There have been many versions of this great story. I would safely say this is the most popular Christmas story of them all. This is the version that I like the most. The great Alastair Sim plays Ebenezer Scrooge and he is the reason I like this so much. When I think of the Scrooge… I think of him. I like a lot of other renditions of this story but this one is my goto version.
The movie is in black and white which turns some people off but it makes it that much better to me. They do have a color version but trust me…watch the black and white version. It gives the movie a darker feeling.
The effects they use are obviously not CGI but they get the point across well and serve the story. I like the scene where the ghost of Jacob Marley is warning Ebenezer of being greedy…the two were not on the set at the same time…it looked really good for being 1951…or anytime for that matter.
So get some eggnog or hot butter rum and sit back and watch this great movie.
From IMDB…spoilers
Ebenezer Scrooge (Alastair Sim) is a greedy businessman who thinks only of making money. For him, Christmas is, in his own words, a humbug. It has been seven years since his friend and partner, Jacob Marley (Sir Michael Hordern), died and on Christmas Eve. Marley’s ghost tells him he is to be visited during the night by three spirits. The Ghost of Christmas Past (Michael Dolan) revisits some of the main events in Scrooge’s life to date, including his unhappy childhood, his happy apprenticeship to Mr. Fezziwig (Roddy Hughes), who cared for his employees, and the end of his engagement to a pretty young woman due to a growing love of money. The Ghost of Christmas Present (Francis De Wolff) shows him how joyously is nephew Fred (Brian Worth) and his clerk, Bob Cratchit (Mervyn Johns), celebrate Christmas with those they love. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come (Czeslaw Konarski) shows him what he will leave behind after he is gone. Scrooge awakens on Christmas morning, a new man intent on doing good and celebrating the season with all of those around him.
We are entering the new decade. This is the year I became a teenager and I was looking forward to the 1980s. It started off terrible in December of 1980. John Lennon was murdered for no reason. As the decade went on my love for the top 40 practically vanished in around 84-85. This is the decade that I found alternative music like The Replacements and R.E.M. This is the decade of big hair, one glove, parachute pants, synths, and yes some good music came out of it.
John Lennon – (Just Like) Starting Over. Great song but every time I hear it…it’s December 1980 again and I’m watching news stories about Lennon’s death. Double Fantasy was a strong comeback album for John…a little more Yoko than I would have liked but a good album all the same. John would have been 83 if he would have lived.
When it was released Ringo had said John Lennon sounds like Elvis at the beginning of this song…then he said no…he doesn’t sound like Elvis…he IS Elvis. John Lennon himself said: “All through the taping of ‘Starting Over,’ I was calling what I was doing ‘Elvis Orbison.’ It’s like Dylan doing Nashville Skyline, except I don’t have any Nashville, being from Liverpool. So I go back to the records I know – Elvis and Roy Orbison and Gene Vincent and Jerry Lee Lewis.”
ACDC – Back In Black -The album Back In Black was very popular. I think it was a requirement for every teenage boy to own a copy or two all over the world.
The rock band I was in my Sophomore year in high school played this song in our first gig in the school theater. We had the only singer around who could actually sing it. The riff to the song is one of the more memorable ones in rock.
This was the first AC/DC single and album featuring new lead singer Brian Johnson. He replaced Bon Scott, who died on February 19, 1980, after a drinking binge. Scott’s father made it clear to the band that they should find a new singer and keep going.
Bruce Springsteen released The River this year. The title track of the album is one of the most depressing but best songs ever…the reason is because it’s so true.
Bruce saves the best for last though. He is talking about the dreams we have when we are younger about what we are going to do in life until life wakes us up with a bang…at least that is what I interrupt.
Now those memories come back to haunt me They haunt me like a curse Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true Or is it something worse
Queen – Another One Bites The Dust – Supposedly Steve McQueen is Steve in the opening lyrics. Steve died the year this was released on November 7, 1980. You couldn’t go anywhere in 1980 without hearing someone sing, whistle, or hum this song. I remember the high school band did a version of it. Queen released The Game in 1980 and it was huge here.
Brian May: “Freddie sung until his throat bled on Another One Bites The Dust. He was so into it. He wanted to make that song something special.”
Motorhead – Ace Of Spades. I’m not a huge Motorhead fan and it’s a bit harder music than I usually listen to… but I do like this song. I also like any interview of Lemmy I’ve ever listened to. After playing this for years, Lemmy admitted he was sick of the song, but said he kept it in the setlist because, “If I went to a Little Richard concert, I’d expect to hear Long Tall Sally.”
Dave has asked us…The magic that is Christmas is that you can invite any musician (or person from the music world) to be your guest. Even if they’ve passed away, they can be at your table for a meal and a few stories. So, who would you invite? And any little musical gift you hope they might possibly come with?
Well, I’m cheating a bit…my Christmas guest left the earth in 1964 and yes, he was a musician…just not a rock musician. He played the harp and played it quite well…his nickname even contained that name…Harpo Marx. But Max…why not a rock musician? If I had to pick a rock musician, it would be one of two people. John Lennon or Keith Moon. I would say Lennon would be my number one choice but I wanted to go a different route.
