Ramblin' with Roger

Xmas songs on non-seasonal albums

Getting Ready

One can find several Xmas songs on non-seasonal albums, so this is hardly a complete list. Of course, what a Christmas song is has baffled many for decades.

Is Baby, It’s Cold Outside a holiday song? It shows up on a number of both seasonal and non-seasonal albums. Ditto My Favorite Things from The Sound Of Music; Kelly says YES.

I assert that River, from Joni Mitchell’s legendary 1971 album Blue, qualifies: It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – James Taylor, the last song on his 2001 album October Road.

There are at least a couple Lyle Lovett tracks. Christmas Morning is from his 1996 album, The Road to Ensenada, and The Girl With The Holiday Smile is from his 2012 album, Release Me.

2000 Miles by The Pretenders is from their 1983 album Learning to Crawl. Wikipedia: “It was most popular in the UK, where it peaked at No. 15 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1983. In the US, it was released as the B-side of both the 7-inch single and 12-inch single remix of the band’s hit “Middle of the Road”.

My father had, and I currently own, the LP Negro Folks for Young People, sung by Leadbelly. It included the very short Christmas Is a Comin’.

Christmas Tree Farm by Taylor Swift was included on her deluxe edition of Lover and the 2020 album evermore.

Child of Winter was a late 1974 Beach Boys track that I have on the 1975 Loss Leaders album The Works.

Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg was released as a single in 1980 and included on his 1981 album The Innocent Age.

A fave rave

Tom Petty’s Christmas All Over Again appears on A Very Special Christmas 2 (1992) but is also included on a CD in the Tom Petty box set. This is one of my favorite holiday songs.

Likewise, Jackson 5’s Christmas Album was released in 1970, but two of the songs contained therein, Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town and the somewhat treacly Christmas Won’t Be The Same This Year, appear in their box set.

Links to Simon & Garfunkel Christmas include a couple of early album cuts, plus Star Carol & Comfort and Joy from their box set. It also contains a couple of Amy Grant/Garfunkel songs. It ends with the bawdy Steve Martin piece, What Christmas Means to Me, with Simon and Billy Joel singing Silver Bells. But it does NOT include Getting Ready for Christmas Day from Paul Simon’s 2011 album, So Beautiful Or So What.

Finally, a video from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Merry Christmas And Happy Chanukah From “Weird Al” Yankovic

Guitar virtuoso Steve Cropper (1941-2025)

STAX Records songwriter, composer, producer

FILE – Guitarist, songwriter and record producer Steve Cropper poses Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

Because I’ve known about Steve Cropper for decades, I forget that others weren’t so fortunate. It’s partially due to STAX Records having a less prominent profile in popular music in the 1960s than Motown.

Rob Bowman wrote the detailed Soulsville, U.S.A.: The Story of STAX Records, published in 1997. Steve Cropper is mentioned no fewer than 100 times. There was also a four-part HBO documentary in 2024 of the same name, with Bowman as a consultant.

Cropper was a founding member of the Mar-Keys and Booker T. and the MGs. He, among many others, worked at the Satellite Record Store, which STAX co-founder Estelle Axton ran; it became a “conduit for talent.” Estelle’s brother, STAX co-founder Jim Stewart, recognizing Steve’s acute ear, picked Cropper to be the STAX A&R man in 1965.

Waren Haymes noted, “It is quite another thing entirely to be part of creating a sound or a ‘movement.’ Steve Cropper… helped invent a genre- ‘the Memphis sound’ [with the other MGs] (among others) was an integral part of the bigger movement at that time, which came to be known as Soul Music, which changed the lives of millions of hungry music lovers- myself included.

“As a gifted songwriter and producer, his rhythms laid the foundation for the groove in Booker T. & The M.G.’s and The Mar-Keys. Known for his riveting guitar licks and prolific songwriting, his sound became a defining voice of the Stax era on classics like Eddie Floyd’s ‘Knock On Wood, Otis Redding’s ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,’ and Wilson Pickett’s ‘In the Midnight Hour.'”

Post-STAX

After leaving STAX in 1970, he kept busy. From the Songwriters Hall of Fame page: “Producing soon became second nature as ‘The Colonel’ turned out timeless tracks by such renowned artists as Wilson Pickett, Tower of Power, John Mellencamp, Jose Feliciano, Poco, John Prine, and Otis Redding. Cropper’s exemplary guitar work can be heard on the albums of Rod Stewart, Peter Frampton, Art Garfunkel, Booker T. and the MG’s, Ringo Starr, and Wynonna, to name a few. He has toured with such greats as Neil Young and Jimmy Buffett.

“In the late ’70s, Steve began his now-famous work as an original member of the Blues Brothers Band, appearing in both major motion pictures and numerous TV shows.”

From an interview in Uncut Take 331 (November 2024), “You might wanna write this,” says Steve Cropper, handily summarising his myriad musical achievements. “There are only three people in history who are in all three halls of fame – the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, the Musicians’ Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame: Keith Richards, Roy Orbison, and Steve Cropper. Pretty good company!”

Jim Peterik of Ides of March wrote what many others shared: “Perhaps the best part of this was getting to ‘hang’ with him and hear his stories, all of which were of definitive moments in music history. He was a true Southern Gentleman, humble and warm.” And, as others noted, a hockey fan.

Wikipedia

New York Times (gift link)

NPR, including part of a 1990 interview with Terry Gross

Here’s Play It, Steve, 30 videos celebrating his legacy, and a narrative

Chinese Checkers -Booker T & The MG’s (Stax S-137, 1963)

Soul Man – the Blues Brothers (SNL)

A Beatles Christmas again

War is Over, if you want it

I thought I would do A Beatles Christmas again, as I did in 2016. This year is Ringo Starr’s 85th birthday, and would have been John Lennon’s as well. It’s also the 45th anniversary of John’s death this month.

