Arts and Entertainment – Page 91

Song of the Day 12/24: Frankie Carle and His Orchestra, “Little Jack Frost Get Lost”

By Alby December 24, 2022

My car thermometer registered 5 degrees this morning, so it's a good day for this revived swing-era tune that makes Christmas playlists every year despite making no mention of the…

Song of the Day 12/23: Cyrus Chestnut, “Linus and Lucy”

By Alby December 23, 20225 Comments

Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack album for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is only No. 10 on the list of best-selling holiday albums but -- with no disrespect to Elvis Presley, who holds…

Song of the Day 12/22: The Moonglows, “Hey Santa Claus”

By Alby December 22, 2022

Guest post by Nathan Arizona It’s no art film, but “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation" is one of the movies I look forward to most each holiday season. To me it’s…

Song of the Day 12/21: Jordan Mailata w/ Lady Alma, “Merry Christmas Baby”

By Alby December 21, 2022

When Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata recorded their holiday LP "A Philly Special Christmas," producers hoped to raise $30,000 for charity. They miscalculated: Sales have been…

Song of the Day 12/20: Frank Loesser and Lynn Garland, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”

By Alby December 20, 20226 Comments

Four years ago the Me Too movement boosted this old holiday chestnut to No. 1 on the Most Offensive Christmas Songs list. Personally I don't see how anything could be…

Song of the Day 12/19: Chris Rea, “Driving Home for Christmas”

By Alby December 19, 20221 Comment

One source of Christmas music overload: Too much repetition. Even the best songs start to chafe when you're hearing them for the hundredth time this month, no matter how different…

Song of the Day 12/17: Slade, “Merry Christmas Everybody”

By Alby December 17, 20221 Comment

As Noddy Holder asks in the second verse, does your granny always tell ya that the old songs are the best? If she's British, this 1973 single by Slade, who…

Song of the Day 12/16: The Quinto Sisters, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”

By Alby December 16, 20222 Comments

I'll wait a moment for El Somnambulo to leave the room. This is, I believe, his least favorite Christmas song, and I doubt that hearing its first recorded version is…

Song of the Day 12/15: Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”

By Alby December 15, 2022

One reason we get sick of holiday music is that retail stores pump out slick, often treacly pop versions of songs we've all heard a thousand times. The problem isn't…

Song of the Day 12/14: Johnny Marks, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

By Alby December 14, 2022

Johnny Marks is responsible for more of the Christmas music you hear than any other composer. He'd be in the running if all he had written was "Rockin' Around the…

Song of the Day 12/13: The Monkees, “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You”

By Alby December 13, 2022

Neil Diamond didn't write many of the Monkees' hits -- Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were producer Don Kirshner's go-to tunesmiths -- but their second single, "I'm a Believer," became…

Song of the Day 12/12: Supertramp, “Breakfast in America”

By Alby December 12, 2022

Guest post by Nathan Arizona Supertramp had Breakfast in America in 1979. It was delicious. The album “Breakfast in America” propelled a mildly successful British band to one whose songs…

Song of the Day 12/10: Esther Phillips, “Release Me”

By Alby December 11, 2022

In their ongoing effort to show that they can act like whiny babies over absolutely anything, Republicans are bitching about Joe Biden freeing WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russia in…