days left to post Christmas stuff, and then I can take a break for a while. Boy, won't that be nice!

26 Days Of Christmas-Day 22

If I've done my math correctly, this posting gets me all caught up on my 26 Days Of Christmas collection. Four tracks left and four days to Christmas. Yep, that sounds right. And what a track this is! Only a few people can claim to be part of the mythology of Christmas. Well, real people that is. I suspect Bing Crosby tops the list, and then perhaps Gene Autry. But fighting it out with Gene Autry might be Burl Ives, whose Holly Jolly Christmas is a classic, and whose animated visage adorns TVs every Christmas. I managed to dig up a single from him that I've never heard of before. It appears to have been recorded many years ago, and later developed into an animated special. Or maybe it was going to be animated, as I can't find much evidence that it ever was. Googling this single yields a claim at Amazon that there was a CD at one time, but that's about the only evidence of said CD. Lots of sites list the same 7" single I have, but nobody talks about an animated special or a CD. So I think this track is pretty special, and I'm sure you will think so too. Please download Burl Ives-It's Gonna Be A Mixed Up Xmas (Monkey Joe 7" MJ-1, 1978). The song is cute, and I think it stands alone pretty well. It might make a little more sense if you could hear the 11 minute tale of Monkey Joe on the flip side, but that's going to have to wait for another day.

Previous Tunes:
Mickey Gilley-Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Christmas Time
Scott Fagen-Sandy The Blue Nosed Reindeer
Russ Morgan-The Mistletoe Kiss
Sascha Burland-The Chickens Are In The Chimes!
Commander Shea School Boys' Choir-Chree-See-Mus
The Crew-Cuts-Dance Mr. Snowman Dance
Tennessee Ernie-A Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus
Arthur Godfrey-Christmas Is Christmas
Sue Powell-Kiss Me It's Kiss-mas
Eddy Howard-Uncle Mistletoe
Lonzo And Oscar-Jangle Bells
Margaret Whiting And Jimmy Wakely-Christmas Candy
Joe Dowell-A Kiss For Christmas
Connie Landers-I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter
Joe Ward-Christmas Questions
Molly Bee-Willy Claus
The William Dawson Chorus-Merry Are The Bells
The Roy-Cliffs-Marshmallow World
Cricketone Chorus & Orchestra-The Snowflake Song
Jimmy Boyd-Santa Claus Blues
Dora Hall-Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree

26 Days Of Christmas-Day 21

Sometimes I have no idea what it is I have in my hand. I found two copies of this single sometime during the past year at a place called Thrift City USA in Pinellas Park. I almost didn't buy it, but then I remembered what a nut I am for Christmas, and bought both copies. It sat there for a long time, me not paying any attention to it, until tonight. I picked it up, set it on the turntable and typed the name Dora Hall into Google. Turns out that this woman was the wife of the president of Solo Cups. And she wanted to be a star. So she released dozens of records funded by her husband and in many cases distributed with plastic Solo cups. She even had her own TV special in the early seventies for no good reason. I knew I had to share this from the very first shouted "ROCK" on this single. Please hurry and download Dora Hall-Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (Calamo PR-1024/1025).

Previous Tunes:
Mickey Gilley-Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Christmas Time
Scott Fagen-Sandy The Blue Nosed Reindeer
Russ Morgan-The Mistletoe Kiss
Sascha Burland-The Chickens Are In The Chimes!
Commander Shea School Boys' Choir-Chree-See-Mus
The Crew-Cuts-Dance Mr. Snowman Dance
Tennessee Ernie-A Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus
Arthur Godfrey-Christmas Is Christmas
Sue Powell-Kiss Me It's Kiss-mas
Eddy Howard-Uncle Mistletoe
Lonzo And Oscar-Jangle Bells
Margaret Whiting And Jimmy Wakely-Christmas Candy
Joe Dowell-A Kiss For Christmas
Connie Landers-I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter
Joe Ward-Christmas Questions
Molly Bee-Willy Claus
The William Dawson Chorus-Merry Are The Bells
The Roy-Cliffs-Marshmallow World
Cricketone Chorus & Orchestra-The Snowflake Song
Jimmy Boyd-Santa Claus Blues

Harkin' And Swingin'

Here is another great record from the archives, one I shared in 2005 and again in 2006 with you. I didn't think it would be much when I first picked it up, I just liked the cover with those guys in the snow. The front and the back covers are the same, and that's usually the sign of a really poor album. But I was really wrong on this one. How this hasn't made it to the world of CD, I'll never know. Go download The World's Greatest Jazzband Of Yank Lawson & Bob Haggart-Hark The Herald Angels Swing (World Jazz WJLP 5-2, 1972) now! You'll be glad you did.