Why am I picking Harpo? He hung out with the top artists, writers, musicians, and athletes of his time. He was always at peace with himself. He has said he never had a bad night’s sleep. The guy was close to what you see on screen. He had so many stories about his life that just those would keep you entertained. There are more reasons…but here are some of the things he did.
The man was born in 1888 and grew up in New York. He didn’t graduate from high school…no, he jumped out the window of his second-grade classroom and never went back to his teacher Miss Flatto. Did the lack of education stop him in life? No, not at all as you will see.
In 1909 his mother Minnie roped him into appearing on stage with his brothers in a singing play. He was dressed in a duck suit and promptly peed in his pants. “Coney Island, New York. Made my debut at Henderson’s and peed in my pants. I felt shamed and disgraced, but Minnie wouldn’t let me quit the act on any such flimsy pretext. She hung my trousers out to dry in the sea breeze between shows. By the second show, I was much less scared, so enthusiastic in fact that everybody was afraid I might sing. But I didn’t. I just opened my mouth when Groucho did.”
The brothers hit the vaudeville circuit and any rock stars who say their beginning was rough…they don’t know what rough is. The Brothers would stay in boarding houses when possible but sometimes slept in the park. They ate food that was infested with bugs and people treated them terribly because show people were frowned upon at that time. They were in Vaudeville from 1909 to 1924. That was a lot of hard living and the brothers were in their mid-thirties before they hit Broadway.
The review that would change Harpo’s life came in 1924 in their first play (I’ll Say She Is) to make Broadway. The review was written by the author Alexander Woollcott. He wrote glowingly about all the brothers, but Harpo is the one he singled out. Woollcott met Harpo backstage and soon introduced Harpo to some of the most sophisticated writers and artists of that time. Harpo soon became a member of the Algonquin Round Table. That was where witty and cutting remarks flowed like water. Groucho said it was like falling in a den of lions. Some of the regulars were Dorothy Parker, Alexander Woollcott, Heywood Broun, Robert Benchley, Robert Sherwood, George S. Kaufman, Franklin P. Adams, Marc Connelly, Harold Ross, and Russell Crouse. Harpo has said that he was a professional listener. Despite only having a 2nd grade education he could hold his own and was a vivacious reader.
Kaufman would co-write 2 plays for the brothers, The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers. They were Broadway smashes and soon the brothers would be making movie versions of both. In 1929 they made The Cocoanuts movie in New York while acting in Animal Crackers on Broadway. They would make Animal Crackers next and then move to Hollywood. Their film career lasted from 1929 to 1949 with a movie called Love Happy with Marilyn Monroe. They made 13 in all.
Harpo was a happy bachelor until he met Susan Fleming in 1932 and they were married in 1936. He was very much like his character on the screen except he talked of course. He hung out with royalty, artists, and even toured Russia in 1933 and carried secret papers taped to his leg out of the country for America. He never found out what he risked is life for though. Some FBI agents got the papers as soon as he got to New York.
Harpo and Susan wanted children, so they adopted. Harpo had said he wanted a child in every window when he went to work. So, they adopted 4 kids and from all accounts…was one of the best dads you could possibly get. If he came home late, he would sometimes wake one of his children just to play games with them. None of his kids ever wrote books on how bad he was or ever said anything bad publicly. He did have a set of rules that he went by and had them pinned up. This is them and I had the same rules on our refrigerator when Bailey was small, although a few were altered because we had no pool table or harp.
Life has been created for you to enjoy, but you won’t enjoy it unless you pay for it with some good, hard work. This is one price that will never be marked down.
You can work at whatever you want to as long as you do it as well as you can and clean up afterwards and you’re at the table at mealtime and in bed at bedtime.
Respect what the others do. Respect Dad’s harp, Mom’s paints, Billy’s piano, Alex’s set of tools, Jimmy’s designs, and Minnie’s menagerie.
If anything makes you sore, come out with it. Maybe the rest of us are itching for a fight, too.
If anything strikes you as funny, out with that, too. Let’s all the rest of us have a laugh.
If you have an impulse to do something that you’re not sure is right, go ahead and do it. Take a chance. Chances are, if you don’t you’ll regret it – unless you break the rules about mealtime and bedtime, in which case you’ll sure as hell regret it.
If it’s a question of whether to do what’s fun or what is supposed to be good for you, and nobody is hurt whichever you do, always do what’s fun.
If things get too much for you and you feel the whole world’s against you, go stand on your head. If you can think of anything crazier to do, do it.
Don’t worry about what other people think. The only person in the world important enough to conform to is yourself.
Anybody who mistreats a pet or breaks a pool cue is docked a months pay.
Harpo played in some of the seediest joints you could imagine and had to endure a lot of antisemitism, but he was loved by all around him including children and animals.
His son Bill, who is a talented musician, released a book a few years ago. He said in 1964 that Harpo loved The Beatles when they first arrived. Bill was a professional piano player and he didn’t think The Beatles would last. Harpo told him that he better get used to them because they would be remembered in history because they were starting something new. Bill said six years later he was playing a gig and many of his songs were Beatle songs. He thought… “Dad was right again” while playing Let It Be.
Here is an intro that Harpo wrote to Harpo Speaks…I thought you would enjoy this…he gives a brief story of him.
