From Studio C Chicago, it's "Keep On Pushing," a motley and mind-expanding exploration of the Sixties. I’m Andy Miles, and on this special Christmas and winter edition of the program, we begin with Charles Brown.
Charles Brown “Please Come Home For Christmas”
Lionel Hampton “White Christmas”
The Beach Boys “Little Saint Nick”
Bill Evans “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”
That’s pianist Bill Evans with his 1963 recording of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.”
Before that, The Beach Boys with “Little Saint Nick,” the opening track on their 1964 Christmas album, simply titled “The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album.” The group had issued the Brian Wilson-Mike Love-penned “Little Saint Nick” as a single the Christmas before, and it sold well. And it remains popular today. In fact, I recently heard it at Target.
We heard Lionel Hampton’s “White Christmas,” recorded in January 1962. Columbia Records released it that October on a Christmas compilation album called “Jingle Bell Jazz.” We’ll hear another track from the record coming up on this show.
From Studio C Chicago, this is “Keep On Pushing.” I’m Andy Miles. Lots of good stuff on the way on this Christmas and winter special, including Duke Ellington, Lou Rawls, Ella Fitzgerald, Darlene Love, Nat King Cole, and this from The Ronettes.
The Ronettes “Sleigh Ride”
Ramsey Lewis Trio “Here Comes Santa Claus”
June Christy “Hang Them On the Tree”
Dave Brubeck “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”
That’s Dave Brubeck’s 1962 version of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town,” recorded in June of that year and released in October on the same Columbia Records release I mentioned earlier, “Jingle Bell Jazz.” Paul Desmond provided the alto sax.
June Christy before that, “Hang Them On the Tree,” one of 10 original seasonal songs included Christy’s 1961 Capitol Records release “This Time of Year,” a winter concept album. All 10 of the songs were composed by Connie Pearce and Arnold Miller. And I know nothing else about them.
The Ramsey Lewis Trio before that with their recording of the Gene Autry-composed “Here Comes Santa Claus.” It was included on “Sound of Christmas,” the first of two Christmas LPs Lewis put out in the ’60s. Autry’s original 1947 version enjoyed top 10 success on both the pop and country charts.
And The Ronettes at the top of the set with the Phil Spector-produced “Sleigh Ride,” the second best-selling single in the group’s career, behind “Be My Baby.” It was released November 22nd, 1963, the Friday that President Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas. Like “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Sleigh Ride” originated in the late ’40s, with a lyric by Mitchell Parish, whose credits, as lyricist, include “Stardust,” “Moonlight Serenade,” and the English lyric of “Volare.”
And you’re listening to “Keep On Pushing” from Studio C Chicago. I’m Andy Miles. Next up on this special Christmas and winter edition, a ’60s television classic.
Thurl Ravenscroft “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
Duke Ellington “Overture” from “The Nutcracker Suite”
Lou Rawls “Christmas Will Really Be Christmas”
Peggy Lee “The Christmas Waltz”
That’s Peggy Lee doing her version of one of my favorite Christmas songs, “The Christmas Waltz,” written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn for Frank Sinatra, who popularized the seasonal tune with a pair of ’50s recordings. Every singer you can think of recorded a version of the song, and a few you probably wouldn’t think of, like John Travolta and Kathie Lee Gifford. Peggy Lee’s version came out in 1960 on her album “Christmas Carousel,” which included a few of her own original Christmas compositions. Styne and Cahn, by the way, also teamed up to write “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
We heard Lou Rawls with one from his 1967 Christmas album, “Merry Christmas, Ho Ho Ho!” Like the Peggy Lee record, it was issued by Capitol Records, and includes Rawls’s hit version of “The Little Drummer Boy.”
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra before that with the overture from “The Nutcracker Suite,” recorded in the late spring of 1960 and released later that year on the excellent album “The Nutcracker Suite.” Ellington arranged the nine tracks in the Tchaikovsky suite with his longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn.
And at the top of the set we heard Thurl Ravenscroft, the bass singer with the booming voice, whose lead vocal on “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch” long went uncredited. Or more accurately, it was wrongly credited to Boris Karloff, who was the voice of the Grinch in the 1966 animated special “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
From Studio C Chicago, this is "Keep On Pushing," a show devoted to a great decade in popular music: the 1960s. On this episode we’re steeped in Christmas and winter music from the decade. Next up, Darlene Love.
Darlene Love “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
Tony Bennett “My Favorite Things”
Tex Beneke “Snowfall”
The Impressions “Amen”
The Impressions with “Amen,” a 1964 recording from the album this show takes its name from: “Keep On Pushing,” which was not a Christmas-themed album.
