Happy New Year To All Of You!

I want to thank everyone who has read my blog this year and the last few years.

I started this blog in September of 2017 and I have learned a lot from reading your blogs and interacting with you all. It was cool to find fellow Big Star, Beatle, Who, Twilight Zone, Baseball, Jazz, Classical, Power Pop, Rock, Hard Rock, Folk, Old Country, Surf, Classic TV, Classic Movie, 1970s, fans…. and everything in between.

In 2016 I would not have believed I would be communicating with people in different states across America, New Zealand, The UK, Hong Kong, Germany, Columbia, Australia, India, France, Sweden, Spain, and more! I’m also learning more about new music, old new music, cool old and new movies, and most of all…people. I probably comment too much at times but it’s a lot of fun learning.

Now…I want to mention a few I follow and read and they come and visit me also. I was hesitant to do this because I know I will miss someone …if I did it wasn’t on purpose.

I’ve commented with you all, emailed many of you, talked to some of you over the phone, and met one of you. Thank you all once again.

I didn’t know where New Zealand was until I started to talk to Bruce and Graham …after talking them I would love to visit there.

I’ve learned about Australia and Columbia…and classical music from Matt,

I’ve even listened to Heavy Metal and Canadian bands from Deke and Dave.

I’ve read great stories and read poems for really the first time from Lisa and Bruce

Learned about new music from Jeff, Graham, and Christian.

Learned even more about the Beatles and music from Hanspostcard

Learned even more about baseball from Hanspostcard and Dave

Looked at sewing machines as works of art with run-sew-read

Learned a whole lot about the Grateful Dead and music from Jim

My guide to 80’s alternative bands from Paul and Dave,

Monday songs from Eden

How radio really works and more about family from Keith

Learning every number 1 from the UK with Stuart

About life and friendship from Vic,

Wonderful life stories from Mitch,

Album reviews from John and Graham,

Learned about Chicago and interesting music from fan and fellow musician John

Awesome posts from Mojo Horizon

Restaurants to eat at from Blaine

Detailed history history from Rick

Cooking and Saint Bernards from Jeanne

Inspiring writing from Pam

Writing and an author… Steve

Movies from Master Mix Movies

Off the radar songs and movies, and everything cool from Cincinnati Babyhead (CB)

Cool music from Hotfox63

Some of the most entertaining true stories I’ve ever heard from Phil

I learn a lot about business situations from Kally

Great posts and one of my first followers…and fellow Monkee fan Blackwing

Nashville music history from my cousin Ricky

Comics from Harry Chamberlain

Stories from James

Animals from Cheche Winnie

Awesome Cartoons from Hobo Cartoons

Commenting over at Dave’s blog with Obbverse

The writing of Jason

Fellow power pop fan Mike

Great posts from Mark

Again if I missed anyone I’m sorry…I just ran through this off the top of my head.

Thanks to everyone and have a Happy New Year to you and your family from Powerpop.blog (and it’s curator…Max). We survived 2020 and 2021…lets make this one better!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Otis Redding & Carla Thomas – New Year’s Resolution

This song is a great way to start a year! Anytime you can hear Otis…you are on the right path! Have a Happy New Year!

Stax’s house band, Booker T & the MGs, provides the backing. Note Booker T’s subtle but effective organ lending the song a spiritual element, while Donald “Duck” Dunn’s bass and Steve Cropper’s tasteful guitar licks ground the track’s rhythm

Stax was hoping to replicate the success of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Stax paired two of their greatest stars for the 1967 album King & Queen, which produced the hit “Tramp.” The album featured their takes on classics such as “Knock on Wood,” “When Something Is Wrong with My Baby,” “Bring It on Home to Me,” and “It Takes Two”

This song was on the King and Queen album released in 1967. This is the only album they got to make because Otis died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967.

New Year’s Resolution

I hope it’s not too late
Just to say that I’m sorry, honey
All I want to do
Is just finish what we started, baby

Let’s turn over a new leave
And baby let’s make promises
That we can keep
And call it a New Year’s resolution, hmmm

Oh, I’m a woman
And woman makes mistakes too
But will you, will you forget the changes
That I put you through

let’s try it again
Just you and me
And, baby, let’s see how happy honey, yeah
That we can be
And call it a New Year’s resolution, yeah, yeah, yeah

Many times we had our ups and downs
And times you needed me I couldn’t be found
I’m sorry
And I’m sorry too
I’ll never, never do it again, no, no, no
So baby before we fall out
Let’s fall on in, yeah, yeah
Oh, and we’re gonna try harder
Not to hurt each other again, oh
Love me baby, huh
Week after week
And baby let’s make promises
That we can keep
And call it a New Year’s resolution, yeah, oh
I know we can do it Carla
I’m gonna keep my promises
I’m gonna hold on that we can do it, baby
Oh, it’s not too late
You’re gonna love me
Nobody else
Oh Otis let’s finish what we started
Talk no mean

Everly Brothers- Cathy’s Clown

When Phil and Don would sing….their two voices would become one.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1960. The B side was Always It’s You and it peaked at #56 in the Billboard 100. This was the first single to simultaneously top the UK and US charts. This was the first single ever released on the Warner Bros. label in the UK, where it got the catalog number WB-1.