I’ve played piano in a whorehouse. I’ve smuggled secret papers out of Russia. I’ve spent an evening on the divan with Peggy Hopkins Joyce. I’ve taught a gangster mob how to play Pinchie Winchie. I’ve played croquet with Herbert Bayard Swope while he kept Governor Al Smith waiting on the phone. I’ve gambled with Nick the Greek, sat on the floor with Greta Carbo, sparred with Benny Leonard, horsed around with the Prince of Wales, played Ping-pong with George Gershwin. George Bernard Shaw has asked me for advice. Oscar Levant has played private concerts for me at a buck a throw. I have golfed with Ben Hogan and Sam Snead. I’ve basked on the Riviera with Somerset Maugham and Elsa Maxwell. I’ve been thrown out of the casino at Monte Carlo. Flush with triumph at the poker table, I’ve challenged Alexander Woollcott to anagrams and Alice Duer Miller to a spelling match. I’ve given lessons to some of the world’s greatest musicians. I’ve been a member of the two most famous Round Tables since the days of King Arthur—sitting with the finest creative minds of the 1920s at the Algonquin in New York, and with Hollywood’s sharpest professional wits at the Hillcrest. (Later in the book, some of these activities don’t seem quite so impressive when I tell the full story. Like what I was doing on the divan with Peggy Hopkins Joyce. I was reading the funnies to her.) The truth is, I had no business doing any of these things. I couldn’t read a note of music. I never finished the second grade. But I was having too much fun to recognize myself as an ignorant upstart. I can’t remember ever having a bad meal. I’ve eaten in William Randolph Hearst’s baronial dining room at San Simeon, at Voisin’s and the Colony, and the finest restaurants in Paris. But the eating place I remember best, out of the days when I was chronically half starved, is a joint that was called Max’s Busy Bee. At the Busy Bee, a salmon sandwich on rye cost three cents per square foot, and for four cents more you could buy a strawberry shortcake smothered with whipped cream and a glass of lemonade. But the absolutely most delicious food I ever ate was prepared by the most inspired chef I ever knew—my father. My father had to be inspired because he had so little to work with. I can’t remember ever having a poor night’s sleep. I’ve slept in villas at Cannes and Antibes, at Alexander Woollcott’s island hideaway in Vermont, at the mansions of the Vanderbilts and Otto H. Kahn and in the Gloversville, New York, jail. I’ve slept on pool tables, dressing-room tables, piano tops, bathhouse benches, in rag baskets and harp cases, and four abreast in upper berths. I have known the supreme luxury of snoozing in the July sun, on the lawn, while the string of a flying kite tickled the bottom of my feet.
I can’t remember ever seeing a bad show. I’ve seen everything from Coney Island vaudeville to the Art Theatre in Moscow. If I’m trapped in a theatre and a show starts disappointingly, I have a handy way to avoid watching it. I fall asleep. My only addictions—and I’ve outgrown them all—have been to pocket billiards, croquet, poker, bridge and black jelly beans. I haven’t smoked for twenty years.
The only woman I’ve ever been in love with is still married to me.
My only Alcohol Problem is that I don’t particularly care for the stuff.
Who wouldn’t want to talk to this man? Thank you…and as far as a musical gift… I would love to hear Harpo play either the Harp, or piano, or just tell me Vaudeville stories!
I found this song back in September while researching Ironman by Black Sabbath…this is a Christmas heavy metal song. deKE this is for you.
Bob Rivers was a DJ who made some novelty records…He released this in 1993. If you want to learn more about Bob…who was elected this year to the Radio Hall Of Fame.
If you want to know more about Bob Rivers go to https://bobrivers.com/ it is worth the read.
This song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Heat Charts, #23 on the Billboard Holiday Charts, and #106 on the Billboard 100 in 1993.
I Am Santa Claus
I am Santa Claus
Ho ho ho ho ho
Flying Through the snow Can you hear him ho ho ho He’s so full of cheer Only has to work one day a year
Children in their beds Visions of sugar plums fill their heads So many kids out there Santa must be a billionare
Red suit, boots of black Big sack of toys hanging off his back How much does he weigh How do the reindeer pull his sleigh
Nobody sees him As he travels the world
Leaving his presents For the good boys and girls
Ho ho ho ho ho
Sees every move you make Better be good for goodness sake Leave him cookies and beer He’ll be back to your house first next year
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. 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.
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.”
Noddy Holder: “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
Before I start…I have the complete show and the making of it at the bottom of the post! Just in case you cannot find it anywhere.After this week is over I’ll go back to posting one post a day during the week for the most part…
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. Plus the movie means a lot because my mom and I would watch it together and her name was Clarice like Rudolph’s girlfriend.
The characters are wonderful. Well except those other young reindeer who really come down on Rudolph when his nose lights up. There was absolutely NO need for that. cough coughvenisoncough. (just joking!)
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. I love this guy…all he wants is a peppermint mine! 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 throws his pickaxe into the ground, taking it out and licking it. It turns out he is checking for neither gold nor silver… Yukon was 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 releases 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 convince 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. I wish they would do more of it today. I truly like it better at times than CGI.
The songs are perfect. 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.
