Happy Holidays to all from Richland Center, Wisconsin.
Today I have three gifts from the treasure trove off tapes.
We begin featuring a cut from a 1996 interview with Brenda Lee.
She began singing professionally at the age of 6 and started her recording career a few years later.
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree was recorded in 1958 and it is still playing every holiday. Brenda Lee is a member of the Rock and Roll,Country, and Rockabilly halls of fame.
Our second gift today is a track from Greg Lake.
He was a member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake, & Palmer.
Greg joined me on the air in the late '90's and we talked about one of his songs that first hit the charts during the holiday season in 1975. Classic Rock Radio has kept I Believe In Father Christmas on its December airwaves ever since.
As a young boy, I always dreamed of the spectacular toys that might be under the tree on Christmas morning. I still love it when I get a new gadget instead of socks and aftershave.
Today I offer you Toys for Christmas with a choice track from 2001.
Barbara Harris joined me on Those Were the Days. We spoke about the trio's Top 5 1965 hit "A Lover's Concerto," a tune that was adapted from a Bach melody.
Here’s a great way to kick off Christmas Eve Eve …
FH Geoff Lambert (who publishes his own weekly oldies news sheet
on the weekends) ran this story about the origins of Rudolph The Red-Nosed
Reindeer … written right here in Chicago! … that we’d like to share with OUR
readers as well …
As the holiday season of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May wasn’t
feeling much comfort or joy. A thirty-four-year-old ad writer for Montgomery
Ward, Bob was exhausted and nearly broke. His wife, Evelyn, was bedridden, on
the losing end of a two-year battle with cancer. This left Bob to look after
their four-year old-daughter, Barbara. One night, Barbara asked her father,
“Why isn’t my mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his
daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small,
sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names ... but he wanted to
give his daughter hope, and show her that being different was nothing to be
ashamed of. More than that, he wanted her to know that he loved her and would
always take care of her. So, he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a
bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. Barbara loved the
story so much that she made her father tell it every night before bedtime. As
he did, it grew more elaborate. Because he couldn’t afford to buy his daughter
a gift for Christmas, Bob decided to turn the story into a homemade picture
book. In early December, Bob’s wife died. Though he was heartbroken, he kept
working on the book for his daughter. A few days before Christmas, he
reluctantly attended a company party at Montgomery Ward. His co-workers
encouraged him to share the story he’d written. After he read it, there was a
standing ovation. Everyone wanted copies of their own. Montgomery Ward bought
the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee. Over the next six
years, at Christmas, they gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed
Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house in the country was making
offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of goodwill, the head of
the department store returned all rights to Bob May. Four years later, Rudolph
had made him into a millionaire. Now remarried with a growing family, he felt
blessed by his good fortune.
But there was more to come.
His brother-in-law, a successful songwriter named Johnny Marks, set
the uplifting story to music. The song was pitched to artists from Bing Crosby
on down. They all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. The cowboy star
had scored a holiday hit with Here Comes Santa Claus a few years before. Like
the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer.
Marks begged him to give it a second listen. Autry played it for his wife, Ina.
She was so touched by the line “They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph play in any
reindeer games” that she insisted her husband record the tune. Within a few
years, it had become the second best-selling Christmas song ever, right behind
White Christmas. Since then, Rudolph has come to life in TV specials, cartoons,
movies, toys, games, coloring books, greeting cards and even a Ringling Bros. Circus
Act. The little red-nosed reindeer dreamed up by Bob May and immortalized in
song by Johnny Marks has come to symbolize Christmas as much as Santa Claus,
evergreen trees and presents. As the last line of the song says, “He’ll go down
in history.”
Strangely, for a man who didn’t celebrate Christmas as he was
Jewish, Johnny Marks also wrote Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda
Lee, A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives, I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
by Bing Crosby and Run Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry.
An interesting sidenote …
I have ALWAYS been under the impression that Chuck Berry
wrote “Run Rudolph Run” … and it SURE does sound like a Chuck Berry song.
Berry himself claimed that we wrote the song alone … but was
then sued by Johnny Marks, who owned the trademark to the name Rudolph.From that point forward, Marks was given
songwriting credit although, according to Berry, he "had nothing to do
with the song."
If you look the song up in Joel
Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles Book, it shows the songwriter as being Marvin Lee
Brodie.According to Chuck, “M. Brodie”
does not exist, but was a pseudonym created as "a scheme to make more money
for Marks and his publisher."
Berry’s original 1958 single gives song
writing credits to "C. Berry Music – M. Brodie" ... but all
subsequent cover versions of the song are credited to Marks and Brodie, as
published by Marks's St. Nicholas Music (ASCAP).
