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Speaker 1: Too Much Information is a production of iHeartRadio. Hello everyone,

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Speaker 1: and welcome to Too Much Information, the show that brings

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Speaker 1: you the fascinating facts and little known secrets behind your

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Speaker 1: favorite TV shows, movies, music, and more. We are your.

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Speaker 2: Two stockings hung by the We're just hung with care

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Speaker 2: Jordan and I.

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Speaker 1: It brings a new meting to Too Much Information anyway,

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Speaker 1: We're just as you shut up. We're doing Christmas songs.

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Speaker 1: That's the bit. That's it. That's all I got for you,

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Speaker 1: As fans of the show will know, and certainly my

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Speaker 1: co host knows. We've done a.

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Speaker 2: Full length episode of Mariah Carey's Deathless classic.

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Speaker 1: All I went for Christmas is You. We have done

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Speaker 1: the Pogues, fairy Tale of New York. We have done

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Speaker 1: assorted movies, We've done TV specials. We did a rankin

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Speaker 1: embassed episode for Rudolph. But what about all the other.

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Speaker 2: Christmas songs that grind their way into the collective unconscious

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Speaker 2: every December, like those worms from Star Trek two The

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Speaker 2: Wrath of Kahn. So we're introducing a Christmas.

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Speaker 1: Song Lightning Round episode to TMI where we're going to

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Speaker 1: hit as many of these as we can before our

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Speaker 1: throats and hearts and minds give out you delivering that

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Speaker 1: in like a seasonal cow net cardigan is I know,

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Speaker 1: I should have been wearing a bat. I should have

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Speaker 1: been wearing like a smoking jacket, really, but I couldn't

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Speaker 1: get one on such short notice. The smoking jacket rental

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Speaker 1: season is just absolutely this time of year. So yeah, Jordan, yes,

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Speaker 1: say something about Christmas songs. Baby. I love Christmas songs,

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Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I love you would I know,

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know. Part of it is that it

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Speaker 1: actually they sound like the kind of pop music that

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Speaker 1: I genuinely like the other eleven months of the year,

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Speaker 1: Like it sounds like Phil Spector Wall of Sound, Brian

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Speaker 1: Wilson type stuff. Wel Phil Spector did indeed cut one

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Speaker 1: of the most famous Christmas albums, which, regrettably spoiler alert,

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Speaker 1: we're not talking about this episode. That's like a full episode.

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Speaker 1: That's a good Yeah. Yeah, these are great songs, Yeah

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Speaker 1: they are.

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Speaker 2: I look, there's some Christmas music that I detest, and

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Speaker 2: there's some Christmas music that I'm like, you know what,

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Speaker 2: this is fine, this is fine and good. And obviously

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Speaker 2: the ones that I picked are ones that I think

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Speaker 2: this is fine and good.

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Speaker 1: They have ten total. You did seven, I did three.

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Speaker 1: I did seven half acidly, and you did three with

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Speaker 1: your whole ass, whole ass, And they're all, I believe,

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Speaker 1: all ones that you despise. Well for you. Yeah, your picks,

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Speaker 1: I hate, Yeah, my picks I'm agnostic on. But here's

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Speaker 1: the thing though, unless we still want to be doing

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Speaker 1: this by next Christmas, we have to. We had to

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Speaker 1: put limits on it. Yeah. Yeah, I was looking up Billboard.

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Speaker 1: I went to Billboard Magazine's Top fifty Christmas Songs of

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Speaker 1: All Time, and I came upon a song entitled Sleigh. No,

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Speaker 1: they're going for the homophone there. They wanted to be

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Speaker 1: like Sleigh. It's like clever.

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Speaker 2: That's a twenty nineteen song by Smigo featuring Monty Booker

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Speaker 2: and Massego.

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Speaker 1: I don't want to learn anything about that. Yeah, I'm

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Speaker 1: not going to do it.

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Speaker 2: Those sound like Star Wars characters and I'm not paying

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Speaker 2: attention to that.

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Speaker 1: And we picked classics. We picked the ones that everyone does.

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Speaker 1: Let's see what else do you have any friends of

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Speaker 1: the pod. We got a shout out, Oh you know what,

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Speaker 1: I have a lot of friends of the pod. I

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Speaker 1: got a shot at I got a friend of the

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Speaker 1: pod named Emily who wrote in about our Jeff Buckley episode,

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Speaker 1: and she said that it was one of the most

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Speaker 1: poignant narratives that she had not expected when she was

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Speaker 1: researching Buckley.

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Speaker 2: So that's so nice. It was really lovely. I and

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Speaker 2: she came through my personal website. So also a reminder

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Speaker 2: folks that you can always get in touch with us

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Speaker 2: at Kofi ko dot f I too much information pod

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Speaker 2: cast on there and we.

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Speaker 1: Will answer you. It will probably made me be me Jordan.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how often Jordan's in there, but it

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Speaker 1: will probably be me. I lost the pass word. I've't

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Speaker 1: been able to get in for like a couple of

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Speaker 1: months now. Sorry, So it's me baby to talk to y'all.

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Speaker 2: So, and and you know, we also have somebody who

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Speaker 2: talks to us through LinkedIn, so all Paul.

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Speaker 1: Paul's great. Wherever you guys can find is, we will answer. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I crave validation. So oh, I got to tell you

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Speaker 1: this crazy story. Okay, So it's a couple of days ago.

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Speaker 1: It's like the week before Christmas. My family's in town visiting.

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Speaker 1: It's also just the week before Christmas, so everything's crazy.

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Speaker 1: I'm running behind. I'm late on everything. I'm sure listeners

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Speaker 1: know the episodes have been late last couple of weeks.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry, it's all my fault. I'm late to a

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Speaker 1: morning class. I'm late to see to see Lewis my trainer. Actually,

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Speaker 1: oh yeah, friend of the paud Lewis. Oh yes, Jordan yoke, Yes, absolutely,

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Speaker 1: he loved the Gladiator episode. By the way, I'm hupping.

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Speaker 1: I'm puffing down my street and a very friendly looking

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Speaker 1: man hangs out of a of a van on my

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Speaker 1: street and like waves to me very excitedly. And I'm

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Speaker 1: just assuming that it's it's someone behind me, or it's

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Speaker 1: a mistake, like you know, it's just and so I

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Speaker 1: just kind of keep booking and I keep trucking, and

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Speaker 1: then I get a DM moment later, Hey, that was me.

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Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I'm a TMI fan and I went to

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Speaker 1: your talk at the Paley Center last week and I

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Speaker 1: recognized you in the street. What are the odds? I

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Speaker 1: can't believe it, and I feel so bad I blew

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Speaker 1: right by him. So I just want to say, my

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Speaker 1: dear friend. For purposes of broadcasting, I'll refer to him

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Speaker 1: as too much KESO is handle I'm so sorry I

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Speaker 1: missed you. Please let's go to win Sun Bakery. He

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Speaker 1: was right by Windsun Bakery, which is near where I live. No,

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Speaker 1: I definitely owe you something from there. I just thought

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Speaker 1: that was so crazy, just like out on the street

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Speaker 1: was so wild. It's Christmas time and you know, I

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Speaker 1: didn't prepare anything, but I just want to say how

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Speaker 1: grateful we all are. I mean, the best part of

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Speaker 1: doing this show, aside from an excuse to nerd out

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Speaker 1: and an excuse to hang with my dear friend Alex Heigels,

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Speaker 1: just connecting with all these great new people and you know,

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Speaker 1: I was texting with a few today and you know,

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Speaker 1: it's really really special. It's been great. Yeah, we should

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Speaker 1: have opened it up much earlier, to be honest, because

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Speaker 1: just all the people who have said such wonderful things

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Speaker 1: on KOFI and the people have gotten in touch with

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Speaker 1: us on Twitter. It's been a real delight. So thank

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Speaker 1: you everyone for who has done that. And just a reminder,

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Speaker 1: if you make a Spicy donation, you get a claim

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Speaker 1: to an episode request and we are slowly going through them.

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Speaker 2: A lot of you have requested music ones, so those

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Speaker 2: are a little backed up as we space them out,

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Speaker 2: But Gladiator was a listener request. So I have proof

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Speaker 2: that we do do them. And let's set to do Christmas.

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Speaker 2: We're doing Christmas Jordan from Christmas to Christmas and Christmas

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Speaker 2: to Christmas. Here's everything you didn't know about Christmas songs.

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Speaker 1: I've been drinking all day. I was gonna say it

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Speaker 1: was good will, good will, goodwill, and then it was

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Speaker 1: like the end of film on Louise. It just was

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Speaker 1: like off the cliff.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, my nephew got baptized today, so it

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Speaker 2: was allowed to get drunk. I'm Italian.

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Speaker 1: Is it at the church? No? No, just afterwards? All right,

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Speaker 1: jingle bells it we'll do it live.

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Speaker 2: Jingle bells. Why not open with jingle bells? What do

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Speaker 2: you think about jingle bells?

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Speaker 1: Jingle bells? I mean to me, it's been kind of

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Speaker 1: tainted by the school Yard Batman edition. And we'll get

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Speaker 1: to that. Okay, Yeah, no, it's fine, it's fine. I

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Speaker 1: don't have deep you see, this isn't to me, This isn't.

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Speaker 1: I have more feelings about the new edition pop ones

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Speaker 1: from the last like fifty years.

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Speaker 2: Well, you're about to care about jingle bells. I'll tell

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Speaker 2: me do you know why that is?

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Speaker 1: There's gonna be a Titanic connection or Beatles connection, so

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Speaker 1: close Massachusetts connection.

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Speaker 2: The song was Yeah, it's Massachusetts Baby. The song was

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Speaker 2: copyrighted under the title one Horse, Open Sleigh in eighteen

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Speaker 2: fifty seven. It's writer, James Pierpont, was living in Savannah, Georgia.

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Speaker 2: The title was subsequently changed to jingle Bells when the

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Speaker 2: song was republish in eighteen fifty nine. This is a

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Speaker 2: Civil War era Christmas song that's nuts but the town

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Speaker 2: of Medford, Massachusetts, where Pierpont was born, Medford, Medford, all

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Speaker 2: the blue heads all the way out in Medford, or

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Speaker 2: that one when old when old James Pierre Pond stepped

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Speaker 2: up to the plate, he wagged, he socked the dinga

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Speaker 2: so hard. Hey guy, guys, hey guy, watch this. You're

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Speaker 2: like Dinga's.

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Speaker 1: You like one hosse open sleighs. You're like one. I

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Speaker 1: got fucking spades.

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Speaker 2: Medford, Massachusetts, where peer Pont was born, claims that this

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Speaker 2: song was actually written in eighteen fifty at a place

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Speaker 2: called the Simpson Tavern in Medford. And in case you

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Speaker 2: need to win maybe the most granular bar trivia contest

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Speaker 2: that could ever exist anywhere. The corroborating witness to this

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Speaker 2: is missus ODIs Waterman, missus Otis Waterman, missus Otis Watermen.

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Speaker 1: What context is that? Yeah, you don't believe me. Asknis's wife.

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Speaker 1: I think that's the Medford Historical Society. They're like, missus

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Speaker 1: Otis Waterman was in the pub when she saw it.

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Speaker 1: But so here's what's really gonna blow your mind. Okay,

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Speaker 1: jingle Bells wasn't even a Christmas song. It was written

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Speaker 1: for children to sing at a Thanksgiving event at a

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Speaker 1: Medford Sunday school, and it turned out that it was

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Speaker 1: such a banger that they were asked to sing it

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Speaker 1: again at Christmas. Where it stuck.

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Speaker 2: Peer Pom was writing about literal sleigh rides and races

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Speaker 2: on Salem Street in Medford in the early eighteen hundreds.

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Speaker 2: In races as in like not the misigenation enough that

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Speaker 2: you would assume people from Massachusetts care about, but I

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Speaker 2: mean literally is one sleigh faster than the other. That's

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Speaker 2: kind of sick anyway, because Savannah was where peer ponm

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Speaker 2: was living when he wrote it. Unless he did write

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Speaker 2: it in this tavern, they have gone on to claim

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Speaker 2: it because they said it was on the occasion of

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Speaker 2: his first snowless Christmas in the South that he wrote

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Speaker 2: this whistole for his home in Medford.

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Speaker 1: You can't claim something if somebody's there and not wanting

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Speaker 1: to be there and writing about wishing they were somewhere else. Well,

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Speaker 1: it gets worse because, of course Massachusetts found a way

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Speaker 1: to make this racist jingle bells. The re christened version

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Speaker 1: was first performed on September fifteenth, eighteen fifty seven, at

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Speaker 1: Ordway Hall in Boston by blackface minstrel performer Johnny pel Oh,

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Speaker 1: it's like Massachusetts claiming, like James Taylor's in my mind,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to Carolina. It's like, well, you could. But

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Speaker 1: was he incarcerated. He might have been in a psychiatric hospital. No,

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Speaker 1: I don't think so. I think he was in Massachusetts

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Speaker 1: and it was No, he's in London. Sorry, he was

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Speaker 1: in London and it was cold and he wished he

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Speaker 1: was back home. You can't claim something if somebody's writing

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Speaker 1: a song wishing they weren't there. I hate James Tanner really,

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Speaker 1: Yea's very nice to me. I know, I'm sure he was.

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Speaker 1: He was very nice.

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Speaker 2: He seems that seems he seems too nice. How do

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Speaker 2: you feel about me, sweet baby James? If your nickname

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Speaker 2: is sweet Baby James, you're not like a real man.

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Speaker 2: I'm sorry you either have to be so huge and

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Speaker 2: so imposing that like like.

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Speaker 1: He's a very tall man. He's not imposing. Eh, he's

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Speaker 1: pretty lanky. He's kind of like got that praying mannis

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Speaker 1: thing going.

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Speaker 2: Do you think I could take James Taylor in a fight.

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Speaker 2: He's got reach, but I will cheat.

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Speaker 1: I don't know anyone who could do that much heroin

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Speaker 1: and survive. I kind of think has something else going. Okay, okay, okay,

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Speaker 1: what about me versus Paul Simon? That's a wash. He'd

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Speaker 1: want it more, he would want it more, but I

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Speaker 1: would I would man handle him. Was he like five

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Speaker 1: to three? Yeah? But I don't know. Haven't you seen

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Speaker 1: that SNL thing where he plays basketball with like Wilt

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Speaker 1: Chamberlain or something. I have seen that sketch. Yeah again

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Speaker 1: next week for when we talk about other folk rock

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Speaker 1: icons that I might be able to beat in a fight. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I saw the Bob Dylan movie the other day. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I could definitely beat Timothy Shalloway as Bob Dylan. I

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Speaker 1: probably couldn't beat Bob Dylan as Bob Dylan. No.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that man was on so much government speed. I'm

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Speaker 2: gonna go ahead and a lemon say this.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna say he would cheat too, Yeah, but he'd

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Speaker 1: be open about it. Yeah. I think. Do we think

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Speaker 1: that that Dylan is a as a CIA operative similar

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Speaker 1: to all the Laurel Canyon stuff.

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Speaker 3: Hmm.

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Speaker 1: Maybe he's one of the certainly one of the most

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Speaker 1: baffling ones.

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Speaker 2: But I can figure out what the agenda for him

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Speaker 2: would be. What trying to get people to become born

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Speaker 2: again Christians.

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Speaker 1: In the same way all the Laurel Canyon stuff was

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Speaker 1: trying to defang the very legitimate labor union. Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: with like kind of a political hippie stuff. This was

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Speaker 1: sort of I guess his stuff was very political. Never mind. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: haven't you ever heard like a Ballad of a Thin Man? Dude? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's one of my favorite masters. Hey man, those songs

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Speaker 1: are political. Man. What's that is that cider? That's scotch?

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Speaker 2: So apparently, jingle Bells was first actually recorded on an

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Speaker 2: Edison cylinder by a banjo player named Will Lyle in

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Speaker 2: eighteen eighty nine, though no copies of it exist. The

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Speaker 2: earliest version that does exist was recorded in eighteen ninety

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Speaker 2: eight by a male vocal quartet. So we're going through

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Speaker 2: steadily lamer and lamer incarnations of early music. However, the

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Speaker 2: first person to make jingle Bells a hit was swing

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Speaker 2: king Benny Goodman Baby in nineteen thirty five, followed by

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Speaker 2: in successive years, Glenn Miller Bing Crosby and Big Cronsby

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Speaker 2: with the Andrew Sisters. And then, and this shocked me,

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Speaker 2: electric guitar iconed Les Paul in nineteen fifty one, Less Paul,

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Speaker 2: in his multi tracking era, did a version of jingle

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Speaker 2: Bells where he just overdubbed all the guitar parts.

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Speaker 1: It was like the first guy to really take over

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Speaker 1: ubbing seriously, right, yeah, oh yeah.

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Speaker 2: He's crazy innovative in that regard. But here's another fun fact.

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Speaker 2: Jingle Bells was one of the first songs broadcast from space.

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Speaker 1: WHOA, that's cool.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen sixty five, astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Sira

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Speaker 2: were aboard the Gemini six and they pranked mission control

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Speaker 2: by calling in saying that they had seen an unidentified object,

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Speaker 2: and when they were pressed to identify it, they pulled

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Speaker 2: out a tiny one inch Honor harmonica and sleigh bells

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Speaker 2: that were contraband they had actually smuggled these aboard and

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Speaker 2: then saying jingle bells to mission control.

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Speaker 1: That's awesome. Wasn't there another one? Wen't we just talking

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Speaker 1: about another episode? Somebody an astronauts smuggled at corn beef

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Speaker 1: sandwich aboard one of the Apollo flights. Or maybe it

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Speaker 1: was Gemini. This have to do with the Irish. Maybe

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Speaker 1: I forget what happened. That might have been Gus Grissom.

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Speaker 1: He didn't like the the in flight meals. That's probably

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Speaker 1: not what they were called Onora. Yeah, red meals. So

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Speaker 1: he went on the way to like blast off. He

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Speaker 1: stopped by his favorite deli and somehow smuggle the board

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Speaker 1: of corn beef sandwich. I feel like that's gonna get

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Speaker 1: so greasy and like unpleasant and just like all the

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Speaker 1: bits floating around, all the like crumbs. Yeah, you're gonna

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Speaker 1: contain every bit of like was it a rubin or

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Speaker 1: just a corn beef? I it's just a corn beef

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Speaker 1: on rye dry. He didn't put mustard on it. I don't,

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Speaker 1: well that would get even more gloppy, and yeah, can

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Speaker 1: you imagine like like some like a mustard seed gets

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Speaker 1: in like the computer. Oh yeah, I sure can. That's

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Speaker 1: probably It's probably happened to Apollo thirteen and they were

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Speaker 1: just too embarrassed to admit it. It's probably what happened

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Speaker 1: to Challenger in honor of the first teacher in space.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna smuggle the board, some square pizzas and watery pasta.

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Speaker 2: They just had it to fit perfectly into all the

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Speaker 2: floppy disk parts. Oh no, one's stuck in one. Oh

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Speaker 2: it's sparking. Wow, this got dark real quick. Here's another

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Speaker 2: weird fact and a rare TMI correction. Oh okay, folks,

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Speaker 2: for all of you who who say I don't admit

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Speaker 2: when I'm wrong, I do, and I'm doing it now.

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Speaker 2: In our episode on Batman the Animated Series, I reported

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Speaker 2: that the legendary playground parody of jingle bells that rhymes

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Speaker 2: Batman Smells with jingle bells originated on Batman the Animated

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Speaker 2: Series and was later sung again on The Simpsons, leading

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Speaker 2: people to confuse the origins of the song, but now

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Speaker 2: TMI regrets the air. The first reference to jingle bells

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Speaker 2: Batman Smells is tied to the original sixties Adam West series.

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Speaker 2: It is mentioned on page sixteen of the January third,

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Speaker 2: nineteen sixty seven edition of the Lawton Constitution from Lawton, Oklahoma,

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Speaker 2: and the notice read as follows. Lil l I Pastrophiel

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Speaker 2: Lil Jana Montgomery, daughter of Major and Missus Ross D. Montgomery,

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Speaker 2: formerly stationed at Fort Sill and now with MAAG headquarters

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Speaker 2: in Brussels, Belgium, warbled this tune during the holidays. Jingle bells,

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Speaker 2: Batman Smells, Robin ran away, batmobile lost a wheel, and

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Speaker 2: commissioners stuck in a sleigh.

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Speaker 1: That's really c plus work, Jenna, you really got a

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Speaker 1: stanchion on that. And I don't know who added, you know,

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Speaker 1: Riddler got away or whatever the last part of that is.

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Speaker 1: But Jena, you did a bad job.

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Speaker 2: But the first reference to that song January third, nineteen

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Speaker 2: sixty seven. That's crazy. Don't let anybody tell you different.

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Speaker 2: That's the TMI promise. Jordan, what do you think is

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Speaker 2: the most depressing Christmas song?

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Speaker 1: I'd say it's a toss up between fairy Tale of

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Speaker 1: New York, which I think is equally depressing but also exhilarating,

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Speaker 1: especially for lines like I could have been someone, but

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Speaker 1: so of anyone. But also I think probably the one

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Speaker 1: you're about to read, because I know dimly about the backstory.

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Speaker 2: Well, my favorite actually would be Another Lonely Christmas, which

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Speaker 2: is one of my favorite Prince Deep Cuts, that is

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Speaker 2: the film in which are the film because there's such

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Speaker 2: cinematic visions. This would be the Prince Deep Cut. How

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Speaker 2: did this song? Oh the B side too I Would

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Speaker 2: Die for You right in nineteen eighty four, So Another

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Speaker 2: Lonely Christmas. Prince was quite lonely, apparently during this point

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Speaker 2: in his life, so he decided to fictionalize an account

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Speaker 2: of a man mourning his lover who had died from

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Speaker 2: pneumonia on the previous Christmas Day. Prince is the character

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Speaker 2: in the Song's method of remembrance is to get schnookered

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Speaker 2: on banana dakers because that was his beloved favorite drink.

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Speaker 2: But we are not here to talk about another one.

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Speaker 1: I actually, oh, I have another one. Actually I forgot.

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Speaker 1: Do you remember I think we talked about this on

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Speaker 1: the fairy Tale of New York episode when we did

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Speaker 1: a rundown of depressing Christmas songs. Do you remember the

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Speaker 1: Christmas Shoes? No? Bye? The group is called New Song.

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Speaker 1: It's about it sounds Christian. I think it probably is. Sir.

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Speaker 1: I want to buy these shoes for my mama. Please.

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Speaker 1: It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just your size.

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Speaker 1: Could you hurry, sir? Daddy says, there's not much time.

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Speaker 1: You see, she's been sick for quite a while and

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Speaker 1: I know these shoes would make her smile, and I

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Speaker 1: want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight, I.

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Speaker 2: Said D plus. Those rhymes are atrocious, sure, but Big

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Speaker 2: Bommer still a D plus. So have yourself a merry

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Speaker 2: little Christmas. Also Big Bommer a huge bummer. Yeah, one

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Speaker 2: of my favorite Christmas songs. I love the melody in this,

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Speaker 2: I just love the writing, and I love how convoluted

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Speaker 2: a lyrical history it has. This song was originally written

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Speaker 2: by the songwriting team of Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine

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Speaker 2: in nineteen forty three for the nineteen forty four musical

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Speaker 2: Meet Me in Saint Louis starring Judy Garland.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: In that film, Garland's character sings the song to cheer

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Speaker 2: up her five year old sister. The family has just

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Speaker 2: been rocked by the news that their father may move

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Speaker 2: them all to New York for his job just before

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Speaker 2: the nineteen oh four World's Fair descended upon their hometown.