This song was inspired by one of Don Everly’s ex-girlfriends, this song is about a guy Cathy dumps. The writer credits on this song went to both Don and Phil Everly until 1980, when a deal was made to make Don the solo composer.

This was the first Everly Brothers single for Warner Brothers. Records. They signed with the label in 1960 after a string of hits for Cadence Records, which couldn’t afford to re-sign them. They paid the Everlys a reported $1 million and expected a hit. The Everlys delivered a hit with “Cathy’s Clown… holding the top spot for five weeks.

It had a hint of the future in this song. There was only one drummer on this track, but he was augmented by a tape loop that engineer Bill Porter used to add additional beats. This being 1960, it was done on the fly, with Porter switching to the loop when he wanted it to come in.

Cathy’s Clown

Don’t want your love anymore,
Don’t want your kisses that’s for sure,
I die each time I hear this sound,
Here he comes that’s Cathy’s clown

I gotta stand tall
You know a man can’t crawl,
When he knows your tellin’ lies and
He hears ’em passing by, he’s
Not a man at all

Don’t want your love anymore,
Don’t want your kisses that’s for sure,
I die each time I hear this sound,
Here he comes that’s Cathy’s clown

When you see me shed a tear,
And you know that it’s sincere
Don’t you think it’s kinda sad that
You’re treating me so bad or don’t
You even care?

Don’t want your love anymore,
Don’t want your kisses that’s for sure,
I die each time I hear this sound,
Here he comes that’s Cathy’s clown

That’s Cathy’s clown
That’s Cathy’s clown

Paul McCartney – Listen To What The Man Said

This was one of those songs that sounded so good over AM radio…and I guess still does if you can catch it on AM. It’s a song I forget about from time to time. I was reminded when I saw Paul in 2010 and 2014. He just keeps playing songs you remember and you think…did this guy write every hit of the 20th century?

It takes me back to when my sister would skip school (she is eight years older) and take me with her…maybe that is the reason I can’t spell worth a dam. Mom never found out about those days or my sister would have been grounded forever.

It’s far from his best song but it’s a good pop hit. It was recorded for the album Venus and Mars. It was a song which McCartney had high hopes for, but early recordings did not live up to the song’s potential. The missing indgredient was Jazz musician Tom Scott’s sax solo. They ended up keeping the first take.

Listen To What The Man Said peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #6 in the UK, and #8 in New Zealand in 1975. The album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #1 in the UK, and #1 in New Zealand.

Paul’s impression of Leo Nocentelli, the guitarist for The Meters…many people thought he was imitating Wolfman Jack.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon were talking seriously about getting together during the Venu and Mars sessions in New Orleans but John reunited with Yoko and didn’t come. This was after John’s “lost weekend” when he was separated from Yoko. May Pang (his girlfriend at the time) verified this.

Paul McCartney: “It was one of the songs we’d gone in with high hopes for. Whenever I would play it on the piano, people would say ‘Oh, I like that one.’ But when we did the backing track, we thought we didn’t really get it together at all.”

“Someone said [famous jazz musician] ‘Tom Scott lives near here.’ We said, yeah, give him a ring, see if he turns up, and he turned up within half an hour! There he was, with his sax, and he sat down in the studio playing through. The engineer was recording it. We kept all the notes he was playing casually. He came in and I said ‘I think that’s it.’ He said ‘Did you record that?’ I said yes, and we listened to it back. No one could believe it, so he went out and tried a few more, but they weren’t as good. He’d had all the feel on this early take, the first take.”

My stuff is never ‘a comment from within’. Basically I’m saying: ‘Listen to the basic rules, don’t goof off too much’. But if you say ‘The Man’, it can mean God, it can mean ‘Women, listen to your man’, it can mean so many things. Later I did a song with Michael Jackson called ‘The Man’ and again, it’s quite nice leaving things ambiguous: I’m sure for Michael, probably ‘The Man’ meant God.

Listen To What The Man Said

Alright, okay
Very good to see you down in New Orleans, man
Yeah here it is
Yeah, yeah

Any time, any day
You can hear the people say
That love is blind
Well, I don’t know but I say love is kind

Soldier boy kisses girl
Leaves behind a tragic world
But he won’t mind, he’s in love
And he says love is fine

Oh yes, indeed we know
That people will find a way to go
No matter what the man said

And love is fine for all we know
For all we know, our love will grow
That’s what the man said

So won’t you listen to what the man said
He said

Ah, take it away

Oh yes, indeed we know
That people will find a way to go
No matter what the man said

And love is fine for all we know
For all we know, our love will grow
That’s what the man said

So won’t you listen to what the man said
He said

Oh yes, indeed we know
That people will find a way to go
No matter what the man said

And love is fine for all we know
For all we know, our love will grow
That’s what the man said

So won’t you listen to what the man said
He said

The wonder of it all, baby
The wonder of it all, baby
The wonder of it all, baby, yeah yeah yeah

…

Fats Domino – Walking to New Orleans

Fats Domino was one of the top artists of the 50s. He wasn’t wild or flashy like his peers but he was just good or better. When I think of the fifties…this is just me personally…I think of Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers, Elvis, and last but not least… Fats Domino. Vastly different styles but all are great.

