Christmas Archives - Ramblin' with Roger

Frank Sinatra and Christmas

Rat Pack

Ever since I bought The Complete Capitol Singles Collection, “a compact disc box set, released on Capitol Records in 1996,” I’ve associated Frank Sinatra and Christmas.

In December, I’d play my Sinatra albums interspersed with my holiday CDs. The set includes two pairs of singles, including White Christmas (Irving Berlin), which is different from his Columbia version; two different takes of The Christmas Waltz (Cahn, Styne); and Mistletoe and Holly (Hank Sanicola, Sinatra, Stanford).

Here’s Frank’s A Jolly Christmas album, a 1957 Capitol album that went to #18 on the pop charts and then charted on the Christmas charts from 1962 through 1967.

And here’s a Columbia album from around 1948, though the playlist doesn’t match my reference sources.

There’s a Christmas with the Rat Pack album with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., released in 2002, though the recordings are from 1954-1970. Some of the recordings are live.

This Frank Sinatra Christmas Songs playlist 2024 runs for two hours and almost certainly has some overlap. You will find Sinatra’s seasonal music repackaged frequently.

Kelly links to some Frank: Love’s Been Good to Me, plus some other items that are not currently available, unfortunately.

Centennial plus ten

This is the 110th anniversary of Frank Sinatra’s birth. I had a late friend who shared his birthday but hated the singer for some reason, probably because of his Chairman of the Board persona rather than the music. I grew to appreciate him over time.

In addition to the Capitol box set, I have a couple of his Columbia V-discs, a box set on his Warner Brothers imprint on Reprise Records, two duet albums, and a couple of other collections, most recently Watertown.

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

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

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.

Top Country Christmas Hits

Eddy Arnold

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

If We Make It Through December– Merle Haggard, from 1973, four weeks at #1 CW, #28 pop

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer – Gene Autry with the Pinafores from 1949, one week at #1 CW, #1 pop for one week. It eventually sold eight million copies, second only to Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. A new version of the song got to #70 pop in 1957.

Blue Christmas – Ernest Tubb from 1949, one week at #1 CW, #21 pop in 1950. “The song was originally recorded by American country singer, musician, and actor Doye O’Dell in 1948. It was popularized the following year in three separate recordings: one by Tubb, one by musical conductor and arranger Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra and chorus, and one by bandleader Russ Morgan and his orchestra. Elvis Presley cemented the status of the song as a rock-and-roll holiday classic by recording it for his 1957 LP Elvis’ Christmas Album.

Snow Flake – Jim Reeves from 1966, three weeks at #2 CW, #66 pop

Jason Ritter’s grandfather

Christmas Carols By The Old Corral – Tex Ritter from 1945, one week at #2 CW. Maurice Woodeward Ritter was the star of c. 85 Hollywood westerns from 1935 to 1945. The late John Ritter was his son.

Thank God for Kids – Oak Ridge Boys from 1982, two weeks at #3 CW

Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane) -Gene Autry from 1948, one week at number 4 CW. It reached #8 pop in 1948 and #24 pop in 1949

Frosty the Snowman – Gene Autry with the Cass County Boys and Carl Cotner’s Orchestra, from 1950, one week at number 4 CW. #7 pop in 1951, #23 pop in 1952

Will Santy Come to Shantytown – Eddy Arnold from 1949, one week at #5 CW

C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S – Eddy Arnold from 1949, three weeks at #7 CW, co-written by Arnold