It’s mid summer 2021 here in London but we’re diving back to Christmas 1953 for our music this week. If you’re in the southern hemisphere and celebrate a “mid-winter Xmas” in July, as some kiwis do, then this might be just the playlist for you.
The songs of December, 1953
“Changing Partners” – Kay Starr
“Changing Partners” – Patti Page
“Christmas Dragnet” – Stan Freberg
“Ebb Tide” – Frank Chacksfield
“Eh Cumpari” – Julius Larosa
“Heart Of My Heart” – Don Cornell / Johnny Desmond / Alan Dale
“Heart Of My Heart” – Four Aces
“I See The Moon” – Mariners
“Istanbul Not Constantinople” – Four Lads
“Love Walked In” – Hilltoppers
“Many Times” – Eddie Fisher
“Oh Mein Papa” – Eddie Calvert
“Oh Mein Papa” – Eddie Fisher
“Oh” – Pee Wee Hunt
“Rags To Riches” – Tony Bennett
“Ricochet” – Teresa Brewer
“Santa Baby” – Eartha Kitt
“St. George And The Dragonet” – Stan Freberg
“Stranger In Paradise” – Four Aces
“Stranger In Paradise” – Tony Bennett
“That’s Amore” – Dean Martin
“To Be Alone” – Hilltoppers
“Vaya Con Dios” – Les Paul And Mary Ford
“You Alone” – Perry Como
“You You You” – Ames Brothers
Just two Xmas tunes on the main pop charts this week so we’ve supplemented it with some extra. I was going to add these tunes reviewed in an issue of Billboard this month:
But it was the first time I’d struggled to find tunes so we tried the “new this year” tunes from the Xmas advert we found last month:
And we were able to locate all of those to add. You can listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link or embedded below:
This month in history
TV is getting bigger and bigger as we progress through the ’50s – this christmas we’re treated to the Liberace Show. Apparently Liberace mostly bypassed radio before trying a television career, thinking radio unsuitable given his act’s dependency on the visual.
1953 was the second of Queen Elizabeth II’s christmas messages. In this year’s case the message was broadcast from Auckland, New Zealand, during the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh’s six-month royal tour of the Commonwealth.
She finished the broadcast with a note of sympathy to those affected by the Tangiwai disaster the night before. Which when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train – the locomotive and first six carriages derailed into the river, killing 151 people.
What’d Sadie think?
It’s been a long while since Tony Bennett was in rags, because “Rags To Riches” is number one for another four weeks throughout December, 1953.
The charts open with “Changing Partners” by Kay Starr, a new version of the song Patti Page launched last month that we liked. It’s a lovely version for sure.
“Heart Of My Heart” by Don Cornell is quite forgettable, though the harmonies are nice.
“Oh Mein Papa” by Eddie Calvert is likewise a bit schmaltzy but notable as Calvert’s version was the first UK number one hit recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London apparently.
“Stranger In Paradise” is classic Tony Bennett crooning and rather nice as our final new non-Xmas song of the week.
Yes, as we mentioned we had two Xmas tunes on the main billboard chart. “Christmas Dragnet” is Stan Freberg doing another spin on his Dragnet comedy tune – this one is actually funnier and a better story than the original.
Then we have the best festive song on our playlist this week, “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt. It’s a song “so sexy that when Eartha Kitt recorded it for the first time in 1953 it was banned in parts of the South” by all accounts. In a great wee interview with composer Phil Springer he estimates that it took him just 10 minutes to write the tune.
Gayla Peevy’s “I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” is my favourite of the additional Xmas tunes – its absurd but amusing.
Jimmy Boyd had a hit last year with, “I saw mommy kissing santa clause” but “Santa got stuck in the Chimney” fails to excite in ’53 or 2021.
Gene Autry has a depressing “sequel” to his own hit, “Frosty the snow man” with “Where did my snowman Go?” which is ok but not on the same level of catchiness.
Then we have Rosemary Clooney’s – “Happy Christmas Little Friend” and Lu Ann Simms – “I Dreamt that I was Santa Clause”. The latter is the best of the pair just for being a bit odd.
Now go listen to the full playlist on Youtube via this link.