Even if you wanted to, you can’t ignore the
fact that the Christmas holiday season was upon us. Just about every business you enter, whether
it’s a drug store or grocery store or department store, they all have Christmas
music playing on their PA systems. Radio
stations started playing Christmas music a few weeks ago. Since we can’t escape it, I figured we might
as well embrace it, so this week’s quiz is all about lyrics from contemporary
Christmas songs – that is, songs written within the past 60 years. In other words, there won’t be questions
about “Good King Wenceslas” or “O’Come All Ye Faithful” or “Mary Boy Child”. It’ll be more like: What Christmas song do these lyrics come
from? “Chestnuts roasting on an open
fire. Jack frost nipping at your nose..” And of course, you would answer “The
Christmas Song” by Bob Wells and Mel Torme (OK, you might not have guessed the name
of the other writer besides Mel, but you get the point). So here we ho ho go!
QUESTIONS
1. This
Christmas classic has been recorded by many performers including Bruce
Springsteen, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry and Jessica Simpson. A portion of the lyrics are: “Santa came down the chimney, half past three. With lots of nice little presents for my baby
and me. (THE SONG’S TITLE IS SUNG HERE),
you surely treat me nice. And I feel
like I’m living, just living in paradise.”
Do you know the name of this holiday hit?
2. Johnny
Mathis, Johnny Cash, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Michael
Buble have all recorded this Christmas favourite, but the most popular version
belongs to Elvis Presley. Some of the
lyrics are: “Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree. Won’t be the same dear, if you’re not here
with me. And when those blue snowflakes
start falling. That’s when those blue
memories start calling.” Can you name
that tune?
3. David
Letterman features Darlene Love singing this song every Christmas using a
string section and a huge vocal choir along with the Late Show Band (I assume,
with this being Dave’s last holiday show before he retires next spring, that
this will be the last late night TV performance by Ms. Love of this song), but then
again, you never can tell. Here’s a
portion of the lyrics: “(Christmas) The
snows coming down (Christmas) I’m watching it fall (Christmas) Lot’s of people
around (Christmas) THE SONG’S TITLE IS SUNG HERE”. The bracketed word (Christmas) is sung by a
choir. What’s the name of this wonderful
Christmas song?
4. We’ve
already mentioned this performer in questions # 1 and # 2, so this might be a
bit easier (then again, maybe not). Some
of the lyrics are: “He sees you when
you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re
awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or
good, so be good for goodness sake.” This
one should be easy. What’s the title of
this Christmas classic?
5. This
Christmas hit raised millions of dollars for African famine relief in 1984 and
subsequent years. Sir Bob Geldof
(although he wasn’t knighted yet) came up with the idea and gathered dozens of
British pop stars together to record it.
The opening lyrics are: “It’s
Christmas time; there’s no need to be afraid.
At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade. And in our world of plenty, we can spread a
smile of joy. Throw your arms around the
world at Christmastime.” So what say
you? Can you name this Christmas charity
song that when it was first released in 1984?
ANSWERS
1. “Merry
Christmas Baby” is the correct answer. It
was written in the late 1940’s by Lou Baxter and Johnny Moore. Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers recorded the
original version in 1947. It went to # 3
on Billboard Magazine’s Juke Box chart that year. Since then, it’s also been recorded by B. B.
King, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, Chuck Berry, Otis
Redding, Booker T and The MG’s (instrumental version) and even the original
vamp herself, Mae West. Bruce
Springsteen’s version (recorded at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York) may
be the one that gets the most airplay at this time of year. Bruce performed this song on Conan O’Brien’s
network TV show. Conan’s even playing
rhythm guitar on it. Check it out on
youtube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi9kvO2zL2E
2. Christmas
just wouldn’t be complete without Elvis Presley’s version of “Blue Christmas“. Written by Billy Hayes and Jay Johnson, it’s
the sad tale of Christmas without love.
It was first recorded by Doye O’Dell in 1948. The following year, country star Ernest Tubb,
orchestra leader Hugo Winterhalter and bandleader/singer Russ Morgan all
recorded their own versions of “Blue Christmas”. Tubb’s went to # 1 on Billboard magazine’s ‘Most
Played Juke Box (Country and Western) Records’ chart in January 1950.
Winterhalter’s version peaked at # 9 on
Billboards’ chart for ‘Records Most Played By Disc Jockeys’ and Morgan’s got to
# 11 on Billboards’ ‘Best Selling Pop Singles’ chart. Elvis recorded his version on September 5th,
1957 and was one of the songs on “Elvis’ Christmas Album” that year. RCA Victor Records didn’t release “Blue
Christmas” as a 45rpm single until 1964.
3. “Christmas
Baby, Please Come Home”, written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich and Phil
Spector, was originally recorded by Darlene Love in 1963 for the album, “A
Christmas Gift To You From Philles Records”.
The album was released on November 22, 1963 but with the assassination
of U.S President John F. Kennedy in Dallas that same day, it obviously did not
sell well. However, over the years, it
has become a continuing Christmas classic.
In 2010, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the song # 1 on its list of
‘Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs’.
Watch for Darlene Love singing “Christmas Baby, Please Come Home” one
last time on “The Late Show with David Letterman” a few days before
Christmas.
4. Bruce
Springsteen recorded a live version of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” in 1975,
but wasn’t released until 1982 as one of the songs on the Sesame Street
compilation album, “In Harmony 2”.
Columbia Records finally released it in 1985 on the ‘B’ side of Bruce
Springsteen’s 45rpm single from the “Born In The U.S.A.” album, “My Hometown”. The song was written by John Frederick Cootes
and Haven Gillespie. It was first
performed in November of 1934 on singer Eddie Cantor’s radio show. A plethora of performers have recorded “Santa
Claus Is Comin’ To Town”, including Alvin and The Chipmunks (1961, The Ronettes
(1963), The Four Seasons (1963), The Beach Boys (1964), Carpenters (1978), Neil
Diamond (1992), Mariah Carey (1994), Miley Cyrus (2008) and three Canadian
singers: Justin Bieber, Michael Buble, and the late Cory Monteith from
”Glee”. All three of those recordings
were from 2011. Two versions of “Santa
Claus Is Comin’ To Town” made it all the way to # 1 on Billboard Magazine’s
Christmas singles chart – The Jackson 5 in 1970 and Bruce Springsteen in 1985.
5.
There’s a new version just released this year featuring many new performers,
but the classic “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, recorded in 1984, remains the
best version (at least in my humble opinion).
Midge Ure (Ultravox) and Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats) wrote the song
and Geldof corralled as many British pop stars as they could into a recording
studio to sing it with Ure producing. Performers
included members of Duran Duran,Status Quo, Bananarama, Big Country and Spandau
Ballet along with solo performers Phil Collins, Boy George, George Michael,
Sting, Bono and Adam Clayton from U2, David Bowie, Paul McCartney and many
others. Geldof revised the lyrics for
the 2014 version.
Watch the 1984 original video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjQzJAKxTrE
or the 2014 version:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w7jyVHocTk.
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