Chuck’s version only got to #69 in
Billboard in December of 1958.When it
was reissued in 2019, it
made it to #45 in its one and only week on the chart.(kk)
If you’d like to sign up for Geoff’s weekly sheet, just drop
him a line at geoff.lambert@btinternet.com
... and tell him you heard about it in Forgotten Hits.(kk)
Here's the back story behind another classic Christmas hit ...
Elmo and Patsy's "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer!!!"
And Tommy James and Carol Ross wish all our Forgotten Hits Readers a Very Merry Christmas ...
Here's just another friendly reminder that
Rewound Radio will be playing back the entire Big 89 of 1969 Year-End Countdown
from WLS Radio EXACTLY as it was first broadcast on New Year’s Day, 1970 …
With Larry Lujack and Chuck Buell
counting down The Top 89 Records according to The WLS Silver Dollar Survey
(although by then I think it was called The WLS Hit Parade since John Rook was
now in charge of things over there … and that was his catch phrase.)
While the obvious big hits of the year
will be on full display, Chicago Radio also showed a few surprises:The Underground Sunshine version of The Beatles’
“Birthday” for example … “Things I’d Like To Say” by The New Colony Six (who
were also voted “Best Local Group” in their Annual Listener Poll.
We agreed not to run the complete chart
until Christmas Evening (so as not to act as the “spoiler” of the main event) …
but CAN tell you that the 1969 Award Winners were Neil Diamond for Best Male
Vocalist, Jackie DeShannon for Best Female Vocalist, The Beatles for Best
Group, Booker T. and the MG’s for Best Instrumental Group, Simon and Garfunkel
for Best Duo, Oliver for Best New Male Vocalist, Evie Sands for Best New Female
Vocalist, Three Dog Night for Best New Group and, as mentioned above, The New
Colony Six for Best Local Group.
Each of these artists (with the exception
of Evie Sands) are represented within The Big 89 Countdown.(Evie was a surprise pick … her only WLS
Chart Hit that year was her version of “Any Way That You Want Me,” which peaked
at #23 during its five week chart run.Meanwhile, The Beatles are represented twice (three times if you count their
two-sided hit “Come Together” / “Something” at #82), Neil Diamond twice (Elvis
also had two big comeback hits), Oliver has two titles on the list, and Three
Dog Night leads the pack with three titles.(Creedence Clearwater Revival ALSO have three titles on the countdown.)
The fun kicks off at Noon Eastern on
Christmas Day … and we’ll post the complete list of The Big 89 at 6 pm Central Time.(kk)
AND it is cold and windy in the Windy City but
not as cold as the LINCOLN, NE windy city (yet!)
Clark Besch
No idea what your Friday Morning is looking
like wherever you happen to be reading this right now … but I woke up to a REAL temp of -17 degrees at 4:30 am with a windchill
of -35 … our HIGH today will only be somewhere between -10 degrees and
0!!!So yeah, it’s cold … and wind gusts
are coming up between 40 and 55 mph, too … so we are DEFINITELY living up to our
name as The Windy City this Christmas Eve Eve!!!(kk)
Of course my FAVORITE sub-zero temperature has to be "minus four degrees" ...
Because it looks like some guy sitting on the pot! (lol) kk
The day after Christmas, Rewound Radio counts down your
Top 77 Favorites, based on this year’s votes, followed by a week that will
feature EVERY song nominated … THOUSANDS of songs, spread out over the course
of the upcoming week.
This program kicks off at Noon Eastern, Monday, December 26th
… and they’ll be playing your all-time favorites all week long, with LIVE
SHOWS every day, letting you know just where your favorites fell in the
countdown.
It’s an Annual Rewound Radio Tradition … and a pretty darn
good one at that … so be sure to tune in and enjoy!(kk)
Also on the radio … TONIGHT …
My
Fellow Americans:
Weather
permitting, I will be on Dewey's Show on WMSE 91.7 FM at approximately 6 PM on
Friday, December 23rd. We will be doing Part 2 of the 1970 show which leans way
more to the Rockin' Songs this time around. Hopefully we can get to the station
and do the show. As always, we play 45 Records!
Have
a Merry Xmas!
Ken
Freck
Billy Joel has had to postpone his final appearance at
Madison Square Garden due to a viral infection.
“I’m disappointed to share that I’m under
doctor’s orders for vocal rest due to a viral infection so unfortunately, I
must postpone my Monday, December 19th concert at Madison Square Garden to
June. I’m so sorry to let you know so close to show day, but I was hoping to be
closer to a full recovery by now. Sadly, that hasn’t happened.I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.”
Reps for The Garden say the rescheduled
June 2nd date is not etched in stone.
“All tickets purchased for the December
19, 2022 concert will be honored on Friday, June 2, 2023 and will not need to
be exchanged. Please note, the June 2nd performance is subject to change if it
conflicts with a playoff game.”(kk)
Kent,
Enjoyed the obit and tribute you did to
Charlie Gracie. I am fortunate to have a few records of his that he made
through the years, including the Cameo hits, about three or four on Coral and one
or two on Roulette.
