X-Mas part two

Found another picture of Rocket Redglare as Santa from our live Christmas Hangover Hop (91?, I'm still not positive of the year). He actually borrowed a friends baby to help out his Christmas panhandling, when he returned the kid it was covered in opiated sweat.    So here's more Christmas records if you can stand 'em. Only got two requests, the Slade record which I don't own and James Brown's Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto. Since we're starting with soul Christmas (pre-Kwanza) I've always dug Gary US Bonds Call Me For Christmas and here's a totally different Christmas In Viet Nam than last week's. This time by a real grunt, Pvt. Charles Bowen.   Babs Gonzales had a way with words, as heard here on his Be Bop Santa. More like Junkie Santa, eh? Speaking of hepsters, Louis Prima's Santa, How Come Your Eyes Are Green This Year When Last Year They Were Blue? is well worth hearing once a year.     I don't think I posted any Christmas mambo records last week, to rectify that here's the Enchanters' Mambo Santa Mambo and Big John Greer's We Want To See Santa Do The Mambo. Some real obscurities for you now-- Barry & the Highlights-- Christmas Bell Rock is pretty cool. So is the Moods' Rockin' Santa Claus. Mark Anthony made the second greatest Christmas twist record ever---Mama's Twistin' With Santa Claus, not a bad claim to non-fame. I don't anything about Big Bud but his Rock Around The Christmas Tree is wild, out of tune sax solo and all. Rockabilly legend Sonny Cole ("I Dreamed I Was Elvis") knew how to put two novelty items together by sending Santa To The Moon. Even better is the Episodes- The Christmas Tree, a rare garage Xmas novelty from God knows where.

   Last post I promised some country Christmas discs so for you achy-breaky types  Jody Levins' Jingle Bell Boogie is a cool hillbilly disc.  Speaking of hillbillies, my old pal Buck Owens (R.I.P.) made tons of great Christmas records, but his best for my money was Blue Christmas Lights. George Jones' Mom and Santa Claus is another classic, as is his duet with Tammy What's her face Mr and Mrs Santa Claus. If you're the cry in your beer type at Christmas, try Jerry Lee Lewis' I Can't Have A Merry Christmas Without You, a non-lp 45 from '72. Sad Christmas records are the best, no?

   Everyone's heard Chuck Berry's classic Run Run Rudolph, but this version is by a garage band called the Outlaws (not the Joe Meek or southern rock Outlaws either), just a cool American garage disc. This version of Jingle Bells, courtesy of the Vel-Mares sounds like Santa's arriving via surf board. Same can be said for the incredible Trashmen whose Dancin' With Santa is a classic of Xmas-surf trash. Ral Donner's Christmas Day sounds pretty much like Elvis, which means it's pretty great. And Little Joey Farr's Big White Cadillac is a good kid rocker, not my favorite genre but this little twerp can actually rock.The 4 Imperials Santa's Got A Coupe De Ville  is a whacked out greaseball rocker. Speaking of greaseballs, how 'bout Jack Scott's Jingle Bell Slide from the guy who wrote a song called Greaseball but the record company made him change it to Leroy. Patsy Raye is another one who knew how to double up on the novelty trends, combining beatniks and Christmas on her wiggy  Beatnik's Christmas Wish. 

     Sick of Christmas records? Me too, but if you need more check out the Christmas shows from Hound Radio broadcasts past, they're arranged by date so just keep scrollin' down to those third week of Dec. shows. Meanwhile, maybe I'll dig out that Rocket manuscript and see how much of it I can type into the machine here before my fingers cramp up.....