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Speaker 2: So that's where you get couplets like will pop the

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Speaker 2: champagne cork next year we all may be living in

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Speaker 2: New York. But Hugh Martin, who has since claimed soul

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Speaker 2: songwriting credit for this song, said Ralph Blaine didn't do

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Speaker 2: His first draft had couplets featuring couplets like have yourself

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Speaker 2: a merry little Christmas.

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Speaker 1: It may be your last.

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Speaker 2: Faithful friends who were dear to us will be near

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Speaker 2: to us no more.

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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: I love Christmas songs confronting the grim specter of death,

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Speaker 2: but the team behind Meet Me in Saint Louis not

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Speaker 2: so much. I often wondered what it would have been

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Speaker 2: like those lyrics been sung in the movie. Margaret O'Brien,

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Speaker 2: who played the younger sister and Meet Me in Saint Louis,

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Speaker 2: told Entertainment Weekly in two thousand and seven, but about

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Speaker 2: a week before we were to shoot the scene where

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Speaker 2: Judy sings it to me, she looked at the lyrics

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Speaker 2: and said, don't you think these are awfully dark? I'm

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Speaker 2: going to go to Hugh Martin and see if he

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Speaker 2: can lighten it up a little. So absolutely gacked to

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Speaker 2: her little gills on speed. Judy Garland went over to

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Speaker 2: mister Martin and suggested the change. He was initially resistant.

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Speaker 2: He recalled to Entertainment Weekly. They said, it's so dreadfully sad.

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Speaker 2: I said, I thought the girls were supposed to be

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Speaker 2: sad in that scene. They said, well, not, that's sad.

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Speaker 2: And Judy was saying, if I sing that, if I

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Speaker 2: sing that to little, sweet little I don't have a

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Speaker 2: Judy Garland impression. I didn't have that locked. If I

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Speaker 2: sing that to sweet little Margaret O'Brien, They'll think I'm

402
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Speaker 2: a monster. And she was quite right, but it took

403
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Speaker 2: me a long time to get over my pride. Finally,

404
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Speaker 2: Tom Drake, who is the male lead of the of

405
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Speaker 2: the movie, who was a friend, convinced me. He said, you,

406
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Speaker 2: stupid son of a bitch, You're gonna foul up your

407
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Speaker 2: life if you don't write another verse of that song.

408
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Speaker 2: But the song, this is the craziest thing to me.

409
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Speaker 2: That song was not even a banger. People did not

410
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Speaker 2: really cotton to it. It's just like over the Rainbow.

411
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Speaker 1: But you know what the big hit was from Meet

412
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Speaker 1: Me in Saint Louis. It was a try song Chian

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Speaker 1: Klang Klan goes as a.

414
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Speaker 2: Young ring ring went the bell zing zing zing my

415
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Speaker 2: heart strings and something I'll see you and hell have

416
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Speaker 2: yourself for Mary Little Christmas was such a dud it

417
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:46,400
Speaker 2: took even old blue eyes Frankie sin himself to make

418
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Speaker 2: it a hit. He recorded it once in nineteen forty

419
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Speaker 2: seven and then came back to it a whole decade later.

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Speaker 2: According to songwriter Martin, he said, Frank called ask if

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Speaker 2: I would rewrite the muddle through somehow line he said,

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Speaker 2: the name of my album? He said, the name of

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Speaker 2: my album is a Jolly Christmas. You think you jolly?

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Speaker 2: That line up for me? Otherwise it's ring a ding

425
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Speaker 2: for you, bozo. He didn't say that last line. That's

426
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Speaker 2: just me editorializing. So not about to give the chairman

427
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Speaker 2: any lip. Otherwise he would have been underage raped by him.

428
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:24,320
Speaker 1: Ooh, can't say that about Frank, right, Is that something that?

429
00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:27,840
Speaker 2: Oh that famous Frank Frank Sinatra mugshot is for stature rape?

430
00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:31,560
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

431
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,920
Speaker 2: Anyway, Martin made some cheerier alteration. He said he shifted

432
00:23:35,960 --> 00:23:39,400
Speaker 2: the happiness into the present tense and changed the muddle

433
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,520
Speaker 2: through line to hang a shining star upon the highest bow.

434
00:23:44,760 --> 00:23:47,960
Speaker 2: And then, in one final twist to this convoluted history

435
00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,479
Speaker 2: of the song's lyrics, Martin wrote a pointedly religious version

436
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,680
Speaker 2: of have Yourself a marri Little Christmas in two thousand

437
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:59,879
Speaker 2: and one, changing it to have Yourself a Blessed Little Christmas, which,

438
00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 2: among other things, replaced if the Fates Allow with if

439
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 2: the Lord Allows. Martin was once again supposedly correcting an

440
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,159
Speaker 2: original bit of censorship done to his first draft. He

441
00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:15,200
Speaker 2: originally had if the Lord Allows, and then the songwriting

442
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,959
Speaker 2: the people behind meet me in Saint Louis said, we

443
00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 2: can't skew that religious Martin. The country has been torn

444
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 2: apart by war and discord, and clearly there's no God,

445
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,640
Speaker 2: so please, there's no God left, So you simply can't

446
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:32,360
Speaker 2: say if the Lord allows, we are a secular country

447
00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:35,119
Speaker 2: now and we will be for the rest of our duration.

448
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 1: I had been under the impression that this song dealt

449
00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:44,520
Speaker 1: with the looming specter of nuclear holocaust. I thought that

450
00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,359
Speaker 1: was part of why so the lyrics were so ominous.

451
00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,240
Speaker 2: Like well, it was clearly under the Specter of Ward

452
00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:53,240
Speaker 2: War II because I've written nineteen forty three.

453
00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,280
Speaker 1: But yeah, what a great song. Yeah, it's a really

454
00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,760
Speaker 1: good song. And you know, of the three songs that

455
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,439
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about this, this is one that

456
00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 1: I actually think there's a chance you might like. Even

457
00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 1: though the pairing is so weird, I think it's really

458
00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:08,040
Speaker 1: pretty and I think it's cool. Oh, my friend, I

459
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 1: know where you're going with this. Yes, Peace on Earth.

460
00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:15,240
Speaker 1: Little Drummer Boy Boie meets Bing nineteen seventy seven. I

461
00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 1: love this. How do you feel about this? Before I

462
00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:18,680
Speaker 1: get into the whole back start.

463
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 2: It's one of those things that just kind of fries

464
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,719
Speaker 2: your synapses. Yeah, the incongruity, like if you first see that,

465
00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:25,600
Speaker 2: I guess honestly, if I saw that for the first

466
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:27,320
Speaker 2: time in twenty twenty four, I'd be like, what is

467
00:25:27,359 --> 00:25:30,359
Speaker 2: this deep fake bulch that you've served to me? Yeah, Like,

468
00:25:30,440 --> 00:25:32,919
Speaker 2: there's no way those two were in the same room together.

469
00:25:33,160 --> 00:25:36,440
Speaker 2: But here we are talking about it so many years later.

470
00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,840
Speaker 2: It's a good song, it's a good performance. I should

471
00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,120
Speaker 2: say it's no, it's not a good song, but.

472
00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,080
Speaker 1: Go ahead, all right, Well we'll talk about why it's

473
00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:45,560
Speaker 1: not that great of a song because they wrote it

474
00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:48,480
Speaker 1: in like an hour on the spot because Bowie didn't

475
00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 1: like the song that we're gonna have him sing. Okay,

476
00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:53,360
Speaker 1: So it's nineteen seventy seven. With the release of Heroes,

477
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 1: David Bowie said about trying to normalize his professional reputation

478
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:00,919
Speaker 1: after his period in Berlin, during which he'd.

479
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:04,679
Speaker 2: Kept a low profile, trying to kick an ungodly amount

480
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:07,879
Speaker 2: of coke yes and making some of the most experimental

481
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 2: music of his premiere He released the album Low the

482
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,919
Speaker 2: year before Heroes was a little more in the pop lane,

483
00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,120
Speaker 2: and so now he was doing more promotion than he'd

484
00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:19,200
Speaker 2: done in many years. As he was trying to kind

485
00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:20,200
Speaker 2: of get back in action.

486
00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,520
Speaker 1: He made high profile appearances on the Top of the

487
00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,760
Speaker 1: Pops TV show in the UK and Mark Bolan's TV

488
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:31,720
Speaker 1: series Mark performing songs. Rumors that he drop in on

489
00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,440
Speaker 1: The Muppet Show sadly proved false. That would have been amazing,

490
00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:39,520
Speaker 1: but he did take on an arguably weirder role on

491
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:45,879
Speaker 1: Bing Crosby's Christmas special. I guess, bearing in mind David's influences,

492
00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:48,639
Speaker 1: it's not quite as in congress as you might think.

493
00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,960
Speaker 1: David had a penchant for middle of the road entertainment.

494
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:54,919
Speaker 1: He was initially when he first became a performer, obsessed

495
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:57,919
Speaker 1: with this guy Anthony Newley. Back in the sixties. He

496
00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 1: was this kind of light entertainment singer, song writer figure.

497
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,639
Speaker 1: He's probably most famous to millennials for co writing the

498
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 1: songs in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But yeah,

499
00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:13,439
Speaker 1: Bowie meets being it seemed almost perverse. I mean, you

500
00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:16,200
Speaker 1: have the king of the cutting edge appearing with a

501
00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,879
Speaker 1: seventy four year old World War II crooner in a

502
00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:22,680
Speaker 1: festive Cardigan. Crosby was seventy three. Seventy three excuse men

503
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 1: die a month after this taping. Yes, yes, yes, yes,

504
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: I'm really unclear by Bowie's motivations for going on this.

505
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:33,760
Speaker 2: I have it, Okay, I have it from actually an

506
00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,560
Speaker 2: article I wrote it people. He said, I won't sing,

507
00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,159
Speaker 2: I hate the song. I'm doing this show because my

508
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 2: mother loves bing Crosby. That was Bowie's motivation.

509
00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:47,119
Speaker 1: But he and his mom had like a really tempestuous relationship,

510
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:51,240
Speaker 1: so I almost question that. I mean, I really wonder

511
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:56,400
Speaker 1: if he was trying to either subvert this most bland,

512
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:01,240
Speaker 1: you know, banal art farm Holiday TV's specials, or if

513
00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:02,879
Speaker 1: he was just doing the most punk rock thing he

514
00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,800
Speaker 1: could possibly do, which is doing the least punk rock

515
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,520
Speaker 1: thing he could possibly do. I don't know. He never

516
00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:11,000
Speaker 1: really opened up about it beyond that statement that his

517
00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:15,560
Speaker 1: mom liked Bing Crosby. So David Bowie travels to the

518
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:19,600
Speaker 1: ATV L Stree Studios, just north of London on September eleventh,

519
00:28:19,680 --> 00:28:23,720
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, to film Bing Crosby's TV special Merry

520
00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:27,920
Speaker 1: Old Christmas. Bing had extended the invitation to David, partially

521
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,000
Speaker 1: because his teenage children were big fans, but when David

522
00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:34,240
Speaker 1: showed up wearing over the top makeup and an earring,

523
00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:36,399
Speaker 1: he apparently had some second thoughts.

524
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:41,680
Speaker 2: Also full length mink coat. That's awesome, he and his wife.

525
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:45,200
Speaker 1: Yeah, according to Bing's kids, producers took David aside and

526
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,960
Speaker 1: gently requested that he wipe off his makeup and remove

527
00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,520
Speaker 1: the earring, and he duly complied. Crosby son Nathaniel would

528
00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 1: recall the appearance almost didn't happen. I think the producers

529
00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:56,600
Speaker 1: told him to take the lipstick off and take the

530
00:28:56,640 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: earring out. It was just incredible to see the contrast. Yeah,

531
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,280
Speaker 1: you mentioned that They claimed that he showed up with

532
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 1: his wife, Angie, but at this time they were really

533
00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:07,640
Speaker 1: on the outs and they would be divorced, I think

534
00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,920
Speaker 1: by the end of the year, so it's really unlikely

535
00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 1: that she showed up there with him, which kind of

536
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:14,600
Speaker 1: throws this whole story in the question. Well, it might

537
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:17,920
Speaker 1: not have been Angie who showed up in that length. Okay,

538
00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:20,760
Speaker 1: good point, good point. But yes, as you mentioned, there

539
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,520
Speaker 1: was a bigger problem on the horizon than David Bowie's attire.

540
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,320
Speaker 1: The original plan was for Being and Bowie to perform

541
00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:29,240
Speaker 1: a duet of The Little Drummer Boy, but when David arrived,

542
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:33,440
Speaker 1: he announced I hate this song? Is there something else

543
00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:38,680
Speaker 1: I could sing? Which is such a classic bit of yes,

544
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,400
Speaker 1: this has been in the works for weeks now, and

545
00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:44,920
Speaker 1: nobody for me. If nobody told you, or you didn't

546
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:47,760
Speaker 1: look at the one cheat we gave you, and now

547
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:50,840
Speaker 1: here you are. One of the script writers would later

548
00:29:50,920 --> 00:29:53,520
Speaker 1: say that Bowie felt the song quote wasn't a good

549
00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:56,880
Speaker 1: showcase for his voice, and Bowie doubled down by saying,

550
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 1: if I have to sing that song, I can't do

551
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:01,720
Speaker 1: the show. Jordan, what would you do it with me?

552
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,680
Speaker 1: On a Christmas song? I would say, Baby, it's cold

553
00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 1: outside and you can beat whichever part you want so

554
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:13,200
Speaker 1: you can stay in and podcast, much to the original

555
00:30:13,280 --> 00:30:19,080
Speaker 1: spirit of the sound. Just a short time before the

556
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:22,000
Speaker 1: shooting of the TV special began, the show's musical directors

557
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 1: Ian Frasier, Larry Grossman and scriptwriter Buzz Cohen held an

558
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:29,720
Speaker 1: emergency writing session on an old piano in the studio basement,

559
00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:33,480
Speaker 1: and within an hour they'd whipped up this new counterpoint

560
00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:35,760
Speaker 1: to Little Drummer Boy that they called Peace on Earth.

561
00:30:35,800 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 1: And they presented it to Bowie, who loved it. And

562
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,240
Speaker 1: then after an hour of rehearsal, Being and Bowie ran

563
00:30:41,320 --> 00:30:44,200
Speaker 1: the act for the cameras. Buzz Cohen would say that

564
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:46,920
Speaker 1: Being loved the challenge of the arrangement, saying that he

565
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:51,800
Speaker 1: was able to transform himself without losing any of his crosbyisms.

566
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:55,320
Speaker 1: For anyone who's actually seen the full clip of this

567
00:30:55,440 --> 00:30:57,840
Speaker 1: and not just heard the song, there's a whole sketch

568
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 1: and it's still too but I find it cute in

569
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: a cross generational seventies Network TV special kind of way.

570
00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 1: In the skit, Being is an American visitor to a

571
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,959
Speaker 1: historic British home, and Bowie lives down the street, and

572
00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,880
Speaker 1: he drops by to use the owner of the house's piano,

573
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,840
Speaker 1: and Bowie recognizes Bing and says, you're the guy who

574
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,920
Speaker 1: sings right, And these two guys have a moment where

575
00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,200
Speaker 1: they compare holiday traditions. It's a real bridging the generation

576
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:28,760
Speaker 1: gap kind of thing. And then they gathered by the

577
00:31:28,760 --> 00:31:31,320
Speaker 1: piano and start rifling through a pile of Christmas Carol

578
00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,080
Speaker 1: sheet music, and David earnestly claims that he likes all music,

579
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:40,640
Speaker 1: including old timers like John Lennon and Harry Nilsen. O great,

580
00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 1: great inside joke there, and he plucks out the sheet

581
00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,040
Speaker 1: music for Little Drummer Boy. He says that it's his

582
00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:50,080
Speaker 1: son's favorite. Whichever one of my sons it is. Did

583
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:52,160
Speaker 1: he only have Duncan at that point or he only

584
00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 1: had Zoey or Zowie whoever? He said it back then

585
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,000
Speaker 1: at the time that he was known then, No, no, it's

586
00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 1: the same guy. But oh the guy who later made

587
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: Moon Warcraft. Oh yeah, yeah, he was knowing Zoe Zoe Bowie.

588
00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 1: That was Zowie Bowie. Your mileage, my very tomato tomato,

589
00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,640
Speaker 1: Zowie Bowie. Let's make a beautiful salad. You always sing

590
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,880
Speaker 1: that I've never heard that from anyone, But you have

591
00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 1: no idea, dude, I have no idea where that's from.

592
00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:30,040
Speaker 1: That's like deep in the recesses of my reptile brain. Tomato, tomato, potato, potato,

593
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,720
Speaker 1: let's make a beautiful salad. I thought it was just

594
00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:36,680
Speaker 1: let's call the whole thing off. Maybe I mean, I

595
00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:39,600
Speaker 1: like your version better. I've just never heard it. Thank you.

596
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:41,520
Speaker 1: I hope to record it with Bing Crosby. One day

597
00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:44,200
Speaker 1: I got some magic of AI.

598
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,840
Speaker 2: And then one day an AI replica of Bing Crosby

599
00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:52,160
Speaker 2: will beat me with a sack of Valencia oranges as

600
00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:54,440
Speaker 2: he did to his children, because it won't leave a bruise.

601
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 1: You mentioned the Tupac hologram out of Bing Crosby hologram

602
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 1: and a Bowie hologram.

603
00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that would get so racist so fast.

604
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 2: He'd be like, he'd like, Samay Davids Junior, what are

605
00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:07,400
Speaker 2: you doing?

606
00:33:09,720 --> 00:33:12,040
Speaker 1: I love it. We all agreed that that's how Bing talks,

607
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:14,280
Speaker 1: even though I'm pretty sure that's not how Big talks.

608
00:33:14,360 --> 00:33:16,440
Speaker 1: But like that's everybody's impression of Bing.

609
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:19,840
Speaker 2: You can beat him with osaka, sweet Valenzia olunges and

610
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:21,240
Speaker 2: I won't leave a bruise like that.

611
00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:27,720
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. A few days after the taping, Bing

612
00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,600
Speaker 1: praised Bowie as quote a clean cut kid and a

613
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:34,240
Speaker 1: real fine asset to the show. He sings well, has

614
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:38,240
Speaker 1: a great voice and reads lines well. Translation, yeah you

615
00:33:38,240 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 1: can read. Didn't really expect that, Yeah right, I don't know.

616
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:45,560
Speaker 1: I find it to be an undeniably sweet performance. Even

617
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,840
Speaker 1: though Bowie himself would call the appearance quote ludicrous in

618
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,920
Speaker 1: later years, it is quite cute. There's a certain undeniable

619
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,920
Speaker 1: chemistry that they have where they both are clearly like

620
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,959
Speaker 1: radiating why am I here? Like what is going on?

621
00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,320
Speaker 1: What are the circumstances of my life that led me

622
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,080
Speaker 1: to sing next to this man? But they're kind of

623
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,839
Speaker 1: both also selling it. Yeah yeah, to me, it's up

624
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:12,799
Speaker 1: there with the Sinatra Elvis duit in nineteen sixty on

625
00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:15,799
Speaker 1: his Welcome Home Special. With these two guys that you

626
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:17,879
Speaker 1: get the sense that there was a lot of like

627
00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:22,560
Speaker 1: words said in private beforehand against one another, but they somehow,

628
00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:24,440
Speaker 1: like you said, they make it work in the moment,

629
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:26,480
Speaker 1: and you get the sense that they like each other

630
00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,239
Speaker 1: more than they would have thought because they're professionals. Baby, right,

631
00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,120
Speaker 1: that's why But yeah, Bowie, he would later say, we

632
00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:35,600
Speaker 1: were so totally out of touch with each other. I

633
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,520
Speaker 1: was wondering if he was still alive. He was just

634
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,759
Speaker 1: not there. He was really not there at all. He

635
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,880
Speaker 1: looked like a little old orange sitting on a stool

636
00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:49,400
Speaker 1: because he'd been made up heavily and there was just

637
00:34:49,480 --> 00:34:52,160
Speaker 1: nobody home at all. You know. It was the most

638
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:55,040
Speaker 1: bizarre experience. So that's one take on it. That was

639
00:34:55,280 --> 00:34:58,120
Speaker 1: his later era take. It's interesting to know that Bowie's

640
00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 1: take on the experience in nineteen seventy eight, shortly after

641
00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 1: the special aired, was much softer. He said Crosby was fantastic.

642
00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,799
Speaker 1: That old man knew everything about everything. He knew rock

643
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:11,280
Speaker 1: and roll backwards, even if he didn't know the music.

644
00:35:11,760 --> 00:35:15,720
Speaker 1: I'm glad I met him. So yeah, two very distinct

645
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,200
Speaker 1: takes from Bowie. He might have been really nice in

646
00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,040
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy eight because this was just after Bing had died.

647
00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:24,440
Speaker 1: In fact, Bing was dead by the time the special

648
00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,280
Speaker 1: aired that Christmas, which kind of adds a whole weird

649
00:35:28,400 --> 00:35:33,840
Speaker 1: flavor to a Christmas special from a beloved entertainer. I

650
00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:36,840
Speaker 1: love Christmas specials that are touched with death. Judy Garland

651
00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:39,760
Speaker 1: is the most famous. You know, what's her Christmas special

652
00:35:40,040 --> 00:35:42,879
Speaker 1: or just the worsd of it. It's like Lynchian, dude,

653
00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:46,400
Speaker 1: it's all this like fake posed stuff with Liza and

654
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:50,440
Speaker 1: the kids. But it oh that this has this undeniable

655
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:54,520
Speaker 1: rro like the Queen in her decline and oh it's

656
00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:58,120
Speaker 1: grim I forgot about that. Yeah, if you want to

657
00:35:58,200 --> 00:35:59,600
Speaker 1: watch it, if you're looking for something to watch with

658
00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:05,520
Speaker 1: your parents, you should cast the Judy Garling Christmas Specialty TV.

659
00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:08,800
Speaker 1: But yeah, Bing died a month after his shoot with Bowie.

660
00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:11,880
Speaker 1: He suffered a massive heart attack on a Spanish golf course.

661
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,960
Speaker 1: His last words were famously to me, at least that

662
00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,080
Speaker 1: was a great game of golf, fellas, let's go have

663
00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:22,640
Speaker 1: a Coca cola. And he collapsed about twenty yards from

664
00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:26,759
Speaker 1: the clubhouse entrance and died instantly. Do you think Coke

665
00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 1: paid him for that? Can you have your last word? Sponsored? Wait,

666
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,200
Speaker 1: this gets even weirder because Mark Boland died in a

667
00:36:35,239 --> 00:36:38,400
Speaker 1: car crash a week after Bowie appeared on his show

668
00:36:38,600 --> 00:36:42,600
Speaker 1: around the same time, and Bowie later commented on this quizident, saying,

669
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,480
Speaker 1: I was getting seriously worried about whether I should appear

670
00:36:45,520 --> 00:36:48,279
Speaker 1: on TV because everyone I was going on with was

671
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:54,640
Speaker 1: kicking it the following week, kicking it in the farm

672
00:36:54,719 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: sense and not hanging out with your bros, not I

673
00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:00,840
Speaker 1: trib quest sense.

674
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:04,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, if if someone asks you can they kick it,

675
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 2: you say yes they can, rather than the bing Crosby

676
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 2: sense where he asks you can I kick it and

677
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:11,040
Speaker 2: you say, please God, not on the carpet.

