Everyone enjoys the holidays at ACME

Here's our final guest programmer with her favorite Christmas jingles (once again, I had to chase her around the house to get her to give me this list.)

Remember, it's the holidays (there are no bad choices, especially if the guest programmer lives in my house.)


Jingle Bells  Michael Bublé -



This was the first song played in space. On December 16, 1965, astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford were aboard Gemini 6 when they played this on a harmonica and bells to Mission Control. Both instruments are displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.


White Christmas  Taylor Swift -



Irving Berlin came up with the melody for White Christmas on the set of Top Hat, a 1935 musical starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Berlin pitched the song to director Mark Sandrich for a future Astaire-Rogers film but Sandrich declined. But Astaire loved the song, which eventually went to his Holiday Inn costar Bing Crosby. (Incidentally, Sandrich also directed Holiday Inn.)


Last Christmas   Ariana Grande -



Last Christmas is the biggest selling single in UK chart history not to reach #1. In Japan it has sold over 600,000 copies, making it the best-selling single that did not reach that country's Top 10.


Deck the Halls  Nat King Cole -



Since this song can be performed royalty-free to capture the spirit of the season, it shows up in a lot of TV shows and movies. The song played a key role in the movie A Christmas Story, where the family is forced to eat their dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where the staff does their best to sing this for them, but can't because their accents make Fa la la la la sound like Fa wa wa wa wa.


Dominick The Italian Christmas Donkey  Lou Monte -



Once again, I got nothing.


Once again, here's a perennial favorite bonus track (in our house, anyway) - the inspired mash-up of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You and My Chemical Romance's Welcome To The Black Parade - 



This is so perfectly matched that it seems it was written this way.


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Rocking out for Christmas

Acme's annual salute to the holidays via Rock and Roll. First up - Do you hear what I hear?: Female Performers:


Coventry Carol  Alison Moyet –



Sorry but this song is ultimately about babies who are about to be murdered. Coventry Carol is a reference to the Massacre of the Innocents, an event described in the Gospel of Matthew. In it, King Herod orders the execution of all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two.

A very Merry Christmas indeed


2000 Miles The Pretenders –



While this song is thought of as a holiday song, the lyrics were written after the band’s original guitarist James Honeyman-Scott passed away in 1982, at the age of 25.


Little Drummer Boy Joan Jett And The Blackhearts –



This song was the basis of an animated TV special in 1968, also called Little Drummer Boy. It was about an orphaned child who goes on a quest to find his camel, which he discovers when he finds the Three Wise Men. This TV special never became a holiday classic like Frosty The Snowman or Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.


Last Christmas  Florence + The Machine -



Written and produced by George Michael, this song actually has very little to do with Christmas - it's about a failed relationship. Only the phase "Last Christmas," when the relationship comes to a head, refers to the festive season. Despite this, it has become an annual Christmas standard, especially in the UK.


God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen  Annie Lennox -



This is a traditional English carol dating back to the 16th or 17th century. It was first published in England in 1833, when it appeared in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, a collection of seasonal carols gathered by William B. Sandys.


Silent Night Stevie Nicks -



It is believed that the carol has been translated into over 300 languages around the world, and it is one of the most popular carols of all time.


And of course the holiday favorite - Christmas Wrapping The Waitresses -



When Chris Butler wrote this song, he was not feeling very festive. The Waitresses were signed to ZE Records, whose boss, Michael Zilkha, asked the bands on his roster to each come up with a Christmas song that would go on a holiday compilation issued by the label. The Waitresses were in the middle of a grueling tour, and weren't happy about the task, especially since it was July and they weren't exactly in the Christmas spirit.


The second part of our Christmas video theme - and now let's hear it from the boys -


Run Rudolph Run Chuck Berry -



Berry based this tale on Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, giving Rudolph a bit of an attitude as he delivers the toys. Unlike Santa, however, Rudolph is copyrighted, and Berry had to give the publishing rights to Johnny Marks, who wrote the original Rudolph. Perhaps if Berry had used "Randolph" (another reindeer he mentions), he could have kept the publishing. That's what the makers of the British TV special Robbie the Reindeer did.


Christmas All Over Again  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers -



The song was included in A Very Special Christmas 2 album, the second in the A Very Special Christmas series of Christmas-themed compilation albums produced to benefit the Special Olympics.


Winter Wonderland  Booker T. & The M.G.'s



This became one of the most popular holiday songs of all time, but unlike most seasonal favorites, there is no consensus on the most popular version of the song.


Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)  Ramones -



When this song was first released, it wasn't very well received. It has slowly become a holiday classic.


Don't Believe in Christmas  The Sonics -



The melody was borrowed, without credit, from Chuck Berry's Too Much Monkey Business.


Father Christmas  The Kinks -



Ray Davies frequently stole shows by performing the song live wearing a Santa costume. "When the record came out we were on tour with a very successful band at the time supporting them," he recalled during an interview with Southern California radio station KSWD. "I went on dressed as Santa at the end of the show to do 'Father Christmas.' And the other band found it hard to follow us. The following night with the same band I went to run on but there was a bunch of heavies preventing me from running on stage. And I was protesting. But the people said, 'The Kinks didn't do an encore but Santa Claus was there and they were stopping him from going on stage.'"