Used Music-Track Twenty Five

Someone asked me if I had a version of Too Fat For The Chimney, so I pointed them to my share of Gisele MacKenzie, but then I remembered another version. I thought I had shared this out before, but I can't find it if I did. So here is the great Jerry Colonna doing Too Fat For The Chimney from One Hundred Great Songs Of Christmas (MCA Special Markets SR 8726 DXS 504). I think I put a couple of different tracks from this collection on my CD last year, but one more won't hurt. The recordings from this record all sound a bit tinny to my ears, probably because they tried to cram 100 songs onto four records. But it's still listenable. I don't think you'll see this massive collection in the thrift stores very much, but you never can tell. I'm pretty sure it didn't come from a tire store though.

Previous Tracks:
The Sanborn Singers-Jingle Bells
Les Baxter Orchestra And Chorus-Hang Your Wishes On The Tree
Sandler & Young-Mister Santa
Peggy Lee-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Danny Kaye-Deck The Halls (With Boughs Of Holly)
Debbie Reynolds-There's No Place Like Home
Claudine Longet-Snow
The Glad Singers-We Three Kings Of Orient Are
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Mills Brothers-You Don't Have To Be A Santa Claus
Patti Page-'Twas The Night Before Christmas
George Melachrino-Fairy On The Christmas Tree
The Beneficial Singers-Joyous Christmas
Marlene Dietrich-Little Drummer Boy
Dorothy Collins-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Red Foley-Frosty The Snowman
Bing Crosby-Christmas Dinner Country Style
Fred Waring-White Christmas
Walter Carlos-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
Ed Kinney-The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Les Brown-We Wish You The Merriest
Maurice Chevalier-Jolly Old St. Nicholas
The Ames Brothers-Good King Wenceslas
The Lennon Sisters-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Used Music-Track Twenty Four

I can't believe that I made it this far into the compilation without including a version of Rudolph. I'm going to remedy that situation tonight with The Lennon Sisters-Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. I tried to share out a Lennon Sisters LP last year, only to discover that their Christmas stuff is available from their website on CD. I hope they'll forgive me for sharing this single track with you. You should go buy one of their Christmas CDs if you really like this one track. I grabbed this from Two Sides Of Christmas (Dot for The E.F. McDonald Company DPR 5054, 1966). I think this was a promotional thing that companies would buy in bulk from E.F. MacDonald, then pass out to their customers or clients. There are several albums out there that say E.F. MacDonald on the back of them. This is also a pretty rare label to see a compilation from. I don't think I've seen any others at all, and I certainly haven't shared a track from any others.

Previous Tracks:
The Sanborn Singers-Jingle Bells
Les Baxter Orchestra And Chorus-Hang Your Wishes On The Tree
Sandler & Young-Mister Santa
Peggy Lee-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Danny Kaye-Deck The Halls (With Boughs Of Holly)
Debbie Reynolds-There's No Place Like Home
Claudine Longet-Snow
The Glad Singers-We Three Kings Of Orient Are
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Mills Brothers-You Don't Have To Be A Santa Claus
Patti Page-'Twas The Night Before Christmas
George Melachrino-Fairy On The Christmas Tree
The Beneficial Singers-Joyous Christmas
Marlene Dietrich-Little Drummer Boy
Dorothy Collins-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Red Foley-Frosty The Snowman
Bing Crosby-Christmas Dinner Country Style
Fred Waring-White Christmas
Walter Carlos-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
Ed Kinney-The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Les Brown-We Wish You The Merriest
Maurice Chevalier-Jolly Old St. Nicholas
The Ames Brothers-Good King Wenceslas

Christmas Vacation

Are you cold enough for you yet this winter? It's in the high 70's here in Florida, and we're lovin' it! If you need a little bit of tropical Christmas cheer, go The Surfers-Christmas From Hawaii (HiFi R410, 1959). They're guaranteed to warm you right up and make you feel like you're relaxing on a beach with a pina colada in one hand and a pink Christmas tree in the other. Or something like that... This is a rerun from 2005 and 2006, so you may have it already. But if not, don't miss it!