Domino was the youngest of eight children in a musical family, he spoke Creole French before learning English. At age 7 his brother in law taught him how to play the piano. By the time he was 10, he was already performing as a singer and pianist.

Fat’s first hit in the Billboard 100 was the great “Aint That A Shame” in 1955 written by Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew that peaked at #16 and his last charting song was a cover of the Beatles “Lady Madonna”(great version) that peaked at #100 in 1968. He had 45 songs in the top 100 and 4 top 10 hits…many more top 10 hits in the R&B Charts.

As soon as these artists faded at the end of the fifties and Buddy died…there were 3 or 4 weak years in the early sixties until that band from Liverpool came…gosh I can’t remember their name.

Walking To New Orleans

This time I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
I’m going to need two pair of shoes
When I get through walkin’ me blues
When I get back to New Orleans

I’ve got my suitcase in my hand
Now, ain’t that a shame
I’m leavin’ here today
Yes, I’m goin’ back home to stay
Yes, I’m walkin’ to New Orleans

You used to be my honey
Till you spent all my money
No use for you to cry
I’ll see you bye and bye
‘Cause I’m walkin’ to New Orleans

I’ve got no time for talkin’
I’ve got to keep on walkin’
New Orleans is my home
That’s the reason while I’m gone
Yes, I’m walkin’ to New Orleans

I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
I’m walkin’ to New Orleans
I’m walkin’ to New Orleans

…

John Lennon – Mother

This came off of John Lennon’s debut solo album….John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The church bell heard at the start of this track was actually faster and higher-pitched initially, and John actually slowed it down to make it sound spookier and more haunting.

What I’ve told people is if you have a party going on…don’t play this album! Don’t get me wrong…this is one of the great solo Beatle albums but it’s not a toe tapper to say the least. It’s probably my favorite Lennon album. This song is obviously about his mom Julia.

This is one of three songs which Lennon wrote for his mother, along with “Julia” and “My Mummy’s Dead”.

He lost his mother when he was 17. She was walking to catch a bus and was hit at a crosswalk and killed instantly. The driver was Eric Clague an off-duty cop… he was also a learner-driver and shouldn’t have been on the road unaccompanied, and he was suspended from the force because of it…he was never charged with being drunk, and alcohol wasn’t mentioned at the inquest.

His Aunt Mimi raised John from a youth when his mom and dad split up and his dad left never to be seen by John again until he was famous. He lost his mom when he was young and permanently at 17 when she was killed.

Lennon wrote this while he was undergoing Primal Scream therapy by psychotherapist Arthur Janov… where he was dealing with a lot of issues that were detailed in the lyrics.

The album peaked at #6 in the Billboard Album Charts, #2 in Canada, and #8 in the UK in 1970.

Lou Reed: “That was a song that had realism,” “When I first heard it, I didn’t even know it was him. I just said, ‘Who the f–k is that? I don’t believe that.’ Because the lyrics to that are real. You see, he wasn’t kidding around. He got right down to it, as down as you can get. I like that in a song.”

From Songfacts

This features Klaus Voormann on bass and Ringo Starr on drums. In addition to his work in music, Voorman is an artist, and designed the cover of The Beatles album Revolver. He also played bass with Manfred Mann.

On many of his early solo recordings such as this one, Lennon’s arrangements are more simpler and sparser than on the Beatles songs. In the January 1971 edition of Rolling Stone, he explained this was because, “I’ve always liked simple rock.” The former Beatle added: “I was influenced by acid and got psychedelic, like the whole generation, but really, I like rock and roll and I express myself best in rock. I had a few ideas to do this with ‘Mother’ and that with ‘Mother’ but when you just hear, the piano does it all for you, your mind can do the rest. I think the backings on mine are as complicated as the backings on any record you’ve ever heard, if you’ve got an ear.

Anybody knows that. Any musician will tell you, just play a note on a piano, it’s got harmonics in it. It got to that. What the hell, I didn’t need anything else.”

Producer John Leckie explained to Uncut magazine August 2010 that the screams heard on this track were actually edited into the song once the rest of the vocal had been recorded. Lennon would attempt the screaming finale every night, careful never to try it in the daytime in case it destroyed his voice. “The screams were double-tracked,” Leckie pointed out. “John didn’t like the raw sound of his own voice. He always wanted lots of stuff on it. Spector’s contribution, really, was to be generous with reverb and echo.”

Arthur Janov created primal scream therapy, which he detailed in his book The Primal Scream. Folks were always sending Lennon books, and a copy of Janov’s book found him. Lennon was intrigued because the therapy reminded him of the screaming Yoko would often do in her works, but then he looked into it as a way of helping him resolve issues from his childhood. John and Yoko invited Janov to England, where they met with him to vet his practice. They liked what they heard and decided to try some sessions when they went to Los Angeles. For Lennon, it was a breakthrough, and led to this song.

“It’s just a matter of breaking the wall that’s there in yourself and come out and let it all hang out to the point that you start crying,” Yoko said in describing the therapy (Uncut, 1998). She added: “He was going back to the days of when he wanted to scream, ‘Mother.’ He was able to go back to that childhood, that memory.”

This is the theme song to the FX TV series Better Things, which stars Pamela Adlon as a single mom to three girls. To get the song, she wrote a letter to Yoko Ono and lobbied FX to budget for it.

David Bowie covered this in 1998 for a Lennon tribute collection that never came to fruition. His take was done in collaboration with longtime producer Tony Visconti. It remained unreleased until January 8, 2021, when it was made available for the first time to mark what would have been Bowie’s 74th birthday.

Mother

Mother, you had me
But I never had you
I, I wanted you
You didn’t want me
So, I
I just got to tell you
Goodbye
Goodbye

Father, you left me
But I never left you
I needed you
You didn’t need me
So, I
I just got to tell you, mm
Goodbye
Goodbye

Children, don’t do
What I have done
I couldn’t walk
And I tried to run
So, I
I just got to tell you
Goodbye
Goodbye

Mama don’t go
Daddy come home
Mama don’t go
Daddy come home
Mama don’t go
Daddy come home
Mama don’t go
Daddy come home

Mama don’t go
Daddy come home
Mama don’t go
Daddy come home

Rolling Stones – Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)

Usually I favor the original version of songs. I would say 9 out of 10 times I do but the Stones covered Just My Imagination and I must admit I like the Stones version a little more than the Temptations….and I LOVE the Temptations. I’m in the minority in this one I’m sure.

This was a song our band covered and covered. I probably have played it more than Mick ever did. That may be the reason I like this one more.

The Stones covered this in 1978 for their album Some Girls. It wasn’t the first time they covered a Temptations song…. in 1974 they covered “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,” and had a hit peaking at #17 in the Billboard 100. That song was a little stronger than this one but I like how they roughed this one up.

Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote this song and it was released in 1971 by the Temptations. You really can’t compare the two versions…they are apples and oranges. The Temptation version peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #8 in the UK, and #72 in Canada…#72 Canada?

This was not released as a single in the US.

For The US Office fans….This was used in the season 4 finale, “Goodbye, Toby.” Darryl sings it at Toby’s goodbye party when Jim almost proposes to Pam.

Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)

I look out my window, watch her as she passes by
And I say to myself I’m such a lucky guy
To have a girl like her is a dream come true
And of all the girls in New York she loves me true

I’ll tell ya, it was just my imagination, once again
Running away with me
It was just my imagination
Running away with me

Well soon we’ll be married and raise a family
Two boys for you, what about two girls for me
I say I am just a fellow with a one track mind
Whatever it is I want to baby, I seek and I shall find

I’ll tell ya, it was just my imagination, once again
Running away with me
It was just my imagination
Running away with me

Every night I hope and pray
Dear Lord, hear my plea
Don’t ever let another take her love from me
Or I will surely die

Her love is ecstasy
When her arms enfold me
I hear her tender rhapsody
But in reality, she doesn’t even know me

It was just my imagination
Running away with me
It was just my imagination
Running away with me

I’ll tell ya, it was just my imagination, once again
Running away with me
It was just my imagination
Running away with me
Running away with me

It was just my imagination, once again
Running away with me
I can tell ya it was just my imagination
Running away with me, running away with me
Running away, running away, running away, running away with me
Running away, running away, running away, running away with me
Running away, running away…

Chi-Lites – Oh Girl

I hope everyone had a great Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Boxing day. My first non-holiday post since last week…we will start off with the smooth ool soul sound of the Chi-Lites.

This song is a perfect soul/pop song. I need to dive into the Chi-Lites catalog more because the two I know from them the most are this one and Have You Seen Her?

I never knew how to prounce their name until I found this bit of info…you pronounce it Shy-Lites“… This song could be the definition of 1970s soul music. I never knew for sure if it was “shy” Chi like Chicago.

Oh Girl was written and sung by group leader Eugene Record. The other three Chi-Lites contributed harmonies. Eugene wasn’t enamored of the song after he wrote it but it soon would prove to be his most successful. Eugene, Robert “Squirrel” Lester, and Clarence Johnson formed the doo wop group the Chanteurs in the late ’50s.

In 1964…they changed their name to Marshall & the Chi-Lites, adding the “C” as tribute to their hometown Chicago. By the end of the year, Johnson had left the group and the remaining quartet shortened their name to the Chi-Lites. Over the next four years, the group continued to perform and release independent singles, with Record slowly emerging as the group’s lead singer, songwriter, and producer.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #1 in the R&B Charts, #9 in Canada, and #3 in the UK in 1972.

Members have come and gone in the band. Eugene Record passed away in 2005. The band is still out there performing with Marshall Thompson as the lone original member.

I remember in the 1980s that Paul Young did a really good version of this song. Others to cover this song was Leo Sayer and Smokey Robinson.

Eugene Record: “I gave Carl Davis 7 songs on a tape and he called me to say there’s a #1 tune on there. I named them all before ‘Oh Girl’ and I thought he was kidding.”

Oh Girl

Oh, girl
I’d be in trouble if you left me now
‘Cause I don’t know where to look for love
I just don’t know how

Oh, girl
How I depend on you
To give me love when I need it
Right on time you would always be

All my friends call me a fool
They say, “Let the woman take care of you”
So I try to be hip and think like the crowd
But even the crowd can’t help me now, oh…oh…oh…oh…oh…oh…

Oh, girl
Tell me what am I gonna do
I know I’ve got a guilty face
Girl, I feel so out of place, oh, yeah…yeah…

Don’t know where to go, who to see, yeah

Oh, girl
I guess I better go
I can save myself a lot of useless tears
Girl, I’ve gotta get away from here

Oh, girl
Pain will double if you leave me now
‘Cause I don’t know where to look for love
And I don’t, I don’t know how

Oh, yeah
Mmm…hmm…

Oh, girl
Why do I love you so, yeah
Mmm…
Better be on my way, I can’t stay

Have you ever seen such a helpless man
Oh…oh…no…

Bing Crosby – Silent Night

This song is not only my favorite Christmas Carol… I think it’s up there with the best songs ever written. I hope everyone has a great Christmas/Holiday.

There are over 26,000 different versions of “Silent Night” on Spotify, meaning you could listen to a different rendition of the carol every night for 72 years.

Halfway through December 1818, the church organ in St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, 11 miles north of Salzburg in what is now Austria, broke (a popular version of the story claims that mice had eaten out the bellows). The curate, 26-year-old Josef Mohr, realized it couldn’t be repaired in time to provide music on Christmas Eve. He told his troubles to his friend, a headmaster and amateur composer named Franz Gruber, while giving him as a present a poem he had written two years earlier. Gruber was so taken by the rhythm of the poem that he set it to music, and on Christmas Eve there was music after all. Mohr played his guitar while the pair sang the song. It was the first public performance of “Stille Nacht” or as we know it “Silent Night.”

It is believed that Silent Night has been translated into over 300 languages around the world, and it is one of the most popular carols of all time.

From Songfacts

Bing Crosby’s version became his best-seller of the 1930s.

Music licensing company PPL announced in December 2010 that this carol tops the list of Britain’s “most recorded Christmas song of all time.” Said Mike Dalby, Lead Reporting Analyst at PPL: “Silent Night is a beautiful carol which encapsulates the feeling of Christmas entirely. Everyone from punk band The Dickies right through to Sinead O’Connor has recorded it, which exemplifies just how much it resonates with all different types of artists.”

According to PPL, Sinead O’Connor’s 1991 recording was the most popular version of the carol in Britain.

When the organ builder finally did show up to repair the St. Nicholas organ, he was given a copy of the “Silent Night” composition and brought it home. From there, traveling folk singers got a hold of it and began incorporating the carol into their repertoire. It didn’t make its way to America until 1839.

As the song gained traction throughout Europe, Franz Gruber composed several different orchestral arrangements. He donated all profits from the carol to local charities for children and the elderly, and eventually died penniless.

According to Steve Sullivan’s Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Crosby, a devout Catholic, refused to record the religious song, arguing it would be “like cashing in on the church or the Bible.” Crosby met with Father Richard Ranaghan, a priest trying to raise money for overseas missions, and decided to donate the royalties to the cause. But Ranaghan died in a car accident later that year, so the money went to several charities throughout the US and abroad.

This song lends itself to interpretation because the first four bars are all on the same chord. Jim Brickman explains: “There’s room to treat it dynamically in a different way: in the tempo, in the sounds and silences, in the time signature.”

Silent Night

Silent night, holy night.
All is calm, all is bright.
‘Round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy infant so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

The Pretenders – 2000 Miles

Good morning everyone and I hope you have a great Christmas.

The guitar in this song is haunting…

This song is actually Hynde’s tribute to guitarist and founding band member James Honeyman-Scott, who died of a drug overdose in 1982 at the age of 25.

“2000 Miles” was released as a single in December of 1983 and appeared as the 10th track of The Pretenders’ Learning to Crawl album. The single was popular in the UK, where it peaked at #15 on the UK Singles Chart. Learning to Crawl peaked at #5 in the Billboard 200 albums chart.

In 2014, while finishing up her album Stockholm, Hynde collaborated with Bjorn Yttling on an updated version of “2000 Miles. It was released as a Christmas single in the UK that December.

2000 Miles

He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you The children will sing
He’ll be back at Christmas timeIn these frozen and silent nights
Sometimes in a dream you appear
Outside under the purple sky
Diamonds in the snow sparkle
Our hearts were singing
It felt like Christmas timeTwo thousand miles
Is very far through the snow
I’ll think of you
Wherever you go

He’s gone two thousand miles
It’s very far
The snow is falling down
Gets colder day by day
I miss you

I can hear people singing
It must be Christmas time
I hear people singing
It must be Christmas time

Jackson 5 – Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Merry Christmas to the entire wordpress world. This is a great community we have going on and I hope everyone has a wonderful day today.

I just heard the Jackson 5 version again yesterday. Every year I usually post the Bruce version…that one is my favorite version but I wanted to changed it up this year.

I’ve never been a huge Michael Jackson fan except with the Jackson 5. He was immensely talented and had some great selling albums. Maybe it was just being burned out hearing him.. The Jackson 5 though I really liked and still do. I thought they had some great pop/soul/bubblegum singles in the early to mid seventies.

This version was released in 1970 and it peaked at #46 in the Billboard 100 and it came off the album Jackson 5 Christmas Album. The album peaked at #53 in the Billboard Album Charts and #45 in Canada.

According to Wiki: The album spent four weeks at the number one position on Billboard magazine’s special Christmas Albums chart that the magazine published in December 1970, making it the best-selling Christmas album of that year and also of the year 1972 in the United States.

According to a Top 30 list released by the performance rights organization ASCAP in December 2014, this is the most-performed holiday song of all time. “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” was ranked second and “White Christmas” third.

This was written in 1932 by Haven Gillespie and J. Fred Coots. They had trouble convincing anyone to produce it because it was seen as a kids’ song, which would have been very hard to sell. The big break came when Eddie Cantor sang it on his radio show in 1934, and the song became an instant hit. Coots was a writer for Cantor’s show and pushed for the host to perform it. Cantor was going to pass on the song but was convinced by his wife, Ida, to give it a try.

One of the most successful Christmas carols of all time, this was outsold only by “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “White Christmas.”

Santa Clause Is Coming To Town

Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I’m telling you why

Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

He is making a list
And checking it twice
Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice

Santa Claus is comin’ to town, oh yeah
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake

Oh, you d better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I’m telling you why

Oh, Santa Claus is comin’ to town, oh yeah
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town, woo hoo

Woo hoo
Woo hoo
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

Little tin horns
And little toy drums
Rooty-toot-toot
And rump-a-tum-tums
Curly-haired dolls
That tootle and coo
Elephants, boats and kiddie cars too

Oh, Santa Claus is comin’ to town, oh yeah
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

One more time now

Santa Claus is comin’ to town, oh yeah
Santa Claus is comin’ to town
Santa Claus is comin’ to town

…

Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmastime

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve. I looked back and I’ve never posted this song before. It’s never been my favorite Christmas song but it has grown on me through the years.

This song was recorded during the sessions for the McCartney II album which featured Coming Up. Paul went to his farm and laid down all the tracks himself. He was experimenting with an early synthesizer called a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, which was also used on Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes” and the Doobie Brothers’ “What a Fool Believes.”

Released as a single, it peaked at #6 in the UK, #39 in Canada, and #28 in the Billboard 100 in 1979. It took him just ten minutes to write the song.

Although the members of Wings do not feature on the song, they do appear in the song’s music video, which was filmed at the Fountain Inn in Ashurst, West Sussex. McCartney recalled to NME in 2012… “We went out to some pub somewhere, and so that was a laugh… we just run out of the pub occasionally, filmed a bit, and then went back into the pub. So that was quite a nice evening!”

Diana Ross, Demi Lovato, Kelly Rowland, Hanson and The Monkees have all made their own versions.

The Monkees did a stripped down version of this song without the synth that is really good.

Here is the Monkees version in 2018

Wonderful Christmastime

The moon is right
The spirits up
We’re here tonight
And that’s enough
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The party’s on
The feelin’s here
That only comes
This time of year

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The choir of children sing their song
Ding dong, ding dong
Ding dong, ding ooo
Ooo ooo toot toot toot toot toot toot

We’re simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The word is out
About the town
To lift a glass
Ah don’t look down

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The choir of children sing their song
They practiced all year long
Ding dong, ding dong
Ding dong, ding dong
Ding dong, ding dong, dong, dong, dong, dong

The party’s on
The spirits up
We’re here tonight
And that’s enough

Simply having a wonderful Christmastime
We’re simply having a wonderful Christmastime

The moon is right
The spirits up
We’re here tonight
Oh and that’s enough

We’re simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime
Simply having a wonderful Christmastime

Oh oh
Christmastime

Bing Crosby & David Bowie – Peace On Earth / The Little Drummer Boy

I know what I was doing on November 30, 1977. I was watching Merrie Olde Christmas special as a kid. I didn’t appreciate the weirdness of the combination of Bing Crosby and David Bowie at the time. Something that the seventies did well and sometimes bad…was to intersect generations on variety shows. This one was a good combination.

This special had guest stars Twiggy, David Bowie, Ron Moody, Stanley Baxter, and The Trinity Boys Choir. It was the duet with Bing Crosby and David Bowie that has been remembered. I remember watching this knowing that Bing Crosby had died the month earlier. The duet was taped on September 11, 1977, and Crosby died on October 14, 1977.

David Bowie’s mother was a huge Bing Crosby fan and Bing Crosby’s children were big David Bowie fans…so the two agreed to sing together. It was questionable at first if it would work out.

Mary Crosby: “The doors opened and David walked in with his wife,” she recalled. “They were both wearing full-length mink coats, they have matching full makeup and their hair was bright red. We were thinking, ‘Oh my god.'” Nathaniel Crosby, Bing’s son, added: “It almost didn’t happen. I think the producers told him to take the lipstick off and take the earring out. It was just incredible to see the contrast.”

Another possible hitch happened with Bowie. He didn’t like The Little Drummer Boy and refused to sing it. The writers then wrote a revised version of the song that he liked. They wrote a counterpart section for Bowie to sing. Crosby liked the challenge of his part. The rest is history and one of the most unusual pairings you will ever see…

One funny part is Bowie’s idea of “older fellas” at the time is John Lennon and Harry Nilsson.

The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)

Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Our finest gifts we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum

[Verse 2: Bowie and Crosby]
Peace on Earth can it be?
Come they told me pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Years from now, perhaps we’ll see?
A newborn king to see pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day of glory
Our finest gift we bring pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day, when men of good will
To lay before the king pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, Rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
So to honour him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Can it be
When we come

[Bridge: Bowie and Crosby in unison]
Every child must be made aware
Every child must be made to care
Care enough for his fellow man
To give all the love that he can

[Verse 4: Bowie and Crosby]
I pray my wish will come true
Little baby pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
For my child and your child too
I stood beside him there pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
He’ll see the day of glory
I played my drum for him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
See the day when men of good will
I played my best for him pa-rum-pum-pum-pum
Live in peace, live in peace again
Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum
Peace on Earth
Me and my drum
Can it be

Can it be

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! We always have our Christmas on Christmas Eve night. Some of the family comes over and we all celebrate. My nephew has three children and one is only 3 years old so we will have a good time. This year my son is in Germany visiting his girlfriend so it’s our first Christmas without him…that part is hard but we will enjoy this Christmas Eve.

Watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer every year is the same as setting up the tree. Every year I would look forward to seeing this along with the others but what a fantastic durable show this has been. When I hear Burl Ives in anything…I think of him as the narrator Sam the Snowman of this program.

I’ve marked out some time to watch this tonight during our Christmas Eve party.

The characters are wonderful. Well except those other young reindeer who really come down on Rudolph when his nose lights up.

Hermey the elf who wants to be a dentist
Clarice – The reindeer who likes Rudolph just as he is red nose and all.
Yukon Cornelius the prospector who loves silver and gold and has a tongue that can find his silver and gold.
Abominable Snowman – The bad guy of the show who only needs a dentist to make him a good guy.
Head Elf – He leans on Hermey to get his elf self-act together and discourages him from being a dentist…I never liked him too much.

Throughout the special, Yukon Cornelius is seen throwing his pickaxe into the ground, taking it out and licking it. It turns out that he is checking for neither gold nor silver; Yukon was actually searching for an elusive peppermint mine. In a scene right at the end of the special’s original broadcast, deleted the next year to make room for the Misfit Toys’ new scene, Cornelius pulled his pick from the ground, licked it and said, “Peppermint! What I’ve been searching for all my life! I’ve struck it rich! I’ve got me a peppermint mine! Wahoo!” The scene was restored in 1998 and has been reinstated in all the subsequent home video release except for the 2004 DVD release. However, this scene is still cut from recent televised airings.

The Island of Misplaced Toys got to me when I was a kid. I really felt sorry for these lonely toys. King Moonracer was over the island and tried to convinced Rudolph to tell Santa about them so he could pick them up and find kids who would play with them.

The original 1964 airing did not include the closing scene where Santa picks up the misfit toys. That scene was added in 1965, in response to complaints that Santa was not shown fulfilling his promise to include them in his annual delivery.

The stop animation in this works really well.