And, of course, Santa Claus Is Comin To Town  Bruce Springsteen -



Bruce Springsteen released the song as the B-Side to My Hometown in 1985 ( he had been playing it in concert for years,) and it quickly became a holiday staple. Strangely, some people consider it one of the worst Christmas songs.



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The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour (151)

Thank you for joining us today.

Before our feature presentation, ACME would like to start the evening with another Bugs Bunny Merrie Melodies cartoon, the 1948 Hot Cross Bunny directed by Robert McKimson.



The song Bugs dances to trying to amuse the doctors in the stands is the same one Daffy Duck dances to in Show Biz Bugs.


The folks at The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour advised you to begin filling out your Christmas cards last week. This week we encourage you to get your Christmas cards out soon. You've got to hurry to avoid the rush - The week of December 16 - 22 is predicted to be the busiest mailing, shipping and delivery week, when nearly 3 billion pieces of First-Class Mail, including greeting cards, will be processed and delivered, (the more cards you send, the more solvent the USPS remains.) While you're looking up your Aunt Millie's address, we like to continue our foray into the Rat Pack.

Tonight, we'd like to share with you a relatively unknown recorded Rat Pack concert. Back in June of 1965, Frank Sinatra and a slew of his friends performed at the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis in a benefit for Dismas House (St. Dismas was on of the thieves crucified along side Jesus Christ, hence making him the patron saint of reformed thieves,) a national halfway home for convicts. The event was held in the main theater of the Opera House, but the overflow audience also filled a dozen halls nearby where tickets had been sold for viewing rooms where the concert was broadcast on closed circuit television. It was the only time the Rat Packs' famous Sands show was televised. (Back in 1998, I worked on a television special, broadcasting the concert for the first time on cable television.)

So, as is always our want, we would like you to sit back (quick, find the most comfortable seat on the sofa,) get a snack and a beverage, (preferably a martini in this instance,) and join The ACME Eagle Hand Soap Radio Hour in watching this very rare televised example of the famous Rat Packs' Sands show, The Frank Sinatra Spectacular.



As you have just seen, show is something closer to a documentary than a polished concert film, with some of the usual Sinatra glow stripped away. We easily see the scar on his right cheek that makeup and lighting usually soften. We hear the occasional stray note that never would have made it onto a recording or feature-length film.


The gentlemen from Bensonhurst were so moved by our themes concerning Frank and Dino that after much stregga and threatened 'kisses of death', for the sixth year in a row, I have be persuaded (forced at gunpoint) to have another Mobbed Up Christmas this year.

(This is not to say that any of these singers are in anyway associated with organized crime.) It's just that Frankie Lupini, Molluschi Vincenzo, Joey Carrozza, etc, 'requested' these songs.


Merry Christmas Baby  Dion -




Shake Hands With Santa Claus   Louis Prima -




The Christmas Song  Tony Martin -




Do You Hear What I Hear?  Bobby Vinton -




O, Holy Night  Jerry Vale -




After many shots and plates of scungilli, baccalà alla vicentina and fried calamari, the boys want to wish everyone Buon Natale!





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Listen to the fireplace roar

The whole world is drunk and we're just the cocktail of the moment. Someday soon, the world will wake up, down two aspirin with a glass of tomato juice, and wonder what the hell all the fuss was about.

Today's Holiday Theme is A Dean Martin's Christmas (Dean died on Christmas day in 1995.)

As we mentioned yesterday, Frank wasn't the only member of the Rat Pack to sing carols -


Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer -



Because Gene Autry's reputation was that of a Western star, he didn't feel suited to sing a Christmas song. The songs writer Johnny Marks, however, was determined to change Autry's mind (even though he'd never met him). He enlisted an unknown singer named Al Cernik to record a demo in the style of Autry and shipped it to the star in California. After a long wait - and some prodding from his wife - Autry agreed to record the tune.


Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! -



This was written by the lyricist Sammy Cahn and the Broadway songwriter Jule Styne in 1945. It was first recorded by Vaughn Monroe, and has since become a standard.


I'll be home for Christmas -



The song was written by Walter Kent (music) and James Kimball "Kim" Gannon (words). Though Kent and Gannon collaborated on other songs, none reached the same level of popularity as I'll Be Home for Christmas.


Silver Bells -



This song was originally sung by Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell in The Lemon Drop Kid. The following year Bing Crosby, together with Carol Richards recorded the first recorded version.


The Christmas Blues -



Bob Dylan covers this song in his 2009 Christmas album


What the hell I'm starting to feel the bourbon, let's watch an entire episode of The Dean Martin Christmas Show -



If people want to think I get drunk and stay out all night, let 'em. That's how I got here, you know

There are 12 days until Christmas


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Acme's tip of the hat to The Chairman of the Board.

Whatever else has been said about me personally is unimportant. When I sing, I believe. I'm honest.

Welcome to our Ninth Annual tribute to Ole Blue Eyes.


Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! -



This was written by the lyricist Sammy Cahn and the Broadway songwriter Jule Styne in 1945. Although this song is associated with Christmas, there is no mention of the holiday in the lyrics. It's about making the most of a snowy day by spending it with a loved one by the fire.


Whatever Happened to Christmas -



The song was written by Jimmy Webb and first appeared on the album, The Sinatra Family Wish You A Merry Christmas. Jimmy Webb related the story of having dinner with Frank Sinatra to discuss the recording of an entire album of Webb songs. But Webb's father was also there, and Sinatra and the senior Webb got caught up in comparing memories from their younger days, so the discussion about the album, and indeed the album itself, never happened.


I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day -



On Christmas day, 1864, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow received word that his son, a soldier in the Civil War, had been wounded. Just two years before, Henry had lost his wife in a fire. As Longfellow sat alone with his grief, he penned words of hope to challenge his own despair. I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day was set to music by composer John Baptiste Calkin in 1872.


O Little Town of Bethlehem -



On Christmas Eve 1865, a young minister stood on the hill overlooking Bethlehem where the shepherds had watched their flocks on the night Jesus was born. The impression of that starry night never left Phillips Brooks. Three years later he was asked to write a hymn for the children of his Philadelphia parish for their Christmas service. The words "O Little Town Of Bethlehem" were already in his mind. Brooks' church organist, Lewis Redner, set the words to music, declaring that the tune was "a gift from heaven."


Acme would like to bring you this 1957 Christmas episode of The Frank Sinatra Show - Happy Holidays with Bing and Frank



The special was filmed in color, although ABC originally broadcast it in black and white. The special was directed by Frank Sinatra himself. He and Bing Crosby team up for several musical numbers celebrating the holiday season. Because Bing Crosby liked to pre-record his music in the morning and lip synch on film and Frank Sinatra preferred to record live in the evening, the musical "duets" were recorded ten hours apart with only soft piano accompaniment. Nelson Riddle overrode the piano with the orchestra during editing.

I'm like Albert Schweitzer and Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein in that I have a respect for life - in any form. I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see or that there is real evidence for. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God.



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Breaking this spell

Just because it's SOS' birthday had no bearing on her being our second guest programmer this holiday season, (I did have to harangue her for several weeks to get her actual choices.)

(Not quite the Road to Morocco but) here are her holiday choices:

Underneath The Tree   Kelly Clarkson -



This Phil Spector-sounding song is an optimistic tune that was written by Clarkson with her frequent collaborator, the hit songwriter/producer Greg Kurstin. This isn't the first time that Clarkson has covered holiday music. She recorded the Christmas songs Oh Holy Night and My Grown Up Christmas List on the compilation American Idol: The Great Holiday Classics.


Christmas Tree Farm  Taylor Swift -



Taylor Swift grew up on a Christmas tree farm that was run by her parents at their Pine Ridge Farm home in Reading, Pennsylvania. Taylor Swift's childhood job on the Christmas tree farm was "picking the praying mantis pods off of the trees so the bugs wouldn't hatch inside people's houses."


Santa Baby Eartha Kitt -



Along with I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, this was one of the first Christmas novelty songs. Christmas songs written at the time tended to be nostalgic looks at the holiday or kid's songs, but this one took a different approach, with Kitt singing about how she's been good all year and expects some very expensive gifts to appear, including a fur coat, a new coat and even a yacht.


Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas   Michael Bublé -



The song was used in the film Meet Me In St. Louis. Judy Garland starred in the film and added some of the lyrics. At first, the words were very dark and she didn't feel comfortable singing them in the scene, so she helped change them to lighten the mood of the song.


Baby, It's Cold Outside   Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanel -



Once again I am stumped that my daughters love this song, I think it's the third or fourth year.



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I don’t wanna miss out on the holiday

Today's holiday special - Really Bad Christmas songs.

I received word from medical authorities that I should avoid posting Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer. It would be considered risky given your mental state.



Duly noted.


Excuse My Christmas  Jan Terri -



Please don't get me wrong - this is bad. Really bad. Spectacularly bad. And yet, Ms. Terri is very well known as an 'Outsider Rock and Roll' performer and there are people posting on the web that this is one of their favorite holiday songs. It's starting to have an Ed Wood, Plan Nine From Outer Space feel to it.


Christmas Cookies  RuPaul -



There are certain words you never want to hear in a holiday song: "Finger-licking," "back door," "piping hot," "loving oven," and "Dutch oven." Because nothing says Christmas like a fart joke.


All I Want For Christmas Is You   Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey -



The holiday song that no one asked for - Mariah Carey's 1994 Christmas classic updated to feature Justin Bieber.


I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas   Gayla Peevey –



People say that this is rarely heard - there's a reason. Apparently little Gayla didn't know that she was hoping for the beast that, "kills more people in Africa than any other animal".


The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)  Alvin and the Chipmunks -



Just say no.


We'll end with our perennial favorite -



What list of cheesy holiday songs would be complete without this wretched dreck concerning a filthy child's odd foot fetish (especially since it centers around his dying mother) - always an uplifting tune.



But I will give Patton Oswald the final word on the subject.



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