Bill Adler's Christmas Jollies: 32 Songs to Beat The Holiday Blues

It's the most wonderful time of the year—too bad so much of the music sucks. Good thing Bill Adler is here to help you shake those Xmas blahs.

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Complex Original

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I’ve always felt at least a passing sympathy for South Park’s Kyle Broflofsky, who once sang a mournful ditty about how “It’s hard to be a Jew on Christmas.”

Having married into a Christmas-celebrating family after growing up Jewish with no Christmas, my problem isn’t the holiday as a whole, but its standard soundtrack.

That’s why, in 1984, I started to assemble my own Christmas soundtracks. Over the years, any number of card-carrying Christian friends of mine have expressed some affection for my “Xmas Jollies” compilations. I think it’s because you don’t have to be Jewish to find yourself subject to them Christmas blues.

Here’s an annotated guide to “Xmas Jollies 2011,” which runs the usual gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous.  I sequenced it to make it easy for the listener to get all the way from the beginning to the end.  Hopefully, you’ll think of it the way I do—as a sleigh ride for the ears.

Written by BIll Adler

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Peggy Seeger "Babe Of Bethlehem" (1953)

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A brief, heartfelt a cappella statement of the Reason for the Season, “Babe of Bethlehem” is a table-setting intro for the rest of the program. Peggy Seeger, the half-sister of Pete Seeger, was also the second wife of Brit folksinger Ewan MacColl.

Robin Williamson "Drive The Cold Winter Away" (1986)

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I imagine this is the kind of Christmas song that might've been sung by Robin Hood and his crew, one in which “wassails of nut-brown ale” is made to rhyme with “merry as bucks in the dale.” In this case, the singer is Robin Williamson, a founding member in the Sixties of the Incredible String Band.

Stompin' Tom Connors "Down On Christmas" (1970)

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Stompin' Tom Connors is Canada's answer to Johnny Cash. You gotta love a guy, down on Christmas, who beefs about “a slice of meat so thin it only had one side.”

4. Huey "Piano" Smith and The Clowns "Almost Time For Santa Claus" (1962)

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A song of hard-driving seasonal celebration from Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns. Smith is the great New Orleans bandleader who gave the world “Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu” and “Don't You Just Know It.”

Twistin' Kings "Xmas Twist" (1961)

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Composed by Berry Gordy and performed by Motown's studio band under the name The Twistin' Kings, “Xmas Twist” was the label's seasonal twist on The Twist when that indelible dance craze was still sparking spasms from coast to coast.

Ska Santas "Let It Snow" (2010)

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A ska band out of Mckinleyville, California, the Ska Santas released a wonderful, trombone-heavy Christmas album on the Bongo Boy label in 2010. I'm partial to their uptempo treatment of “Let It Snow, Let It Snow.”

Little Jimmy King with the Memphis Horns "Happy Christmas Tears" (1995)

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Little Jimmy King's “Happy Christmas Tears” is a typical Chicago blues played with atypical zest. But it's the soulful lyrics that put it over the top: “We don't have much, baby, but we got us and that's enough/With the love we got, we don't need that other stuff.”

Lee Shot Williams "Seasons Greetings" (2006)

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Lee Shot Williams's seasons greetings are snatched from a 2006 Christmas album on Ecko Records, a little label out of Memphis that is not affiliated with Marc Ecko and his various ventures. I prefer Lee's leering “Christmas Radio Drop #1” to his song, “I Ate Too Much Over the Holidays.”

The Three Suns "Skaters' Waltz" (1959)

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What can I say, other than that I'm a sucker for a tuba? I'm also nerdy enough to admire the way the xylophone part bounces back and forth from speaker to speaker, a little gimmick that dates this track as a relic from the dawn of the Stereo Age.

Bob Crosby & His Orchestra "The Skaters' Waltz (In Swingtime)" (1939)

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Another version of “Skaters' Waltz,” this one a 1939 Swing Era gem by Bob Crosby—Bing's band-leading younger brother. They start out cool and smooth, and end up hot.

George Formby "Sitting On The Ice In The Ice Rink" (1933)

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George Formby was a comedic star of England's stage and screen from the Thirties onward. “Sitting On the Ice In the Ice Rink” finds him boasting that the title activity is “the finest fun I've ever had” before advising us to “put it on the ice, it'll never go bad.” The frosting on the cake? One of Formby's trademark solos on the banjolele (a hybrid banjo and ukelele).

Rev. Edward W. Clayborn (The Guitar Evangelist) "The Wrong Way To Celebrate Christmas" (1928)

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This is just one of the treasures to be found on Dust to Digital's Where Will You Be Christmas Day, a revelatory compilation of 78rpm Christmas tracks issued in 2004. (What's a 78? Ask you grandfather.)

Ms. Sheba Potts-Wright "Seasons Greetings" (2006)

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Another radio drop from Ecko Records's It's Christmas, Baby. I appreciate Ms. Potts-Wright's ecumenical shout-out to Hanukah as well as Christmas.

Solomon Burke "Silent Night" (1982)

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Solomon Burke's “Silent Night” showcases the great soul singer, who died in 2010, in live performance in a church in 1982. He's leading the choir, singing his ass off, and contending with a particularly rambunctious congregation. Fantastic.

