We’re just a few days away from the
big event that children look forward to all year. That’s right, the one time of year when Uncle
George belches “Jingle Bells” at the Christmas dinner table. OK, maybe it’s Aunt Helen who does it at your
house.
This week, more Christmas holiday
questions. One or two will be multiple choice and the
rest will be regular old questions. So, let’s
start rockin’ around the Christmas tree...”
QUESTIONS
1. This Christmas record
went to # 1 on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart in 1958. Was it:
a. White Christmas b. The
Chipmunk Song c. The Christmas Song
2. This Christmas hit
comes back every year since it was first released in 1957. It climbed to # 6 on Billboards’ Hot 100
chart by a singer who also made the Top Ten a few months earlier with “My
Special Angel”. His Christmas tune was
featured in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film, “Jingle All The Way”. Can you name this annual holiday hit? There’ll be extra nog in your egg nog if you
know the name of the singer too.
3. In 1955, Bing
Crosby’s version of “White Christmas” that he recorded for the movie “Holiday
Inn”, zoomed up the charts, finally landing at # 7 on Billboards’ Hot 100
chart. There was another version of
“White Christmas” that went a little higher.
In fact, it was # 1 on Billboards’ Christmas chart in 1963. The singer charted nearly 50 hits on the Hot
100, including his only other # 1, “Butterfly” in 1957. He had his own weekly TV variety show for
nearly 10 years. His unofficial theme
song was “Moon River”, although surprisingly, his vocal version was never
released as a single. Can you name this
singer?
4. This Christmas
song made it all the way to # 1 on Billboards’ Christmas chart in 1967. It did better than any of this group’s
previous hits. The song was inspired by
one of the characters from the “Peanuts” comic strip. A fanciful little dog who liked to imagine he
could do all sorts of things. Do you
know the name of this # 1 Christmas hit?
Is it: a. Snoopy versus the Red Baron
b. Snoopy’s Christmas Caper c.
Snoopy’s Christmas
5. There have been
several hit songs recorded about Santa Claus.
“Santa Claus And His Old Lady” by Cheech and Chong got to # 3 on
Billboard magazine’s Christmas chart in 1971.
James Brown took “Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto” to # 4 in 1968
on the same holiday chart. The hardest
working man in show biz (James Brown again) had another Santa hit in 1970 with
“Santa Claus Is Definitely Here To Stay”.
That one made it to # 7 on the Christmas chart. The ‘Santa’ song we’re looking for first
charted by The Four Seasons in 1962, but only climbed as high as # 23. Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band took
it to # 1 on the Christmas chart in 1985, but Bruce and the boys weren’t the
first ones to do it. 15 years earlier, a
Motown group made up of 5 brothers took this song to # 1 on the Christmas chart
for the first time. What’s the name of
this ‘Santa’ song?
ANSWERS
1. b. “The Chipmunk Song” is the correct
answer. Ross Bagdasarian, who went by
the stage name of David Seville, had created a sped-up voice on his previous
1958 # 1 hit, “Witch Doctor” and decided to create three chipmunk characters to
sing a Christmas song. Simon, Alvin and
Theodore were all named for Liberty Records executives, which was the label that
Seville recorded for. Simon was for Liberty
Records founder Si Waronker, Alvin was named for Liberty Records President Al
Bennett and Theodore for Liberty’s chief engineer Ted Keep. “The Chipmunk Song” by The Chipmunks with
David Seville was # 1 on the pop charts for 4 weeks and sold 4 ½ million copies
in just seven weeks. Ross Bagdasarian
died in 1972 and the Chipmunk tradition has been kept alive by his son, Ross
Bagdasarian Jr. and wife Janice Karman who co-produced several new chipmunk
CDs, an animated TV series and the films “Alvin and The Chipmunks” (2007),
“Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” (2009) plus “Alvin and The Chipmunks:
Chipwrecked” (2011). There’s also a new Alvin,
Simon and Theodore movie scheduled for release in December of 2016, “Alvin and
The Chipmunks: Road Trip”.
2. The song was “Jingle Bell Rock”. The
singer – Bobby Helms. Helms was born in Bloomington, Indiana in
1933. He was a country singer who’s
first charted pop hit was “Fraulein” in 1957.
It made it to # 36. “My Special
Angel” came a few months later and climbed to # 7. Both “Fraulein” and “My Special Angel” went
to # 1 on the Country charts. Then just
two days before Christmas of ’57 came “Jingle Bell Rock”. Helms continued to tour and record for the
next four decades until his death from emphysema and asthma in 1997 at the age
of 63. His musical accomplishments were
honoured with his induction in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Bobby Helms died
3. Andy
Williams is the singer’s name we were looking for. During his career, Andy recorded 44 albums,
17 of which were certified Gold and 3 went Platinum. His TV show, “The Andy Williams Show”, aired
from 1962 until 1971. Andy also hosted
the Grammy Awards several times. He
formed Barnaby Records at the end of the 1960’s, a label that had hits with Ray
Stevens (“Everything Is Beautiful” in 1970 and “The Streak” in ’74). Andy Williams passed away in 2012.
4. The answer is c. “Snoopy’s Christmas” recorded by The Royal Guardsmen, a group from
Ocala, Florida who’s first hit was “Snoopy vs The Red Baron”. “Snoopy’s Christmas” did make # 1 in
Australia and New Zealand in 1967. It
re-charted in 1987, ’88, ’89 and 2003.
On the flip side of all that chart action, the song was voted as ‘the
worst Christmas song of all time’ by the readers of the New Zealand Herald
newspaper in 2007.
5. It was “Santa
Claus Is Comin’ To Town”, a # 1 in 1970 by The Jackson 5, featuring a 12
year old Michael Jackson. Altough it
only went to # 1 on Billboards’ Christmas chart, it was their 5th #
1 hit and they all happened in 1970. The
first was ”I Want You back”, followed by “ABC’.
Then came “The Love You Save”.
“I’ll Be There” was next after which came “Sant a Claus Is Comin’ To
Town”. In 1975, they dropped the name
The Jackson 5 and became The Jacksons.
Michael went on to a superstar solo career and the rest is music history.
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