As some may know, the group “sent out spoken and musical messages on flexi disc to members of their official fan clubs in the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) each Christmas between 1963 and 1969. An LP compilation of all seven was sent out in 1970, entitled From Then to You in the UK and The Beatles Christmas Album in the US.” I have said US LP; of course, I do.

From here: “The Fan Club Christmas Messages is more about the wit and humor the Beatles shared than actual musical quality. This is more about the ‘funny four’ than the ‘fab four.’ In the middle years (‘65-‘67), these Christmas Messages might be compared to ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number).'”

Unsurprisingly, some of the links from nine years ago don’t work. Moreover, there are no available replacements for some songs, but several YouTube tracks are mislabelled. Some are Beatles outtakes, but a chunk are misrepresented as being by the Beatles when they are purported soundalikes.

The songs

Beatles Christmas Records from 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969.

Christmas Time Is Here Again is a song from the Free As A Bird single (1995), copped from the 1967 Christmas record that I can’t find. Here’s an extended snippet.

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Harlem Community Choir (1971). This made me cry every time I heard it in 1980.

Ding Dong – George Harrison (1974). More of a New Year’s tune.

Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney and Wings (1979). Quite the hated tune.

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reggae – Paul McCartney and Wings (1979). Though the B-side, the song is from 1975

I Wanna Be Santa Claus – Ringo Starr (1999)

The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) – Paul McCartney with Diana Krall (2012)

Wonderful Christmastime – Straight No Chaser feat. Paul McCartney (2013)

So what else do we have?

All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle – Dora Bryan with an accompaniment directed by Johnny Gregory (1963)

Jingle Bells – Fab Four

Sunday Stealing — Stolen from Tom

Civil War cards

“Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

“This week, we’re stealing from Tom, who called his blog The Morning Erection. Despite the rather suggestive title, none of his questions are sexual in nature.”

Stolen from Tom

1) What was the scariest thing in the world to you when you were a kid? Does it still scare you now?

“Topps released their highly collectible Civil War News card set in 1962. The 88-card set consisted of 87 cards depicting the most well-known battles that took place during the Civil War. The fronts contain color drawings along with the name and date of that battle.”

I owned most of these and kept them for a while, but some of the cards freaked me out. The one I best remember is the card Death Battle from July 1863, in which the combatants have bayonetted each other.

To this day, I don’t like to watch my skin being punctured. I’ve given blood over 180 times, but I never look.

Unplugged

2) Imagine your 12-year-old daughter (or granddaughter) is hosting a sleepover at your home. A sudden storm knocks out cellphone service, wifi, and cable. How would you keep these suddenly unplugged pre-teens entertained?

I’d tell stories, maybe things from my past: when JFK died, the 1965 blackout, or the October 4, 1987 snowstorm. Or tales about my ancestors, such as James Archer, who fought in the Civil War. (I’m sensing a theme here.)

3) What piece of movie or TV memorabilia would you love to own?

Nothing, actually. It becomes just more stuff. In the past, I might have wanted something from The Wizard of Oz.

4) You are gifted with the services of a personal assistant for four hours. What would you ask your assistant to do?

Organize files in my office: medical receipts, genealogical records. If I had more time, I’d easily find more tasks.

5) If literary characters were real, which one would you like to interview, and what would you ask?

I would want to ask those time travelers from the past: Is the future what you expected? I’d ask time travelers from the future: How is it that we still have a future?

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Top Adult Contemporary Christmas Hits

Bing and Mariah

From Joel Whitburn’s Christmas in the Charts, 1920 to 2004, Top Adult Contemporary Christmas Hits lists the peak positions these seasonal songs reached on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.

O Holy Night – Josh Groban from 2002, #1 for two weeks AC, #109 pop in 2003

Sending You A Little Christmas – Jim Brickman featuring Christy Sterling from 2003, #1 for a week AC

The Christmas Shoes – Newsong from 2000, #1 for a week AC, #42 pop. I hadn’t heard of this song until I had heard a vicious parody by Patton Oswald of it a few years ago. The original, IMO, is cloyingly awful.

The Gift – Jim Brickman, featuring Colin Ray and Susan Ashton from 1997, #3 for four weeks AC, #65 pop

White Christmas – Bing Crosby from 1961, #3 for a week AC. This is the 1947 remake as opposed to the 1942 original. On the pop chart, this version went #3 in early 1948, , #6 in early 1949, #5 in early 1950, #13 in late 1950 and early 1952. The rest are late in the year: #21 in 1953 and 1954, #7 in 1955, #65 in 1956, #34 in 1957, #66 in 1958, #59 in 1959, #26 in 1960, #12 in 1961, and #38 in 1962. I own the collection pictured on the video on CD.

JT

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – James Taylor from 2001, #4 for a week AC. I have the October Road CD that ends with this song.

The Little Drummer Boy – Harry Simone Choral from 1961, #6 for two weeks AC. This is the version my family owned a 45. The 1965 version slows down tremendously – and unnecessarily to my ear – at the end.

All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey from 1994, #6 for a week AC. On the pop charts, #12 in 1994, #35 in 1995and 1997, #83 in 2000. But then – well, look at the Wikipedia page. If I could hear this song exactly once during Advent, I’d be thrilled. Alas, no! There is a Reddit chain “Why do people hate Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ ? One comment: “Christmas songs suck after the first 10,000 times you’ve heard them.”

The Christmas Song – Michael Bublé from 2003, #6 for a week AC

My Favorite Things – Herb Alpert from 1968, #7 for two weeks AC, #45 pop. Is this tune from Mary Poppins a Christmas tune? I…guess so.