Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Merry Fartwood Xmas Podcast


Here's a fun Christmas mix I put together. It contains some old favorites of mine from when I was a kid. Fred Waring and His Pennsylvanians are pretty much THE soundtrack to my childhood Christmases. These tracks were recorded from ancient vinyl, so you will hear the tell-tale "hiss and pops" that make vinyl so special. I have also included old songs that are new favorites--I call it "The Dale Influence"--like the selections from The Beach Boys, The Mills Brothers, The Ventures, and The Swingle Singers. The rest are just songs I like...some sweet and some irreverent.

One of my favorites is "Jingle Bells" from Fred Waring. It is so clever how the song keeps repeating with different song styles--hot jazz, glee club, player piano.
Another Fred Waring song, "Trepak",   adds lyrics to the classic Tchaikovsky song from "The Nutcracker Suite".  One of the lines is "have another vodka, have another vodka..vodka always makes things right". Kind of weird to have on a children's album, dontcha think?
Every time I listen to Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree", I always hear another word in place of "pumpkin" pie. Do you hear it too?
The French tune, "La Tourtiere",  sings the praises of the tasty French-Canadian meat pie that is traditionally eaten at Christmas time.
It is only fitting that the children of the University of Michigan's Children's Psychiatric Hospital chose to sing "Do You Hear What I Hear?".
It wouldn't be Christmas without Mr. Garrison from South Park singing the xenophobic ditty "Merry F*cking Christmas",  would it? EXPLICIT  AND OFFENSIVE LYRICS--you've been warned!
I end the musical part of the show with the.best.Christmas.song.ever: "X-Mess Medley" by Dale's band Lunch--featuring the drummer boy himself singing the unforgettable (what else?!) "Little Drummer Boy". Make sure to listen closely at the end for the flying drumsticks!
At the very end of the podcast are two spoken word entries. The first is from the always festive Esquivel! followed by a audio file of The Beatles, recorded in 1964 for their fan club members. Those boys ain't right.
I hope these selections get you in the mood for a Merry Fartwood Xmas.

Part One           Part Two

No comments: