I love unions like this…I will start to have some holiday posts mixed in on the way to Christmas as a second post like this one. In 1977 Bowie released his album Low at the beginning of the year and he toured as Iggy Pop’s keyboardist that year.
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…was to intersect generations on variety shows. This one was a great 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, 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.
Here is the complete show if you want to give it a try
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
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I do remember seeing that when I was a kid live…I got a kick out of it. I was actually a Bowie fan when I was a pre & young teenager. He was different, we seem to like different when we’re young people.
I remember it as well… thats why I knew Bing’s name so well when he passed a few weeks later.
Don’t forget those ‘Minute Maid’ commercials…lol.
Oh thats right!
Awesome Max! 😎
A duet that, at least in the Ziggy Stardust period, you would never believe would happen. Bing and Frank Zappa would have seemed as likely.
Love this!
John Lennon and Harry Neilson are the older songs that Bowie listened to.
yep, a classic and how good they got it filmed in advance, as it turns out. Gotta side with David B on it, that Drummer boy is one of my least favorite Christmas songs but they make it sound pretty decent … and it quickly became a real piece of holiday history.
Dave…we are on the same page…Drummer boy is one of my least favorites…i like it once in a while but not as much as some of the others. John had a version on his site I really liked recently with a choir.
(‘Drummer Boy’ hits all the bum bum ba rup a bum bum notes.)
I always wonder what it would look like if he showed up dressed as Ziggy Stardust. That said, and even knowing a lot of the background behind it, there was something good about this. They were pros about it.
They were pros… I would have loved to seen him like that…that would have made it even further out.
An odd mix, sure, but sometimes it gels.
It’s so surreal…it doesn’t seem real.
I’ve a loved this gorgeous rendition…it gives me chills every time I hear it. I remember the first time…at first I couldn’t get over the odd pairing…how uncomfortable Crosby looks at first…but then Bowies tenor cuts through the tension and Crosby gives the faintest smile. Their voices blend and gel. It was, and still is, a powerful testament to the goodwill music can bring.
The combining of the songs was brilliant as well. It’s so surreal to see them together but it works.
Just an incredible story and credit to the writers for coming up with such a brilliant arrangement on the spot like that. One of my favorite things to watch every Christmas.
I’ve never seen the whole show but I do remember the video for the single. Yes, it was an unusual combination to say the least.
An odd pairing but it worked surprisingly well. That dialogue between Bing Crosby and David Bowie where Bowie tells him about “the older fellows” he’s listening to, i.e., John Lennon and Harry Nilsson, is hilarious!
It really is…I remember when this was originally on…
Always good at this time of the year.
Mary Crosby must have met David a few years earlier because by 1977 he had finished with the red hair, lipstick and wife for that matter.
Yes you are right. Every year I do get someone saying…they wish it would have been Ziggy and Bing.
This is my favorite Christmas song. Pitting the old artists with the new (at the time) made for a great and interesting duo.
It was one of my memories from childhood…now I look back…of course I didn’t realize how strange this was.
I’m a huge Bowie fan, but this…it’s nice…my fave Christmas tune right now, Christmas Wrapping, Iggy and Kylie…
Only in the 1970s could this have happened…
Tears streaming watching and listening. I appreciate the background into.
It is sad in a lot of ways…but it could have only happened in that wonderful decade!
Wonderful!
Thanks for stopping by!