Ghost on Christmas Eve, the ultimate feel-good holiday song, describes annual night-before-Christmas visits by the singer's dead wife (girlfriend?), who died in a car wreck one year ago. "I'm satisfied to share you on Christmas Eve," he sings. Share her? Does he call his friends?
Needless to say, we have no idea (and neither does the singer) whether or not these visits are destined to be annual--it's only been a year since his lover's death, and who knows if she intends to keep on visiting? Maybe that part was meant to be up in the air. Or maybe he should have made it five years since her death. I think that would have worked better.
And, obviously, he means sharing with her, not sharing her. I'm not trying to be picky, but.... Well, yes I am. Anyway, happy to share this. Cool acoustic guitar work, no?
No way the other titles can be as strange, right? You're correct--they aren't. But they're fun, especially the two tracks written by Mort Garson, Swingin' Sleighbells and Teen Sleighride. These are performed by the Marv Meredith Orch., whose first name I initially misread as "Merv." Can't imagine why, said the die-hard Merv collector.
Notice, of course, that it's always "swingin'," with an apostrophe. Never "swinging." Unless someone at the label messes up.
At least I'm assuming that "swinging" is usually apostrophized. This could be an interesting topic for research.
What do I know about Biddle (Bo) Peep (Dear Lord and Santa Claus)? Not a thing. I don't even know if it's an actual child singing, since the voice has a George Rock quality to it. If you can handle the singing, the song is kind of cute. I can't believe this didn't show up in a Google search for outsider/song poem music--maybe it hid from my search. Interestingly, there was a Mattel toy called Biddle Bo Peep, from the Little Kiddles series. One turns up at eBay with a starting bid of $12.50. No thanks.
Buddy Pastuck's My Christmas Prayer is a happier affair than the Ghost side, though so is the title music from Psycho, really. The Lecanto, Fla. Cowboy Junction label identifies Buddy as "the Roller Skating Cowboy," which is more than a Google search (of "Buddy Pastuck") tells us. Maybe the quotes are narrowing the search. A pretty fun side--I could grow to love this. The flip is about a goat named Elizabeth, who (according to the lyrics) became the most famous, um, reindeer at all. Cool acoustic guitar solo.
What a collection of labels for this post--Cowboy Junction, Spa, Beaver Records Incorporated....
Click here for the zip file: Ghost on Christmas Eve, more!
SLEIGHLIST
DEAR LORD AND SANTA CLAUS--Biddle (Bo) Bepp (Spa 25 1015)
GHOST ON CHRISTMAS EVE--Allen and the Lads (Beaver Rec. 8697)
SWINGIN' SLEIGHBELLS (Mort Garson)--Marv Meredith O., 1960.
TEEN SLEIGHRIDE (Mort Garson-Grace Lane)--Same.
ELIZABETH THE CHRISTMAS QUEEN--Buddy Pastuck, the Roller Skating Cowboy (Cowboy Junction 8072-12)
MY CHRISTMAS PRAYER--Same
Lee
5 comments:
Love it, a dead teen Xmas song! Can you get ANY MORE niche? ;-)
Thanks for the shares, Lee. Fantastic as usual.
I just picked up that Merv Meredith single. Thanks for saving me the rip!
Oops. MARV. See, it isn't you, it's him. Had he changed his name, he might've sold a few more.
Great stuff as always.
Thank you, Lee!
MadBlonde,
My pleasure!
Stubbysfears,
I agree. The name Marv was never the same after Merv hit the big-time.
Cooper,
Sure!
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