Song of the Day 12/23: Norah Jones, “Christmas Don’t Be Late”
Even bad Christmas songs can be redeemed by the right artist and the right treatment. As evidence, listen to Norah Jones breathe new life into this widely reviled novelty tune. It’s been covered by dozens of people over the years, usually played for laughs using the original arrangement (Tegan and Sara even sped up their voices for their 2010 version). Jones instead slowed it down and vamped it up. Here she plays it live on TV to promote her new holiday album, “I Dream of Christmas.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9VWxIolpYM
The actual name of the tune is, fittingly, “The Chipmunk Song,” because its runaway success in late 1958 birthed an entertainment juggernaut that, regrettably, just won’t stop. TV shows, movies, theme parks were all launched from actor/songwriter Ross Bagdasarian’s goofing around with his new variable-speed tape recorder.
Bagdasarian, who used the stage name David Seville, named his “chipmunks” Simon, Theodore and Alvin after three executives at Liberty Records. They thought Bagdasarian, who wrote the No. 1 hit “Come On-a My House” back in 1950, was wasting his time with novelty tunes, until first “Witch Doctor” and then “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” both hit No. 1 in the country in 1958.
It’s difficult all these years and brand extensions later to hear the original with fresh ears, or to appreciate this first appearance by physical chipmunks — in this case puppets, doing a shortened version of the hit record on a 1958 episode of the Ed Sullivan Show.