The songs are really good. Silver and Gold, Holly Jolly Christmas, Jingle Jingle Jingle, We Are Santa’s Elves, There’s Always Tomorrow, We’re a Couple of Misfits and The Most Wonderful Day of the Year.

https://christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Rudolph_the_Red-Nosed_Reindeer_(Rankin/Bass)

Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody

Merry Christmas Everybody… for all of the UK readers…I know I know…you are so tired of it. I’ve only heard it for the past three years or so. There are a few Christmas songs along with Alices Restaurant that I reblog every year…and this is one of them. I have this on our music list at Christmas and we love it.

This is fast becoming my favorite rock Christmas song second only to John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War Is Over)

This is a great Christmas song that was released in 1973 and ever since it re-enters the charts every December in the UK. The song never hit in America but it went to #1 in the UK Charts. I first heard it on a Doctor Who episode in the mid-2000s and have liked it ever since.

This was based on a psychedelic song, “My Rocking Chair,” which Noddy Holder wrote in 1967. In 1973 the Slade vocalist decided to convert it into a Christmas song after a night out drinking at a local pub.

He and the band’s bass player and co-writer Jimmy Lea camped out at Noddy’s mother’s house and got down to changing the lyrics to make them more Christmassy. Jimmy Lea incorporated into the verse parts of another song which he was then writing and Noddy re-wrote the words incorporating different aspects of the Christmas holiday season as they came to mind.

This went straight in at #1 in the UK, selling over 300,000 copies on the day of its release, making it at the time the fastest ever selling record in Britain. It eventually became Slade’s best-ever selling single in the UK, selling over a million copies.

In the UK this has become a standard, and it is usually reissued in its original form each Christmas. On several occasions, the song has re-entered the Top 40.

UK copyright collection society and performance rights organization PRS For Music estimated in 2009 that 42 percent of the earth’s population has heard this tune.

The song was written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea of Slade. It was produced by Chas Chandler formerly of the Animals.

Noddy Holder: “I wrote the original verse with the lyrics, ‘Buy me a rocking chair, I’ll watch the world go by. Bring me a mirror, I’ll look you in the eye,’ in 1967 in the aftermath of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper,” I was being psychedelic. Dave (Hill) wrote another part to the song but it didn’t work so we put it away. Then in 1973 he remembered my verse one day when we were trying to write a Christmas single. We changed the words to, ‘Are you hanging up your stocking on the wall?’ and the rest fell into place.”

From Songfacts.

When Noddy Holder wrote the line “Look to the future now, it’s only just begun,” he had in mind the strikes that were blighting Britain at the time. He told the Daily Mail On Sunday November 10, 2007: “We’d decided to write a Christmas song and I wanted to make it reflect a British family Christmas. Economically, the country was up the creek. The miners had been on strike, along with the gravediggers, the bakers and almost everybody else. I think people wanted something to cheer them up – and so did I. That’s why I came up with the line.”

The harmonium used on this is the same one that John Lennon used on his Mind Games album, which was being recorded at the studio next door.

This was recorded at the Record Plant studios in New York while the band were on a tour of the States in the summer of 1973. When they recorded the vocals, they sang the chorus on the stairs in order to achieve the echo that they required. Guitarist Jimmy Lea recalled to Uncut magazine in 2012: “All these Americans were walking past in their suits thinking we were off our rockers singing about Christmas in the summer.”

Producer Chas Chandler opened the song with a howl recorded during some of Noddy Holder’s vocal exercises.

A few months before Slade recorded this song, drummer Don Powell was badly injured in a car crash. Though his physical recovery was quick, the mental scars took longer to heal. Noddy Holder explained to The Daily Mail December 18, 2009: “The doctors told us to get him playing drums again as soon as possible to boost his confidence. But he was suffering from short-term memory loss – he could remember our old songs, but not the new ones. So, instead of recording live, we built up Merry Xmas Everybody layer by layer. That gave it a more poignant, restrained sound. It was something new for us. But the fates were with us and it became our biggest hit.”

Noddy Holder’s earliest childhood memory served as inspiration for one of the song’s lines. He recalled to the Mail On Sunday’s Live magazine: “As a lad we used to knock sleds with old orange boxes and go tobogganing down this big old quarry in the snow at Christmas. It was the inspiration for the line ‘are you hoping that the snow will start to fall.’”

I want that hat he starts off with… in this video…very subtle.

Merry Christmas Everybody

Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
It’s the time that every Santa has a ball
Does he ride a red nosed reindeer?
Does a ‘ton up’ on his sleigh
Do the fairies keep him sober for a day?

Chorus:
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

Are you waiting for the family to arrive?
Are you sure you got the room to spare inside?
Does your granny always tell ya that the old are the best?
Then she’s up and rock ‘n’ rollin’ with the rest

Chorus:
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

What will your daddy do
When he sees your Mama kissin’ Santa Claus?
Ah ah

Are you hanging up a stocking on your wall?
Are you hoping that the snow will start to fall?
Do you ride on down the hillside in a buggy you have made?
When you land upon your head then you’ve been slayed

Chorus (4x)
So here it is merry Christmas
Everybody’s having fun
Look to the future now
It’s only just begun

…