In the original TV version of the show, Rudolph, Hermey the elf, and Yukon Cornelius visit the Island of Misfit Toys and promise to help them, but the Misfits are never seen again, only mentioned as Santa’s first stop before he flies off in his sleigh. After it was shown, the producers were inundated with letters from children complaining that nothing had been done to help the Misfit Toys. In response, Rankin-Bass produced a new short scene at the end of the show in which Santa and his reindeer, led by Rudolph, land on the Island and pick up all the toys to find homes for them. This scene became a part of the standard version of the show run during the holidays.
Original puppets of Santa and young Rudolph from the 1964 production went on tour in November 2007. When purchased by their new owner, both were in poor condition – Santa had mold under his beard and half of his mustache was gone, while Rudolph’s nose was gone. The owner took them to stop-motion animation studio Screen Novelties International and restored them “as a labor of love” for expenses only — $4000. The puppets originally cost $5000 each in 1964 dollars.
I was at the grocery store this morning buying some water to take to work. A girl around 18-20 rang me up and this song started to play. She told me…”I know it’s Christmas when I hear this song.” I picked a good day to post it.
This is my favorite Christmas song hands down. This song gets me in the Christmas mood like no other. The song is highly idealistic but that is alright. It was the early seventies and the time for idealism.
In 1969 John and Yoko had rented billboard spaces in 12 major cities around the world, for the display of black-and-white posters that declared “WAR IS OVER! If You Want It – Happy Christmas from John & Yoko”. Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message…plus John said he was sick of White Christmas.
John’s voice goes so well with this song. The song peaked at #2 in the UK charts in 1971….the song did peak at #42 in the Billboard 100 in 2019.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this in their New York City hotel room and recorded it during the evening of October 28 and into the morning of the 29th, 1971 at the Record Plant in New York. It was released in the US for Christmas but didn’t chart. The next year, it was released in the UK, where it did much better, charting at #2. Eventually, the song became a Christmas classic in America, but it took a while.
Lennon originally wrote this as a protest song about the Vietnam War, and the idea “that we’re just as responsible as the man who pushes the button. As long as people imagine that somebody’s doing it to them and that they have no control, then they have no control.”
The children’s voices are the Harlem Community Choir, who were brought in to sing on this track. They are credited on the single along with Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band.
I think of High School when I hear this song. Our school had a Christmas poster contest and a buddy and I made a poster as a joke and wrote “So this is Christmas and what have you done another year over, and a new one just begun” and won first prize…with an assist from John.
This didn’t appear on an album until 1975, when it was included on Lennon’s Shaved Fish singles compilation. This is one of the first Lennon albums I bought.
Happy Xmas (War is Over)
(Happy Christmas Kyoko) (Happy Christmas Julian)
So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun And so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young
A very Merry Christmas And a happy new year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear
And so this is Christmas For weak and for strong For rich and the poor ones The world is so wrong And so happy Christmas For black and for white For yellow and red ones Let’s stop all the fight
A very Merry Christmas And a happy new year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear
And so this is Christmas And what have we done Another year over A new one just begun And so happy Christmas We hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young
A very Merry Christmas And a happy new year Let’s hope it’s a good one Without any fear War is over, if you want it War is over now
I watched this on Saturday…gearing up for Christmas…it’s not Christmas without The Peanuts and watching them all dance to “Linus and Lucy.”
The Peanuts were my favorite cartoon growing up and I would never miss their Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas specials. Everyone can relate to Charlie Brown because we all lose more than we win in life. He doesn’t get to kick that football, his dog has more things than he does, and he is forever trying to get the elusive little redhead girl to notice him.
The Peanuts inhabit a kids world where grownups are felt but not heard. At least not in English. I’ve said this before but… Charlie Brown, one day when you grow up… I hope you end up with the little red head girl that you like so much and win just for once…for all of us.
This 1965 special has everything good about them in one show.
The gang is skating and Charlie Brown is telling Linus that despite Christmas being a happy time he is depressed. Linus tells Charlie that is normal and Lucy pipes in with “Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you’re the Charlie Browniest.” That sums it all up.
Charlie gets to direct the Christmas play and his main job was to get a spectacular Christmas tree under Lucy’s orders. …He picks the only real tree there…more like a branch but he is sure it will do the job. Most of the gang do not agree when he comes back with the tree but Charlie persists. Linus gets up and reads from the Bible and the inflection he lends to the reading is great.
After that, you will need to watch because it will be worth it.
Aluminum Christmas trees were marketed beginning in 1958 and enjoyed fairly strong sales by eliminating pesky needles and tree sap. But the annual airings of A Charlie Brown Christmas swayed public thinking: In the special, Charlie Brown refuses to get a fake tree. Viewers began to do the same, and the product was virtually phased out by 1969. The leftovers are now collector’s items.
Actors and Actresses The early Peanuts specials made use of both untrained kids and professional actors: Peter Robbins (Charlie Brown) and Christopher Shea (Linus) were working child performers, while the rest of the cast consisted of “regular” kids coached by Melendez in the studio. When Schulz told Melendez that Snoopy couldn’t have any lines in the show—he’s a dog, and Schulz’s dogs didn’t talk—the animator decided to bark and chuff into a microphone himself, then speed up the recording to give it a more emotive quality.
