Music
Merry Christmas! I actually had a different show in mind but I got to listening to some old radio airchecks (not my own) and I was inspired to do something different from the usual show. The first thing you'll notice is that it's a half-hour long. That's because I'm playing songs in their entirety and not really talking very much. (If any episode is going to net me a C&D letter, this'll be the one.) In this year's Christmas episode, I'm playing eight songs that don't get airplay anymore for some reason. A few of them are kinda goofy, a couple are kind of derivative, and I daresay a few of them are seminal to their genre. And while I share a little history with you here and there, the intent this time is to just sit back and wonder why the All Christmas All The Time station in your area is sticking with the same twenty songs, and not playing any of these guys. All of these songs can be found without too much hassle on Amazon Music or YouTube. If you want to revisit them, here's the playlist: Merry Christmas, Mary—Tommy Dee and Carol KayMerry, Merry Christmas, Baby—Dodie StevensSanta's Song—The Oak Ridge BoysYulesville—Edd "Kookie" ByrnesSanta Claus Meets the Purple People Eater—Sheb WooleyPlease Come Home For Christmas—Charles BrownWhite Christmas—The RavensSilent Night—The Ravens (flip side of White Christmas) And just for the giggles, here's one more song that didn't make it into the show itself. It's Bobby Helms' other shot at a Christmas tune, from 1965. He wasn't the original artist (I think he was the fourth) to release this song. I think the most popular version came from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass in 1968, though Bobby Vinton's version is kind of well-known, too. At any rate, here's Bobby Helms: Sorry, no transcript of this episode, since it's mostly music. Click here to become a Patron of the show.