Alby's Latest Posts
Song of the Day 12/28: Van Halen, “Panama”
Sclerotic bully Donald Trump has been talking tough about Panama, which like, sure, Grandpa. I’m not the only one whose mind went to this 1984 Van Halen classic, which has nothing to do with the country. When a reporter accused frontman David Lee Roth of only writing lyrics about sex, drugs and fast cars, Roth […]
Song of the Day 12/27: The Four Seasons, “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)”
I always found this song’s opening line a bit strange. “Oh, what a night, late December, 1963.” Considering that “late December” is already filled with several significant calendar items, like “Christmas Eve,” “Christmas” and “New Year’s Eve,” not to mention the winter solstice, it seems odd that the singer can’t put a specific date on […]
Song of the Day 12/25: The Band, “Christmas Must Be Tonight”
H/t El Somnambulo, who suggested this for the Christmas playlist back in March. This Christmas song by Robbie Robertson went overlooked for years. Written and rejected for the Band’s 1975’s “Northern Lights – Southern Cross” album, it didn’t see release until 1977 on their final, contract-fulfilling LP “Islands,” a grab-bag of covers and tracks cut […]
Song of the Day 12/24: McCoy Tyner, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
If you like holiday music played by jazzmen, you’ve probably heard this on Columbia’s 1981 Christmas sampler, “God Rest Ye Merry, Jazzmen,” because there aren’t all that many jazz Christmas collections out there. That album also includes Dexter Gordon’s extended “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and Wynton Marsalis’ deconstruction of “We Three Kings of […]
Song of the Day 12/23: The Carpenters, “Merry Christmas Darling”
As Nathan Arizona noted the other day, Karen Carpenter could make even a happy holiday song sound a little sad, so a song about missing her beau on Christmas Eve is right in her sweet spot. This song topped Billboard’s Christmas singles chart for three years in the early ’70s, and it was re-released this […]
Song of the Day 12/22: Andy Williams, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
This song, which debuted in 1963, turns up among Billboard’s top 10 holiday songs every year, and I’d argue it owes its popularity to a TV commercial that wasn’t about Christmas at all. At one point in the 1970s Andy Williams was known as “Mr. Christmas,” for good reason. He hosted a holiday version of […]
Song of the Day 12/21: Kay Starr, “(Everybody’s Waitin’ For) The Man With the Bag”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona It shouldn’t be hard to identify “the man with the bag” everybody’s waiting for this time of year. The bag has presents in it. It arrives by way of reindeer. There’s a song to remind us. If you’re not hearing Kay Starr’s1950 hit recording of “(Everybody’s Waitin’ For) The Man […]
Song of the Day 12/20: Kelly Clarkson, “You for Christmas”
When I heard this on the car radio the other day I honestly thought it was some overlooked song from a ’60s soul Christmas album. With better speakers I could hear that Phil Spector-style production was too clean to be that old, and its spot-on emulation of that girl-group sound showed the gifted mimicry of […]
Song of the Day 12/19: Perry Como, “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona It took just one day to write a Christmas song that’s been a staple of the season for 70 years. Sometimes you get your work done pretty fast when the boss demands it. Mitch Miller, then chief A&R man at Columbia Records, told composer Robert Allen and lyricist Al Stillman […]
Song of the Day 12/18: The Philly Specials & Mt. Joy, “Santa Drives an Astrovan”
Jason Kelce and his erstwhile offensive linemates on the Philadelphia Eagles released the third and what they say will be their final charity Christmas LP, “A Philly Special Christmas Party,” late last month. The success of the first two albums helped them land some big-name guest artists this time around, including Philly natives Boyz II […]
Song of the Day 12/17: GlassDuo, “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”
You’ll seldom hear a better match of music and instrument than this performance of Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from “The Nutcracker Suite.” It was written in 1892 for the then-recently invented celeste, a piano-like instrument with hammers that strike metal bars, producing a soft, bell-like tone. It sounds even better given the […]
Song of the Day 12/16: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Christmas All Over Again”
“A Very Special Christmas,” the 1987 charity LP conceived by producer Jimmy Iovine as a memorial to his father, succeeded beyond all expectations. Inspired in part by Phil Spector’s legendary holiday LP, Iovine tapped people he had worked with, starting with Bruce Springsteen, to donate songs for the album, and produced several tracks himself. It […]
Song of the Day 12/15: Herb Alpert, “The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona The other day I heard a Christmas song I’d never heard before, by a composer whose songs I’ve been listening to most of my life. It turns out Burt Bacharach wrote “The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle” without much fanfare in 1962. He had just wrapped up a 6-year stint as […]
Recent Comments