She was the greatest female singer-songwriter of the 20th century…Jack White
This is one country song that even rockers know and of course, the movie with the same title doesn’t hurt either. I remember the movie when I was younger and hearing this song constantly. She wrote it and she wears it like a badge of honor singing it.
In 1976 Loretta wrote an autobiography and named it Coal Miner’s Daughter. That book is what they made the movie on. I always looked at Loretta as the Punk of country music. What I mean by that is she wrote about subjects that weren’t talked about…much less in country music. Songs like The Pill and Rated X just to name a couple. While talking…she had no filter at times and told you exactly how she felt.
In life and in this song Lynn’s main point is that she is proud of where she comes from and the morals her family values. She is not ashamed of her poverty or rural upbringing, but appreciative of her family’s hard work ethic, love for each other, and the bond that happens in hardships.
The song was on the album of the same name released in 1970. What made this one different is that it crossed over to the pop charts. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts and Canada’s Country Charts. I also peaked at #83 on the Billboard 100 in 1970.
The song was released in 1980 with Sissy Spacek singing her version of the movie…it peaked at #7 in Canada (Country Charts) and #24 in the Billboard Country Charts.
The movie Coal Miner’s Daughter was released in 1980. It starred Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn as well as co-stars Levon Helm, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D’Angelo, and more.
The producer Owen Bradley told Lynn to drop off four additional verses that she had. Loretta Lynn: “He said, There’s already been one ‘El Paso,’ and there’s never going to be another one, so I fiddled around and fiddled around, and finally I got four verses that I took off of ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter.’ I wished I hadn’t, but I did.”
Sadly those verses were lost to time because she left them in the studio.
Loretta Lynn: “I remember that, in one of the verses, I talked about Mommy papering the wall with movie magazines, and she named me after Loretta Young, because she had Bette Davis and Claudette Colbert and Loretta Young up on the wall. And the day before I was born, she said, ‘If this baby is a little girl, I’m going to name her after one of them girls.’ And she said, ‘I kept looking at the pictures, and I thought Loretta Young was the prettiest, so I named you Loretta.’ And I’m glad she did.”
“I didn’t think anybody be interested in my life, I know everybody’s got a life, and they all have something to say. Everybody has a story about their life. It wasn’t just me. I guess I was just the one that told it.”
Coal Miner’s Daughter
Well, I was borned a coal miner’s daughter
In a cabin, on a hill in Butcher Holler
We were poor, but we had love
That’s the one thing that daddy made sure of
He shoveled coal to make a poor man’s dollar
My daddy worked all night in the Van Lear coal mines
All day long in the field a hoin’ corn
Mommy rocked the babies at night
And read the Bible by the coal oil light
And ever’ thing would start all over come break of morn’
Daddy loved and raised eight kids on a miner’s pay
Mommy scrubbed our clothes on a washboard every day
Why, I’ve seen her fingers bleed
To complain, there was no need
She’d smile in mommy’s understanding way
In the summertime we didn’t have shoes to wear
But in the wintertime we’d all get a brand new pair
From a mail order catalog
Money made from selling a hog
Daddy always managed to get the money somewhere
Yeah, I’m proud to be a coal miner’s daughter
I remember well, the well where I drew water
The work we done was hard
At night we’d sleep ’cause we were tired
I never thought of ever leaving Butcher Holler
Well, a lot of things have changed since a way back then
And it’s so good to be back home again
Not much left but the floor, nothing lives here anymore
Except the memories of a coal miner’s daughter
We will kick off a Christmas week after today. I will still have my Max Picks but the rest will be Christmas shows, songs, and movies.
This song always brings a smile to my face. Any Kinks Christmas song would have to be different…and this one is. It’s great for cynical people on Christmas and can be enjoyed by Christmas lovers too.
I’ve always liked this raw and rough Christmas song. A writer at the NME wrote, “Successful Xmas songs are more about mood than specifics, but as this is an anti-Christmas song, it’s fine.” This is the kind of song you would expect from Ray Davies. Anti-Christmas or not…it has become a popular classic Christmas song that gets airplay every year.
The single was released during the height of punk rock and certainly exudes a punk attitude. Dave Davies told ABC Radio that he “always thought The Ramones would do a great version of it. I don’t know why they didn’t do it.”… thinking about it…Dave was right…it would have fit them perfectly.
The song was released in 1977 with the B-side Prince Of The Punks. The track was included on the Arista compilation Come Dancing with The Kinks and is also available as a bonus track on the CD reissue of the Kinks’ 1978 album Misfits.
In England, Father Christmas is the personification of Christmas, in the same way as Santa Claus is in the United States. Although the characters are now synonymous, Father Christmas and Santa Claus historically have separate entities, stemming from unrelated traditions.
Ray Davies on performing the song as an opening act in the 70s:
“When the record came out we were on tour with a very successful band at the time supporting them,” he recalled during an interview with Southern California radio station KSWD. “I went on dressed as Santa at the end of the show to do ‘Father Christmas.’ And the other band found it hard to follow us. The following night with the same band I went to run on but there was a bunch of heavies preventing me from running on stage. And I was protesting. But the people said, ‘The Kinks didn’t do an encore but Santa Claus was there and they were stopping him from going on stage.'”
