Bees - Toy Bell

For some reason I always thought this 1954 was the original version of My Ding A Ling until I discovered the 1952 Dave Bartholomew version. 

When the Chuck Berry Version of this song was in the UK charts under the title 'My Ding A Ling', the clean up TV campaigner Mary Whitehouse commented on the record saying 'its disgusting, It's all about masturbating' sales went up.

 

bees my ding - YouTube

 

Marty Feldman - A Joyous Time Of Year

Released 29th November 1968, Marty Feldman with Tim Brook-Taylor also had another record released 15th November 1968 on the Pye label.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

 MARTY FELDMAN - A Joyous Time Of The Year - 1968 45rpm

Mike Harding - Christmas 1914

Released 1977, the Christmas Truce happened in World War One, Mike Harding has the correct year, I have come across records giving it as 1915 even 1916. When I was young there were many veterans from the First World War around, sadly the last of then died a few years ago, now age is taking the survivors of the Second World War,

 Christmas 1914 by Mike Harding

Jose Ferrer - Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Clause

This 1960 record was issued in the USA and Australia, there is a reply record to this, Yes Santa Claus. There is a Virginia.

 JOSE FERRER - Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1960)

Johnny Alvin - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Sorry this track does not seem to be on YouTube, it may be there among the hundreds of Alvin & the Chipmunks version of this song, this track is on a par with "Santa Wrecked My 'Lectric Train Set"

Hollyhill Singers - Virgin Mary Had a Little Baby

 

 

 This USA only release from 1964, is the only release by the the Hollyhill Singers though they did have an earlier release under the name The Cherryhill Trio. 

In a conversation with my wife recently, it was mentioned about the sausage rolls and mince pies my mother and sisters cooked n Christmas Eve, being the only boy in the family since my brother died, I was not taught the dark art of pastry making, after lunch on Christmas Eve I would be banished from the kitchen, to watch the TV on my own, I always seem to remember there being carol concerts on both channels, I never knew what went on in the kitchen that afternoon, but after what seemed hours I would be presented with a sausage roll and a mince pie, the excitement Christmas had begun, the pastry was always like concrete knowing no better they were eaten, I don't recall having any more over the Christmas period, the bulk of the bake would still be around well after Christmas, sometime in February they would be thrown out, this scenario was repeated every year, one Christmas my girlfriend who would later be my wife was there, she could not believe what was served up, and asked are they always like this, I replied yes, the next year she cooked me some mince pies and sausage rolls these were so much better and more edible than my mothers offerings, that I never ate any of my mothers mince pies or sausage rolls again, nowadays we eat so few mince pies and sausage rolls that we tend to buy them ready made.       

Virgin Mary Had a Little Baby, The Hollyhill Singers, 1964

Johnny Alvin - Santa Claus Wrecked My Wectric Train

A 1958 release, you can work out what he is singing as the backing singers sing and pronounce the words correctly.

In the October budget Rachel Thieves announced a 1p reduction to the duty on beer, a couple of weeks ago the price of a pint in one of the pubs I sometimes do the quiz in went up by 25p, it has already been mentioned that the price my have to go up by a similar amount to pay for a couple of the other measures, introduced in the Budget. I used to be a heavy drinker but stopped drinking many years ago, I had to give up the pub quiz a couple of years ago as the gas & electricity bills almost doubled overnight coincidently the amount they went up was about what I spent on the pub quiz, so by sacrificing the pub quiz I could afford the increase with no further hardship.

 Johnny Alvin - Santa Claus Wrecked My 'Lectric Train (1958)

Larry Grayson - Who's Stuffing Your Turkey This Christmas

 

As mentioned in the Isla St Clair post, Larry Grayson's 1975 Christmas record.

LARRY GRAYSON - 'Who's Stuffing Your Turkey This Christmas?' - 1975 45rpm

Isla St Clair - Christmas Dream

This is the second Christmas record from Isla St Clair, Issued 18th December 1981 with only a week to go before Christmas was unlikely to generate enough sales to make the charts, at this time Isla St Clair was one of the presenters on BBC show the Generation Game with Larry Grayson.

I have not yet found a copy of her 1978 Christmas single 'Child In A Manger'

 Isla St Clair - Christmas Dream

Go Gos - I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek

 

A 1964 release trying to cash in on the popularity of the Daleks 

I'm Gonna Spend My Christmas With A Dalek - The Go Go's

Every time I play this record I always think of Spike Milligans sketch with the Daleks.(this my offend)

Spike Milligan - Pakistani Daleks

Grandpa Jones - The Christmas Guest

I first came across this 1969 record on a CD of forgotten Christmas records, I eventually found a vinyl copy, this record was only released in the USA.

Grandpa Jones - The Christmas Guest - YouTube

Peter, Patty, Peggy & Bruce - The Happy Penguins

 

Released 1959 and disappeared into deserved obscurity, one of the Howdy Doody Christmas records from the early 1950's, has mention of a sensational Singing Penguins group was this the inspiration for this record, unfortunately there are lot of postings of the 1951 Howdy Doody - Christmas Party, the 1953 Howdy Doody and Santa Claus with the singing penguins has not been posted.