678
00:37:14,920 --> 00:37:17,800
Speaker 1: The broadcast should have been the end of this hastily

679
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,000
Speaker 1: arranged song because it was essentially just a throwaway song

680
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,520
Speaker 1: for a one off TV special, and a tape of

681
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:27,799
Speaker 1: the recording was erased, but fervent Bowie fans swapped bootlegs,

682
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 1: and five years after the broadcast, an official version of

683
00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,080
Speaker 1: Little Drummer Boy slash Peace on Earth was released just

684
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:37,440
Speaker 1: in time for Christmas nineteen eighty two. It became one

685
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:42,040
Speaker 1: of Bowie's fastest selling and hilariously best selling singles ever

686
00:37:42,120 --> 00:37:44,879
Speaker 1: in the UK, having sales over two hundred and fifty

687
00:37:44,920 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 1: thousand within its first month of release. Damn being certified

688
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:52,640
Speaker 1: silver by the British Phonographic Industry one month later.

689
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,880
Speaker 2: Two hundred and fifty thousand in the first month is like,

690
00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:58,360
Speaker 2: that's enough to get you a sophomore record in today's

691
00:37:58,440 --> 00:38:02,960
Speaker 2: music industry. Yep, side though, I'm sure this is something

692
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 2: you maybe know about, but if not, I'm really excited

693
00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:05,880
Speaker 2: to tell you.

694
00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:07,839
Speaker 1: Heigel, now hit me, I don't know anything about this.

695
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:10,359
Speaker 1: Did you know that? Bing Crosby played a pivotal role

696
00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:15,120
Speaker 1: in popularizing tape recording in the mid twentieth century. In

697
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:20,080
Speaker 1: the forties, being sought greater flexibility in his radio show performances,

698
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:23,520
Speaker 1: which are typically broadcast live. All the radio executives said,

699
00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,560
Speaker 1: you know, people really want to hear things live. That's

700
00:38:25,600 --> 00:38:27,800
Speaker 1: part of what makes this medium special. They want to

701
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:30,360
Speaker 1: believe that what they're listening to is actually happening somewhere.

702
00:38:30,960 --> 00:38:33,360
Speaker 1: Bing he didn't care. He wanted to be able to

703
00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:36,439
Speaker 1: do it on his own time. He was dissatisfied, though,

704
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:40,239
Speaker 1: with the inconsistent quality of disc recordings, but he became

705
00:38:40,320 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 1: interested in the emerging magnetic tape technology developed by German

706
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,799
Speaker 1: engineers during World War Two. Kind of makes sense that

707
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:51,840
Speaker 1: he would collaborate with the Nazis. Yeah, yeah, yeah. In

708
00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:55,520
Speaker 1: nineteen forty seven, bing Crosby was introduced to the Ampex

709
00:38:55,560 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 1: Model two hundred, which is an early tape recorder that

710
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:03,560
Speaker 1: offered superior sound, fidelity and editing capabilities. Recognizing his potential,

711
00:39:03,600 --> 00:39:06,279
Speaker 1: he invested fifty thousand dollars in Ampex, which is like,

712
00:39:06,880 --> 00:39:09,560
Speaker 1: she's probably close to a million dollars today, helping the

713
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:14,680
Speaker 1: company refine and commercialize the technology. Crosby support was instrumental

714
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 1: in introducing high quality tape recording to the American entertainment industry.

715
00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: He became the first performer to pre record his radio

716
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:25,799
Speaker 1: shows on tape, revolutionizing broadcasting by allowing seamless edits and

717
00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 1: precise scheduling. This innovation transformed how radio and eventually TV

718
00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 1: programs were produced. Imagine all these things having to be live.

719
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:35,799
Speaker 1: I mean, he was basically the one who said, no,

720
00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:37,239
Speaker 1: we can do this all in advance and make it

721
00:39:37,280 --> 00:39:41,880
Speaker 1: exactly right. That's pretty incredible. Crosby's adoption of tape recording

722
00:39:41,960 --> 00:39:46,520
Speaker 1: catalyzed this widespread use in music, broadcasting and filmmaking, and

723
00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:49,600
Speaker 1: its influence actually extended beyond entertainment because his investment in

724
00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:53,799
Speaker 1: Ampex also spurred advances in tape technology, paving the way

725
00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:56,600
Speaker 1: for multi track recording. Like we were just talking about

726
00:39:56,680 --> 00:40:01,600
Speaker 1: with Les Paul and the modern music industry as a whole, and.

727
00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:04,200
Speaker 2: I want to say that Alan Lomax took an Ampex

728
00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:07,279
Speaker 2: tape recorder on his Southern journey, So in a way,

729
00:40:07,360 --> 00:40:12,920
Speaker 2: he bing Crosby, who is surely racist and in hell

730
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:16,799
Speaker 2: and in hell, paved the way for basically one of

731
00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:20,840
Speaker 2: the people who broke the concept of Southern Black American

732
00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:22,320
Speaker 2: music to the rest of the country.

733
00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:27,680
Speaker 1: How much you think that chapped his ass? Boy, it

734
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:30,800
Speaker 1: was like withered hand clawing out of like a hell crater,

735
00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:34,719
Speaker 1: like give me back the impects. Is that nuts? Though?

736
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:40,920
Speaker 1: I didn't mean you could use it to tape black folks. Uh?

737
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:43,799
Speaker 1: Was he really racist? I don't know. I just kind

738
00:40:43,800 --> 00:40:50,000
Speaker 1: of those eyes. I kind of assumed, yeah, yeah.

739
00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:52,520
Speaker 2: As you meditate on that, we'll be right back with

740
00:40:52,560 --> 00:41:06,799
Speaker 2: more too much information after these messages. Did you have

741
00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:08,759
Speaker 2: a segue or should I just plow right into this.

742
00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:10,360
Speaker 2: I don't have a sick quite No.

743
00:41:11,040 --> 00:41:18,759
Speaker 1: Great Philly's Navidad pferano e. I want to wish you

744
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:25,600
Speaker 1: a merry Christmas, felicidad, I want to wish you a

745
00:41:25,640 --> 00:41:26,320
Speaker 1: merry Christmas.

746
00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:31,359
Speaker 2: Alana isumemericus. Anyway, I know that this is another song

747
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 2: with a kind of melancholic undertone to it. Jose Feliciana

748
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:37,600
Speaker 2: was born in Puerto Rico and moved with his family

749
00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:40,200
Speaker 2: to New York when he was five, where he grew

750
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:43,560
Speaker 2: up in Spanish Harlem. By nineteen seventy though, he was

751
00:41:43,640 --> 00:41:46,640
Speaker 2: a successful recording artist, and he recalled to The New

752
00:41:46,719 --> 00:41:49,480
Speaker 2: Yorker that he and his producer Rick Gerard were at

753
00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:53,400
Speaker 2: Feliciano's place in California. They were planning a holiday album,

754
00:41:53,480 --> 00:41:56,080
Speaker 2: and Girod said that there hadn't been a huge Christmas

755
00:41:56,080 --> 00:42:00,320
Speaker 2: song since Brenda Lee's rocking around the Christmas Tree. Yo

756
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:03,480
Speaker 2: didn't put much thought or effort into their attempt at

757
00:42:03,480 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 2: a iconic Christmas song. He missed his family in New York,

758
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:11,240
Speaker 2: and inspired by memories of their Christmases together, he penned

759
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:16,080
Speaker 2: Philis Navidad in ten minutes, telling The New Yorker that's

760
00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,360
Speaker 2: why it's the simplest song ever written. It contains a

761
00:42:19,360 --> 00:42:24,120
Speaker 2: total of nineteen words, six in Spanish phileis Navidad, prospero

762
00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:28,160
Speaker 2: annoy pelicidad and thirteen in English. I want to wish

763
00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:30,280
Speaker 2: you a merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart,

764
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:34,520
Speaker 2: over and over and over again. He and Gerard then

765
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,960
Speaker 2: recorded the tune at RCA Studios on Sunset Boulevard Baby

766
00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:41,080
Speaker 2: in a single take.

767
00:42:42,000 --> 00:42:45,040
Speaker 1: Wow, well you thought they were going to go another

768
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:50,080
Speaker 1: take at this song? Feliciano. This New Yorker interview is hilarious.

769
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:53,040
Speaker 1: Apparently the man has quite a sense of humor. He

770
00:42:53,120 --> 00:42:55,759
Speaker 1: told them, if you know where your song is going

771
00:42:55,800 --> 00:42:57,880
Speaker 1: to go, you don't have to around with it.

772
00:42:57,920 --> 00:43:03,400
Speaker 2: Too much to say to myself, jokum. If they can't take.

773
00:43:03,280 --> 00:43:10,520
Speaker 1: A get it, he switched him around. He did a

774
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:15,200
Speaker 1: whole reversal on you, because yeah, anyway. Design is technically

775
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:19,959
Speaker 1: a continuation of the tradition of Spanish villanthios or villanthios,

776
00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:23,000
Speaker 1: which is basically just like an A line for the

777
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,719
Speaker 1: Savidad and a B line I want to wish you

778
00:43:25,760 --> 00:43:27,680
Speaker 1: merry Christmas.

779
00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:30,040
Speaker 2: Just repeated back and forth. These were originally written for

780
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:33,560
Speaker 2: all occasions, but as they progressed into parts of the

781
00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:37,320
Speaker 2: Latin diaspora, they were starting to be linked to Catholic

782
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:41,720
Speaker 2: feast and Saint days, particularly Christmas. Now, for some reason,

783
00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:45,120
Speaker 2: in this New Yorker interview Jose Feliciano, who I think

784
00:43:45,200 --> 00:43:50,319
Speaker 2: was then like seventy five, he decides to illustrate this

785
00:43:51,040 --> 00:43:54,840
Speaker 2: connection with the following joke. Three people die, and on

786
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:57,080
Speaker 2: their way to heaven, Saint Peter stops them and says,

787
00:43:57,520 --> 00:43:59,480
Speaker 2: I need something from each of you that reminds you

788
00:43:59,520 --> 00:44:03,520
Speaker 2: of Christmas. The first man takes out a lighter signifying candles,

789
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:07,880
Speaker 2: The second shakes some keys like bells. The third displays

790
00:44:07,880 --> 00:44:11,319
Speaker 2: a pair of women's panties. Saint Peter says, how did

791
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:19,360
Speaker 2: these remind you of Christmas? And the mangoes? Those are carols? Anyway,

792
00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:23,160
Speaker 2: here's another way that that thing became horrible and racist.

793
00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 2: In December two thousand and nine, a parody of Felisa

794
00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:30,120
Speaker 2: Navidad titled the Illegal Alien Christmas Song, was created by

795
00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:33,600
Speaker 2: radio producers Matt Fox and aj Rice posted on the

796
00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 2: website for Human Events, an American conservative political website. The parody,

797
00:44:38,640 --> 00:44:41,440
Speaker 2: sung in English, played on the racial stereotype of Mexican

798
00:44:41,480 --> 00:44:45,160
Speaker 2: immigrants as heavy drinkers and said that illegal immigrants were

799
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:49,040
Speaker 2: going to spread bubonic plague, and after a richly deserved

800
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:52,320
Speaker 2: beating in the media, the song was taken down. Do

801
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:57,200
Speaker 2: you have thoughts on Felis Navidad? It's annoying, let's not

802
00:44:57,320 --> 00:44:58,160
Speaker 2: let's not sure.

803
00:44:58,239 --> 00:45:00,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it's not one of my favorites. I do

804
00:45:00,520 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 1: have a fun the Holsday Feliciano fact. During the whole

805
00:45:04,040 --> 00:45:07,960
Speaker 1: Paul Is Dead rumor that Paul McCartney had died and

806
00:45:08,000 --> 00:45:11,160
Speaker 1: the Beatles were leaving clues on their albums, he recorded

807
00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:15,040
Speaker 1: a cash in song called so Long Paul under the

808
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:22,080
Speaker 1: name Warblely Finster You're with me until that. No, Warbly

809
00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,319
Speaker 1: Fincer's a good, like fake British pop name. Actually, it's

810
00:45:25,360 --> 00:45:29,280
Speaker 1: tremendous damnway. That's all I have to say about that. Now.

811
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:34,040
Speaker 2: You know, we haven't done much on Elvis. Too much

812
00:45:34,040 --> 00:45:35,200
Speaker 2: information Factory.

813
00:45:35,320 --> 00:45:37,839
Speaker 1: That was one of my early ones I wanted to do,

814
00:45:37,880 --> 00:45:42,200
Speaker 1: which was a TMI episode on the House Graceland, and

815
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:44,760
Speaker 1: I still have like forty pages of notes that I've

816
00:45:44,800 --> 00:45:46,080
Speaker 1: been too afraid to call through.

817
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:51,120
Speaker 2: Well, I eagerly wait for that, but I thought it

818
00:45:51,200 --> 00:45:53,120
Speaker 2: might be time to address the elephant in the room,

819
00:45:53,280 --> 00:45:58,040
Speaker 2: which is not a fat joke. The lyrics to Blue Christmas,

820
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:01,120
Speaker 2: the Elvis song that we are now discussing, we're written

821
00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,040
Speaker 2: by a guy named Jay Johnson. Jay Johnson was your

822
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:07,120
Speaker 2: basic sort of Don Draper stereotype. He was an advertising

823
00:46:07,239 --> 00:46:10,000
Speaker 2: jingle writer who lived in Connecticut and commuted to work

824
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,320
Speaker 2: in New York City. He was inspired by the success

825
00:46:13,400 --> 00:46:17,480
Speaker 2: of Irvin Berlin's iconic White Christmas, and Johnson reasoned that

826
00:46:17,560 --> 00:46:20,840
Speaker 2: a more melancholic take on the holiday was warranted. Dusty

827
00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:23,200
Speaker 2: he began writing Blue Christmas on the Train on a

828
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:26,799
Speaker 2: piece of old hotel stationery for maximum poignancy.

829
00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:30,879
Speaker 1: God he is don draper, Yeah right. He added more

830
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,920
Speaker 1: verses and then proceeded to reach out to a composer

831
00:46:33,960 --> 00:46:37,560
Speaker 1: friend of his, Billy Hayes. Now Hayes also probably had

832
00:46:37,600 --> 00:46:40,640
Speaker 1: some thoughts on the lyrics, because the final version of

833
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:47,160
Speaker 1: the song, Johnson's original two first verses were replaced, so

834
00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:50,760
Speaker 1: once they had their way with it, the finish number

835
00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:53,880
Speaker 1: was sent over to publisher's replacement not only in New

836
00:46:53,960 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 1: York but Nashville. This is where things get a little convoluted.

837
00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:02,320
Speaker 1: The first taker for Blue Christmas was a Roy Rogers

838
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:06,880
Speaker 1: wanna be singing cowboy named doy O'Dell. I believe he

839
00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:09,760
Speaker 1: is also an actor, but he has barely an Internet presence,

840
00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:13,840
Speaker 1: but he did turn in the first recorded version of

841
00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:17,520
Speaker 1: Blue Christmas in nineteen forty eight. It went nowhere, but

842
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:19,719
Speaker 1: it didn't take long for other people to pick up

843
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:23,880
Speaker 1: the song. Hugo Winter Halter gave it an orchestral and

844
00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:27,799
Speaker 1: choral reading. Russ Morgan sang it's a pretty straightforward lead

845
00:47:27,880 --> 00:47:31,920
Speaker 1: vocal feature and most germane to our narrative. Nashville and

846
00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:35,480
Speaker 1: country music legend Ernest Tubb proceeded to twang it up

847
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:39,280
Speaker 1: for his country version. These were actually all chart successes

848
00:47:39,280 --> 00:47:42,440
Speaker 1: to varying degrees. Ernest Tubb's version hit number one on

849
00:47:42,440 --> 00:47:46,520
Speaker 1: Billboard's Country chart, Hugo Winter Halter's version peaked at number

850
00:47:46,600 --> 00:47:49,839
Speaker 1: nine on Billboard's Most Played by Disc Jockey's chart, and

851
00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:53,360
Speaker 1: Russ Morgan's version reached number eleven on Billboard's Best Selling

852
00:47:53,480 --> 00:47:57,000
Speaker 1: Pop Singles, And by nineteen fifty even famed big band

853
00:47:57,080 --> 00:48:01,400
Speaker 1: kruoner Billy Eckstein had turned in a version. But we

854
00:48:01,640 --> 00:48:05,160
Speaker 1: have Ernest Tubb to thank for bringing this song to Elvis.

855
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:09,320
Speaker 1: Ernest Tubb was one of Presley's early country music idols,

856
00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:13,359
Speaker 1: and they even met in Nashville after Elvis's first and

857
00:48:13,600 --> 00:48:16,759
Speaker 1: only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in nineteen fifty four.

858
00:48:16,920 --> 00:48:18,960
Speaker 1: Depending on how steep you are in Elvis Lord, you

859
00:48:19,000 --> 00:48:21,560
Speaker 1: may or may not already know this, but apparently Elvis

860
00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:24,960
Speaker 1: didn't go over well at the opry, and so he

861
00:48:25,080 --> 00:48:30,280
Speaker 1: stumbled out, dejected and walked down to Ernest Tubb's thriving

862
00:48:30,440 --> 00:48:32,680
Speaker 1: record store, which was just a few blocks down on

863
00:48:33,000 --> 00:48:39,480
Speaker 1: Broadway in downtown Nashville. He proceeded to cry and commiserate

864
00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:42,479
Speaker 1: with Tub about his poor opera performance, and then Ernest

865
00:48:42,480 --> 00:48:46,160
Speaker 1: Tubb supposedly told him, Elvis, you just go ahead and

866
00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:49,279
Speaker 1: do what they tell you. Make your money, then you

867
00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:52,160
Speaker 1: can do whatever you want to do. Elvis apparently took

868
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:54,439
Speaker 1: this advice to heart, because fast forward to nineteen fifty

869
00:48:54,480 --> 00:48:58,680
Speaker 1: seven and Elvis is prepping his own Christmas album, which

870
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:01,840
Speaker 1: would end up being in magic and lovely titled Elvis's

871
00:49:01,880 --> 00:49:04,320
Speaker 1: Christmas Album The Man Had Away with Words.

872
00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:09,200
Speaker 2: According to the king's own website, it was a month's

873
00:49:09,360 --> 00:49:12,040
Speaker 2: long battle with RCA to even get him in the

874
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:15,359
Speaker 2: studio to cut anything Christmas themed. He finally went in

875
00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:17,959
Speaker 2: in September. That was the turnaround time we're talking about

876
00:49:18,000 --> 00:49:22,719
Speaker 2: back then, so Accurrding to singer Millie Kirkham, who is

877
00:49:22,800 --> 00:49:26,600
Speaker 2: part of the Jordanaires, Elvis Press's longtime backing vocalist. She

878
00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:30,920
Speaker 2: sings the high soprano part on Blue Christmas, Presley had

879
00:49:30,920 --> 00:49:33,439
Speaker 2: already cut one take and didn't want to do another one,

880
00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:37,359
Speaker 2: and producers were strong arming him into doing another take.

881
00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:41,200
Speaker 2: At the Country Music Hall of Fame in twenty twelve,

882
00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:44,319
Speaker 2: Kirkham said he turned around to us, the musicians and

883
00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:47,840
Speaker 2: the singers, and he said, okay, let's just get this

884
00:49:47,960 --> 00:49:52,280
Speaker 2: over with. Just do anything, have fun, have a good time,

885
00:49:52,880 --> 00:49:57,520
Speaker 2: do something silly. So I started going woo and he

886
00:49:57,640 --> 00:50:00,440
Speaker 2: motioned for me to keep doing it, and Grin did me.

887
00:50:01,360 --> 00:50:02,520
Speaker 2: So I just did it all the way through the

888
00:50:02,560 --> 00:50:05,799
Speaker 2: whole song. When we got through, we all laughed and said, well,

889
00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:09,080
Speaker 2: that's one record the record company will never release. But

890
00:50:09,160 --> 00:50:12,120
Speaker 2: they did, and if I was getting royalties, i'd be

891
00:50:12,160 --> 00:50:13,040
Speaker 2: a rich old woman.

892
00:50:13,280 --> 00:50:17,359
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there's always that bit that's really sad, where

893
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:20,280
Speaker 1: the people who make a key part of the recording

894
00:50:20,440 --> 00:50:22,920
Speaker 1: don't actually get cut into the sales. I will say

895
00:50:22,920 --> 00:50:26,120
Speaker 1: I am the backing vocals on that I like. I

896
00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:30,319
Speaker 1: like the Jordan nerves, but I hate THEO. I just

897
00:50:30,360 --> 00:50:33,040
Speaker 1: don't like it. It's just too busy. I love creepy

898
00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:36,959
Speaker 1: falsetto in Elvis songs. I have all the early ones

899
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:40,040
Speaker 1: that he does for in the Sun, This Blue Moon,

900
00:50:40,200 --> 00:50:44,279
Speaker 1: that's like so quest mister yes, yes, that's very good.

901
00:50:44,360 --> 00:50:47,640
Speaker 1: But Elvis's Christmas Album was actually controversial upon its release.

902
00:50:48,160 --> 00:50:50,680
Speaker 1: The idea of Elvis the Pelvis as he was known

903
00:50:50,680 --> 00:50:54,080
Speaker 1: at the time, recording religious Christmas material like Silent Night

904
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:57,720
Speaker 1: and Old Little Town of Bethlehem did not go over

905
00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:01,440
Speaker 1: well in the Bible Belt. It was interesting because Elvis

906
00:51:01,440 --> 00:51:04,719
Speaker 1: included straight up gospel material on the second side of

907
00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:08,080
Speaker 1: the album with those carols. Now, many people were equally angry.

908
00:51:08,719 --> 00:51:11,200
Speaker 2: But Elvis who grew up singing all of this stuff

909
00:51:11,239 --> 00:51:14,920
Speaker 2: in the Church of God Church of God in Christ. Kojik,

910
00:51:15,000 --> 00:51:16,920
Speaker 2: I think is the acronym for that, because that's what

911
00:51:17,000 --> 00:51:18,439
Speaker 2: Jerry Lee Lewis grew up in as well.

912
00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:20,600
Speaker 1: Church of God in Christ.

