Saturday, August 30, 2008

Christmas on 45 Part 2

8) The Trashmen-Dancin' With Santa

The Trashmen
are better known for "Surfin' Bird," but Christmas music aficionados will also recognize them for their 7 inch single "Dancin' With Santa," recently reissued by Sundazed records.

9) Royal Guardsmen-It Kinda Looks Like Christmas


This is the b-side of the Snoopy's Christmas song, which I LOVED when I was a kid. I never knew the b-side until recently. Oh, it's on CD, but not on the CD that I had that contained the Snoopy's Christmas song, and I never felt too compelled to buy a whole CD for one more song I didn't have. But I tracked down a decent copy on 45 for only a dollar, so here we go. If there are a few more out there who haven't heard this yet...

10) The Tropics-Groovy Christmas

Or by Chipper? I have a scratchier copy of this in my 2007 Christmas music folder credited to Chipper with 197? (sic) as the date. But that's exactly what it appears to be...as far as I have been able to locate info online, The Tropics made this record under the name Chipper. What year? I actually believe 1968 is the correct date on this record.

11) The Knickerbockers-I Want a Girl For Christmas

I believe I already shared this track in one of my summer compilations, but what the heck...it's worth another spin here, don't you think?

This is yet another resurrected single on the Sundazed label. And it has that late 60's kind of feel I am into at this point in the compilation, so it fits right in. For more information...

12) The Trashmen-Real Live Doll

Sticking in with the period pieces here, this is the first of a bit of a trend I noticed on a handful of records around this time...grown men desiring sex dolls for Christmas. There were just a few too many of these songs around back then for my comfort level. I guess if Lars and the Real Girl had been a movie back in the late 60's, it would have been hugely popular. And this is from the gents who brought us "Surfin Bird," as if I had to remind you...

13) Jim Eanes-Christmas Doll


Yet another obscure single I picked up this year...and yet another song about wanting the technology that wouldn't be available until today.

BONUS TRACK-Paul Revere and the Raiders-Dear Mr. Claus

Not found on a 45 (though maybe it had been released on one, I don't know...this comes from CD), but yet another example of the strange fetish that was sung about in Christmas songs from this period. SING A LONG, KIDS!!!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice catch on The Tropics/Chipper record. I have the Chipper 45 (on Malaco), but I'd never even heard of The Tropics. Most likely, the 197? comes from Tim Neely's Goldmine book (whether or not you have a copy, an awful lot of Christmas music fanatics do--and, by the way, if you see a copy, you should get it since Goldmine has decided not to reprint or update it) and I don't know what he based that on. Peace and Happy Labor Day.