-

THE HAPPY PENGUINS - THE HAPPY PENGUINS

Frank Kelly - Christmas Countdown

 First released 1983, Frank Kelly would later play the part of Father Jack in the comedy series Farther Ted, from memory I think he only has one line but often repeated " Drink".

Frank Kelly-Christmas Countdown (12 days to christmas)

Dick Cooper - I Saw Momma Spanking Santa Claus

 

The only detail I have for this record is that the record company was based in Waco, Texas, Dick Cooper had at least 2 other records, the reason I acquired this record one it is a Christmas record, the other the title intrigued me.

Dick Cooper with The Little DJs - I Saw Momma Spanking Santa Claus / My Mother's Birthday [DJ]

Joan Baez - The Little Drummer Boy

Released in the USA 1966 and a re-issue in 1971, I thought this record had a UK release but I can find no evidence of it, I first came across this track on a CD of forgotten Christmas records. 

 The Little Drummer Boy

Fogwell Flax & The Ankle Biters From Freehold Junior School - One-Nine For Santa

Released 1981 and reached #68 8n the UK top 100.

 Fogwell Flax

Dick Emery - A Cockney Christmas

A 1962 release featuring a number of the characters that appeared in Dick Emery's TV shows.

Yesterday the the landline phone rang, it was a withheld number, on answering it was a person  claiming t be a police officer at Hammersmith Police Station, he gave the name as Ian Matthewson, and was part of the Action Fraud Division, he gave his police number as DL 0234 ( I thought 234 that's the international telephone code for Nigeria the most corrupt country in the world) he asked if there was a Robert ***** and gave my address living there, I said I nave not used that name since 1974 (in my fist job there were 5 men and 3 of then were called Robin, so I had to change my name to avoid confusion, by the time I left I was the only Robin left, but there were 2 other Robert's), he said they had arrested a Robert ***** in Oxford Street, who had a number of cloned debit credit cards and had already spent £980 on one of the cards, he also gave my address and said Robert claimed to live there, this seemed a bit suspect, he also gave me a case number CAD2315 47 96, so I checked my accounts and there was a £200 charge on the Credit Card I did not recognise, to prove he was genuine I was to call 999 and ask for an officer recognition using his details, I thought the 999 service is busy enough with out doing enquires like this, he hung up and I got the dial tone, now rather than dial 999 I called 123 (the Speaking Clock) as soon as I had finished dialling a woman was on the line with Emergency, Fire Police or Ambulance, for my past sins one thing I used to do was train Telephone Operators, the Salutation used to be Emergency which service, and then if they didn't say anything then Fire, Police or Ambulance (there are other services accessed by 999 but are not applicable in London), she said "I will just load the police database" and confirmed that Ian Matthewson was a genuine Policeman, at this point I asked her how come I go an immediate response from 999 when I dialled 123 she hung up, I checked my Credit Card again and the £200 I thought was an unauthorised transaction  was my monthly payment. I reported the incident to the real Action Fraud.

 A Cockney Christmas

Da Yoopers - Three Months Late

 This 1988 US release "B" side is not technically a Christmas record, but in many families this was the result of some Christmas activities. When I was a teenager in the days of restricted 

opening hours, I was told that the Pubs were open all day on Christmas Eve, to this day I do not know if it was true as in my first job in 1969 we worked late Christmas Eve, I seem to remember we finished at 21.00, by the time I got home changed and got ready t go out it had gone 22.00, I would get down the Pub sober to find my friends well oiled, I knew who was with who, so when a few months later the pregnancies were coming to light, I probably knew who the father was although most of the girls had no clue to who it was, well I met my younger sister who was with her boy friend, the told me they were going to a party by getting out late I missed out on the party's, like many people at that time we did not have a phone so there was no way of letting your family know what you were doing if your original plans changed, I got home at a reasonable hour, I think the rest of the family were asleep in bed. The next morning my mother asked me "did you see your sister last night, she didn't come home" I replied "I saw her at about 22.30 at the Jolly Brewers, with her boyfriend, and she told me they were going to a party",  to which her reply was "Oh", the Christmas festivities continued, Breakfast, Christmas Dinner with no sign of my sister, at about 16.30-17.00 we were watching the TV my Mother dozing off in her chair, when the back door burst open and I heard " Hello mum I went to a party last night I have just come home to change as I'm off to another party". within 5 minuets she was in cloths changed and out again, as she left closing the back door behind her, my mother opened her eyes and asked was that ******, again she just said "Oh", the same scenario happened every day for over a week, she finally returned home on the 2nd January and things went back to normal. In March she uttered the painful words "Mum, I'm Pregnant" mother was not pleased, 3 other girls that I knew and met that fateful Christmas Eve had also got themselves Pregnant.

Three Months Late

Bob Rivers Comedy Corp - A Message From The King

A 1987 US release, this promo record has the same track on both sides one side it is in stereo the other the track is in mono, by this time almost all singles were being issued in stereo and the only time the track would be issued in mono was on the promo records, my copy came in a stock copy picture sleeve, saying that the 12 Pains of Christmas was on the "B" side. There is also a promo issued the same year with the 12 Pains of Christmas as the "A" side and Wreck The Malls as the "B" side.