913
00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:23,319
Speaker 2: Elvis grew up singing gospel material and he had a

914
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:26,560
Speaker 2: great deal of love for it. His first full gospel

915
00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:29,360
Speaker 2: album would come out in nineteen sixty and his nineteen

916
00:51:29,400 --> 00:51:32,480
Speaker 2: sixty seven version of How Great Thou Art actually won

917
00:51:32,600 --> 00:51:38,279
Speaker 2: him his first Grammy. Anyway, Supposedly, the bigger controversy over

918
00:51:38,320 --> 00:51:41,920
Speaker 2: the Christmas Album was White Christmas, because Elvis patterned his

919
00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:45,040
Speaker 2: version of the song, at least his vocal delivery, after

920
00:51:45,120 --> 00:51:48,640
Speaker 2: a version that was cut by the drifters. The song's writer,

921
00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:54,280
Speaker 2: Grving Berlin, did not cotton to that, because the song

922
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:57,680
Speaker 2: you see was Berlin's sober response to the death of

923
00:51:57,680 --> 00:52:00,520
Speaker 2: his three week old son who passed away and Christmas

924
00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:05,280
Speaker 2: Day in nineteen twenty eight, and understandably Berlin didn't appreciate

925
00:52:05,320 --> 00:52:09,560
Speaker 2: a faster and slightly irreverent take. There's even been a

926
00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:12,920
Speaker 2: rumor that persisted into the nineteen nineties, getting repeated in

927
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:17,040
Speaker 2: a number of Elvis biographies that Berlin, when hearing this song,

928
00:52:17,760 --> 00:52:21,640
Speaker 2: told his staff to start calling radio stations and telling

929
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:24,759
Speaker 2: them not to play it. That has been debunked by

930
00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:29,200
Speaker 2: some grade a Elvis nerves tougher men than myself, But

931
00:52:29,239 --> 00:52:31,560
Speaker 2: you can choose to believe it if you'd like. Whatever

932
00:52:31,600 --> 00:52:34,239
Speaker 2: the case, of course, Elvis laughed all the way to

933
00:52:34,280 --> 00:52:37,800
Speaker 2: the bank. According to the Recording Industry Association of America,

934
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:43,040
Speaker 2: the RIBA Elvis's Christmas Album, along with its subsequent reissues,

935
00:52:43,160 --> 00:52:49,160
Speaker 2: has shipped at least seventeen million Jesus Christ in the

936
00:52:49,320 --> 00:52:53,360
Speaker 2: US of A, making it not only the first Presley

937
00:52:53,400 --> 00:52:57,440
Speaker 2: title to go diamond, but also the best selling Christmas

938
00:52:57,440 --> 00:53:00,799
Speaker 2: album of all time in the United States, and with

939
00:53:01,000 --> 00:53:06,400
Speaker 2: total sales of over twenty million copies worldwide. Elvis's Christmas

940
00:53:06,480 --> 00:53:11,839
Speaker 2: Album remains the world's best selling Christmas album and one

941
00:53:11,840 --> 00:53:15,680
Speaker 2: of the best selling albums period of all time.

942
00:53:18,239 --> 00:53:21,520
Speaker 1: Having said all that, I will say my favorite version

943
00:53:21,560 --> 00:53:24,279
Speaker 1: of Blue Christmas, and you will laugh at me, because

944
00:53:24,320 --> 00:53:27,120
Speaker 1: of course I would say this. Brian Wilson does a

945
00:53:27,320 --> 00:53:30,920
Speaker 1: beautiful version on the Beach Boys Christmas album from nineteen

946
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:35,680
Speaker 1: sixty four, with a great orchestral arrangement by Dick Reynolds

947
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:38,440
Speaker 1: who did all the Four Freshmen orchestral arrangements.

948
00:53:38,440 --> 00:53:40,480
Speaker 2: And I'm going to go to the bathroom, and I

949
00:53:40,520 --> 00:53:43,000
Speaker 2: assume you'll be talking for the entire time, so I'll

950
00:53:43,040 --> 00:53:43,640
Speaker 2: just keep going.

951
00:53:43,719 --> 00:53:45,839
Speaker 1: Oh, there's no way I'm not letting you get out

952
00:53:45,840 --> 00:54:21,080
Speaker 1: of this. Oh what do you know what, folks, He's

953
00:54:21,120 --> 00:54:23,560
Speaker 1: still at it. Or I was gonna let you miss

954
00:54:23,680 --> 00:54:26,800
Speaker 1: a moment of what I'm about to talk about. Hit it, baby.

955
00:54:26,880 --> 00:54:28,640
Speaker 1: You know this is one of my favorites, and my

956
00:54:28,800 --> 00:54:31,160
Speaker 1: favorites I mean a thing that I hate, will never

957
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:34,840
Speaker 1: forgive for being foist upon the world like a plague

958
00:54:35,120 --> 00:54:39,560
Speaker 1: or Cuthulhu esque love crafty and madness. It may very

959
00:54:39,600 --> 00:54:42,759
Speaker 1: well be the most divisive Christmas song Last Christmas is

960
00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:44,480
Speaker 1: kind of up there also, so it is all one

961
00:54:44,480 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 1: for Christmas, as you, although I think most people generally

962
00:54:47,680 --> 00:54:49,360
Speaker 1: like both of those. This one's a real fifty to

963
00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:54,400
Speaker 1: fifty split. I'm talking, of course, about Paul McCartney's Wonderful

964
00:54:54,480 --> 00:55:00,120
Speaker 1: Christmas Time Awful. The Beatles did many things, but they

965
00:55:00,160 --> 00:55:03,560
Speaker 1: never had a Christmas release, at least for the general public.

966
00:55:03,600 --> 00:55:06,880
Speaker 1: The closest they ever came was the half song Christmas

967
00:55:06,880 --> 00:55:09,440
Speaker 1: Time Is Here Again, which was distributed to their fan

968
00:55:09,520 --> 00:55:13,280
Speaker 1: club the A Flexi disc during the nineteen sixty seven holidays.

969
00:55:13,800 --> 00:55:16,640
Speaker 1: That song has a simple, yet catchy arrangement that sounds

970
00:55:16,640 --> 00:55:18,640
Speaker 1: a lot like Hello Goodbye, which happened to be the

971
00:55:18,640 --> 00:55:23,240
Speaker 1: band's most recent single at the time. Sadly, nineteen sixty

972
00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:25,840
Speaker 1: sevens Christmas Time Is Here Again would be their last

973
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:29,360
Speaker 1: annual fan club greeting that they'd record together as a group.

974
00:55:30,200 --> 00:55:32,319
Speaker 1: The final two leading up to the band split would

975
00:55:32,320 --> 00:55:35,040
Speaker 1: be pieced together from clips that they sent individually, so

976
00:55:35,080 --> 00:55:39,560
Speaker 1: you can really trace the band's working relationship through these

977
00:55:40,080 --> 00:55:42,200
Speaker 1: fan club Christmas discs. That's sad.

978
00:55:42,400 --> 00:55:45,120
Speaker 2: I honestly thought they would have recorded something like an

979
00:55:45,160 --> 00:55:46,239
Speaker 2: Elvis album, you know.

980
00:55:46,520 --> 00:55:49,239
Speaker 1: Yeah, No, they never did. There's like some extremely rare

981
00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:50,799
Speaker 1: I forget if it's a bootleg, if it was through

982
00:55:50,800 --> 00:55:53,160
Speaker 1: the fan club that after the Beatles broke up, they

983
00:55:53,239 --> 00:55:56,399
Speaker 1: just assembled all their fan club releases on an LP.

984
00:55:57,080 --> 00:55:59,520
Speaker 1: But yeah, they never did, never did a real Christmas thing,

985
00:55:59,600 --> 00:56:02,120
Speaker 1: but all solo Beatles would release Christmas songs. John and

986
00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:05,279
Speaker 1: Yoko with Happy Christmas, War is Over, George with ding

987
00:56:05,360 --> 00:56:08,839
Speaker 1: Dong Ding Dong, Please tell me about that. I think

988
00:56:08,880 --> 00:56:12,080
Speaker 1: it's more like almost like a New Year's song. Yeah,

989
00:56:12,120 --> 00:56:14,239
Speaker 1: I don't know a lot about it. And Ringo God

990
00:56:14,239 --> 00:56:17,760
Speaker 1: Bless Him released an entire holiday themed LP in nineteen

991
00:56:17,840 --> 00:56:21,560
Speaker 1: ninety nine called I Want to Be Santa Claus. I'm

992
00:56:21,560 --> 00:56:23,360
Speaker 1: assuming he did that in nineteen ninety nine because he

993
00:56:23,400 --> 00:56:24,920
Speaker 1: was worried about Y two K. I thought it was

994
00:56:24,920 --> 00:56:26,880
Speaker 1: his last chance to do a full Christmas comp them.

995
00:56:27,000 --> 00:56:29,400
Speaker 1: I've only got one statement left to make to the world.

996
00:56:30,680 --> 00:56:34,879
Speaker 1: That remains the only Beatles related Christmas album that exists.

997
00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:37,799
Speaker 1: But none of these hold a candbell, both in terms

998
00:56:37,800 --> 00:56:41,879
Speaker 1: of popularity and vitriol to Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time.

999
00:56:42,320 --> 00:56:44,600
Speaker 1: He wrote it in nineteen seventy nine at a time

1000
00:56:44,640 --> 00:56:47,200
Speaker 1: when there was a growing appetite for modern Christmas songs

1001
00:56:47,239 --> 00:56:50,640
Speaker 1: on UKR waves. Johnny Mathis scored his first number one

1002
00:56:50,680 --> 00:56:53,439
Speaker 1: hit with When a Child Is Born in nineteen seventy six.

1003
00:56:53,480 --> 00:56:56,200
Speaker 1: In the UK, Bowie and Bing made waves with their

1004
00:56:56,239 --> 00:57:00,520
Speaker 1: televis Christmas duet in nineteen seventy seven. And Mary's Boy Child,

1005
00:57:00,680 --> 00:57:03,759
Speaker 1: Oh My Lord was a number one for bony M

1006
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:07,279
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy eight. It actually didn't really come through.

1007
00:57:07,280 --> 00:57:11,480
Speaker 1: Could you take that line again? And Mary's Boy Child,

1008
00:57:11,640 --> 00:57:14,560
Speaker 1: Oh my Lord was a number one hit for bony

1009
00:57:14,800 --> 00:57:17,840
Speaker 1: M in nineteen seventy eight. Great, thank you. I think

1010
00:57:17,880 --> 00:57:21,520
Speaker 1: that's the one. Let me go again. We'll go again.

1011
00:57:22,120 --> 00:57:23,720
Speaker 2: Are you want you want me to do it as

1012
00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:25,560
Speaker 2: Johnny Cash. I've been working on my Johnny Cash.

1013
00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:31,760
Speaker 1: Yeah. Please. And Mary's Boy Child, Oh my Lord was

1014
00:57:31,800 --> 00:57:37,600
Speaker 1: a number one for BONYM in nineteen seventy eight. You've

1015
00:57:37,640 --> 00:57:39,840
Speaker 1: really refined that since we did it for Gladiator.

1016
00:57:40,160 --> 00:57:42,600
Speaker 2: You gotta get the tremolo in there, like he's he's

1017
00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:48,520
Speaker 2: like really actually broken up about bony M. Sorry, our

1018
00:57:49,520 --> 00:57:52,440
Speaker 2: Westminster clock is going. I love continue to know.

1019
00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:55,600
Speaker 1: I love that. So McCartney put it in on this

1020
00:57:55,720 --> 00:57:58,560
Speaker 1: Holiday Bonanza in the late seventies, both because he's a

1021
00:57:58,560 --> 00:58:02,000
Speaker 1: man of tradition, but also because he was becoming hip

1022
00:58:02,040 --> 00:58:04,840
Speaker 1: to music publishing around this time. This is when he

1023
00:58:04,880 --> 00:58:08,560
Speaker 1: started buying up full song catalogs by people like Buddy Holly,

1024
00:58:09,160 --> 00:58:11,920
Speaker 1: and he recognized that he hit Christmas Song as a reliable,

1025
00:58:11,960 --> 00:58:16,840
Speaker 1: annual income, stream capitalist prick. He hasn't spoken openly about this,

1026
00:58:17,000 --> 00:58:19,600
Speaker 1: but I find it telling that he released Wonderful Christmas

1027
00:58:19,600 --> 00:58:23,240
Speaker 1: Time as his first solo single in almost eight years

1028
00:58:23,280 --> 00:58:24,959
Speaker 1: when he was in the middle of his Wings run.

1029
00:58:25,120 --> 00:58:31,200
Speaker 1: So McCartney composed the song himself during what he'd remember

1030
00:58:31,240 --> 00:58:34,520
Speaker 1: as a quote boiling hot day in July. And this

1031
00:58:34,640 --> 00:58:37,680
Speaker 1: boiling hot day was so ridiculous that for some reason

1032
00:58:37,880 --> 00:58:41,040
Speaker 1: I thought of Christmas. I thought it'd be just ridiculous

1033
00:58:41,040 --> 00:58:43,160
Speaker 1: to write a Christmas song while it's this hot, and

1034
00:58:43,200 --> 00:58:45,760
Speaker 1: it was. So I sat in the room and made

1035
00:58:45,840 --> 00:58:48,160
Speaker 1: up a Christmas y backing track and wrote the song

1036
00:58:48,240 --> 00:58:51,000
Speaker 1: all around it. And it was just ironic sitting there

1037
00:58:51,080 --> 00:58:56,320
Speaker 1: going he he he, This isn't Christmas. It's a boiling

1038
00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:59,240
Speaker 1: hot July day. What a rebel. And that's how I

1039
00:58:59,280 --> 00:59:02,440
Speaker 1: did that one. This is all going on the transcript

1040
00:59:02,440 --> 00:59:07,600
Speaker 1: when we put him up against the wall helter skelter. Oh,

1041
00:59:07,640 --> 00:59:09,320
Speaker 1: I guess that has some bad things to it too.

1042
00:59:09,840 --> 00:59:11,880
Speaker 1: What are you eating? Is that? Is that a strup

1043
00:59:11,960 --> 00:59:14,640
Speaker 1: waffl or is that a giant host? They don't let

1044
00:59:14,680 --> 00:59:17,480
Speaker 1: you take host in bowl? Comb from baptism I tried.

1045
00:59:18,640 --> 00:59:22,880
Speaker 1: It's a pretty good butterscotch. That's my favorite cookie, butter

1046
00:59:22,960 --> 00:59:26,120
Speaker 1: scott scotchies. Hell yeah, yeah, man, good stuff.

1047
00:59:26,200 --> 00:59:28,920
Speaker 2: Oh man, TMI listeners, if you want to tweet at

1048
00:59:28,960 --> 00:59:32,120
Speaker 2: us later with what you're eating while you're listening to this,

1049
00:59:32,680 --> 00:59:35,920
Speaker 2: I will respond to Jordan. We both love snacks and cookies.

1050
00:59:36,080 --> 00:59:39,919
Speaker 2: I'm eating cherry hearts right now. Oh nice, man. They're

1051
00:59:40,200 --> 00:59:41,800
Speaker 2: cherry brandy or just like.

1052
00:59:42,160 --> 00:59:44,760
Speaker 1: No, they're like big jelly beans, but the shape like hearts,

1053
00:59:44,800 --> 00:59:47,560
Speaker 1: and they all different like some cherry call up black

1054
00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:50,400
Speaker 1: cherry wild cherry. Is that a Boston thing? I don't know.

1055
00:59:50,440 --> 00:59:52,720
Speaker 1: I don't think I know those. No, they're they're hard

1056
00:59:52,720 --> 00:59:54,720
Speaker 1: to find. I just like randomly will find them at

1057
00:59:54,720 --> 00:59:58,000
Speaker 1: different candy stores. Far yeah, no, I really go save

1058
00:59:58,080 --> 01:00:01,760
Speaker 1: some some strandos from my chic Iago, my Chicago family.

1059
01:00:02,000 --> 01:00:06,680
Speaker 1: Cis Franco mints. It's a mint, nothing more nothing less.

1060
01:00:07,840 --> 01:00:07,960
Speaker 3: Uh.

1061
01:00:08,160 --> 01:00:10,720
Speaker 1: Paul wrote the lyrics the Wonderful Christmas Time and do

1062
01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:15,320
Speaker 1: you want to guess ten minutes? Yep, that's correct. The

1063
01:00:15,360 --> 01:00:20,000
Speaker 1: party's on, the spirit's up, we're here tonight, and you

1064
01:00:20,080 --> 01:00:23,480
Speaker 1: know that's enough. Dude. You got to punch in that

1065
01:00:23,520 --> 01:00:27,000
Speaker 1: guy's TikTok oh. Yeah, the guy who does the John

1066
01:00:27,040 --> 01:00:29,280
Speaker 1: Lennon song, and then the Paul song. Yes, I will

1067
01:00:29,280 --> 01:00:31,000
Speaker 1: do that every Christmas.

1068
01:00:31,600 --> 01:00:35,160
Speaker 2: People that die and go for yourself, and then the

1069
01:00:35,160 --> 01:00:38,720
Speaker 2: Paul mcgardney one's It's Christmas Time break Out, the one

1070
01:00:39,080 --> 01:00:40,920
Speaker 2: Uncle Jimson's favorite jumper.

1071
01:00:42,160 --> 01:00:43,960
Speaker 1: Yes. Much has been said of the fact that John

1072
01:00:44,040 --> 01:00:46,800
Speaker 1: Lennon's entry into the Christmas canon doubled as a poignant

1073
01:00:46,840 --> 01:00:51,560
Speaker 1: anti war anthem, whereas Paul's was about having a wonderful

1074
01:00:51,880 --> 01:00:56,880
Speaker 1: Christmas time. Paul would say, to me, Christmas is mainly

1075
01:00:56,920 --> 01:00:59,800
Speaker 1: all the parties and the good humor everyone gets into

1076
01:01:00,000 --> 01:01:02,920
Speaker 1: suddenly for those few days a year. The song's just

1077
01:01:03,040 --> 01:01:06,680
Speaker 1: basically about the mood is right, the spirit's up, We're

1078
01:01:06,720 --> 01:01:10,480
Speaker 1: here tonight, and that's enough. It's very simple. It's ironic

1079
01:01:10,520 --> 01:01:15,040
Speaker 1: that he gave a more poetic set of lyrics in

1080
01:01:15,040 --> 01:01:17,600
Speaker 1: that interview question that he did in that whole song.

1081
01:01:17,920 --> 01:01:21,840
Speaker 2: Yes, I hate this song, man, it's so annoying. Was

1082
01:01:21,880 --> 01:01:25,520
Speaker 2: he like hanging out with? I mean like Stevie Wonder

1083
01:01:25,560 --> 01:01:28,920
Speaker 2: who other synth like guys? Is just some of the

1084
01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:31,880
Speaker 2: worst sounds I've ever heard keyboards make. Maybe it will

1085
01:01:31,880 --> 01:01:33,040
Speaker 2: be answered in the suck sect.

1086
01:01:33,120 --> 01:01:36,520
Speaker 1: Kay. Sorry? Sorry, So now at least I know you

1087
01:01:36,600 --> 01:01:38,960
Speaker 1: hate the song, but we get to talk about synths.

1088
01:01:39,800 --> 01:01:43,920
Speaker 1: That's true, I know, Okay. So Paul recorded Wonderful Christmas

1089
01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:47,040
Speaker 1: Time on August thirtieth, nineteen seventy nine, at his home studio,

1090
01:01:47,120 --> 01:01:50,720
Speaker 1: which he'd recently decked out with synthesizers. Many of the

1091
01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:52,920
Speaker 1: recordings he made during this era would surface on his

1092
01:01:53,000 --> 01:01:56,640
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty solo album McCartney two, on which he played

1093
01:01:56,680 --> 01:02:00,840
Speaker 1: all the instruments, which were mostly synths himself. This was

1094
01:02:01,240 --> 01:02:04,560
Speaker 1: less an attempt at recording a bedroom pop album and

1095
01:02:04,680 --> 01:02:07,720
Speaker 1: more just him screwing around with his new electronic toys.

1096
01:02:08,080 --> 01:02:11,240
Speaker 1: There's a viral anti Wonderful Christmas Time tweet that says,

1097
01:02:11,400 --> 01:02:14,120
Speaker 1: a Wonderful Christmas Time, Sir Paul McCartney set out to

1098
01:02:14,120 --> 01:02:16,760
Speaker 1: make a timeless Christmas classic and also to figure out

1099
01:02:16,760 --> 01:02:19,440
Speaker 1: what all the buttons on his synthesizer did and he

1100
01:02:19,520 --> 01:02:24,120
Speaker 1: absolutely succeeded in one of those. And that's kind of

1101
01:02:24,200 --> 01:02:28,640
Speaker 1: not far from the truth. This sounds uncharitable, but one

1102
01:02:28,640 --> 01:02:31,640
Speaker 1: of the tracks from this era is called check my Machine,

1103
01:02:32,440 --> 01:03:00,560
Speaker 1: and it's literally just him checking his machine. Yeah, that tracks. Yeah.

1104
01:03:00,600 --> 01:03:02,560
Speaker 1: The synth in question that he was using was called

1105
01:03:02,600 --> 01:03:06,440
Speaker 1: a Sequential Circuits Prophet five, which was later used on

1106
01:03:06,560 --> 01:03:09,680
Speaker 1: Kim Carn's Betty Davis Eyes. Hallo notes, I can't go

1107
01:03:09,840 --> 01:03:12,520
Speaker 1: for that and the Doobie Brothers what a fool believes?

1108
01:03:13,040 --> 01:03:17,240
Speaker 1: Profit five is a pretty legendary synth. Gotta say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

1109
01:03:17,320 --> 01:03:20,160
Speaker 1: I think there's also a Yamaha CS eighty on there too.

1110
01:03:20,520 --> 01:03:22,520
Speaker 1: I don't know much about that. Does that mean anything

1111
01:03:22,560 --> 01:03:22,760
Speaker 1: to you?

1112
01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:27,919
Speaker 2: Well, some of those late seventies Yamahas have a lot

1113
01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:29,959
Speaker 2: of good sounds in them before they were getting into

1114
01:03:30,000 --> 01:03:33,240
Speaker 2: the I mean he was basically competitor for the Prophet

1115
01:03:33,360 --> 01:03:35,160
Speaker 2: five and the Oberheim.

1116
01:03:34,720 --> 01:03:37,439
Speaker 1: OBX, Yes, which we talked.

1117
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:42,560
Speaker 2: Vangelis was a big proponent of the of the Yamaha

1118
01:03:42,920 --> 01:03:45,480
Speaker 2: and that's what a lot of Blade Runner soundtrack is

1119
01:03:45,520 --> 01:03:46,200
Speaker 2: composed with.

1120
01:03:46,400 --> 01:03:49,600
Speaker 1: We will be talking about Vangelis later as wal as

1121
01:03:49,680 --> 01:03:53,920
Speaker 1: Chariots of Fire. So if it's a favorite of vangelicis Baby,

1122
01:03:54,160 --> 01:03:56,800
Speaker 1: it's good enough for me. Paul not only wrote one

1123
01:03:56,880 --> 01:03:59,720
Speaker 1: for Christmas time himself, but he also produced it himself

1124
01:04:00,120 --> 01:04:04,320
Speaker 1: and played all the instruments himself. And his description of

1125
01:04:04,360 --> 01:04:07,800
Speaker 1: the process sounds like a Dana Carvey impression. Would you

1126
01:04:07,840 --> 01:04:10,640
Speaker 1: like to read this next session in your best Paul

1127
01:04:12,000 --> 01:04:14,800
Speaker 1: got to get into a character. I'm a millionaire plunky punky.

1128
01:04:15,320 --> 01:04:18,280
Speaker 2: I'm a villionairem plinky plunky, and I'm also setting out

1129
01:04:18,320 --> 01:04:21,400
Speaker 2: in my mission to acquire most of the world's written music.

1130
01:04:22,800 --> 01:04:25,760
Speaker 2: I'm driving a tugboat. I immediately got out and got

1131
01:04:25,760 --> 01:04:28,360
Speaker 2: the sleigh bells and went ching ching ching on them,

1132
01:04:28,480 --> 01:04:30,840
Speaker 2: and I worked it all up from then, just got

1133
01:04:30,880 --> 01:04:33,120
Speaker 2: things that suggested Christmasy sounds to me.

1134
01:04:33,960 --> 01:04:38,000
Speaker 1: Who that was very good, by the way. That's him

1135
01:04:38,000 --> 01:04:44,160
Speaker 1: on keyboard, synths, bass, guitar, drums, percussion, and even the

1136
01:04:44,200 --> 01:04:47,240
Speaker 1: so called choir of children singing their song. It's just

1137
01:04:47,360 --> 01:04:50,200
Speaker 1: him double tracked singing falsetto I guess I prefer that

1138
01:04:50,280 --> 01:04:53,600
Speaker 1: to actual children. You'll laugh at this. It's sixteen tracks,

1139
01:04:53,720 --> 01:04:56,920
Speaker 1: he felt. Sixteen tracks. Yeah, that's what people do recording

1140
01:04:56,960 --> 01:05:01,680
Speaker 1: at home. Oh. Though none of the other members of

1141
01:05:01,720 --> 01:05:04,880
Speaker 1: Wings appeared on the song, they all they all feature

1142
01:05:04,960 --> 01:05:07,440
Speaker 1: in the music video, which was filmed at the Fountain

1143
01:05:07,520 --> 01:05:12,600
Speaker 1: Inn in Ashhurst, West Sussex, not far from his house.

1144
01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:14,760
Speaker 1: Maybe some of our English friends will go and check

1145
01:05:14,800 --> 01:05:17,439
Speaker 1: it out. Probably not, they have better things. Ye don't

1146
01:05:17,480 --> 01:05:21,560
Speaker 1: do that. Yeah, McCartney recalled the NM in twenty twelve.

1147
01:05:21,880 --> 01:05:23,880
Speaker 1: We went out to some pub somewhere and so that

1148
01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:25,840
Speaker 1: was a laugh. We just run out of the PubL

1149
01:05:25,840 --> 01:05:28,600
Speaker 1: occasionally filmed a bit and then went back into the pub.

1150
01:05:28,800 --> 01:05:31,560
Speaker 1: So that was quite a nice evening. How does he

1151
01:05:31,680 --> 01:05:39,760
Speaker 1: even make that sound so unappealing and awkward, Like he's

1152
01:05:39,800 --> 01:05:43,200
Speaker 1: just a normal guy. This is no, he's just normal Laddin,

1153
01:05:44,000 --> 01:05:49,040
Speaker 1: just normal men, which is innocent men run out of

1154
01:05:49,040 --> 01:05:51,439
Speaker 1: the PubL occasionally filmed it. You know. He's a great

1155
01:05:51,480 --> 01:05:55,120
Speaker 1: little band. He's got a great little band, just normal men.

1156
01:05:56,560 --> 01:05:59,800
Speaker 1: The video was directed by Russell mulcahey, who also directed

1157
01:05:59,800 --> 01:06:02,680
Speaker 1: the first ever music video to air on MTV in

1158
01:06:02,760 --> 01:06:06,720
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, video Killed the Radio Star by the Buggles.

1159
01:06:07,080 --> 01:06:10,440
Speaker 1: Great Song, Great Song, Great Song, Wonderful Christmas Time was

1160
01:06:10,480 --> 01:06:13,920
Speaker 1: released in November nineteen seventy nine, and it was McCartney's

1161
01:06:13,920 --> 01:06:16,680
Speaker 1: first solo singles I mentioned earlier since Eat It Home

1162
01:06:16,960 --> 01:06:20,560
Speaker 1: more than eight years earlier. It missed out on being

1163
01:06:20,600 --> 01:06:23,520
Speaker 1: the Christmas number one in the UK. Pink Floyd's Another

1164
01:06:23,560 --> 01:06:26,800
Speaker 1: Brick in the Wall had that honor, which is hell hilarious,

1165
01:06:27,440 --> 01:06:29,680
Speaker 1: but it would peak at number six the very first

1166
01:06:29,680 --> 01:06:33,960
Speaker 1: week in January nineteen eighty. It sort of flopped in

1167
01:06:33,960 --> 01:06:36,200
Speaker 1: the US. It missed out on the Billboard Hot one

1168
01:06:36,320 --> 01:06:39,600
Speaker 1: hundred entirely. It didn't crack the Hot one hundred until

1169
01:06:39,640 --> 01:06:45,040
Speaker 1: December twenty eighteen, making it to forty seven. To date,

1170
01:06:45,120 --> 01:06:47,919
Speaker 1: its highest chart appearance in the US is number twenty

1171
01:06:48,000 --> 01:06:51,000
Speaker 1: six on the Hot one hundred as of last January.

1172
01:06:51,520 --> 01:06:54,200
Speaker 2: Folks, if you care about America, don't play this song.

1173
01:06:54,320 --> 01:06:57,600
Speaker 2: We got to keep it way out. Don't do it.

1174
01:06:57,720 --> 01:06:59,960
Speaker 2: Just don't play this song. If you are like a maga,

1175
01:07:00,560 --> 01:07:03,680
Speaker 2: do it because you hate Britain. If you're anybody else,

1176
01:07:03,720 --> 01:07:08,080
Speaker 2: do it because song. Don't let this song gets number one.

1177
01:07:08,560 --> 01:07:13,200
Speaker 2: I'm begging you, there's a last bit of like patriotism

1178
01:07:13,280 --> 01:07:16,720
Speaker 2: I have left in my old rotted bones. If this

1179
01:07:16,800 --> 01:07:18,880
Speaker 2: song gets number one in the US, I don't know

1180
01:07:18,880 --> 01:07:24,640
Speaker 2: what I'll do. I'll find out where it lives and

1181
01:07:24,680 --> 01:07:32,640
Speaker 2: I'll pull Luigi, I swear, don't put that in, just

1182
01:07:32,760 --> 01:07:35,080
Speaker 2: beep all that out and then just say and I

1183
01:07:35,160 --> 01:07:36,160
Speaker 2: know that that'll.

1184
01:07:35,960 --> 01:07:39,240
Speaker 1: Get me rested. Man, these butterscotch who he's are growing

1185
01:07:39,400 --> 01:07:55,120
Speaker 1: right to my head. All I'll say is I'm not

1186
01:07:55,160 --> 01:08:00,200
Speaker 1: going to leave a body for them to find. Good

1187
01:08:00,280 --> 01:08:08,600
Speaker 1: luck pinning something on me and pigs. McCartney has played

1188
01:08:08,640 --> 01:08:16,560
Speaker 1: Wonderful Christmas Time and concert occasionally over the years, initially

1189
01:08:16,640 --> 01:08:19,000
Speaker 1: during Wings First tour in the fall of nineteen seventy

1190
01:08:19,040 --> 01:08:22,040
Speaker 1: nine and most recently in December twenty twenty four at

1191
01:08:22,040 --> 01:08:24,040
Speaker 1: the end of his Got Back tour in the UK.

1192
01:08:24,840 --> 01:08:26,840
Speaker 1: Wonderful Christmas Time has been covered by the likes of

1193
01:08:26,880 --> 01:08:31,040
Speaker 1: Diana Ross, Harry Styles, Hillary Duff, Tom McCrae, Bare Naked Ladies,

1194
01:08:31,160 --> 01:08:35,160
Speaker 1: Demi Levado, Kelly Rowland, the Shins their version, Whips Actually,

1195
01:08:35,520 --> 01:08:39,599
Speaker 1: and Dog Dog Dog Dogged. Every one of these bands

1196
01:08:39,600 --> 01:08:42,559
Speaker 1: covering this song have more self respect, even the Shins,

1197
01:08:42,920 --> 01:08:49,559
Speaker 1: Yeah Straight, No Chaser, the Monkeys and Jam Flame and

1198
01:08:49,640 --> 01:08:52,080
Speaker 1: half the cast of the West Wing. You saved that

1199
01:08:52,200 --> 01:08:54,920
Speaker 1: last like it was supposed to be impressive. Impressive is

1200
01:08:54,960 --> 01:08:58,439
Speaker 1: not the word I would use, surprising. Every single one

1201
01:08:58,479 --> 01:09:03,320
Speaker 1: of these people suck, including royalties from comber versions. It

1202
01:09:03,400 --> 01:09:06,000
Speaker 1: was estimated in twenty ten that McCartney makes four hundred

1203
01:09:06,000 --> 01:09:09,920
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year from the song Polly for Him,

1204
01:09:10,160 --> 01:09:13,760
Speaker 1: which puts its cubulative earnings as of twenty ten at

1205
01:09:13,880 --> 01:09:17,519
Speaker 1: least at over fifteen million. So let's see so with

1206
01:09:17,640 --> 01:09:23,840
Speaker 1: another don't do this, don't over twenty million? Then okay,

1207
01:09:23,880 --> 01:09:27,160
Speaker 1: now the quiet part loud. People really hate this song,

1208
01:09:28,439 --> 01:09:31,640
Speaker 1: even Sir Paul apparently doesn't love it, despite its reputation

1209
01:09:31,800 --> 01:09:35,439
Speaker 1: as a cash cow. Beatles author Robert Rodriguez has said

1210
01:09:35,479 --> 01:09:37,759
Speaker 1: of the song, love it or hate it, Few songs

1211
01:09:37,760 --> 01:09:42,160
Speaker 1: within the McCartney ouvre have provoked such strong reactions. A

1212
01:09:42,200 --> 01:09:45,360
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four piece on mental Flaws by Kenneth Partridge

1213
01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:48,840
Speaker 1: attempts to answer precisely why this is by speaking to

1214
01:09:49,000 --> 01:09:53,240
Speaker 1: you by speaking to a musicologist and performer named Nate Sloane,

1215
01:09:53,640 --> 01:09:56,080
Speaker 1: host of the podcast Switched on Pop. But before we

1216
01:09:56,120 --> 01:09:58,400
Speaker 1: go to Nate Sloane, Heigel tell us why the song

1217
01:09:58,439 --> 01:10:01,200
Speaker 1: provokes such hatred and people. It is simplistic. It has

1218
01:10:01,280 --> 01:10:07,519
Speaker 1: the simplistic structure and rhyme scheme and hooks of a

1219
01:10:07,640 --> 01:10:10,880
Speaker 1: child's song. You know, Paul McCartney is impressive because he

1220
01:10:10,920 --> 01:10:15,440
Speaker 1: has this tremendous range, songs like let It Be Golden Slumbers.

1221
01:10:15,479 --> 01:10:18,519
Speaker 1: He has this incredible ability to go from the very

1222
01:10:18,800 --> 01:10:21,479
Speaker 1: bottom of his range, like a deep chest voice, up

1223
01:10:21,520 --> 01:10:24,440
Speaker 1: into his head voice and do these big, soaring melodies.

1224
01:10:25,040 --> 01:10:28,000
Speaker 1: And this song is just so squarely like in like,

1225
01:10:29,080 --> 01:10:39,920
Speaker 1: it sounds like Pokemon music. It sounds like it sounds

1226
01:10:39,920 --> 01:10:42,519
Speaker 1: like a it sounds like you're in hell and you

1227
01:10:42,560 --> 01:10:45,879
Speaker 1: were a gambler in life, and you are forever.

1228
01:10:46,320 --> 01:10:50,680
Speaker 2: You're just forever, one inch away from being able to

1229
01:10:50,720 --> 01:10:54,240
Speaker 2: pull a slot machine lever. That's what it's the music for,

1230
01:10:54,479 --> 01:10:57,840
Speaker 2: like somebody being poetically tortured in one of the Dante's hells.

1231
01:10:59,560 --> 01:11:01,479
Speaker 2: And I know you sent me like you were like, well,

1232
01:11:01,479 --> 01:11:03,280
Speaker 2: you have to admit it's a lot of chords, and.

1233
01:11:03,240 --> 01:11:04,160
Speaker 1: I was, really I was.

1234
01:11:04,200 --> 01:11:06,240
Speaker 2: I was willing to engage with it because I went,

1235
01:11:06,439 --> 01:11:08,080
Speaker 2: I went it and looked at for the chords of it,

1236
01:11:08,840 --> 01:11:09,559
Speaker 2: and you're wrong.

1237
01:11:09,800 --> 01:11:10,960
Speaker 1: It's not a lot of chords.

1238
01:11:11,479 --> 01:11:14,800
Speaker 2: It's a lot of pedal bass movement, just f sharp

1239
01:11:14,840 --> 01:11:18,520
Speaker 2: C sharp F sharp C sharp descending chord progression.

1240
01:11:19,360 --> 01:11:24,360
Speaker 1: Uh, it sucks, it sucks, It sucks, it sucks. Iigel,

1241
01:11:24,920 --> 01:11:28,400
Speaker 1: it's my birthday. Give me this? Is it your actual

1242
01:11:28,400 --> 01:11:34,880
Speaker 1: birthday tonight? It sucks? Birthday for an air? Oh man,

1243
01:11:36,760 --> 01:11:38,360
Speaker 1: is this where you're catching your coins in on?

1244
01:11:38,640 --> 01:11:38,920
Speaker 3: Yes?

1245
01:11:39,080 --> 01:11:42,960
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, Well it's great. It's got a really catchy melody.

1246
01:11:43,840 --> 01:11:46,360
Speaker 2: I have to say that the combination of synth voices

1247
01:11:46,400 --> 01:11:49,040
Speaker 2: that are on there are really ahead of his time.

1248
01:11:49,080 --> 01:11:51,160
Speaker 2: I mean, if you think about where sinths were at

1249
01:11:51,200 --> 01:11:56,719
Speaker 2: the time, people like Stevie Wonder don't have to do this, No, no,

1250
01:11:56,960 --> 01:12:01,040
Speaker 2: let me do it. Stevie Wonder, you know John Carpenter

1251
01:12:01,080 --> 01:12:02,240
Speaker 2: and the Halloween soundtrames.

1252
01:12:02,280 --> 01:12:03,200
Speaker 1: I've been right around now.

1253
01:12:03,200 --> 01:12:06,840
Speaker 2: So Paul's actually is pushing the form forward with the

1254
01:12:07,160 --> 01:12:11,960
Speaker 2: synthius on this stuff. And then he's really also inventing

1255
01:12:12,000 --> 01:12:17,519
Speaker 2: a kind of basement in diy altern wale of music. Yeah,

1256
01:12:17,560 --> 01:12:22,639
Speaker 2: it's positively chill wave, my man. And you know what,

1257
01:12:22,640 --> 01:12:26,680
Speaker 2: what's more pure I'll say this, what's more pure and

1258
01:12:26,880 --> 01:12:31,400
Speaker 2: paul like than Christmas? That is true with a rigidly

1259
01:12:32,479 --> 01:12:38,160
Speaker 2: rictus grin sense of joy and a kind of fascistically

1260
01:12:39,720 --> 01:12:45,200
Speaker 2: enforced general cheer. Yeah, what's more like Paul McCartney than

1261
01:12:45,640 --> 01:12:48,439
Speaker 2: being forced to have a good time by one of

1262
01:12:48,439 --> 01:12:49,559
Speaker 2: the richest men in the world.

1263
01:12:50,800 --> 01:12:55,000
Speaker 1: You will have a good time or I'll kill you.

1264
01:12:55,120 --> 01:13:00,200
Speaker 1: Do you want to be black bagged into Ganton? Where

1265
01:13:00,280 --> 01:13:02,000
Speaker 1: all of your reasons for hating the song are pretty

1266
01:13:02,080 --> 01:13:04,840
Speaker 1: much the same ones that are cited by musicologist Nate Sloan.

1267
01:13:05,479 --> 01:13:12,760
Speaker 1: Now I'm musicologist. I've been drinking scotch. He blames repetition

1268
01:13:13,040 --> 01:13:15,639
Speaker 1: first off, saying that Wonderful Christmas Time is quote simple

1269
01:13:15,640 --> 01:13:18,439
Speaker 1: to a fault as it consists solely of verse and

1270
01:13:18,560 --> 01:13:21,360
Speaker 1: chorus sections. He says, it moves through the verse section

1271
01:13:21,439 --> 01:13:24,000
Speaker 1: of the song faster than a sleigh with no breaks.

1272
01:13:24,320 --> 01:13:26,960
Speaker 1: Before you know it. That's enough and we're off to

1273
01:13:27,000 --> 01:13:30,679
Speaker 1: the titular chorus. The only variation comes with the bridge section.

1274
01:13:31,120 --> 01:13:34,320
Speaker 1: The choir of children sing their song? Is their song

1275
01:13:34,640 --> 01:13:38,679
Speaker 1: ding dong? Or are bells ringing simultaneously? Either way, it's

1276
01:13:38,720 --> 01:13:41,800
Speaker 1: not the most inventive passage. He goes on to note

1277
01:13:41,800 --> 01:13:44,120
Speaker 1: that over the course of the song, the title phrase

1278
01:13:44,200 --> 01:13:49,040
Speaker 1: is uttered a deeply grading seventeen times. In broader terms,

1279
01:13:49,160 --> 01:13:52,519
Speaker 1: he also makes mention of the inconsequential lyrics, contrasting them

1280
01:13:52,560 --> 01:13:55,679
Speaker 1: with those of his former writing partner. While Lennon's song

1281
01:13:55,840 --> 01:13:58,080
Speaker 1: wanted you to probe your inner depths and puts the

1282
01:13:58,080 --> 01:14:01,760
Speaker 1: onus of world peace on you, McCartney opts to go

1283
01:14:01,800 --> 01:14:05,840
Speaker 1: with we're here tonight and just's that's enough.

1284
01:14:06,360 --> 01:14:10,160
Speaker 2: Well, you know, in the spirit of Jordan's birthday, you

1285
01:14:10,200 --> 01:14:14,519
Speaker 2: could connect pop Buddhist philosopher Alan Watson's theory of be

1286
01:14:14,680 --> 01:14:17,920
Speaker 2: here now, oh rom DAWs or rom Das or I

1287
01:14:17,920 --> 01:14:19,800
Speaker 2: don't know, I'm reaching here. I don't believe in any

1288
01:14:19,800 --> 01:14:23,080
Speaker 2: of those guys, but be here now. You know, We're

1289
01:14:23,080 --> 01:14:28,680
Speaker 2: here tonight and that's enough. It's a way of appreciating

1290
01:14:29,479 --> 01:14:34,720
Speaker 2: the present and being fully engaged with a moment with

1291
01:14:34,840 --> 01:14:36,160
Speaker 2: the ones who are around you.

1292
01:14:36,479 --> 01:14:39,160
Speaker 1: Which at Christmas time tends to be loved ones in

1293
01:14:39,200 --> 01:14:42,880
Speaker 1: the family. Yeah, you know, Paul McCartney was a truly

1294
01:14:42,960 --> 01:14:49,240
Speaker 1: a truly a philosopher. Now this is interesting to me.

1295
01:14:49,320 --> 01:14:51,800
Speaker 1: Nate Sloan also cites the sense that we were talking

1296
01:14:51,800 --> 01:14:54,280
Speaker 1: about earlier as of reason that many people disliked this song.

1297
01:14:54,360 --> 01:14:59,400
Speaker 1: He said, usually the Timbrel palette leans towards the acoustic

1298
01:14:59,760 --> 01:15:04,280
Speaker 1: and by extension nostalgic sounds of real instruments. When you

1299
01:15:04,400 --> 01:15:07,839
Speaker 1: encounter synthesizers in a Christmas song, as in Last Christmas

1300
01:15:07,840 --> 01:15:11,400
Speaker 1: by Wayam, they tend to be lush, sustained paths that

1301
01:15:11,520 --> 01:15:15,639
Speaker 1: lended almost orchestral sensibility to the track on Wonderful Christmas Time,

1302
01:15:15,960 --> 01:15:20,280
Speaker 1: the prophet five by contrast istaccato, harsh and tinny. It's

1303
01:15:20,320 --> 01:15:22,720
Speaker 1: a bold choice by McCartney and a testament to his

1304
01:15:22,800 --> 01:15:26,519
Speaker 1: experimentation with that instrument that would soon become an industry standard,

1305
01:15:26,720 --> 01:15:28,679
Speaker 1: but was less than a year old at that point

1306
01:15:28,680 --> 01:15:32,040
Speaker 1: when he recorded Wonderful Christmas Time. Well, despite all this,

1307
01:15:32,640 --> 01:15:35,679
Speaker 1: Nate Sloan also details things that make the song great,

1308
01:15:35,720 --> 01:15:38,479
Speaker 1: at least in his opinion. In this case, it's a

1309
01:15:38,479 --> 01:15:40,800
Speaker 1: lot of stuff that people hate about it. The things

1310
01:15:40,800 --> 01:15:42,920
Speaker 1: that make it annoying to some people make it distinct

1311
01:15:43,000 --> 01:15:45,960
Speaker 1: and even refreshing to others. He says, In the increasingly

1312
01:15:46,040 --> 01:15:49,639
Speaker 1: rigid and annual rotation of holiday songs, Wonderful Christmas Time

1313
01:15:49,680 --> 01:15:52,879
Speaker 1: stands out for its tambrel palette and eventive chord structure,

1314
01:15:52,920 --> 01:15:55,519
Speaker 1: and for that reason I find it a welcome relief

1315
01:15:55,560 --> 01:15:59,320
Speaker 1: from the familiar strains of Mariah and Bing. He also

1316
01:15:59,400 --> 01:16:02,520
Speaker 1: notes that though the melody and structure are simple, McCartney's

1317
01:16:02,520 --> 01:16:07,280
Speaker 1: harmonic patterns are quote diabolically complex. Those chords are deep

1318
01:16:07,320 --> 01:16:10,679
Speaker 1: and jazzy, drawing on the rich, drawing on the rich

1319
01:16:10,760 --> 01:16:14,120
Speaker 1: harmonic vocabulary of the nineteen forties and fifties pop music,

1320
01:16:14,560 --> 01:16:18,240
Speaker 1: when most of the current holiday canon was composed. Yeah,

1321
01:16:18,439 --> 01:16:21,800
Speaker 1: that's uh, that's generous. I actually do like some of

1322
01:16:21,840 --> 01:16:22,320
Speaker 1: the chords.

1323
01:16:22,560 --> 01:16:24,679
Speaker 2: The whole thing is mood is right, the spirit's bright,

1324
01:16:24,720 --> 01:16:27,120
Speaker 2: we're here tonight, and that's enough. That's actually all based

1325
01:16:27,160 --> 01:16:29,800
Speaker 2: around a descending a major scale because it goes a

1326
01:16:29,920 --> 01:16:33,800
Speaker 2: major seven A six U E with an A in

1327
01:16:33,840 --> 01:16:36,240
Speaker 2: the base, so that's got a hole, just a pedal tone.

1328
01:16:36,240 --> 01:16:41,720
Speaker 2: That's quite nice, simply having you know, that's fine. What

1329
01:16:41,800 --> 01:16:44,120
Speaker 2: I like about it, though, I think what the guy's

1330
01:16:44,160 --> 01:16:48,160
Speaker 2: talking about here in the analysis is the choir of

1331
01:16:48,240 --> 01:16:52,320
Speaker 2: children singing their song. That section is just a straight

1332
01:16:52,600 --> 01:16:56,919
Speaker 2: one two five, which is two to five chord progression

1333
01:16:56,960 --> 01:17:00,960
Speaker 2: is minor two five major or five dominant, is like

1334
01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:04,360
Speaker 2: one of the most common chord progressions in jazz. But yeah,

1335
01:17:04,400 --> 01:17:06,400
Speaker 2: I like it. A seven to a six has a

1336
01:17:06,479 --> 01:17:10,559
Speaker 2: nice kind of leading tone. Because a seven implies a

1337
01:17:10,600 --> 01:17:13,880
Speaker 2: G natural at the top of an A major chord,

1338
01:17:14,360 --> 01:17:17,680
Speaker 2: A sixth would then go down to F sharp A.

1339
01:17:18,360 --> 01:17:20,320
Speaker 2: If you're just doing a tria, the top of an

1340
01:17:20,360 --> 01:17:24,120
Speaker 2: A triad voice is e and then A with a

1341
01:17:24,160 --> 01:17:27,000
Speaker 2: C sharp in the bass. That's the ding dong ding part.

1342
01:17:27,360 --> 01:17:30,480
Speaker 2: So that's actually a quite nice kind of descending baseline

1343
01:17:30,479 --> 01:17:33,599
Speaker 2: that within the context never changing from an A chord,

1344
01:17:34,000 --> 01:17:37,960
Speaker 2: but it goes from G F sharp E to C sharp.

1345
01:17:38,439 --> 01:17:42,680
Speaker 2: That's kind of a nice traveling little baseline that the

1346
01:17:42,800 --> 01:17:45,639
Speaker 2: simply having is just as a two five three six.

1347
01:17:46,240 --> 01:17:50,520
Speaker 2: Congratulations you've discovered Rogers and Hammerstein's chord changes.

1348
01:17:50,800 --> 01:17:57,200
Speaker 1: Two five, three six four flat seven one. Yeah. Well,

1349
01:17:57,240 --> 01:18:00,519
Speaker 1: in other words, in ten minutes, Paul McCart craft that

1350
01:18:00,560 --> 01:18:03,840
Speaker 1: an innovative yet lasting holiday song that makes half a

1351
01:18:03,880 --> 01:18:11,120
Speaker 1: million dollars a year. Yeah, you sure did so. Suck it,

1352
01:18:13,320 --> 01:18:16,519
Speaker 1: as you wrote also in his twenty twelve piece for

1353
01:18:16,600 --> 01:18:19,559
Speaker 1: Vice called three Reasons why Paul McCartney's Wonderful Crystal Time

1354
01:18:19,600 --> 01:18:23,080
Speaker 1: is way better than you think it is. Writer Andrew Winnisterever,

1355
01:18:23,800 --> 01:18:26,080
Speaker 1: I think that's how you say that, proclaims the track

1356
01:18:26,479 --> 01:18:29,800
Speaker 1: quote the original and by far best chill wave song.

1357
01:18:30,320 --> 01:18:32,680
Speaker 1: Chill Wave as we have someone to accept it is

1358
01:18:32,720 --> 01:18:36,240
Speaker 1: a genre heavy on analog since a dose of detached

1359
01:18:36,280 --> 01:18:39,439
Speaker 1: irony and lyrics that are nostalgic to the point of treacle.

1360
01:18:40,000 --> 01:18:43,640
Speaker 1: Is this not how you describe wonderful Christmas Time? Is

1361
01:18:43,680 --> 01:18:46,280
Speaker 1: this not your king a guy?

1362
01:18:46,960 --> 01:18:49,679
Speaker 2: That guy was paid ninety dollars and he still hasn't

1363
01:18:49,720 --> 01:18:51,520
Speaker 2: been paid for it for that editorial.

1364
01:18:53,479 --> 01:18:56,439
Speaker 1: That is not the weirdest or dumbest fan theory concerning

1365
01:18:56,479 --> 01:19:00,519
Speaker 1: this song. I'm referring, of course, to Ryan george viral

1366
01:19:00,560 --> 01:19:03,720
Speaker 1: tweet from twenty nineteen that posits that Wonderful Christmas Time

1367
01:19:04,160 --> 01:19:08,160
Speaker 1: is about quote friends practicing witchcraft, but then someone walks

1368
01:19:08,240 --> 01:19:11,960
Speaker 1: in and they suddenly have to play it cool. He

1369
01:19:12,080 --> 01:19:15,439
Speaker 1: cites the opening verse, the moon is right, the spirit's up,

1370
01:19:15,640 --> 01:19:18,839
Speaker 1: we're here tonight and that's enough, and then a stranger

1371
01:19:18,960 --> 01:19:23,840
Speaker 1: enters their mists and suddenly it's simply havy lot. You've

1372
01:19:23,880 --> 01:19:28,280
Speaker 1: ever heard that? It's pretty good, It's great. Amazingly, this

1373
01:19:28,360 --> 01:19:31,679
Speaker 1: theory made it all the way to Macca himself, who

1374
01:19:31,760 --> 01:19:33,439
Speaker 1: was asked about it for a Q and A on

1375
01:19:33,479 --> 01:19:37,960
Speaker 1: his official website. Paul says, oh yeah, well, thank goodness

1376
01:19:38,000 --> 01:19:40,960
Speaker 1: they found me out. This is either completely true and

1377
01:19:41,000 --> 01:19:43,120
Speaker 1: in actual fact I am the head wizard of a

1378
01:19:43,120 --> 01:19:47,840
Speaker 1: Liverpool coven. Either that or it's completely nonsense, and you

1379
01:19:47,920 --> 01:19:51,320
Speaker 1: know it's the latter. Oh my god, I hate him

1380
01:19:51,560 --> 01:19:54,800
Speaker 1: so much. The interviewer continues. This theory may have come

1381
01:19:54,800 --> 01:19:57,080
Speaker 1: from people mishearing the lyrics. Could you confirm if the

1382
01:19:57,160 --> 01:20:00,360
Speaker 1: lyric is the moon is right or the mood is right. No,

1383
01:20:00,600 --> 01:20:04,439
Speaker 1: it's the mood, he says. I'm thinking about Liverpool Christmas parties.

1384
01:20:04,479 --> 01:20:06,840
Speaker 1: That's really all I'm doing with the song. The mood

1385
01:20:06,920 --> 01:20:09,920
Speaker 1: is right, Let's raise a glass, the spirit's up. You know,

1386
01:20:10,120 --> 01:20:12,559
Speaker 1: all the stuff you do at Christmas, particularly with my

1387
01:20:12,600 --> 01:20:19,800
Speaker 1: old Liverpool family parties. This is interesting to me. During

1388
01:20:19,840 --> 01:20:22,200
Speaker 1: this interview, he talked about a Christmas album that he

1389
01:20:22,240 --> 01:20:25,880
Speaker 1: recorded to play for his family around the holidays. He spentally,

1390
01:20:25,920 --> 01:20:27,800
Speaker 1: did a few times over the years, and it's grown

1391
01:20:27,840 --> 01:20:32,599
Speaker 1: to somewhat mystical mythical proportions in Paul McCartney fandom circles.

1392
01:20:32,680 --> 01:20:34,800
Speaker 1: Oh has it? Yes, he said, when the kids were little,

1393
01:20:34,840 --> 01:20:37,519
Speaker 1: I suddenly thought there wasn't an ideal Christmas record. In

1394
01:20:37,560 --> 01:20:40,680
Speaker 1: my opinion, there are some great Christmas records like the

1395
01:20:40,720 --> 01:20:43,320
Speaker 1: Phil Spector one, the Nat King Cole one, and Bing

1396
01:20:43,400 --> 01:20:46,040
Speaker 1: Crosby on the old standards. But I just wanted an

1397
01:20:46,040 --> 01:20:48,839
Speaker 1: instrumental of all the tunes, so I ended up recording

1398
01:20:48,840 --> 01:20:51,639
Speaker 1: one for the family and my studio and my engineer

1399
01:20:51,680 --> 01:20:54,080
Speaker 1: at the time, Eddie Klein, helped me. I now have

1400
01:20:54,200 --> 01:20:56,120
Speaker 1: this album I pull out every year and it's a

1401
01:20:56,120 --> 01:20:57,840
Speaker 1: bit of fun for the kids when we're carving the

1402
01:20:57,920 --> 01:21:01,800
Speaker 1: veggie roast. I'll stick it on and means I'll stick

1403
01:21:01,840 --> 01:21:04,360
Speaker 1: it on and it means Christmas this here. It's quite

1404
01:21:04,360 --> 01:21:07,160
Speaker 1: a cute little record actually, but it's just for the family,

1405
01:21:07,280 --> 01:21:12,479
Speaker 1: and he's repeatedly denied any kind of requests to release it. Uh,

1406
01:21:12,520 --> 01:21:15,160
Speaker 1: making a holiday album as a gift is a typical

1407
01:21:15,200 --> 01:21:18,640
Speaker 1: Paul thing to do for Christmas. Nineteen sixty five, he

1408
01:21:18,720 --> 01:21:21,920
Speaker 1: presented the other Beatles with a homemade Acetate record, which

1409
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:25,880
Speaker 1: is basically a primitive mixtape produced just for them, consisting

1410
01:21:25,880 --> 01:21:29,439
Speaker 1: of sampled songs, original sketches, and avant garde tape loops.

1411
01:21:29,520 --> 01:21:32,599
Speaker 1: I would kill myself if I were George Harrison and

1412
01:21:32,640 --> 01:21:35,479
Speaker 1: Paul McCartney and John Lennon had been keeping all my

1413
01:21:35,640 --> 01:21:40,360
Speaker 1: great songs off all these Beetle records. I've been sitting

1414
01:21:40,400 --> 01:21:42,640
Speaker 1: on Here Comes the Sun for this whole time, and

1415
01:21:43,520 --> 01:21:47,840
Speaker 1: you give me a Chris Mix mixtape you in prick.

1416
01:21:48,760 --> 01:21:52,160
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it would have been on site. I

1417
01:21:52,200 --> 01:21:54,040
Speaker 1: said I'd be nice to Jordan, and I am. But

1418
01:21:54,160 --> 01:21:58,760
Speaker 1: thet the image of a pleased his punch. That's the

1419
01:21:58,800 --> 01:22:00,840
Speaker 1: only that's a funny turn of phrase, because that's the

1420
01:22:00,880 --> 01:22:04,960
Speaker 1: only way paulm and McCartney could ever be. It's o'clock again,

1421
01:22:05,360 --> 01:22:10,960
Speaker 1: you guys. I lo Jordan. No, seriously, everyone, I don't

1422
01:22:11,000 --> 01:22:13,280
Speaker 1: know if you guys know that Jordan actually edits this

1423
01:22:13,280 --> 01:22:13,960
Speaker 1: thing himself.

1424
01:22:15,560 --> 01:22:19,200
Speaker 2: You know, your various dog podcasts like how did this

1425
01:22:19,280 --> 01:22:21,439
Speaker 2: get made? They just put mics on those guys and

1426
01:22:21,479 --> 01:22:25,639
Speaker 2: let them ramble. Jordan makes us both sound so much

1427
01:22:25,680 --> 01:22:30,160
Speaker 2: funnier than we are with his ending skills. And you know,

1428
01:22:30,200 --> 01:22:32,680
Speaker 2: we gripe a lot about how long the writing for

1429
01:22:32,720 --> 01:22:36,280
Speaker 2: this show takes, and it does, and the tapings and

1430
01:22:36,400 --> 01:22:36,840
Speaker 2: they do.

1431
01:22:37,320 --> 01:22:39,120
Speaker 1: But then Jordan has to go through and make all

1432
01:22:39,200 --> 01:22:42,040
Speaker 1: these thousands of micro cuts. Jordan, what's your record for

1433
01:22:42,280 --> 01:22:45,719
Speaker 1: cuts in a TMI episode? Oh? Wow, I mean any

1434
01:22:45,880 --> 01:22:49,920
Speaker 1: one minute. There are probably between six and ten cuts.

1435
01:22:50,600 --> 01:22:53,479
Speaker 2: And that's not just because of the slurs that I drop.

1436
01:22:54,960 --> 01:22:58,439
Speaker 2: I've got a lightning number of opinions that would get

1437
01:22:58,479 --> 01:23:01,920
Speaker 2: me killed or blackbat in normal society.

1438
01:23:02,200 --> 01:23:06,960
Speaker 1: It's your birthday, buddy, keep going. Paul would describe this

1439
01:23:07,040 --> 01:23:10,680
Speaker 1: mixtape as quote something crazy, something left field, just for

1440
01:23:10,720 --> 01:23:13,479
Speaker 1: the other Beatles, a fun thing which they could play

1441
01:23:13,560 --> 01:23:14,479
Speaker 1: late in the evening.

1442
01:23:14,960 --> 01:23:18,080
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, if somebody did that to me, who had

1443
01:23:18,080 --> 01:23:22,880
Speaker 2: been keeping my beautiful songs off the records, and I

1444
01:23:23,000 --> 01:23:24,840
Speaker 2: turned in a song called tax Man and then he

1445
01:23:24,880 --> 01:23:28,360
Speaker 2: plays the guitar solo on my song, and then he

1446
01:23:28,400 --> 01:23:32,200
Speaker 2: gave me a Christmas album of his own dumb voice,

1447
01:23:32,520 --> 01:23:33,240
Speaker 2: I'd kill him.

1448
01:23:33,360 --> 01:23:36,080
Speaker 1: I also think that this year, maybe I'm wrong, that

1449
01:23:36,120 --> 01:23:40,400
Speaker 1: the other Beatles like gave each other like Cardier watches,

1450
01:23:40,640 --> 01:23:45,559
Speaker 1: and I was gonna say, actual of actual worth. He

1451
01:23:45,680 --> 01:23:49,479
Speaker 1: made it, that's the thought. Yeah, his feelings, Yeah, the

1452
01:23:49,600 --> 01:23:52,080
Speaker 1: little feelings. We were gonna hang it right up there

1453
01:23:52,120 --> 01:23:55,400
Speaker 1: on the ridge, everyone can see it. Yeah, thanks, Paul.

1454
01:23:56,360 --> 01:23:58,960
Speaker 1: I wrote about this for Rolling Stone a number of

1455
01:23:59,040 --> 01:24:02,040
Speaker 1: years ago because for it's interesting to me because for decades,

1456
01:24:02,080 --> 01:24:04,919
Speaker 1: all that was known about this recording were sketchy details

1457
01:24:04,920 --> 01:24:08,760
Speaker 1: provided by McCartney himself. He said the tape was called Unforgettable,

1458
01:24:08,800 --> 01:24:12,120
Speaker 1: and it started with Nat King Cole singing Unforgettable. Then

1459
01:24:12,160 --> 01:24:16,520
Speaker 1: I came in over the top as the announcer. Ah, yes, unforgettable,

1460
01:24:16,560 --> 01:24:19,200
Speaker 1: that's what you are. And today and unforgettable. It was

1461
01:24:19,200 --> 01:24:23,120
Speaker 1: like a magazine program full of weird interviews, experimental music,

1462
01:24:23,240 --> 01:24:25,599
Speaker 1: tape loops, some tracks I knew the others hadn't heard.

1463
01:24:25,880 --> 01:24:29,639
Speaker 1: It was just a compilation of odd things like Nat

1464
01:24:29,720 --> 01:24:33,760
Speaker 1: King Cole Unforgettable. Okay. An eighteen minute section of the

1465
01:24:33,800 --> 01:24:38,640
Speaker 1: tape surface in twenty seventeen, featuring an inventive selection of

1466
01:24:38,680 --> 01:24:41,360
Speaker 1: songs by the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, Martha and

1467
01:24:41,360 --> 01:24:45,880
Speaker 1: the Vandellas you know, odd artists like that, with McCartney

1468
01:24:45,880 --> 01:24:48,639
Speaker 1: assuming the role of a fast talking New York DJ,

1469
01:24:48,920 --> 01:24:52,080
Speaker 1: perhaps a nod to the so called fifth Beatle Murray

1470
01:24:52,120 --> 01:25:00,439
Speaker 1: the kay.

1471
01:24:57,560 --> 01:25:00,880
Speaker 3: Okay, okay, that was the Beach Boys get around right,

1472
01:25:01,360 --> 01:25:04,720
Speaker 3: and now to take this stand we movevving now to

1473
01:25:04,840 --> 01:25:07,400
Speaker 3: Martha and the Man Dallace, the Monitor Van Dallas sing

1474
01:25:07,439 --> 01:25:09,120
Speaker 3: a little song called heat Weave.

1475
01:25:09,320 --> 01:25:10,439
Speaker 1: How about it? Mother?

1476
01:25:10,720 --> 01:25:11,479
Speaker 3: How about it?

1477
01:25:20,479 --> 01:25:23,160
Speaker 1: Though the Beatles' latest album, Rubbert Soul, had only been

1478
01:25:23,200 --> 01:25:25,840
Speaker 1: released a few weeks prior to Christmas nineteen sixty five,

1479
01:25:26,080 --> 01:25:29,200
Speaker 1: McCartney's Gifts was likely intended to point the band towards

1480
01:25:29,280 --> 01:25:32,640
Speaker 1: new musical horizons for their next work. It was a

1481
01:25:32,640 --> 01:25:36,560
Speaker 1: peculiar overall sound. George Harrison once said of this mixtape,

1482
01:25:36,760 --> 01:25:39,519
Speaker 1: John Ringo and I played it and realized Paul was

1483
01:25:39,560 --> 01:25:42,439
Speaker 1: onto something new. Paul has done a lot in making

1484
01:25:42,520 --> 01:25:45,360
Speaker 1: us realize there are a lot of electronic sounds to investigate.

1485
01:25:46,080 --> 01:25:48,439
Speaker 1: When they reconvened in the studio the following April to

1486
01:25:48,479 --> 01:25:51,080
Speaker 1: begin sessions for what would become the album Revolver, my

1487
01:25:51,120 --> 01:25:53,760
Speaker 1: favorite album of all time, the first song they worked

1488
01:25:53,760 --> 01:25:56,240
Speaker 1: on was Tomorrow Never Knows, which was built on a

1489
01:25:56,280 --> 01:26:00,599
Speaker 1: bed of McCartney's tape loops. So the spoofy Little's Gift

1490
01:26:01,000 --> 01:26:04,160
Speaker 1: actually kind of has a very important place in the Beatles'

1491
01:26:04,160 --> 01:26:08,840
Speaker 1: creative arc. Do you just want to talk about Trans

1492
01:26:08,880 --> 01:26:12,160
Speaker 1: Siberian Orchestra? Oh? I sure do, Bud, Oh bring it on.

1493
01:26:12,760 --> 01:26:16,400
Speaker 1: What do you think about Trans Siberian Orchestra? It's kind

1494
01:26:16,400 --> 01:26:20,280
Speaker 1: of funny to me. It's so so over the top,

1495
01:26:20,560 --> 01:26:22,840
Speaker 1: and so will love that in the sense of like,

1496
01:26:22,960 --> 01:26:28,280
Speaker 1: let's put on a show. Yeah, Yeah, No, that's true.

1497
01:26:28,920 --> 01:26:32,000
Speaker 1: It's just it's so dramatic that it's like it almost

1498
01:26:32,080 --> 01:26:38,160
Speaker 1: makes me laugh, like winning it's great. It's like meat

1499
01:26:38,160 --> 01:26:40,960
Speaker 1: Loaf should be singing over it. Oh my god, I

1500
01:26:40,960 --> 01:26:44,960
Speaker 1: can't believe he's dead really of COVID stuff. Oh yeah,

1501
01:26:45,200 --> 01:26:46,439
Speaker 1: I thought it would have been a lot of other

1502
01:26:46,520 --> 01:26:48,760
Speaker 1: things on a much longer list that would have gotten

1503
01:26:48,800 --> 01:26:51,360
Speaker 1: them first. No, wasn't he like an anti vaxxer. Wasn't

1504
01:26:51,360 --> 01:26:52,760
Speaker 1: that the whole thing? I believe? So?

1505
01:26:53,280 --> 01:26:56,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, because he should have. He should have sung for TSO,

1506
01:26:56,560 --> 01:26:58,479
Speaker 2: as the fans call it. You know, I don't know

1507
01:26:58,520 --> 01:27:02,040
Speaker 2: if you're I don't know if you're a fan Jordan,

1508
01:27:02,240 --> 01:27:06,439
Speaker 2: but we call it TSO. The most important thing about

1509
01:27:06,479 --> 01:27:08,639
Speaker 2: TSO is that they began as a hair metal band

1510
01:27:08,680 --> 01:27:10,840
Speaker 2: from Florida called Sabotage.

1511
01:27:11,360 --> 01:27:14,880
Speaker 1: They're not from Siberia. It's like sabotage, but they're savages.

1512
01:27:15,680 --> 01:27:19,320
Speaker 1: That's actually pretty good sabotage and regretta believe I don't

1513
01:27:19,360 --> 01:27:22,599
Speaker 1: have time to trace their entire prog metal, prog hair

1514
01:27:22,920 --> 01:27:25,519
Speaker 1: I guess I would determine them as through the eighties

1515
01:27:25,520 --> 01:27:29,599
Speaker 1: getting into tours bands like Armored Saint, some of their kind.

1516
01:27:29,479 --> 01:27:33,519
Speaker 2: Of almost hits and so forth. The really important thing

1517
01:27:33,560 --> 01:27:37,160
Speaker 2: about Sabotage is that they had a guy named Paul

1518
01:27:37,280 --> 01:27:41,479
Speaker 2: O'Neill as one of their songwriters and lyricists. Paul was

1519
01:27:41,520 --> 01:27:43,240
Speaker 2: a bit of a jack of all trades in the eighties.

1520
01:27:43,280 --> 01:27:49,320
Speaker 2: He managed and produced bands including Aerosmith, Humble Pie, Ac DC,

1521
01:27:49,720 --> 01:27:56,040
Speaker 2: Joan Jet and Scorpions. O'Neill and Sabotage actually originally recorded

1522
01:27:56,040 --> 01:28:01,280
Speaker 2: a song called Christmas Eve Sarajevo twelve twenty four. As

1523
01:28:01,320 --> 01:28:04,280
Speaker 2: you might recall it being its formal title, it's the

1524
01:28:04,280 --> 01:28:07,559
Speaker 2: one that has Carol of the Bells in it. They

1525
01:28:07,680 --> 01:28:10,439
Speaker 2: recorded that as part of a concept album Dead Winter

1526
01:28:10,640 --> 01:28:14,719
Speaker 2: Dead in nineteen ninety five, which was based entirely around

1527
01:28:14,760 --> 01:28:18,439
Speaker 2: the concept of having a story from the perspectives of

1528
01:28:18,479 --> 01:28:22,719
Speaker 2: a young Serbian boy, a Bosnian girl, and an old man,

1529
01:28:23,320 --> 01:28:26,280
Speaker 2: all set during the Bosnian War, which was going on

1530
01:28:26,320 --> 01:28:29,679
Speaker 2: at that time. This was the kind of high falutint

1531
01:28:29,680 --> 01:28:32,439
Speaker 2: programming that would probably get you kicked out of any

1532
01:28:32,439 --> 01:28:36,600
Speaker 2: self respecting artistic board of a major opera or symphony,

1533
01:28:36,680 --> 01:28:41,400
Speaker 2: but you know, not rock and roll baby. Christmas Eve

1534
01:28:41,640 --> 01:28:45,719
Speaker 2: Sarajevo twelve twenty four is an instrumental medley of various

1535
01:28:45,720 --> 01:28:48,080
Speaker 2: carols in the public domain, starting with God Resty married

1536
01:28:48,160 --> 01:28:56,479
Speaker 2: Gentleman and Shedrick, which is an eighteen something hundreds German melody.

1537
01:28:56,640 --> 01:28:58,680
Speaker 2: It's the Carol of the Bells thing, that's what it's

1538
01:28:58,680 --> 01:29:02,959
Speaker 2: called here in Carol the Bells Jesus Christ their concept

1539
01:29:03,000 --> 01:29:06,559
Speaker 2: album as part of the plot that this melody was

1540
01:29:06,600 --> 01:29:10,280
Speaker 2: played by a lone cello player in war torn Sarajevo.

