More Lost or Forgotten Christmas Records 2021

More Lost or Forgotten Christmas Records 2021

While y Mariah Carey’s wishes for Christmas haven’t assaulted my ears as often this year, the selections of songs by our radio stations seem even more limited than in the past.

Here is a list of a baker’s dozen Christmas Oldies that would be nice to hear the radio playing again:

An Old-Fashioned Christmas by Frank Sinatra. Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote this song, which Frankie recorded in 1964.

When Christmas Comes by Tony Gudell. The Waldorf Music Hall label released their albums exclusively through Woolworth stores. This album came out for Christmas 1955.

A Round About Christmas – The Kingston Trio. A song traditionally sung as a round would have groups of people singing the same lyrics but stating a few lines away from each other; you can probably remember singing Row Row Row Your Boat like that in elementary school. The Kingston Trio included it on their Christmas album in 1960, The Last Month of the Year. The song’s clever title was changed to Christmas Is Coming for most of the recordings that came later (most of which did not sing the song as a round!)

Jolly Old Man In The Bright Red Suit – Vaughn Monroe with the Moon Maids. Vaughn released this song in 1949 on the B-side of his version of Auld Lang Syne.

Presents For Christmas by Solomon Burke. The first song Solomon wrote back in the fifties was Christmas Presents. In 1966, he co-wrote and released this completely different song.

Father Christmas by the Kinks. When you mention the song title Father Christmas, people generally think you’re talking about Greg Lake’s song I Believe In Father Christmas, which is anti-commercialism but not anti-religion. This title is actually a song by the Kinks, which is about a mall Santa being mugged by some teenaged tuffs.

Gee Whiz, It’s Christmas by Carla Thomas. Carla had her biggest single in 1960 with the single Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes). She followed that up later in the year with her similarly named single.

Christmas Alphabet by Dickie Valentine. Dickie had a number one record in the UK in 1955 with the song Christmas Alphabet. It didn’t chart in the US, but lots of cover versions followed.

Santa Claus and His Old Lady by Cheech and Chong. Magic Christmas Brownies may well prevent most radio stations from playing this record, but expanding legalization may help it find acceptance in the future!

Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy (Daddy Looked A Lot Like Him) by Buck Owens. Buck’s Christmas song from 1965 reached #2 on the Country chart.

Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto by James Brown. James and co-writer Hank Ballard came up with their own plan for how Santa should distribute gifts in 1968.

The Night Santa Went Crazy by Weird Al. You don’t normally associate Weird Al with violent lyrics, but this Christmas story from 1996 is not kind to reindeer.

I Want Eddie Fisher For Christmas by Betty Johnson. Once upon a time, Eddie Fisher was a huge teen idol. Betty appeared in the mid-fifties on the syndicated television show Eddy Arnold Time with the pre-Elvis The Jordanaires backing her up. This song came out in 1954, the year before Eddie married Debbie Reynolds.