Hi Kent,
A friend of mine put me onto your blog because of your recent article mentioning the hit song "Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat Kissin' And A-Huggin' With Fred"!!!
Well, I’m the Oldie that sang “Seven Little Girls” – and I’m still hacking away at the music biz.
Thanks for the mention,
Paul Evans
PS Here’s a link to my “Santa’s Stuck Up In The Chimney” video which is getting 2,000 hits a day and has gotten over 105,000 hits on You Tube to date. Not bad for an aging rock star, eh? J
Anyway, if you get a chance, please click on the album cover link below. And please let anyone – particularly anyone with children – know about the video.
Click on the link below to see the video.
Click here: YouTube - Santa's Stuck up in the ChimneyYou won't believe all the stuff that this guy has done!!! In addition to placing three of his own singles in The National Top 20 ("Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat", #5, 1959; "Midnite Special", #16, 1960 and "Happy-Go-Lucky Me", #10, 1960), Paul also wrote the hits "When" for The Kalin Twins, "Roses Are Red" for Bobby Vinton and the Elvis Presley hits "I Gotta Know" and "The Next Step Is Love"!!! Check out his VERY impressive bio here:
Click here: Paul Evans' Biography
And then enjoy his hot new Christmas tune, "Santa's Stuck Up In The Chimney"!!! You'll find some vintage Paul Evans video clips on his website, too. Welcome to the list, Paul!!! (kk)
Kent,
On behalf of myself and all The Buckinghams, we wish you and all your readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Much success for 2010 ... Forgottenhits.com is the best!
Carl Giammarese
Thanks, Carl ... and right backatcha ... Merry Christmas to ALL The Bucks ... and keep rockin' in the new decade! (kk)
Here's another great track from The Buckinghams' new Christmas album "The Joy Of Christmas" ... it's their take on a Christmas Classic ... and one of my all-time favorites ... "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".
Hey,
They changed Chuck Berry's lyrics to "Surfin USA" so why not change "Santa Baby" to "Santa Brian"??? He's even playing Santa in the picture! Even the RIGHT year -- 1963!! Vic Flick will like this one if he hasn't seen it. Any comments, Vic?? WLSClark
You'll hear a fair amount of Beach Boys Christmas Music every holiday season ... but one of the BEST new Christmas songs in recent years seems to barely get acknowledged these days ... here's another one of my favorites, "Hey Santa", by Brian's daughters, Wendy and Carnie Wilson!
Two of the artists who made a MAJOR impression on our recent Top 50 Favorite Instrumentals List were Booker T. and the MG's (who placed THREE songs in the countdown!) and Santo and Johnny, who had the #1 Favorite Instrumental of All-Time with "Sleep Walk." (You can catch the complete list on The Forgotten Hits Web Page ... Click here: Forgotten Hits - Top 40 Instrumentals, 1955 - 1979 ... or listen to the countdown as it aired on Phil Nee's WRCO Radio Program over Thanksgiving Weekend: www.forgottenhitsontheradio.mevio.com.
Thanks to FH Reader Steve Knuettel ... (he's the guy who put together that killer Phil Spector Series we ran a couple of years ago) ... we've got holiday tracks from BOTH of these instrumental giants to share with you today:
Kent,
This is a Christmas CD that I co-produced & engineered in my studio, Geo Sound, here in Philadelphia in 1998. It's an 18 song holiday compilation ... and it promises to be fun for the entire family ... featuring all Philadelphia artists including Tommy Conwell, Marah, Buzz Zeemer, Rolling Haysseds, Mark Boyce Combo, Eltro, John Flynn and 10 other great artists. Mostly Originals.
Season's Greetings Philadelphia
© Copyright-Record Cellar
Record Label: Record Cellar
Click the link to review tracks: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sgp
Happy Holidays,
George Manney
After we featured Bob Lind's new New Years song last week, we got THIS review from our Colorado Buddy "Wild Bill" Cody ... who shared the track with some of his music contacts:
Hey Guys:
My buddy Bob Lind (former Denver Native of Elusive Butterfly Fame) just put together a holiday tune that caught me off guard ... I think it's brilliant. I have it attached. If you can find room to play it with all the other Xmas Oldies and announce that it's by Bob Lind, I think your audience would love it. It's also available on his website www.boblind.com. Check this out!
After I heard it earlier today, I wrote this note to Bob ...
Holy S**t Bob, this is an incredible Xmas Song! I heard it for the first time today. Let me shoot this to Oldies programmers around the U.S. and see if they can get this on ... you are SO RIGHT! This is Bob Lind circa 1967 ala like Howard Cosell ... "TELLING IT LIKE IT IS"!!!
Whoa ... you leave me numb!
Wild Bill
Here's the track again for the benefit of anyone who may have missed it:
>>>Some people like "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" a lot. But others don't feel the same. One thing's for certain. Like it or not, the one thing that record has NOT been over the past 30 years is IGNORED! Just about everybody on the planet has heard it and it is one of the relatively few Christmas records issued during the rock era that has become a true holiday classic. The man who wrote it was Randy Brooks. (Ronnie Allen)
As an FYI; Randy Brooks lives in the DFW area and often performs his music at holiday events.