1541
01:29:10,840 --> 01:29:13,920
Speaker 2: Now Paul O'Neil kind of based this on the real

1542
01:29:14,000 --> 01:29:17,960
Speaker 2: life story of a celli's named Vedrin Smelovich, who is

1543
01:29:18,040 --> 01:29:24,880
Speaker 2: thirty six years old. During the bombing of Sarajevo, Smelovich

1544
01:29:25,600 --> 01:29:30,280
Speaker 2: embarked on a twenty two day visual of playing Remo

1545
01:29:30,439 --> 01:29:34,360
Speaker 2: Gizato's Adagio and g minor every single day among the

1546
01:29:34,439 --> 01:29:38,559
Speaker 2: bombed ruins of Sarajevo in honor of each person killed

1547
01:29:38,600 --> 01:29:44,720
Speaker 2: in the bombing. So yeah, tso, this bombastic song has

1548
01:29:44,920 --> 01:29:49,080
Speaker 2: somewhat real life roots in the tragedy of war in

1549
01:29:49,120 --> 01:29:52,760
Speaker 2: Eastern Europe. Now, this song was not actually offered as

1550
01:29:52,760 --> 01:29:55,600
Speaker 2: a single, but it ended up becoming something of a

1551
01:29:55,640 --> 01:29:59,479
Speaker 2: life raft for Sabotage because DJ started requesting it once

1552
01:29:59,520 --> 01:30:02,439
Speaker 2: it had been played once, people said I want to

1553
01:30:02,479 --> 01:30:07,759
Speaker 2: hear that Christmas one again. And Atlantic Records was actually

1554
01:30:07,840 --> 01:30:11,479
Speaker 2: terminating Sabotage's contract, but they were offering Paul O'Neil an

1555
01:30:11,479 --> 01:30:16,000
Speaker 2: opportunity to launch his own band. So Paul O'Neal took

1556
01:30:16,000 --> 01:30:20,040
Speaker 2: this opportunity to simply dissolve Sabotage, or at least put

1557
01:30:20,080 --> 01:30:22,799
Speaker 2: them on the back burner and create trans ps Ibeian

1558
01:30:23,000 --> 01:30:26,760
Speaker 2: Orchestra in their stead, and they got to work on

1559
01:30:26,760 --> 01:30:30,680
Speaker 2: their nineteen ninety six debut album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories.

1560
01:30:32,640 --> 01:30:38,080
Speaker 2: O'Neil once told Christianity Today, I've always been fascinated by Christmas.

1561
01:30:38,680 --> 01:30:40,840
Speaker 2: When we were really, really young, my friends and I

1562
01:30:40,880 --> 01:30:43,080
Speaker 2: were walking home in New York City on Christmas Eve

1563
01:30:43,520 --> 01:30:47,200
Speaker 2: when suddenly we heard the slamming of breaks. We turned

1564
01:30:47,240 --> 01:30:50,120
Speaker 2: around just in time to see two yellow cabs sliding

1565
01:30:50,120 --> 01:30:52,719
Speaker 2: into each other. The two drivers got out of their cars.

1566
01:30:53,120 --> 01:30:55,680
Speaker 2: One looked like a longshoreman, the other looked like he

1567
01:30:55,800 --> 01:30:58,160
Speaker 2: just got off the boat from a foreign country. My

1568
01:30:58,200 --> 01:31:00,080
Speaker 2: friends and I were kind of nervous, thinking that there

1569
01:31:00,080 --> 01:31:02,439
Speaker 2: would be a fight any other day of the year.

1570
01:31:03,040 --> 01:31:04,960
Speaker 1: It would have been War War three with blood on

1571
01:31:05,000 --> 01:31:08,880
Speaker 1: the street. Especially in New York City instead, the first

1572
01:31:08,920 --> 01:31:11,960
Speaker 1: guy says, this is completely my fault. Let me pay

1573
01:31:12,000 --> 01:31:12,280
Speaker 1: for it.

1574
01:31:12,840 --> 01:31:15,120
Speaker 2: The other guy responds, no, this is something I could

1575
01:31:15,160 --> 01:31:17,840
Speaker 2: have gotten into in a parking lot. Next thing you know,

1576
01:31:18,080 --> 01:31:22,559
Speaker 2: they're looking at pictures of each other's kids, talking and joking. So,

1577
01:31:22,600 --> 01:31:24,679
Speaker 2: at a really young age, I learned there was something

1578
01:31:24,760 --> 01:31:28,639
Speaker 2: about this day that makes people more compassionate. So, born

1579
01:31:28,720 --> 01:31:31,800
Speaker 2: from a young Paul O'Neil's experience of a Christmas vender

1580
01:31:31,880 --> 01:31:36,519
Speaker 2: bender between two New York cab drivers and a real

1581
01:31:36,600 --> 01:31:39,160
Speaker 2: story of a cellist going out to play a lonesome

1582
01:31:39,400 --> 01:31:43,479
Speaker 2: midnight concert for all of the dead in Sarajevo was

1583
01:31:43,560 --> 01:31:48,759
Speaker 2: born this strange, surprising pop hit from the Trans Siberian Orchestra,

1584
01:31:48,880 --> 01:31:51,800
Speaker 2: and since then the band has blossomed into one of

1585
01:31:51,800 --> 01:31:56,639
Speaker 2: the most beloved touring holiday institutions of all time. They

1586
01:31:56,640 --> 01:31:59,839
Speaker 2: have a full string section, occasionally blossoming into a full orchestra,

1587
01:32:00,560 --> 01:32:04,599
Speaker 2: a rock band with over twenty members, multiple vocalists, an

1588
01:32:04,600 --> 01:32:09,120
Speaker 2: off stage narrator, pyrotechnics, a laser light show, and snowfall.

1589
01:32:09,400 --> 01:32:13,160
Speaker 2: This is a really heartwarming detail. Trans Siberian Orchestra doesn't

1590
01:32:13,200 --> 01:32:17,759
Speaker 2: sell tickets for seats that have blocked sitelines. They simply

1591
01:32:17,840 --> 01:32:21,400
Speaker 2: don't allow their fans the opportunity to purchase bad seats.

1592
01:32:21,760 --> 01:32:26,200
Speaker 2: Bow Past concerts from TSO have featured guest vocals from

1593
01:32:26,280 --> 01:32:31,080
Speaker 2: Roger Daltrey of The Who, Paul Rogers of Free, Greg Lake,

1594
01:32:31,840 --> 01:32:37,680
Speaker 2: John Anderson of Yes, upwards of two hundred singers, and

1595
01:32:37,760 --> 01:32:43,320
Speaker 2: again the aforementioned light show and pyrotechnics. And I couldn't

1596
01:32:43,320 --> 01:32:45,960
Speaker 2: find very much about the recording of this. I was

1597
01:32:46,000 --> 01:32:49,760
Speaker 2: just sort of blown away by the fact that out

1598
01:32:49,800 --> 01:32:54,400
Speaker 2: of Paul O'Neill's love of Christmas and a parlor interest

1599
01:32:54,439 --> 01:32:58,120
Speaker 2: in what was happening in the Serbian Bosnia conflict at

1600
01:32:58,120 --> 01:33:00,680
Speaker 2: the time, that launched the a of one of the

1601
01:33:00,680 --> 01:33:06,040
Speaker 2: most cheesy and but let it be said, successful holiday

1602
01:33:06,080 --> 01:33:08,840
Speaker 2: bands of all time. And I just love the idea

1603
01:33:08,840 --> 01:33:11,960
Speaker 2: that they took Carol of the Bells and made it

1604
01:33:12,000 --> 01:33:15,160
Speaker 2: super metal. Yeah, this has been fresh air with Terry

1605
01:33:15,160 --> 01:33:19,320
Speaker 2: Gross signing off. Oh no, we got a lot more stuff.

1606
01:33:21,479 --> 01:33:23,439
Speaker 1: We're going to take a quick break, but we'll be

1607
01:33:23,520 --> 01:33:26,360
Speaker 1: right back with more. Too much information in just a moment.

1608
01:33:39,680 --> 01:33:44,160
Speaker 1: Precious little eleven year old Brenda Lee. That's quite a transition, Jordan,

1609
01:33:44,200 --> 01:33:46,679
Speaker 1: what do you think about Brenda Lee. You know, she's

1610
01:33:46,720 --> 01:33:48,839
Speaker 1: got a cool voice, she's got a cool style.

1611
01:33:49,479 --> 01:33:52,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's weird that she was that young, right,

1612
01:33:53,360 --> 01:33:56,720
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, extremely yeah, yeah cool. So Rocking Around the

1613
01:33:56,760 --> 01:33:58,840
Speaker 2: Christmas Tree was written by another guy who we have

1614
01:33:59,000 --> 01:34:01,280
Speaker 2: mentioned on TMI before, Johnny.

1615
01:34:00,920 --> 01:34:06,360
Speaker 1: Marx, who wrote Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Marx also

1616
01:34:06,600 --> 01:34:09,240
Speaker 1: did we cover this in this episode. Marx earned a

1617
01:34:09,240 --> 01:34:12,559
Speaker 1: Bronze Star and four Battle Stars as an Army captain

1618
01:34:12,640 --> 01:34:16,240
Speaker 1: in the twenty sixth Special Service Company during World War Two.

1619
01:34:17,600 --> 01:34:20,400
Speaker 1: We did the fucking Diane Warren of Christmas music. He

1620
01:34:20,439 --> 01:34:24,559
Speaker 1: also wrote a Holly Jolly Christmas recorded by the Quinto

1621
01:34:24,720 --> 01:34:28,040
Speaker 1: Sisters and later Burl Hives, Silver and Gold for Burl

1622
01:34:28,120 --> 01:34:31,920
Speaker 1: Hives and I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, which

1623
01:34:31,920 --> 01:34:34,680
Speaker 1: is a hit for Bing Crosby. That's wid well.

1624
01:34:34,680 --> 01:34:38,439
Speaker 2: He apparently sent Rocking Around the Christmas Teach to Brenda

1625
01:34:38,520 --> 01:34:43,320
Speaker 2: Lee sight unseen in a twenty nineteen interview with The Tennessee,

1626
01:34:43,400 --> 01:34:45,840
Speaker 2: and Lee recalled that she had no knowledge as to

1627
01:34:45,840 --> 01:34:49,320
Speaker 2: why Marx wanted her specifically to sing it. I was

1628
01:34:49,360 --> 01:34:52,760
Speaker 2: only twelve, she said, incorrect, and I had not a

1629
01:34:52,760 --> 01:34:55,120
Speaker 2: lot of success in records, but for some reason he

1630
01:34:55,120 --> 01:34:57,439
Speaker 2: heard me and wanted to do it. And I did,

1631
01:34:58,080 --> 01:35:02,160
Speaker 2: and I did, and I did and I did. I

1632
01:35:02,200 --> 01:35:05,720
Speaker 2: gave your arrange there. The players who cut Rocking around

1633
01:35:05,760 --> 01:35:10,000
Speaker 2: the Christmas Tree were a real murderers of Nashville session guys.

1634
01:35:10,400 --> 01:35:13,839
Speaker 2: He had guitarist Hank Garland, who cut a million selling

1635
01:35:13,920 --> 01:35:17,400
Speaker 2: hit on his own called Sugarfoot Rag when he was sixteen,

1636
01:35:18,400 --> 01:35:21,000
Speaker 2: and he worked with Elvis from fifty eight to sixty one,

1637
01:35:21,240 --> 01:35:23,639
Speaker 2: and then from that gig he went on to record

1638
01:35:23,720 --> 01:35:28,040
Speaker 2: with jazz heavy hitters like George Shearing, architect of bebop,

1639
01:35:28,200 --> 01:35:33,920
Speaker 2: Charlie Parker, and vibraphone virtuoso Gary Burton. He also had

1640
01:35:33,920 --> 01:35:37,960
Speaker 2: guitarist Harold Bradley, one of the most recorded country session

1641
01:35:38,000 --> 01:35:42,519
Speaker 2: players in history, Floyd Kramer, who has an entire school

1642
01:35:42,600 --> 01:35:47,680
Speaker 2: of Nashville country piano based around his use of incorporating

1643
01:35:47,880 --> 01:35:52,120
Speaker 2: faux blue notes into piano playing. You know, you can't

1644
01:35:52,160 --> 01:35:54,760
Speaker 2: actually hit blue notes in piano because he can't ben

1645
01:35:55,280 --> 01:35:57,679
Speaker 2: bend them, but no trills.

1646
01:35:58,040 --> 01:36:01,759
Speaker 1: It's like in the opening of Crazy Patsy Cline's Crazy.

1647
01:36:01,880 --> 01:36:04,320
Speaker 1: He played on that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He also played

1648
01:36:04,360 --> 01:36:05,360
Speaker 1: on Heartbreak Hotel.

1649
01:36:05,600 --> 01:36:09,040
Speaker 2: How about freaking that I didn't know that Boots Randolph,

1650
01:36:09,280 --> 01:36:13,040
Speaker 2: who played in Yackety Sacks about ten million other people,

1651
01:36:13,120 --> 01:36:16,120
Speaker 2: was also on this song. Bob Moore, who in nineteen

1652
01:36:16,160 --> 01:36:19,360
Speaker 2: ninety four was named best Country Bassist of all time

1653
01:36:19,600 --> 01:36:23,879
Speaker 2: by Life magazine, and drummer Buddy Harmon, who is Patsy

1654
01:36:23,960 --> 01:36:27,880
Speaker 2: Klein's drummer for nearly two years. So that was the

1655
01:36:27,960 --> 01:36:31,320
Speaker 2: backing band on this. Now I like to pick up

1656
01:36:31,320 --> 01:36:35,519
Speaker 2: my boy Jordan, who's done far better interviews than I

1657
01:36:35,520 --> 01:36:39,280
Speaker 2: ever have. Jordan, you interviewed Brenda Lee twice, right, twice?

1658
01:36:39,360 --> 01:36:44,840
Speaker 1: Yes? Yes? Was she kind, extremely kind? She was really cool.

1659
01:36:45,200 --> 01:36:48,000
Speaker 1: She signed off on both of them. Now, fil thank

1660
01:36:48,040 --> 01:36:49,920
Speaker 1: you God bless you. You know I was wishing you

1661
01:36:50,080 --> 01:36:52,439
Speaker 1: a merry Christmas, and I want you to tell your

1662
01:36:52,479 --> 01:36:56,639
Speaker 1: readers and yourself keep on Rockets. She always signs off

1663
01:36:56,680 --> 01:37:01,040
Speaker 1: with that He's great. God pleas her well.

1664
01:37:01,120 --> 01:37:04,960
Speaker 2: She told Jordan this very year in an interview that's

1665
01:37:05,000 --> 01:37:07,719
Speaker 2: currently up on people dot Com. Of that recording session,

1666
01:37:08,120 --> 01:37:11,200
Speaker 2: it was almost like telepathy. We just knew what each

1667
01:37:11,200 --> 01:37:14,320
Speaker 2: one of us was supposed to do. Some songs just

1668
01:37:14,400 --> 01:37:18,280
Speaker 2: have magic to them, and I think that's what Rockin has. Finally, enough.

1669
01:37:18,320 --> 01:37:20,479
Speaker 2: It was an instrumental version of the song that appeared

1670
01:37:20,479 --> 01:37:23,040
Speaker 2: in the Rank and Bass Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

1671
01:37:24,240 --> 01:37:27,160
Speaker 2: For more on that, we did a whole podcast on it.

1672
01:37:28,760 --> 01:37:31,000
Speaker 2: So Brenda Lee's version of the song, though, didn't really

1673
01:37:31,040 --> 01:37:34,160
Speaker 2: take off until about two years later, when the rest

1674
01:37:34,200 --> 01:37:38,559
Speaker 2: of her fame followed suit. In nineteen sixties holiday season,

1675
01:37:38,600 --> 01:37:41,120
Speaker 2: Rocking Around the Christmas Tree hit the Billboard Hot one

1676
01:37:41,240 --> 01:37:44,120
Speaker 2: hundred for the first time. It peaked at number fourteen,

1677
01:37:45,080 --> 01:37:48,160
Speaker 2: then remounted the charts every year, peaking at number three

1678
01:37:48,920 --> 01:37:53,400
Speaker 2: on Billboard's Christmas Singles Chart in nineteen sixty five. Now,

1679
01:37:53,479 --> 01:37:55,640
Speaker 2: it received a pretty big bump from its use in

1680
01:37:55,680 --> 01:37:59,639
Speaker 2: Home Alone in nineteen ninety, and we love a long

1681
01:37:59,760 --> 01:38:03,400
Speaker 2: term success story. It wasn't until twenty twenty three that

1682
01:38:03,520 --> 01:38:06,920
Speaker 2: Rocking Around the Christmas Tree hit number one on Billboard's

1683
01:38:07,520 --> 01:38:11,240
Speaker 2: main chart, becoming only the third Christmas song to do so.

1684
01:38:12,120 --> 01:38:14,519
Speaker 2: Now at that time, she told our own Jordan Rundog,

1685
01:38:15,560 --> 01:38:17,240
Speaker 2: I knew it was a great song, and I was

1686
01:38:17,240 --> 01:38:19,320
Speaker 2: happy to get it, but I never thought it would

1687
01:38:19,320 --> 01:38:20,400
Speaker 2: be my signature song.

1688
01:38:21,080 --> 01:38:24,599
Speaker 1: Never It's the longest gap between number ones. I believe

1689
01:38:25,000 --> 01:38:28,360
Speaker 1: in the same interview. She reminisced about the song's recording producer,

1690
01:38:28,400 --> 01:38:31,160
Speaker 1: Owen Bradley, had the studio, the live room all decked

1691
01:38:31,160 --> 01:38:34,439
Speaker 1: out with Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree. Back then

1692
01:38:34,479 --> 01:38:36,559
Speaker 1: you cut all Christmas songs in the heat of the summer,

1693
01:38:36,760 --> 01:38:38,640
Speaker 1: so oh, and had the air conditioner turned down to

1694
01:38:38,720 --> 01:38:42,439
Speaker 1: zero to set the mood and honey that quantcet hut

1695
01:38:42,520 --> 01:38:46,600
Speaker 1: got cold. It added to the spirit though. It was

1696
01:38:46,680 --> 01:38:47,599
Speaker 1: really a lot of fun.

1697
01:38:47,840 --> 01:38:50,720
Speaker 2: And then my favorite and most heartbreaking aspect of this

1698
01:38:50,760 --> 01:38:53,559
Speaker 2: interview that again our own Jordan conducted with.

1699
01:38:54,000 --> 01:38:56,320
Speaker 1: Icon Brenda Lee. She said, when I was growing up,

1700
01:38:56,360 --> 01:38:59,719
Speaker 1: we were not financially stable. We did the best we could,

1701
01:39:00,200 --> 01:39:03,000
Speaker 1: but we didn't have a lot of accoutrement. So our

1702
01:39:03,000 --> 01:39:05,679
Speaker 1: house was filled with relatives and everybody cooking and stuff

1703
01:39:05,720 --> 01:39:06,120
Speaker 1: like that.

1704
01:39:06,800 --> 01:39:10,759
Speaker 2: Instead of presence. It was more family oriented. And then

1705
01:39:11,720 --> 01:39:14,960
Speaker 2: this year again, what was this in November you talked

1706
01:39:14,960 --> 01:39:17,200
Speaker 2: to her, talked to her like two weeks ago. Jordan

1707
01:39:17,280 --> 01:39:20,439
Speaker 2: talked to her in December twenty twenty four, when her

1708
01:39:20,600 --> 01:39:26,479
Speaker 2: song surpassed one billion streams, just a day before Brenda

1709
01:39:26,560 --> 01:39:31,880
Speaker 2: Lee's eightieth birthday. Her reaction, I was dumbfounded when I heard.

1710
01:39:32,280 --> 01:39:34,800
Speaker 2: I can't even think that high, much less say it.

1711
01:39:36,920 --> 01:39:39,240
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a great note to end on. But

1712
01:39:39,400 --> 01:39:42,920
Speaker 1: I do want to assure this like slightly haunting story

1713
01:39:42,960 --> 01:39:45,479
Speaker 1: that I left out of the main piece. Baby. So,

1714
01:39:45,600 --> 01:39:48,040
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, she was very young. I think she

1715
01:39:48,120 --> 01:39:50,719
Speaker 1: was thirteen when she cut rocking around the Christmas Tree,

1716
01:39:51,080 --> 01:39:55,320
Speaker 1: and one of her idols was another child star singer

1717
01:39:55,439 --> 01:40:00,320
Speaker 1: Judy Garland. Oh god, yeah, yeah. So when that was

1718
01:40:00,360 --> 01:40:04,559
Speaker 1: playing Vegas, Judy was also out there, and Judy by

1719
01:40:04,600 --> 01:40:09,559
Speaker 1: this point, was on her way out I guess it was.

1720
01:40:10,400 --> 01:40:12,479
Speaker 1: I think she would have been probably in her late thirties,

1721
01:40:12,920 --> 01:40:15,920
Speaker 1: and Brenda ran into her out by the pool, and

1722
01:40:16,000 --> 01:40:18,439
Speaker 1: so she kind of gathered up all of her courage

1723
01:40:18,479 --> 01:40:21,320
Speaker 1: to go and speak to her idol and said, you know, Judy,

1724
01:40:21,360 --> 01:40:23,960
Speaker 1: my name is Brenda. I'm a singer just like you.

1725
01:40:24,120 --> 01:40:26,439
Speaker 1: Jim was wondering, do you have any advice for me,

1726
01:40:27,040 --> 01:40:30,000
Speaker 1: because you know, she's like a teenager. And Judy thinks

1727
01:40:30,040 --> 01:40:31,400
Speaker 1: for a minute and it looks her right in the

1728
01:40:31,439 --> 01:40:35,960
Speaker 1: eye and says, don't let them take your childhood. Oh

1729
01:40:36,120 --> 01:40:39,839
Speaker 1: I know, And she said that always stuck with her brutal,

1730
01:40:40,080 --> 01:40:42,800
Speaker 1: which kind of prepares us smooth wise for this next

1731
01:40:42,920 --> 01:40:45,840
Speaker 1: entry in our holiday cannon. Oh my god, I just

1732
01:40:46,640 --> 01:40:49,360
Speaker 1: love Charlie Brown. A nice music. I know you do.

1733
01:40:49,720 --> 01:40:51,519
Speaker 1: It makes me so happy how much you love this?

1734
01:40:51,920 --> 01:40:54,360
Speaker 1: And the craziest thing was how random this was.

1735
01:40:54,640 --> 01:40:57,719
Speaker 2: Yeah, Groldy at the time is up and coming jazz

1736
01:40:57,720 --> 01:41:00,439
Speaker 2: pianist who happened to get connected to one of the

1737
01:41:00,439 --> 01:41:03,240
Speaker 2: biggest comic strips of all time. The story goes back

1738
01:41:03,240 --> 01:41:05,519
Speaker 2: to a guy named Lee Mendelssohn, who is a TV

1739
01:41:05,640 --> 01:41:10,360
Speaker 2: producer making a documentary on Charles Schultz's Peanuts strip titled

1740
01:41:10,479 --> 01:41:13,000
Speaker 2: A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Shortly after he wrapped the

1741
01:41:13,080 --> 01:41:16,320
Speaker 2: visual half, he heard Giraldi's Cast Your Fate to the

1742
01:41:16,400 --> 01:41:17,559
Speaker 2: Wind on the radio.

1743
01:41:18,320 --> 01:41:18,519
Speaker 1: Now.

1744
01:41:18,600 --> 01:41:22,240
Speaker 2: Giraldi, who was an impressively mustachioed pianist, had just had

1745
01:41:22,280 --> 01:41:25,599
Speaker 2: a breakthrough with an album called Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus.

1746
01:41:26,240 --> 01:41:29,639
Speaker 2: Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus featured both originals and covers

1747
01:41:29,640 --> 01:41:32,559
Speaker 2: of songs from the nineteen fifty nine French Brazilian film

1748
01:41:32,600 --> 01:41:33,439
Speaker 2: Black Orpheus.

