Ferlin Husky

Artist: Ferlin Husky

LP: Christmas All Year Long
Song: "Jingle Bells"

[ listen ]

Song: "I Wish It Could Be Christmas All Year Long"

[ listen ]

It feels like Ferlin is getting his wish for Christmas all year long here in Seattle this weekend. We've again been walloped with snow! Realizing I had nothing for my feet to traipse around in outside besides dress shoes and tennis shoes, I brushed eight inches of cold white powder off my car this morning and slid it to Fred Meyer. I was surprised and delighted to find that shoppers hadn't snatched up all available winter boots between sizes 8 and 15 in their Friday snowpocalypse shopping spree. I wonder what kind of boots Ferlin used to wear when dashing through the snow, laughing all the way. Wikipedia doesn't say.

[ Ferlin Husky: December 3, 1925 — March 17, 2011 ]

Alexander O'Neal

Artist: Alexander O'Neal

LP: My Gift to You

Song: "Sleigh Ride"
[ listen ]

Song: "The Little Drummer Boy"
[ listen ]

Little drummer boys are always so sexy! I did some Christmas bin digging this weekend at Jive Time Records, unearthing this copy of Alexander O'Neal's 1988 Christmas LP, "His Gift to Me." Did you know Alexander was front man for The Time...until he got in a fight with Prince and got replaced by Morris Day? This was news to me. More here. "Sleigh Ride" gives a hint as to what Alexander O'Neal and The Time might have sounded like.

[ Alexander O'Neal ]

Paul & Paula

Artist: Paul & Paula

LP: Holiday For Teens

Song: "Holiday For Teens"
[ listen ]

Song: "Winter Wonderland"
[ listen ]

Song: "Holiday Hootenanny"
[ listen ]

First of all, these people's names are Ray and Jill, not Paul and Paula, and they were both in their 20s when this record came out in 1963. This entire enterprise has been built upon a pack of lies! Not only that, but I tried singing "Holiday For Teens," hand-claps included, to some festive-looking teenagers on the bus on my way home from work today, and it did not go over well, to say the least. I immediately switched over to "Holiday Hootenanny," since to be honest that one seems more likely to appeal to today's youngsters, but the teens silently shuffled away to another part of the bus before I even finished the first verse.

[ Paula & Paul ]

Patti Page

Artist: Patti Page

LP: Christmas With Patti Page
Song: "Christmas Choir" 
[ listen ]
Song: "Jingle Bells"
[ listen ]

Song: "The Mama Doll Song" 
[ listen ]

I think what I like most about my Patti Page Christmas record is how I always feel cool snow flakes melting as they touch my cheek while the album plays. And wait. What's that I taste...peppermint? "The Mama Doll Song" is my new favorite Christmas carol, even though it reminds me of a creepy old episode of The Twilight Zone.

[ Patti Page: November 8, 1927 — January 1, 2013 ]

Gladys Knight and The Pips

Artist: Gladys Knight and The Pips

LP: Bless This House

Song: "The Night Before Christmas" 
[ listen ]

'Twas Gladys Knight before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that Jimmy Smith soon would be there.

Kitty Wells

Artist: Kitty Wells

LP: Christmas Day with Kitty Wells

Song: "Blue Christmas"

[ listen ]

Song: "Santa's On His Way"

[ listen ]

Though she passed away in the summer of 2012, I'll be spending Christmas day with the "Queen of Country Music" via her 1962 Christmas LP. You can see a list of all the albums Kitty Wells released on the Decca label by clicking here.

[ Kitty Wells: August 30, 1919 — July 16, 2012 ]

Yumi Arai

Artist: Yumi Arai

LP: The 14th Moon

Song: "Chuo Freeway"

[ listen ]

Born in Hachioji, Japan in 1954, singer/songwriter/pianist Yumi Arai got started in the music business while in her early teens by hanging out at Chianti, a popular Italian restaurant frequented by artists like Yukio Mishima, Akira Kurosawa, Taro Okamoto, and Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu, who ended up producing Yumi Arai's first record. Nicknamed "Yuming" by her Chinese lover, Yumi released four LPs under her birth name of Yumi Arai in the early-to-mid 1970s ("The 14th Moon" from 1976 was the last) before marrying musical collaborator Masataka Matsutoya in 1976 and changing her professional name to Yumi Matsutoya. You can read all about the life and ongoing career of Yumi Arai—aka Yuming—aka Yumi Matsutoya on Wikipedia here, and watch a neat but oddly edited 1973 Yumi Arai music video here:

Yumi Arai on YouTube:

[ "Kamihikô-ki" ]

The Crystals

Artist: The Crystals

LP: A Christmas Gift For You from Philles Records

Song: "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

[ listen ]

Last week a friend and I went to see the clumsy new documentary about Phil Spector, in which we learned about his life, his music, and his trial for the murder of actress Lana Clarkson. In the film, Phil mentions that he's never expected the writer of a famous Christmas song to call him up to thank him for putting their song on his Christmas record—so on behalf of Johnny Marks, who died in 1985, I'd like to thank Phil Spector for putting this terrific version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on his Christmas record. You can read about The Crystals here.