Update (13 Oct 08): This one is now available as a legal download! So go get it! Here's a link to Amazon, but it's also available elsewhere.

26 Days Of Christmas-Day 20

Another real treat for you tonight on 26 Days Of Christmas. Everybody knows the name Jimmy Boyd, but I've got a great track that most of you have never heard. It was the flip side of a song that some of you may have heard (but not many), I Saw Mommy Do The Mambo (With You Know Who), which is really a great track, but I wanted something a little more obscure. This song is a sort of cross between white-boy blues and a public service announcement. You'll see what I mean when you download Jimmy Boyd With Mitch Miller And His Orchestra-Santa Claus Blues (Columbia 4-40365). There's a copy of this on a 10" 78 with a picture sleeve up on eBay right now, but it's a little expensive. Great cover art, though! Why hasn't anyone put together a CD of Jimmy's Christmas sides? There look to be more than enough for a decent collection. Oh, this jukebox title strip fell out of the sleeve when I went to scan the record. I don't think it's original, but I thought it was kinda cool.


Previous Tunes:
Mickey Gilley-Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Christmas Time
Scott Fagen-Sandy The Blue Nosed Reindeer
Russ Morgan-The Mistletoe Kiss
Sascha Burland-The Chickens Are In The Chimes!
Commander Shea School Boys' Choir-Chree-See-Mus
The Crew-Cuts-Dance Mr. Snowman Dance
Tennessee Ernie-A Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus
Arthur Godfrey-Christmas Is Christmas
Sue Powell-Kiss Me It's Kiss-mas
Eddy Howard-Uncle Mistletoe
Lonzo And Oscar-Jangle Bells
Margaret Whiting And Jimmy Wakely-Christmas Candy
Joe Dowell-A Kiss For Christmas
Connie Landers-I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter
Joe Ward-Christmas Questions
Molly Bee-Willy Claus
The William Dawson Chorus-Merry Are The Bells
The Roy-Cliffs-Marshmallow World
Cricketone Chorus & Orchestra-The Snowflake Song

Christmas Disco Revenge

You folks are so, so lucky. You don't know how close you came to getting this as the next track on 26 Days Of Christmas. But I got the thinking about it, imagining that you might actually want to listen to that collection once in a while, and this just wouldn't fit in at all. I mean, it's filled with happy Christmas songs from days gone by, and then I drop in a 5 minute thumping disco track. Yeah, that would go over like a lead balloon. So I decided to just throw this one up all by itself. It's not too bad, really, for disco. I guess because it's early disco, not the later stuff. Go grab a copy of Moonlion-The Little Drummer Boy-Disco Version (Pickwick International Productions 7" 45 RPM PDJ-6513, 1975). Now go shake your groove thang.

26 Days Of Christmas-Day 19

A short blast of cool, cool kiddie music tonight for 26 Days Of Christmas. I don't know what attracted me to this one. Maybe it was a song title I didn't recognize, I don't know. Anyhow, it's a nice little song, even if it is short. Please download tonight's installment, well, actually the installment you should have gotten several days ago, Cricketone Chorus & Orchestra-The Snowflake Song (Cricket CX-19). Dig it!

Previous Tunes:
Mickey Gilley-Don't The Girls All Get Prettier At Christmas Time
Scott Fagen-Sandy The Blue Nosed Reindeer
Russ Morgan-The Mistletoe Kiss
Sascha Burland-The Chickens Are In The Chimes!
Commander Shea School Boys' Choir-Chree-See-Mus
The Crew-Cuts-Dance Mr. Snowman Dance
Tennessee Ernie-A Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus
Arthur Godfrey-Christmas Is Christmas
Sue Powell-Kiss Me It's Kiss-mas
Eddy Howard-Uncle Mistletoe
Lonzo And Oscar-Jangle Bells
Margaret Whiting And Jimmy Wakely-Christmas Candy
Joe Dowell-A Kiss For Christmas
Connie Landers-I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter
Joe Ward-Christmas Questions
Molly Bee-Willy Claus
The William Dawson Chorus-Merry Are The Bells
The Roy-Cliffs-Marshmallow World