Before that it was Tex Beneke with “Snowfall.” It comes from the 1965 album “Christmas Serenade In The Glenn Miller Style Featuring The Original Glenn Miller Singers,” for which Beneke teamed up with fellow Glenn Miller alumni Ray Eberle & The Modernaires and Paula Kelly. Beneke himself was a vocalist, as well as a saxophonist, and for a time following Miller’s death in World War II worked with the Miller estate in fronting a group that toured the Glenn Miller songbook. In 1965 they came back together for a short-lived reunion.
We heard Tony Bennett with his version of a song I’ve never really thought of as Christmas music, but others do, including Tony Bennett. He included “My Favorite Things” on “Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album” in 1968. The record, you won’t be surprised to learn, contains Bennett’s version of “Snowfall.”
And Darlene Love at the top of the set, another Phil Spector production, “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” on which Spector also shares a songwriting credit. It was one of four songs Darlene Love contributed to the album that would come to be known as “A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector,” which also included The Ronettes’ version of “Sleigh Ride” that we heard earlier in the show.
From Studio C Chicago, this is "Keep On Pushing.” I’m Andy Miles. On this special Christmas and winter edition of the show, the next set begins with the great Nancy Wilson.
Nancy Wilson “That’s What I Want For Christmas”
Kenny Burrell “Merry Christmas Baby”
Otis Redding “Merry Christmas Baby”
Nat King Cole “The Christmas Song”
That’s Nat King Cole’s 1961 version of the Mel Tormé classic “The Christmas Song,” first popularized by Cole in 1946, recorded again by him in the ’50s, and for a fourth and final time in the early ’60s. It’s that last version that we heard that has proven the most popular. “The Christmas Song” was actually written in July, and Tormé had an overlooked co-composer; his name is Robert Wells, and while “The Christmas Song” is definitely his most famous credit, he also wrote “From Here To Eternity,” the title song of the Academy Award-winning film, and the theme song for “The Patty Duke Show,” and picked up six career Emmy awards.
We heard two versions of “Merry Christmas Baby,” a vocal version by Otis Redding and an instrumental from jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell.
And Nancy Wilson at the top of the set, “That’s What I Want For Christmas,” not to be confused with the song of the same name that Shirley Temple performed in the 1936 film “Stowaway.”
This is a special Christmas and winter edition of “Keep On Pushing.” I’m Andy Miles. Here’s Ella Fitzgerald with one from one of my favorite Christmas albums, “Ella Wishes You A Swinging Christmas.”
Ella Fitzgerald “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”
Vince Guaraldi Trio “O Tannenbaum”
Aretha Franklin “Winter Wonderland”
Booker T. & The MG’s “Jingle Bells”
That’s Booker T. & The MG’s with their unique take on “Jingle Bells,” a 1966 A-side with “Winter Wonderland” on the flip side.
We heard Aretha Franklin’s version of “Winter Wonderland,” released at Christmastime 1964, when she was still making albums for Columbia Records and hadn’t quite yet gotten her mojo working; her move to Atlantic Records and breakthrough as the ’60s soul legend we remember today was still a couple years away.
Before that Vince Guaraldi’s very familiar “O Tannenbaum” from the 1965 television special “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
And Ella Fitzgerald’s “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” at the top of the set, a song introduced by Judy Garland in “Meet Me In St. Louis.”
This is a special Christmas and winter edition of this all-’60s show, “Keep On Pushing.” I’m Andy Miles.
Stevie Wonder now.
Stevie Wonder “What Christmas Means To Me”
Bing Crosby “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”
Glen Campbell “Christmas is for Children”
Jerry Butler “O Holy Night”
That’s Jerry Butler with his 1963 version of the 19th century carol “O Holy Night.” That one goes out to Tina.
Glen Campbell before that, "Christmas is for Children,” the opening track from his 1968 album “That Christmas Feeling,” released by Capitol Records. The lyricist on the song was Sammy Cahn, making it the third Cahn song we’ve heard on this show, the other two being “The Christmas Waltz” and “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” which preceded the Glen Campbell song in that set, because what would Christmas be without Bing Crosby? That was his 1962 recording of the seasonal classic.
And some Motown Christmas from Stevie Wonder at the top of the set, “What Christmas Means To Me.” It’s the closing track on Wonder’s 1967 album “Someday At Christmas” and was co-written by Anna Gordy Gaye, the elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy and wife, at that time, of Marvin Gaye.
And you’ve been listening to “Keep On Pushing” from Studio C Chicago. I’m Andy Miles. Thanks for listening to this special Christmas and winter song edition of the show. This last one comes from Lena Horne and poses the question, “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”
Lena Horne “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?”