It’s hard to find a great Christmas CD with songs that everyone likes. People want the well known version of songs, not Michael Buble trying to cover the Drifters’ White Christmas. Due to legal issues and the music industry not being able to play together nicely, I decided to make my own mix CD. I have gotten a lot of compliments on it, so I’m going to do one of my famous “track by tracks” and share it with my readers as an early X-mas gift. All these songs have been selected and sequenced in this order. The compilation fits on a standard 80 minute CD-R with 5 seconds to spare!
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree sung by Brenda Lee is the quintessential feel good song from the rocking guitar part to the background singers.
Jingle Bell Rock sung by Bobby Helms.
What Christmas Means to Me by Little Stevie Wonder. He really sings his heart out here. You can actually hear distortion in the vocal track (as was the case in the 60’s) that shows how powerful his voice is (was).
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was made popular by Gene Autry. With his simple melodic approach to singing, it’s easy to see why he was so popular and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame under each category (I think he’s the only one, by the way, correct me if I’m wrong). Also, it’s a shame that this song only exists from a record, I could not find a version that didn’t have record noise.
Run Run Rudolph sung by Chuck Berry (but not written by him). There is an interesting story about this song. Chuck Berry is listed as writer, but he didn’t write it. The writer is actually Johnny Marks but the publishers gave C. Berry credit to cover up that J. Marks wrote it. I like Chuck Berry, but he is a bit conceded and a lot of his songs sound the same, just in different keys. This, like a lot of other songs has grown in popularity because it was used in numerous films, like Home Alone.
The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late) was written and recorded in 1958. It won three Grammys® that year including one for best engineered record. It is still a secret how Ross Bagdasarian did the recording trick, but he is singing all three voices and is Dave Seville. I would like to say that it is a piece of cake to do something like that now with digital and pitch correction, but in the 1950’s you had analog tape and no such thing as pitch modification. Ross was a genius and a true pioneer.
Holly Jolly Christmas Burl Ives had such a distinctive voice. He also voiced the snowman in the ‘Rudolph’ TV special from 1964. The guitar part on this song is crazy. It has some delay but the riffs are outstanding. It sounds like an old archtop.
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas There are just some singers that make you think of Christmas. Bing Crosby does this for me, maybe because White Christmas is my top 5 favorite films of all time? He did record the original White Christmas, the smash hit from the 1940s.
Most Wonderful Time of the Year. I didn’t want to OD on Andy Williams. He is very talented, but he and Johnny Mathis start to get on my nerves after a while. I took his most famous song and put it on here. There is too much reverb and echo on his vocal, take a headphones listen and you’ll hear what I’m talking about.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow Dean Martin was very talented. This is his trademark holiday classic. He has a very deep and powerful song. He sings this as only he can, he even has inflections during some parts that makes it sound like he has a girl in the vocal booth with him for inspiration (just saying).
Pretty Paper Roy Orbison had such control of his pitch. The song was written by Willie Nelson. It sounds like an Orbison penned dark brooding song. Like most of his songs, he is the underdog that most people pass by and not give a second thought to. Earlier this month, I read that Barbara Orbison (his wife, manager etc) died on the same day as her husband, 23 years earlier.
Here Comes Santa Claus sung and co-written by Gene Autry. Made popular by National Lampoons Christmas Vacation.
Sleigh Ride This is one of the best songs from Johnny Mathis’ Christmas album. It’s lush orchestral arrangement and stereo separation is no too distracting as some recordings from the 1960’s (read my blog about the Beatles) can be.
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer What can we say about this song? It is a great campy song to get you in the mood. It also makes you think twice about how jolly St. Nick can be.
Getting Ready for Christmas Day Leave it to Paul Simon to write a Christmas song and not really be a Christmas song. I get a lot of people wondering why I put this on here, but I love this song. It’s sort of a bitter sweet view on Christmas and shows the other darker side of the holiday.
Christmas Vacation sung by Mavis Staples. Who doesn’t love National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It is the best ‘Vacation’ movie. Mavis was the perfect choice; she has a lot of soul in her voice and belts it out. I could have done without the 1980’s production values, synthesizers and the weird vocals of the background singers, and it’s clearly a drum machine. It was a great way to open the film.
Feliz Navidad Jose Feliciano is one of the most underrated guitarists ever. He is amazing and he’s blind! He really a shredder on that guitar, and his electric skills can’t be beat. He has such power in his voice that he deserves to be better known and more appreciated than he is. This is one of his commercial hits from the 70s.
The Original White Christmas by Bing Crosby. Thanks to Irving Berlin for this one. Bing makes this song, there should be an act of Congress against colorizing films and covering this song, no one should be able to do it, besides the Drifters!
Santa Baby Eartha Kitt makes this song. The production of this song is simple and background singers only add to Kitt’s performance. Her demands are quite un-realistic. And if interpreted in a different way than was meant in 1953, it is a dirty song.
The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole is a holiday staple. He has a silky smooth voice that ‘helps to make the season bright.’
Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. Such a cool and campy song, and might have been forgotten about if not used in Christmas Vacation.
All Alone on Christmas written by Little Stevie and sung by Darlene Love and backed by the E Street band. It’s clear that Clarence is on sax. It just sounds like him. Darlene can really belt it out. She still sounds really good for being in her early 70’s.
Frosty the Snowman I used to have the Jimmy Durante version on the CD, but recently switched to the ‘Wall of Sound’ Phil Spector version. Ronnie does a great job, the stereo is a bit forced, but it’s a cool track none the less.
Winter Wonderland The last Johnny Mathis song we have on the mix. His is the definitive version. It is also skillfully orchestrated.
Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy Bowie’s and Crosby’s voices blend like Simon & Garfunkel. It was like one industry giant “handing over” the reigns to the new generation. Crosby died about a month after recording this. Wikipedia has some fun facts about it. It seems that Bowie bitched and moaned the whole time.
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) This song needs no commentary. It’s a shame that the sound is so distant though, might have been an affect of the Wall of Sound.
Wonderful Christmastime The one and only Paul McCartney closes out the set. This song is infectious. It’s so dated with the synths opening the song and throughout the song. Technically this is not a Wings’ song but was released before the band broke up. The B-side is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reggae. According to accounts, McCartney recorded this song on his own during the McCartney II sessions.
Merry Christmas to all my readers and Happy Holidays. All thoughts and statements are mine, so don’t take anything personally. See you in 2012!
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