From Songfacts:First written about in Tudor England and pre-dating the first recording of Santa Claus, Father Christmas was a jolly, well-nourished man who typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas, bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry. In time, the tradition merged with America’s Santa Claus with both riding in a reindeer-pulled sleigh carrying a sackful of toys that lands on the roofs of houses that contain good children. The mythical, white bearded Santa/Father Christmas then enters the properties through their chimneys clutching gifts for the well-behaved little ones inside.
Father Christmas
When I was small I believed in Santa Claus Though I knew it was my dad And I would hang up my stocking at Christmas Open my presents and I’d be glad
But the last time I played Father Christmas I stood outside a department store A gang of kids came over and mugged me And knocked my reindeer to the floor
They said Father Christmas, give us some money Don’t mess around with those silly toys We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed Give all the toys to the little rich boys
Don’t give my brother a Steve Austin outfit Don’t give my sister a cuddly toy We don’t want a jigsaw or monopoly money We only want the real mccoy
Father Christmas, give us some money We’ll beat you up if you make us annoyed Father Christmas, give us some money Don’t mess around with those silly toys
But give my daddy a job ’cause he needs one He’s got lots of mouths to feed But if you’ve got one I’ll have a machine gun So I can scare all the kids on the street
Father Christmas, give us some money We got no time for your silly toys We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over Give all the toys to the little rich boys
Have yourself a merry merry Christmas Have yourself a good time But remember the kids who got nothin’ While you’re drinkin’ down your wine
Father Christmas, give us some money We got no time for your silly toys Father Christmas, please hand it over We’ll beat you up so don’t make us annoyed
Father Christmas, give us some money We got no time for your silly toys We’ll beat you up if you don’t hand it over We want your bread so don’t make us annoyed Give all the toys to the little rich boys
This is an old traditional Irish song that was spruced up by Thin Lizzy. What set Thin Lizzy apart from other rock groups was Phil Lynott’s writing, bass playing, and singing. In this song, the guitar solo sounds fantastic.
Although a massive first hit for Thin Lizzy, this was actually meant to be the B-side. The band recorded “Black Boys On The Corner” as the A-side and put the old traditional Irish Song “Whiskey In The Jar” on the B-side because they didn’t have anything else. It was the record company that decided to make “Whiskey in the Jar” the A-side.
Phil Lynott had known the song for years, having performed it many times during the 60s in his formative days on Ireland’s folk music circuit. With Thin Lizzy members Eric Bell and Brian Downey taking a breather between songs, Lynott picked up a guitar, singing bits of this song and pieces of that song until he launched into “Whiskey in the Jar.” As they were playing, their Irish co-manager Ted Carroll walked in, noting the song sounded like a potential hit single.
“Whiskey in the Jar is a song about a notorious Irish highwayman Patrick Fleming who was hanged in 1650. What was a highwayman? This is the definition I found. A highwayman was a robber who stole from travelers. This type of thief usually traveled and robbed by horse as compared to a footpad who traveled and robbed on foot; mounted highwaymen were widely considered to be socially superior to footpads.
Metallica recorded a popular cover of this song on their 1998 Garage, Inc. album an outlier for them as they rarely mention girls in their songs. Other notable versions are The Grateful Dead, The Pogues, The Dubliners, U2, Pulp, and Smokie. The lyrics of this song can vary from version to version, but most covers use the Thin Lizzy lyrics.
Whiskey in the Jar peaked at #6 in the UK charts in 1973.
Whiskey In The Jar
As I was goin’ over the Cork and Kerry mountains.
I saw Captain Farrell and his money he was countin’.
I first produced my pistol and then produced my rapier.
I said stand o’er and deliver or the devil he may take ya.
Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.
I took all of his money and it was a pretty penny.
I took all of his money and I brought it home to Molly.
She swore that she’d love me, never would she leave me.
But the devil take that woman for you know she tricked me easy.
Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.
Being drunk and weary I went to Molly’s chamber.
Takin’ my money with me and I never knew the danger.
For about six or maybe seven in walked Captain Farrell.
I jumped up, fired off my pistols and I shot him with both barrels.
Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.
Now some men like the fishin’ and some men like the fowlin’,
And some men like ta hear a cannon ball a roarin’.
Me? I like sleepin’ specially in my Molly’s chamber.
But here I am in prison, here I am with a ball and chain, yeah.
Musha ring dumb a do dumb a da.
Whack for my daddy-o,
Whack for my daddy-o.
There’s whiskey in the jar-o.
And I got drunk on whiskey-o
And I love, I love, I love, I love, I love, I love my Molly-o.
When I first heard this…I thought…damn, this is a well-written song. I don’t know much about Nick Cave but I like what I’ve heard. I’ve read where a lot of bloggers have mentioned him along with Matt and CB. I just started to listen to some songs and this one really caught me. The way he wrote it and the way it is constructed.
In 1973, Cave joined a band with fellow classmates Phill Calvert and Mick Harvey at Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia, and covered songs by Lou Reed, Alex Harvey, and Roxy Music. They moved to London in the late seventies and changed their name to The Birthday Party. They released their self-titled debut in 1980, along with three more albums — Prayers on Fire, and Junkyard — before disbanding in 1983.