Good And Bad

Which record would you rather have in your collection? The one above or the one below? If you're like me, and you make the mistake of judging a record by it's cover, you'd buy the one below 99 out of 100 times. Well, last year I bought the one below, and I was disappointed. Not only was the music bland and boring, the record was work out and I got terrible sound off of it. I shared it out last year, but I promised a newer, cleaner, stereo-er copy, and today I make good on that promise. But you are going to have to live with the uglier cover, because that's the way it comes. You can still download the version from the great cover, but it comes with poor music. The ugly cover is better sounding versions of the same music, but that cover... OK, I'll shut up now. Just go download The John McCarthy Chorale-The Greatest Songs of Christmas (RCA Music Service R114285, 1973). They re-sequenced it, too. This seems to have been a record that was only marketed through RCA's record club, so they are pretty few and far between. It's hard to believe that this is the same John McCarthy who was responsible for so many of those great Line Material titles. I guess you never can tell.

Used Music-Track Twenty Three

When needle first hit groove on tonight's track, I thought I was playing the wrong record. Where did those trumpets come from, and what were they doing on a Christmas record? But they turned out to be just another part of this track. This is perhaps the most interesting arrangement of this song I've ever heard. Perhaps I'm just still stunned from those horns, but I can't think of any other version that's this different. Well, maybe it's not that out there, but it's out there. I don't know who the orchestra is here, as they weren't credited on the LP, but I'm guessing maybe Sid Ramin, since he's backed them elsewhere. (Yep, his name is listed on the CD reissue of the original Ames Brothers LP.) Enough talk, go download the Ames Brothers-Good King Wenceslas from The Joy Of Christmas, Volume II (RCA Victor for ACME Markets PRM-230-A, 1966). I shared a doodle form this LP back in July, if you want to have a look-see.

Previous Tracks:
The Sanborn Singers-Jingle Bells
Les Baxter Orchestra And Chorus-Hang Your Wishes On The Tree
Sandler & Young-Mister Santa
Peggy Lee-Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Danny Kaye-Deck The Halls (With Boughs Of Holly)
Debbie Reynolds-There's No Place Like Home
Claudine Longet-Snow
The Glad Singers-We Three Kings Of Orient Are
The Ed Sullivan Orchestra-I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
The Mills Brothers-You Don't Have To Be A Santa Claus
Patti Page-'Twas The Night Before Christmas
George Melachrino-Fairy On The Christmas Tree
The Beneficial Singers-Joyous Christmas
Marlene Dietrich-Little Drummer Boy
Dorothy Collins-Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Red Foley-Frosty The Snowman
Bing Crosby-Christmas Dinner Country Style
Fred Waring-White Christmas
Walter Carlos-Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
Ed Kinney-The Twelve Days Of Christmas
Les Brown-We Wish You The Merriest
Maurice Chevalier-Jolly Old St. Nicholas

Santa, Martians, Etc

Just in case Christmas isn't surreal enough, what with flying reindeer, talking snowmen, and various ghosts, here's a little something to push it right over the edge. This is the audio version of the great movie Santa Claus Conquers The Martians. It's something that you need to hear to believe. And here is your chance. Go download Santa Claus Conquers The Martians (Golden Records SLP 170). It's not just the talk, either. You get the great theme song by Milton DeLugg here, too. That alone is worth the price of admission. For more info about this record, you can read my posts from 2005 and 2006, too.

Avon Calls Twice

I almost forgot about this other Avon share from last year. No random corporate-speak here, though. But you do get some great music conducted by the great Nelson Riddle! So give a listen to Nelson Riddle Orchestra And Chorus-Avon Wishes You A Happy Holiday And A Joyous New Year (Avon AV 10170, 1970). Enjoy!

UPDATE: It would appear you can download this music from iTunes now, so no more share. There's been some discussion that my rip is what iTunes has for download, but more on that later...

Avon Calling!

What? You still need some more corporate Christmas music? I've already brought you GM, Snap-On, Ford, Kenyon-Eckhardt, Donnelly Outdoor, and who knows what else... OK, here's a rerun from 2005 and 2006, a little 10" record from Avon that features one side of generic Christmas music, and a second side that gives you all sorts of tips on how to increase your sales during the holiday season. And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown! Go download Avon Campaign 21 (Avon, 1968).