I noticed in the photo of him and Andy
Williams that each one was holding a copy of the other's BUTTERFLY.
Larry
That’s one of my absolute favorite photos of him … for that
very reason!(kk)
A year after her husband’s passing, Shirley Watts, wife of
Rolling Stones Drummer Charlie Watts, passed away last Friday, December 16th,
after a brief illness.The couple had
been married for 57 years in what has been described, by all accounts, a very
loving and caring relationship.(About
as normal as can be expected, I guess, if you’re married to a member of The
Rolling Stones!)
Since The Stones just celebrated their 60th
Anniversary, she was there for the entire whirlwind of events that catapulted
them into The Greatest Rock And Roll Band In The World.(They were married in 1964.)
Unlike his bandmates, Watts opted for the more “quiet life”
… unusual for a rock star of his caliper.He remained faithful to his wife, avoiding the trappings of all of the
groupies so readily available to The Stones’ non-stop party machine.
A great quote attributed to her once The Stones started
Rolling:“Charlie came home at
the weekend, full of conceit about being a member of the Rolling Stones. So I
made him clean the oven.”
And, of course, who can forget the
punch-out between Watts and Mick Jagger when Mick referred to Charlie as “my
drummer”!!!Watts reportedly punched him
in the face and retorted, “You’re my singer.”
Reunited, the loving couple can now spend
the holidays together.(kk)
Speaking of The Rolling Stones, they just
released another video from their upcoming “Grrr! Live” project …
The list of musicians and music people we lost in 2022 is staggering … and
sadly, with a week of the year still to go, it’s almost to be expected that we
may see a few more before the end of the year.
Gary Brooker, Irene Cara, Dino Danelli, Lamont Dozier,
Mickey Gilley, Charlie Gracie, Susan Jacks, Naomi Judd, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ramsey
Lewis, Christine McVie, Meatloaf, Sandy Nelson, Olivia Newton-John, Bob
Rafelson, Bobby Rydell, Jim Seals, Jimy Sohns, Ronnie Spector, Joel Whitburn …
ALL of these artists had a HUGE impact on the soundtrack of MY life … and will
be missed.Thankfully, we still have
their music to share for the rest of our time here.(kk)
And before I could even post this, we got word that Producer
Extraordinaire Thom Bell has passed away …
My GOD the incredible amount of music he was part of!!!(kk)
Got this from Chuck Buell after he finished reading our
MASSIVE Sunday Comments Page this past weekend …
Whew!
A very scintillating edition of Forgotten
Hits today, Kent!
( Plus it gave me a rare opportunity to
us the word "scintillating!" )
Chuck!
Speaking of Forgotten Hits ... and songs that made The Big 89 of 1969, here’s a short piece we ran several years ago about the
group Underground Sunshine who, when they found out that The Beatles had
absolutely NO intention of releasing this song as a single of their own, seized
the opportunity to take one of the most popular tracks on The Beatles’ White
Album, “Birthday,” and running it all the way up to #2 here in Chicago!(kk)
We watched it last night on TV
and I had mixed feelings. It was well done, but I really think there
could have been at least one 15 minute segment presenting stills or at least a
LIST of what LPs / Singles were recorded there by other legendary artists or
even one hit wonders as well.
The show focused well on the
artists it showed, but a long segment on Pink Floyd really didn't give much
info about HOW they recorded stuff at Abbey Road, while the segment on the
Hollies was relegated to Elton John who, let's face it, was a nobody when he
did that.
Same with Jimmy Page – let’s
hear what he had to SAY about the big artists he did not care for and no
mention of the bands he was in that made him famous. Even tho I did not
know artists that were from different genres, those were fine. I just
felt that focusing on ten or so artists over 1 1/2 hours was a bit odd.
Going back to the Beatles in
chronological segments worked well and kept interest up, but when they
mentioned the Get Back LP recording as Let It Be, that was kinda wrong, I
felt. There WERE some clips I’m not sure I had seen of the Beatles, which
was cool. Most of it we HAVE seen or heard for stories on the fabs.
The Shirley Bassey segment was great!
Overall, worth watching, but not
sure it really delved into the actual recording/studio time as much as I would
like.
Did you watch the Grammy Salute to Paul Simon the other night?
I thought it was an interesting mix of artists paying tribute to Paul's incredible catalog of music ... but rather disappointing that even for an event as monumental as this, Art Garfunkel couldn't at least make an appearance. I don't know if it's a case that he didn't want to ... or he wasn't ask ... but his non-presence speaks volumes as to the deterioration of their relationship. What a shame. (C'mon, Guys ... you're in your 80's now!!! Get over it!!!) Bookends, indeed. (kk)