Brian McKnight "O Come All Ye Faithful" (2008)

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I like Brian McKnight's super-smooth “O Come All Ye Faithful” on its own merits, but I especially like it in contrast to Solomon Burke's feverish workout on the preceding track.

Ivan Lins "Um Bom Natal (O Tannenbaum)" (1999)

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Ivan Lins, who performs a mellow Portuguese-language version of “O Tannenbaum,” has been a highly-regarded Brazilian singing star for the last 40 years. According to wikipedia, Lins “considered a career in volleyball before discovering his considerable musical talent.” Thank goodness he found his true calling.

Bubber Johnson "It's Christmas Time" (1955)

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Signed to Cincinnati's King label, Bubber Johnson had one significant R&B hit before fading into the ether. “It's Christmas Time” is a real find: a plush Mathis-styled Yuletide ballad, complete with background chorus, harp, flute, and French horns…the whole gluey fruitcake cut three years before Mathis himself began making Christmas recordings.

Stephanie Davis "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" (2005)

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Texas-based Stephanie Davis's “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” is from Home for the Holidays, her 2005 CD on the Recluse Records label. I dig her singing—direct and understated—and the fitting accompaniment: jazzy Gibson guitar and Grappelli-esque violin.

Tuli Kupferberg "Christmas In The Workhouse" (1992)

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Commie beatnik troubadour Tuli Kupferberg, who died this year, was my kind of Jew. Here he sets a Dickensian broadside entitled “Christmas in the Workhouse” to the tune of “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.” Check out his sing-a-long version on youtube.

Roy Orbison "Pretty Paper" (1963)

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When Willie Nelson wrote “Pretty Paper” in 1963, he wasn't yet a big enough star to record it himself. So he gave it to Roy Orbison, who killed it. The production is very commercial and mainstream, but the sentiment is of a piece with Tuli's track: don't forget the neediest among us at Christmastime.

Byron Lee and the Dragonaires "Winter Wonderland Reggay" (1966)

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Byron Lee was a pioneering Jamaican musician, producer, and studio owner. His instrumental reggae version of “Winter Wonderland” sounds like a groovy JA combination of Booker T. & the M.G.'s and Herb Alpert.

Reuben Anderson "Christmas Time Again" (1967)

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“Christmas Time Again,” is credited only to Reuben Anderson, but it strikes me as a soulful duet. Anderson and his unnamed partner turn in a performance that owes a lot to James and Bobby Purify's “I'm Your Puppet,” a huge R&B hit in America a year earlier. The vibraphone solo adds an intimate, jazzy touch.

Ras Pidow "Winter Storm" (1992)

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The hallucinatory rareness of snow in Jamaica inspires some vivid meditation in Ras Pidow's “Winter Storm" from 1992. “I sit alone with folded arms,” intones the late Rasta elder (over a cut of Bob Marley's "Coming In From The Cold"). “Now I have seen the winter storm.” I was turned onto this track by reggae maven Doug Wendt.

Joe Loco Quintet "Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1955)

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It was in 1955, when Latin rhythms were enjoying one of their periodic spells of influence on American pop, that Joe Loco spiced up “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Gracias, Joe!

Mike Epps "Christmas Wish" (2008)

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I snatched Mike Epps's amusing Christmas wish from Jim Jones's 2008 Tribute to Bad Santa CD. Beneath the humor is a serious message: if we want to put a significant dent in the violence that plagues the cities straddling the border between Mexico and America, we should legalize marijuana.

Flaco Jimenez, Freddy Fender, and Friends "Jingle Bells" (1994)

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This rocking Spanish-English version of “Jingle Bells” comes from a 1994 CD entitled A Tejano Country Christmas. I love the vocals and the accordion, but the star of this show is the drummer. Dios mio!

Odilio Gonzales "Peticion Al Nino" (mid '60s)

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Odilio Gonzales is a popular Puerto Rican singer, who debuted in the mid-Fifties as a child star singing on the radio. I love the intensity of his singing on this track. Odilio is for the children.

Ricky Powell "Seasons Greetings" (2010)

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Don't know Ricky Powell? You better ask somebody.

The Fat Boys "Swatch Watch Presents A Merry Christmas"

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This Fat Boys's Christmas TV ad for Swatch watches was hooked up by Charlie Stettler, the group's manager. Charlie, who is Swiss, originally persuaded the Swiss firm to get into bed with the Fat Boys (and Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, and Whodini) in 1984, when they sponsored the Swatch Watch New York City Fresh Fest, the first national rap tour.

Junior Walker "Seasons Greetings" (mid '70s)

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Junior Walker may be the most underrated of Motown's great stars. Not just a hellacious sax player, he was also a great singer and the creator of some of the most high-energy and danceable music of the Sixties. You can hear damn near all of that in this 23-second-long Christmas greeting.

Huey "Piano" Smith and The Clowns "Happy New Year" (1962)

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“Happy New Year” is the second selection on this year's “Xmas Jollies” compilation from Huey P. Smith's Twas the Night Before Christmas. The exuberant track repurposes the melody of “Little Liza Jane,” one of the standards of the New Orleans brass band repertory.

Popeye the Sailor "Seasin's Greetinks" (1933)

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This is the very end of the soundtrack of a Popeye cartoon from 1933 entitled “Seasin's Greetinks.” Popeye sings the song in triumph after saving Olive from Bluto at his most depraved. Thank goodness for spinach!

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