Todays gripe yesterday I went to buy some lottery scratch cards, and was told that the maximum number you can buy at any one time is 10, I brought about £100 worth all in batches of 10, I don't know if this is a National Lottery or a Sainsbury's rule, I was told it was to stop people spending their rent money on National Lottery Scratch cards, I said it won't stop them they will buy 10 here, another 10 at the petrol station, then across the road there are another 3 shops that sell them. 

Bob Rivers - A Message from the King

 

Little Susie - Christmas Season

This 1956 "B" side the you tube post is also from a 78rpm copy of this record.

While this is the most expensive 45 I brought, I was given quite a few 45's some were quite scarce records, the cheapest records I ever brought were some LP's, it was an eBay listing of 100 comedy LP's starting at 99p and pick up only, the seller was in Guildford not too far away, so I put in a bid, there was only one other bid, another record dealer, and I picked up the lot for £10.07, the size of the lot had also grown from 100 LP's to 700 LP's, It was a good job I took the car rather than 2 cases for 50 LP's each, on getting the LP's home I started to give then a cursory sort out, there being multiple copies of some LP's, I think Tony Handcock's the Blood Doner was the most common one, there was a Monty Python LP that had water damage to the cover, on checking the record it had never been played, so I cleaned the record and put it back in the cover, as I was putting the record away a water stained envelope fell out, I was just about to throw it away when I noticed it was un opened, on the front it said "To John, with love from Mum and Uncle Jack" in side was a Florence Nightingale £10 note, John had never opened or played the record so never discovered his present inside, so cashing in the £10 I got 700LP's for 7p.

                                                 Little Susie-Christmas Season

Little Susie - Who Put The Gum In Santa's Wiskers

This 1956 record has the distinction of being the record in my collection that I paid the most for, I was bidding on eBay for this and another record both from the same seller, I put my original bid in then not too long before the end of the auction I noticed that there were other bidders, so I upped my bid to the maximum I was willing to pay (£30),the record was for sale by a seller in the USA so it was dollars, in those days I needed glasses for reading I now wear them all the time, I did not have my glasses, the other record (I can not recall what record it was) I got he bid right, however on this record I missed the full stop and bid $3,000 instead of $30, I did not realise until the next day when I checked the site, panicking that they may be another person who really wanted the record and would put in a bid of say $2,000 or so, I needn't have panicked I got the record for $36, I do not know why I chose £/$30 as my maximum but by coincident it is the amount that Customs Duty and VAT start. It was over 12 years before another copy of this record appeared for sale. 

The you tube recording is taken from a 78rpm copy of this record.

 Little Susie-Who Put The Gum In Santa's Wiskers

Thurl Ravenscroft & The Pixies - Kitty Kats On Parade

The "B" side of "Santa's too Fat for the Hula Hoop" in the days of the original blog, I would post a Christmas record each day until Christmas Day, in those days I used to get CD's of novelty/unknown Christmas tracks, I don't know if it was a coincident that half the tracks I had posted the year before would appear on these CD's, for some reason I always want to put an 'e' on the end of Santa Claus, I would normally edit it out, but on one occasion I missed one track, on one of the next years CD's there was the track complete with the spelling mistake, as it was embedded in the MP3 file it would be difficult for them to change without knowing the program I use. 

The Pixies With Thurl Ravenscroft - Kitty Kats On Parade (1958)

 

Kenny And Corky - Nuttin For Christmas

I found my copy of this 1959 release at Hook Road Boot Sale  a few years back, the seller said they were going to get a Juke Box they got all the records to put on it, but never brought the Juke Box, I have never come across another copy of this record, until I acquired the record I can not recall ever hearing this record, on 45Cat there are links to both sides of this record.

 Kenny and Corky Nuttin for Christmas

Thurl Ravenscroft & The Pixies - Santa's Too Fat For The Hula Hoop

A USA & Canada only 1958 release, when I first posted this record I was offered £250 to sell this record, I noticed that on 45Cat there was a link on the Canadian issue to a You Tube posting of this record but the account had been terminated.

 Thurl Ravenscroft Compendium in 4K

Becky Lamb - Little Becky's Christmas Wish

This 1968 release is the first of 2 records by Becky Lamb both records are on You Tube and look to be my recordings from my original blog.

 Becky Lamb - Little Becky's Christmas Wish

Bob Rivers - The Twelve Pains Of Christmas

I first came across Bob Rivers when I was in the HMV shop in London I had a Long Service Award and took it as vouchers for the HMV shop, I had spent most of the award and had a few pounds left, I was contemplating adding some cash and buying the complete Round The Horn series, then I saw the Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio - Twisted Christmas CD these were a £1 each so I brought one, the remainder went on a couple of other CD's who's titles I can not remember, later I did acquire the Round The Horn series. This 1987 release is probably the most prototypical version of the song. 

The Twelve Pains Of Christmas - Twisted Christmas

The Singers - Johnny's Noel

Issued December 1966 my original copy had the annotation on this side that this song was not to be broadcast, This record was only issued in America.

 Johnny's Noel - YouTube