Cave, along with Harvey on drums, Einstürzende Neubauten guitarist Blixa Bargeld, former Magazine bassist Barry Adamson, and Jim G. Thirlwell initially formed a new band in London. At first, they called themselves Nick Cave and The Cavemen, a label that stuck for several months. The Cavemen turned into The Bad Seeds, referencing the final 1983 EP by The Birthday Party, Mutiny/The Bad Seed. Cave’s longtime girlfriend Anita Lane was credited as a lyricist on occasional songs. They broke up in 1983 but continued to work together off and on til the 90s.
His music won’t appeal to everyone but if you enjoy excellent written songs and twists…then give Cave a try. The song warns of the dangers of trusting strangers and that one must be cautious of seemingly innocent people, as some may have ulterior motives. The last four lines of the song are chilling:
So mothers keep your girls at home Don’t let them journey all alone Tell them this world is full of danger And to shun the company of strangers
The song was on the album Murder Ballads released in 1996. In this song, poor Mary Bellows was traveling through Tennessee and ran into a man named Richard Slade. She trusted a stranger a little too much. The album, as it states, has songs about murder. It peaked at #8 in the UK, #3 on the Australian Charts, and #12 in New Zealand in 1996.
The song has a sense of hopelessness…and imminent death. The song drew me in by the first verse. It was written by Nick Cave.
Nick Cave on the album: “There were heroic women, and female murderers, and all sorts of stuff going on in that record, and songs before that. But I’m not personally a misogynist. I don’t have those inclinations, but I liked to write songs that were violent in those days.”
The Kindness of Strangers
They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed
With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head
O poor Mary Bellows
She’d grown up hungry, she’d grown up poor
She left her home in Arkansas
O poor Mary Bellows
She wanted to see the deep blue sea
She traveled across Tennessee
O poor Mary Bellows
She met a man along the way
He introduced himself as Richard Slade
O poor Mary Bellows
Poor Mary thought that she might die
When she saw the ocean for the first time
O poor Mary Bellows
She checked into a cheap little place
Richard Slade carried in her old suitcase
O poor Mary Bellows
“I’m a good girl, sir”, she said to him
I couldn’t possibly permit you in
O poor Mary Bellows
Slade tipped his hat and winked his eye
And turned away without goodbye
O poor Mary Bellows
She sat on her bed and thought of home
With the sea breeze whistling all alone
O poor Mary Bellows
In hope and loneliness she crossed the floor
And undid the latch on the front door
O poor Mary Bellows
They found her the next day cuffed to the bed
A rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head
O poor Mary Bellows
So mothers keep your girls at home
Don’t let them journey all alone
Tell them this world is full of danger
And to shun the company of strangers
O poor Mary Bellows
O poor Mary Bellows
I’ve been blogging since 2017 and someone asked me about this song not long ago. I told them yea…I posted that one. Well, no I didn’t post this one so now is the time. I first heard this over a friend’s house in the 80s…his dad had this song among his singles collection of the early to mid-sixties.
This song was from one of the biggest years in popular music. It was released in 1964 by Manfred Mann. It was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who were looking to recreate the gibberish gold they struck on The Crystal’s hit “Da Doo Ron Ron.” In the UK they had already had success with 5-4-3-2-1 and Hubble Bubble (Toil and Trouble) but had yet to break through in America. This song did the trick…and well! The original name of the song was Do Wah Diddy…but the band added the extra Diddy to the end.
This was not the original version. That version was The Exciters but it tanked. Actually, it’s a pretty good version…I’ll post it at the bottom as well. Manfred Mann’s version fits well into the British Invasion and this made them known really quick. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #1 in the UK. They followed this one up with another hit called Sha La La.
Paul Jones was the lead singer at the time of Manfred Mann. He heard this song by the Exciters and knew it had potential. Most of the group was not very happy with recording this song but finally did it. The band found that touring the US a thoroughly miserable experience, and decided that they weren’t going back again. So, while they would continue to have big hits in Britain for the rest of the decade, they only had a few minor successes in the States.
There she was just a-walkin’ down the street, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Snappin’ her fingers and shufflin’ her feet, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
She looked good (looked good), she looked fine (looked fine)
She looked good, she looked fine and I nearly lost my mind
Before I knew it she was walkin’ next to me, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Holdin’ my hand just as natural as can be, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
We walked on (walked on) to my door (my door)
We walked on to my door, then we kissed a little more
Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love
Yes I did, and so I told her all the things I’d been dreamin’ of
Now we’re together nearly every single day, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
A-we’re so happy and that’s how we’re gonna stay, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Well, I’m hers (I’m hers), she’s mine (she’s mine)
I’m hers, she’s mine, wedding bells are gonna chime
Whoa-oh, I knew we was falling in love
Yes I did, and so I told her all the things I’d been dreamin’ of
Now we’re together nearly every single day, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
A-we’re so happy and that’s how we’re gonna stay, singin’ “Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do”
Well, I’m hers (I’m hers), she’s mine (she’s mine)
I’m hers, she’s mine, wedding bells are gonna chime
Whoa-oh-oh-oh, oh yeah
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do, we’ll sing it
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do, oh yeah, oh, oh yeah
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do
If someone said…you can only watch just one Christmas movie every year…this one would be it. It’s very close to a long Twilight Zone. I have seen this movie more times than any other…hands down.