I saw and met him last year at a Men of Note Concert in Plano, TX.
He's a very funny performer discussing this song and other ones he has written recently
Regards
Rich
>>>If you get an opportunity, please re-post Debe Welch's "Please Don't Give Me War Toys for Christmas." It's one of our new Christmas faves. (David Lewis)
>>>Will do ... and I think you just made Debe's holiday season too!!! (kk)
That did make our day, Kent! Please tell David Lewis that he can download it off my website at www.debewelch.com
Thanks for all the great songs, too :)
Debe Welch
And ... on kind of a related note ... how's this for a nice gesture?
Kent ...
I've been sending Christmas Cards to Soldiers in the Hospital.
Maybe if you printed this address, some of your readers might want to send out some Christmas Cards.
Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave., N W
Washington, D. C. 20307 - 5001
Thanks.
Frank B.
Thanks, Frank ... happy to pass this along. They may get there a little late ... but it's the thought that counts ... and I'm sure these guys can use some serious cheering up ... especially this time of year, away from their families. (kk)
And, speaking about our "Soldier Boys", here's another fascinating tale from our FH Buddy Artie Wayne:
Kent …
How ya’ doin’?
Back in 1966 I was working as a staff writer and producer for Scepter Records. Florence Greenberg, who owned the company, decided to re-release “SOLDIER BOY” by the Shirelles, which had been number one a few years earlier, and asked me to write and produce a new b-side for it.
She also suggested that to save time and money I should write the new song over the old Shirelles track, “A THING OF THE PAST", which she owned and was in the girls' key. It was during the Vietnam War and I decided to write a song about a soldier returning from the front at Christmas. It’s called “MAMA, MY SOLDIER BOY IS COMIN” HOME”
As far as I was concerned there were no b-sides and even though I only had three hours to write and record the song with Shirelles, I was determined not to make it a throwaway. I flirted with Shirley while she was on mike until she gave me the playful performance I was looking for.
We recorded just one verse at a time and while she was singing one, I was writing the next. At the end of the session, everything was finished and it was released the next day!
Regards,
Artie Wayne
http://over50music.com
And here it is! Thanks, Artie! (kk)
Here are some fun Christmas Songfacts from our buddy Carl Wiser over at www.songfacts.com:
Hi Kent.
Thought you could use some random Christmas songs tidbits:
Bob Dylan has a new Christmas song out that must be heard to be believed. It's a Christmas Polka called "Must Be Santa":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVs6X9yIM_k
Neil Diamond had released 3 Christmas albums - he's Jewish. His latest album contains a cover of Adam Sandler's "Chanukah Song" because Neil says, "I thought I'd throw one in there for my people." By the way, "White Christmas" was written by Irving Berlin - also Jewish.
Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer started off as a children's book given away at Montgomery Ward stores in 1939. The book became so popular that it was made into a song in 1949 and a TV special in 1964. Unlike Santa, Rudolf is copyrighted, so Chuck Berry had to pay royalties when he wrote "Run Rudolf Run."
The first rap song released on a major label was "Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow in 1979.
John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" is an anti-war Christmas song. In 1969, he and Yoko put up billboards in major cities that said "War is Over (If You Want It)" and, with the help of Phil Spector, turned it into a song in 1971. Paul McCartney's Christmas classic is the much lighter "Wonderful Christmastime," which used a funky synthesizer that later appeared in the hit "Bette Davis Eyes."
Wishing good cheer to all at Forgotten Hits.
Carl Wiser
www.songfacts.com
Our list of Christmas Songs:
http://www.songfacts.com/category:christmas_songs.php
And we got the good word a couple of times this week regarding OUR Christmas Classic, "Lonely Christmas"!!!
Hi Kent;
I finally had a spare hour to update my website, and added a link to both forgottenhits.com, and to your mevio site. Check out: www.theflipsideradioshow.com and see what you think. I'm looking forward to more collaborations with you.
Were you able to listen to my 2nd Anniverary Show on Dec 8? It went really well, and I ran 2 of your greetings, including the one about your podcast site. Now I'm making plans for more podcasts of my own. I have 2 years' worth available.
By the way, there's a pretty good chance I will play your Christmas song on an upcoming FLip Side ...
Later,
Mr. C.
Thanks, Mr. C. I DID get to listen to most of the anniversary program ... congratulations again on two years of doing The Flip Side Show! (And FH Readers can find the show that WE did together on The Forgotten Hits on the Radio website: www.forgottenhitsontheradio.mevio.com ... just type in "Flip Side Show" to the Search Engine and the whole show will pop up for your listening enjoyment! And thanks, too, for featuring our "Lonely Christmas" track again this holiday season ... we really do appreciate it! (kk)
Hi KK:
Your "Lonely Christmas" is burning up my current holidaze playlist for yet another year. :)!
John B. Krug
Yes, you can turn me on! I'm on the radio! Surf City Sounds Plus: http://www.Live365.com/stations/johns805?play
Thanks, John! That's three years in a row!!! We TRULY do appreciate it.
You can catch BOTH of these shows by clicking on the links above ... you just never know WHO you're going to hear on there!!! (kk)