This weekend I plan to watch it. I would like to know how many times I’ve seen this movie. I would guess…30+ times now that I think about it.
I didn’t watch this great movie until the late 80s. All it took was one time and I haven’t missed a year of watching it. I don’t tear up very easily..but it never fails at the end of the movie when Zuzu says… Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings…it gets me every time. This movie was released in 1946.
Poor George Bailey. All he wanted to do was travel and get out of Bedford Falls to see the world. Every single time he gets close…so close that it hurts…something happens and George ends up doing the right thing.
Bedford Falls needs George Bailey…every town needs a George Bailey but many end up with only a Mr. Potter. There is one thing about this movie which was unusual. Mr. Potter was never punished for what he did…which drew criticism at the time but it was more in line with reality to me.
This is a Christmas movie but really only the last part of the movie is about Christmas. It is a movie for any time not just for December. I was thinking of names for our unborn child and couldn’t think of one…I was watching this movie in November of 1999 and it hit me…Bailey…so the movie means more than some movies do.
Here is a small summary from IMDB…don’t read it…watch the movie instead. If you haven’t seen it…give it a shot…whether it is Christmas or July.
George Bailey has spent his entire life giving of himself to the people of Bedford Falls. He has always longed to travel but never had the opportunity in order to prevent rich skinflint, Mr. Potter, from taking over the entire town. All that prevents him from doing so is George’s modest building and loan company, which was founded by his generous father. But on Christmas Eve, George’s Uncle Billy loses the business’s $8,000 while intending to deposit it in the bank. Potter finds the misplaced money and hides it from Billy. When the bank examiner discovers the shortage later that night, George realizes that he will be held responsible and sent to jail and the company will collapse, finally allowing Potter to take over the town. Thinking of his wife, their young children, and others he loves will be better off with him dead, he contemplates suicide. But the prayers of his loved ones result in a gentle angel named Clarence coming to earth to help George, with the promise of earning his wings. He shows George what things would have been like if he had never been born.
This song was a monster hit in the UK but did hardly anything in America. The reason I’m posting this today is because of Denny Laine. Laine, who co-wrote this song with Paul… passed away at the age of 79 on December 5th.
When you think about huge-selling singles of the 1970s…this one doesn’t come to mind unless you live in the UK. It was the highest-selling single in the UK over the entire course of the ’70s.
When they were a beat group, Denny Laine was the original singer for the Moody Blues. Their first big hit had Laine on vocals with Go Now.
The song is a tribute to the Kintyre Peninsula in Scotland where Paul and his wife Linda had a farm. McCartney initially thought the song had no chance of becoming a hit. The duo wrote the song one afternoon as they looked at the beauty of the mull while drinking a bottle of Whiskey and letting the scenery write the song.
Wings then enlisted the local Campbelltown Pipe Band who added a sprinkling of Scottish sound to the track and suddenly Wings had their unconventional Christmas song. ‘Mull of Kintyre’ would remain the highest-selling UK single until 1984 when Band-Aid would knock it off the top spot.
The farm he had (and still does) gave Paul a lot of comfort after The Beatles ended. The citizens of Campbelltown were great to him and Linda as well. There was a huge spike in visitors to Kintyre in the wake of the songs’ release which not only boosted the local economy but filled the local residents with pride in their area. After the tranquillity Kintyre provided McCartney at his lowest point, this song allowed him to finally repay the area for helping him.
The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #33 on the Billboard 100, #1 in New Zealand, and #44 in Canada. It sold over 2 million in the UK which was a record at the time beating The Beatles She Loves You over a decade before. The B-side “Girls School” did better in America and Canada than the A-side.
Paul McCartney: “I am very saddened to hear that my ex-bandmate, Denny Laine, has died, “I have many fond memories of my time with Denny: from the early days when the Beatles toured with the Moody Blues. Our two bands had a lot of respect for each other and a lot of fun together. Denny joined Wings at the outset. He was an outstanding vocalist and guitar player. His most famous performance is probably ‘Go Now,’ an old Bessie Banks song which he would sing brilliantly. He and I wrote some songs together, the most successful being ‘Mull of Kintyre’ which was a big hit in the Seventies. We had drifted apart but in recent years managed to reestablish our friendship and share memories of our times together.”
Paul McCartney: “When we finished it, all the pipers said, ‘Aye, it’s got to be a single, that.’ It was up to them, really, to do it. I thought it was a little too specialized to bring out as a single, you would have to bring out something that has something with more mass appeal…but they kept saying, ‘Oh, the exiled Scots all over the world. It’ll be a big single for them.’ Yet I still thought, ‘Yeah, well, but there’s maybe not enough exiled Scots,’ but they kept telling me, after a few drinks.”
Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
Far have I traveled and much have I seen
Darkest of mountains with valleys of green
Past painted deserts the sun sets on fire
As he carries me home to the Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
Sweep through the heather like deer in the glen
Carry me back to the days I knew then
Nights when we sang like a heavenly choir
Of the life and the times of the Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
Smiles in the sunshine and tears in the rain
Still take me back where my memories remain
Flickering embers go higher and higher
As they carry me back to the Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre, oh mist rolling in from the sea
My desire is always to be here
Oh Mull of Kintyre
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