1749
01:41:33,800 --> 01:41:34,559
Speaker 1: You should check it out.

1750
01:41:34,600 --> 01:41:39,280
Speaker 2: It's a great movie from the period, but also just

1751
01:41:39,439 --> 01:41:43,400
Speaker 2: a great film period that won an Academy Award for

1752
01:41:43,439 --> 01:41:46,080
Speaker 2: Best Foreign Film and then Cast Your Fate to the

1753
01:41:46,120 --> 01:41:49,320
Speaker 2: Wind won the nineteen sixty three Grammy Award for Best

1754
01:41:49,360 --> 01:41:54,200
Speaker 2: Original Jazz Composition. Here's the depressing part. Though a jazz

1755
01:41:54,240 --> 01:41:58,160
Speaker 2: musician named Jose Gonzalez. He specializes in covering doing versions

1756
01:41:58,160 --> 01:42:01,599
Speaker 2: of Giraldi's tunes. He told Stranger that the first pick

1757
01:42:01,720 --> 01:42:05,479
Speaker 2: for the composer of the Charlie Brown documentary was Dave Brubeck,

1758
01:42:06,080 --> 01:42:10,080
Speaker 2: Oh take five Fame, not Giraldi. Brew Bec couldn't do it,

1759
01:42:10,120 --> 01:42:14,240
Speaker 2: so then he recommended Vibraphonis cal Tatter, who I think

1760
01:42:14,360 --> 01:42:17,880
Speaker 2: is Dutch, who is turned down obviously for being Dutch,

1761
01:42:18,000 --> 01:42:21,840
Speaker 2: but also because he couldn't do it either. So Mendelshn

1762
01:42:21,880 --> 01:42:26,240
Speaker 2: reached out to his third favorite pick, Vince Garaldi. I

1763
01:42:26,240 --> 01:42:28,479
Speaker 2: think Garaldi was considered something of a pop.

1764
01:42:28,280 --> 01:42:32,759
Speaker 1: Pianist at the time because the success of Black Orpheus,

1765
01:42:32,760 --> 01:42:36,920
Speaker 1: but he turned out fucking Linus and Lucy Dude, That's insane.

1766
01:42:37,240 --> 01:42:39,680
Speaker 1: That's one of the tunes that he banged out for this.

1767
01:42:40,040 --> 01:42:42,519
Speaker 2: It's a really fascinating song because of all the different

1768
01:42:42,600 --> 01:42:45,080
Speaker 2: feels that they go through. It's important to remember that

1769
01:42:45,240 --> 01:42:50,200
Speaker 2: Bostonova was sweeping the American pop music charts and also

1770
01:42:50,320 --> 01:42:52,479
Speaker 2: jazz at the time. So when they go into a

1771
01:42:52,479 --> 01:42:57,000
Speaker 2: BOSTONOVA field, that's actually quite cutting edge stuff. But the

1772
01:42:57,040 --> 01:42:59,760
Speaker 2: networks turned down this whole thing. They got all of

1773
01:42:59,840 --> 01:43:01,280
Speaker 2: it and they were like, no, we don't want it.

1774
01:43:01,760 --> 01:43:05,640
Speaker 2: But their fortunes changed as the strip continued to gain popularity,

1775
01:43:05,720 --> 01:43:09,000
Speaker 2: and so by April of nineteen sixty five, Time magazine

1776
01:43:09,040 --> 01:43:12,639
Speaker 2: featured Peanuts on his cover, and the Coca Cola Company,

1777
01:43:12,640 --> 01:43:16,080
Speaker 2: of all people, coughed up the money to commission a

1778
01:43:16,200 --> 01:43:21,120
Speaker 2: Charlie Brown Christmas Garaldy came back and sessions began on

1779
01:43:21,200 --> 01:43:24,600
Speaker 2: the music for the special. There were two sessions that

1780
01:43:24,680 --> 01:43:27,080
Speaker 2: made up the soundtrack. At one of them was recorded

1781
01:43:27,120 --> 01:43:31,760
Speaker 2: at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California, where in laws live

1782
01:43:32,520 --> 01:43:35,360
Speaker 2: in October of nineteen sixty four. Friend of the pod

1783
01:43:35,520 --> 01:43:37,760
Speaker 2: Charles Drucker, who I know, listens to this while I

1784
01:43:37,800 --> 01:43:41,160
Speaker 2: was walking dogs. This was with longtime Vince Garaldi trio

1785
01:43:41,200 --> 01:43:45,719
Speaker 2: mates Monty Budwig on bass and Colin Bailey on drums.

1786
01:43:46,280 --> 01:43:49,280
Speaker 2: Then they picked up again essentially a year later September

1787
01:43:49,280 --> 01:43:52,040
Speaker 2: and October of nineteen sixty five with bassist Fred Marshall

1788
01:43:52,400 --> 01:43:56,880
Speaker 2: and drummer Jerry Grinnelly. This was because Giraldi, as a

1789
01:43:57,400 --> 01:43:59,920
Speaker 2: leader of a piano trio, was actually swapping in a

1790
01:44:00,320 --> 01:44:04,120
Speaker 2: bunch of different bassis and drummers during this time, supposedly

1791
01:44:04,120 --> 01:44:07,120
Speaker 2: trying to find the right combination most Germane to what

1792
01:44:07,160 --> 01:44:10,280
Speaker 2: we're talking about right now. Linus and Lucy was recorded

1793
01:44:10,360 --> 01:44:15,040
Speaker 2: on October twenty sixth, nineteen sixty four, and then Garaldi

1794
01:44:15,120 --> 01:44:17,880
Speaker 2: composed two new original pieces to fill out the ranks,

1795
01:44:18,320 --> 01:44:23,920
Speaker 2: Skating and Christmas Time Is Here. Skating took actually several

1796
01:44:23,920 --> 01:44:27,040
Speaker 2: takes to complete. He had that cascade effect no no.

1797
01:44:26,920 --> 01:44:28,320
Speaker 1: No no no no no no no no no no

1798
01:44:28,320 --> 01:44:28,479
Speaker 1: no no.

1799
01:44:29,120 --> 01:44:31,599
Speaker 2: That proved difficult for the other musicians to grab onto

1800
01:44:32,600 --> 01:44:36,880
Speaker 2: and then originally titled snow Waltz. Christmas Time Is Here

1801
01:44:37,120 --> 01:44:41,280
Speaker 2: also took multiple takes. But the singers on that album

1802
01:44:41,400 --> 01:44:45,879
Speaker 2: and here this will interest you. The choir on Christmas

1803
01:44:45,960 --> 01:44:50,480
Speaker 2: Time Is Here is the San Raphael's Saint Paul's Episcopal

1804
01:44:50,600 --> 01:44:55,280
Speaker 2: Church Choir, and this was actually their second collaboration with

1805
01:44:55,439 --> 01:45:00,960
Speaker 2: Vince Garaldi. San Francisco's Grace Cathedral had opened in nineteen

1806
01:45:01,000 --> 01:45:05,160
Speaker 2: sixty five, and to commemorate this, Giraldi had composed a

1807
01:45:05,240 --> 01:45:10,519
Speaker 2: quote unquote jazz mass, and that San Raphael's church choir

1808
01:45:10,680 --> 01:45:13,240
Speaker 2: came in and sang with him as part of that

1809
01:45:13,360 --> 01:45:16,160
Speaker 2: jazz mass where he was playing piano and going through

1810
01:45:16,200 --> 01:45:21,479
Speaker 2: the whole program, and so they knew him and came

1811
01:45:21,520 --> 01:45:26,400
Speaker 2: back to sing on Christmas time is here, So familiarity

1812
01:45:26,520 --> 01:45:30,200
Speaker 2: or not, though the kids were paying in the ass,

1813
01:45:30,560 --> 01:45:33,599
Speaker 2: never record with dogs or children. The recording sessions were

1814
01:45:33,600 --> 01:45:36,719
Speaker 2: held at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley in late autumn nineteen

1815
01:45:36,720 --> 01:45:40,519
Speaker 2: sixty five, spanned three sessions over two weeks and often

1816
01:45:40,560 --> 01:45:44,160
Speaker 2: extended late into the night. And they literally started swapping

1817
01:45:44,160 --> 01:45:48,200
Speaker 2: out different children at each session because some children's parents

1818
01:45:48,200 --> 01:45:49,880
Speaker 2: were like, this is taking too long. You can't have

1819
01:45:49,920 --> 01:45:53,879
Speaker 2: my kidneymore. But all the children were given a shiny

1820
01:45:53,920 --> 01:45:58,599
Speaker 2: five dollars bill each for their participation. This is what's

1821
01:45:58,600 --> 01:46:01,759
Speaker 2: crazy to me. Presented all of this to the network,

1822
01:46:02,360 --> 01:46:07,400
Speaker 2: and the network all over it. Lee Mendelssohn, the aforementioned producer.

1823
01:46:07,479 --> 01:46:10,639
Speaker 2: Lee Mendelssohn, showed it to network executives, and his son

1824
01:46:10,760 --> 01:46:14,360
Speaker 2: Jason told CBS in a recent interview, the network hated everything.

1825
01:46:14,680 --> 01:46:19,519
Speaker 1: The music, what is this jazz? The animation, This is

1826
01:46:19,560 --> 01:46:23,360
Speaker 1: not what we expected the story. There's religion in it,

1827
01:46:23,800 --> 01:46:24,880
Speaker 1: and there's feelings.

1828
01:46:26,200 --> 01:46:29,240
Speaker 2: But as always, the C suite is wrong and should

1829
01:46:29,280 --> 01:46:34,880
Speaker 2: be hung for their crimes in the public square. Sorry,

1830
01:46:34,880 --> 01:46:37,599
Speaker 2: I just had to interject that. Just a good practice

1831
01:46:37,600 --> 01:46:42,080
Speaker 2: for anyone out there. But the Charlie Brown Christmas Album

1832
01:46:42,120 --> 01:46:47,320
Speaker 2: has a truly rarefied place in jazz legend. On May

1833
01:46:47,439 --> 01:46:53,000
Speaker 2: tenth of twenty twenty two, the RIAA certified that quintuple platinum,

1834
01:46:53,120 --> 01:46:57,559
Speaker 2: while sales of five million copies, Charlie Brown's Christmas Album

1835
01:46:57,560 --> 01:47:01,120
Speaker 2: by Vince Garalti Trio is the second do best selling

1836
01:47:01,240 --> 01:47:06,439
Speaker 2: jazz album in history, behind Kind of Blue by Miles Davis.

1837
01:47:07,280 --> 01:47:09,639
Speaker 2: And as a person note, I live in San Francisco,

1838
01:47:09,720 --> 01:47:12,680
Speaker 2: I used to live in Berkeley. Vince Graudy I got

1839
01:47:12,720 --> 01:47:14,760
Speaker 2: a shout him out as a Bay Area icon. He

1840
01:47:14,880 --> 01:47:17,360
Speaker 2: lived in Mill Valley where he composed the music for

1841
01:47:17,400 --> 01:47:20,400
Speaker 2: the Peanuts series, and he played out at a lot

1842
01:47:20,439 --> 01:47:23,080
Speaker 2: of San Francisco Bay area clubs, and he died of

1843
01:47:23,080 --> 01:47:26,200
Speaker 2: a heart attack at forty seven. Literally, he died in

1844
01:47:26,320 --> 01:47:31,439
Speaker 2: between sets while playing at a club called Butterfields in

1845
01:47:31,560 --> 01:47:35,080
Speaker 2: Menlo Park in February of nineteen seventy six.

1846
01:47:35,600 --> 01:47:39,719
Speaker 1: Well, that is the second most poignant but fitting death

1847
01:47:39,760 --> 01:47:43,280
Speaker 1: that we will talk about in this episode. Set me

1848
01:47:43,360 --> 01:47:47,120
Speaker 1: up perfectly for the most points, quietly do this in

1849
01:47:47,160 --> 01:47:54,200
Speaker 1: the background the whole time. I mean, the rest of

1850
01:47:54,200 --> 01:47:56,200
Speaker 1: the development kind of ruined that for me, because now

1851
01:47:56,200 --> 01:48:00,640
Speaker 1: I just think they made it a gag ruined it all. Right,

1852
01:48:00,640 --> 01:48:02,960
Speaker 1: go ahead, I'm gonna see you up for Uh, I'm

1853
01:48:02,960 --> 01:48:05,840
Speaker 1: gonna see you up for this. And speaking of arrested development,

1854
01:48:06,680 --> 01:48:11,240
Speaker 1: we now are talking about George Michael and Wham. Of

1855
01:48:11,320 --> 01:48:20,880
Speaker 1: course we are ending on things cool Whipham, Wham. Weorth

1856
01:48:21,120 --> 01:48:25,600
Speaker 1: ending things today with last Christmas. Now, I have to

1857
01:48:25,640 --> 01:48:28,120
Speaker 1: admit I didn't know a lot about Wham before researching this,

1858
01:48:28,160 --> 01:48:30,519
Speaker 1: but the basis of Wham was the friendship between George

1859
01:48:30,520 --> 01:48:34,839
Speaker 1: Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They became friends in grade school.

1860
01:48:34,920 --> 01:48:37,240
Speaker 1: George was the new boy, and Andrew was the only

1861
01:48:37,240 --> 01:48:39,880
Speaker 1: one in his class who answered the teacher's request for

1862
01:48:40,000 --> 01:48:44,880
Speaker 1: volunteers to look after him and show him around. Isn't

1863
01:48:44,880 --> 01:48:47,640
Speaker 1: that great? Yeah? They were already stars when they were

1864
01:48:47,720 --> 01:48:50,600
Speaker 1: visiting George's parents' house in nineteen eighty four, and it

1865
01:48:50,680 --> 01:48:53,120
Speaker 1: was there, out of the blue that George had the

1866
01:48:53,160 --> 01:48:55,920
Speaker 1: idea for Last Christmas, and he patted off to his

1867
01:48:56,000 --> 01:48:59,479
Speaker 1: childhood bedroom to write it. Recently recalled to the Mail

1868
01:48:59,560 --> 01:49:02,160
Speaker 1: on Sunday in twenty seventeen. We had a bite to

1869
01:49:02,200 --> 01:49:04,680
Speaker 1: eat and we were sitting together, relaxing with a television

1870
01:49:04,680 --> 01:49:09,160
Speaker 1: on in the background, when, almost unnoticed, George disappeared upstairs

1871
01:49:09,200 --> 01:49:11,479
Speaker 1: for an hour or so. When he came back down,

1872
01:49:12,240 --> 01:49:15,679
Speaker 1: such was his excitement it was as if he discovered gold,

1873
01:49:15,800 --> 01:49:18,760
Speaker 1: which in a sense he had. We went to his

1874
01:49:18,840 --> 01:49:22,040
Speaker 1: old room, the room in which we'd spent hours as kids,

1875
01:49:22,080 --> 01:49:26,800
Speaker 1: recording pastiches of radio shows and jingles. Again nerd the

1876
01:49:26,880 --> 01:49:29,280
Speaker 1: rue Marie kept the keyboard and something on which to

1877
01:49:29,360 --> 01:49:32,400
Speaker 1: record as sparks of inspiration, and he played me the

1878
01:49:32,439 --> 01:49:37,280
Speaker 1: introduction and the beguiling, wistful chorus melody to Last Christmas.

1879
01:49:37,520 --> 01:49:41,240
Speaker 1: It was a moment of wonder. Georgia performed musical alchemy,

1880
01:49:41,360 --> 01:49:45,599
Speaker 1: distilling the essence of Christmas into music. Adding a lyric

1881
01:49:45,680 --> 01:49:48,840
Speaker 1: which told the tale of betrayed love was a masterstroke,

1882
01:49:49,000 --> 01:49:52,280
Speaker 1: and as he so often did, he touched hearts. I

1883
01:49:52,360 --> 01:49:54,559
Speaker 1: wonder if he waxed poetic about I Want Your Sex

1884
01:49:54,560 --> 01:49:58,880
Speaker 1: a few years later. The lyrics provide the emotional counterweight

1885
01:49:58,960 --> 01:50:01,000
Speaker 1: to Last Christmas. MA, we have noticed that there's really

1886
01:50:01,040 --> 01:50:04,320
Speaker 1: nothing especially Christmasy about it. It's simply about a doomed

1887
01:50:04,439 --> 01:50:07,960
Speaker 1: romance that began on December twenty fifth. In a twenty

1888
01:50:08,000 --> 01:50:11,479
Speaker 1: seventeen piece for The Guardian called Still Saving Us from Tears,

1889
01:50:11,840 --> 01:50:16,000
Speaker 1: The Inside Story of Wham's Last Christmas by Rachel Rott

1890
01:50:16,320 --> 01:50:20,600
Speaker 1: notes that lyrically, however, Last Christmas is a hugely sophisticated

1891
01:50:20,640 --> 01:50:24,280
Speaker 1: song that teams with mixed signals and the potent of

1892
01:50:24,400 --> 01:50:28,439
Speaker 1: logic that defines the best pop. There's a tension between

1893
01:50:28,479 --> 01:50:30,880
Speaker 1: the music and the lyrics. You've got the happiness of

1894
01:50:30,920 --> 01:50:33,799
Speaker 1: the rhythm track, but against that you've got the sadness

1895
01:50:33,840 --> 01:50:36,880
Speaker 1: of the unrequitded love, says the song's engineer, Chris Porter.

1896
01:50:37,439 --> 01:50:40,800
Speaker 1: But the real cleverness can be found in the words themselves.

1897
01:50:41,200 --> 01:50:43,840
Speaker 1: Not only does the nursery rhyme style chorus take in

1898
01:50:43,920 --> 01:50:47,799
Speaker 1: a cerbically bitchy turn this year to save me from tears,

1899
01:50:47,880 --> 01:50:50,920
Speaker 1: I'll give it to someone special, but it's also an

1900
01:50:50,920 --> 01:50:55,040
Speaker 1: inherently contradictory one. The narrator is trying to undermine his

1901
01:50:55,160 --> 01:50:58,800
Speaker 1: ex by dedicating an entire song to how crushed he

1902
01:50:58,960 --> 01:51:01,960
Speaker 1: is by their breakup. But Last Christmas isn't just about

1903
01:51:01,960 --> 01:51:04,559
Speaker 1: the lies we tell ourselves in order to cope with rejection.

1904
01:51:05,280 --> 01:51:09,640
Speaker 1: It's also about the cognitive dissonance of obsessive love. At

1905
01:51:09,680 --> 01:51:12,559
Speaker 1: the end of the first verse, Michael pithily sets out

1906
01:51:12,640 --> 01:51:15,400
Speaker 1: this kind of double think. Now he knows, quote what

1907
01:51:15,479 --> 01:51:17,880
Speaker 1: a fool I've been. But if you kissed me, now

1908
01:51:18,040 --> 01:51:21,200
Speaker 1: I know you'd fool me again. It's just one heart

1909
01:51:21,240 --> 01:51:24,479
Speaker 1: rendering epigram and a song full of them, capturing the

1910
01:51:24,520 --> 01:51:28,400
Speaker 1: way defiance masks hope and how easily love and desire

1911
01:51:28,439 --> 01:51:31,439
Speaker 1: can dilute us into forgiveness. That's a great bit of writing.

1912
01:51:32,040 --> 01:51:35,000
Speaker 1: When I'm recorded Last Christmas in August nineteen eighty four,

1913
01:51:35,520 --> 01:51:39,200
Speaker 1: and to create a festive atmosphere, George decked ad Vision

1914
01:51:39,320 --> 01:51:42,080
Speaker 1: Studios out with Christmas decorations, just like they did for

1915
01:51:42,080 --> 01:51:44,519
Speaker 1: Brenda Lee, which you recorded rocking around the Christmas Tree.

1916
01:51:44,880 --> 01:51:47,559
Speaker 1: I wonder if that's just like received studio lage from

1917
01:51:47,600 --> 01:51:51,040
Speaker 1: like Timey memorial, like cutting a Christmas song put him

1918
01:51:51,040 --> 01:51:54,160
Speaker 1: a bunch of Christmas crap. The singers love that. When

1919
01:51:54,240 --> 01:51:56,760
Speaker 1: John and Yoko were doing Happy Christmas, War is Over

1920
01:51:56,840 --> 01:51:59,639
Speaker 1: and the Harlem choir. I think it was came in

1921
01:52:00,200 --> 01:52:02,800
Speaker 1: sing Je almost to say to the kids, all right,

1922
01:52:03,560 --> 01:52:06,040
Speaker 1: pretend it's Christmas. And a couple of the kids are like,

1923
01:52:06,439 --> 01:52:10,200
Speaker 1: we're Jewish, and he was like, pretend it's your birthday.

1924
01:52:10,240 --> 01:52:18,920
Speaker 1: Then it's just great. George had entered into his alteur

1925
01:52:19,000 --> 01:52:22,160
Speaker 1: phase by this point. In addition to writing and producing

1926
01:52:22,160 --> 01:52:25,200
Speaker 1: the song, he insisted on singing both lead and backing

1927
01:52:25,280 --> 01:52:29,160
Speaker 1: vocals himself, as well as playing all of the instruments himself,

1928
01:52:29,439 --> 01:52:32,920
Speaker 1: including the Roland Juno sixty synth, the lind drum, synth,

1929
01:52:33,600 --> 01:52:36,040
Speaker 1: and the sleigh bells. He insisted on playing the sleigh

1930
01:52:36,040 --> 01:52:37,280
Speaker 1: bells himself well.

1931
01:52:37,280 --> 01:52:39,719
Speaker 2: The Lynd drum is also one of the most iconic

1932
01:52:39,760 --> 01:52:42,720
Speaker 2: pieces of recording technology to the eighties. It's on like

1933
01:52:42,800 --> 01:52:45,240
Speaker 2: half of Prince's things. And is it the leading drum

1934
01:52:45,280 --> 01:52:51,559
Speaker 2: that's based on the on Tom Petty drummer. Yes, yes, yes,

1935
01:52:52,160 --> 01:52:52,599
Speaker 2: I believe.

1936
01:52:52,680 --> 01:52:55,479
Speaker 1: I think that's exactly right. Yeah, it's sampled from it.

1937
01:52:55,600 --> 01:52:59,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it is the lin drum, which is made

1938
01:52:59,160 --> 01:53:01,880
Speaker 2: by Roger lee In. Is that the clap in the

1939
01:53:01,920 --> 01:53:06,120
Speaker 2: original Drummond Machine was a recording of Tom Petty and

1940
01:53:06,120 --> 01:53:10,799
Speaker 2: the Heartbreakers clapping backstage as a favor to Roger Lynn,

1941
01:53:11,880 --> 01:53:15,240
Speaker 2: who is attempting to get a good clap sound.

1942
01:53:15,760 --> 01:53:19,960
Speaker 1: Why couldn't he just do it himself? Great question? Great question.

1943
01:53:20,080 --> 01:53:25,040
Speaker 1: Jordan engineer Chris Porter later told The Guardian George wasn't

1944
01:53:25,040 --> 01:53:27,760
Speaker 1: a musician. It was a laborious process because he was

1945
01:53:27,800 --> 01:53:31,280
Speaker 1: literally playing the keyboards with two or three fingers. One

1946
01:53:31,280 --> 01:53:33,479
Speaker 1: of the really clever things about George was that he

1947
01:53:33,560 --> 01:53:35,880
Speaker 1: realized that he wanted the focus of the listener to

1948
01:53:35,920 --> 01:53:40,439
Speaker 1: be his voice, not the musicianship. So the music's very

1949
01:53:40,439 --> 01:53:44,120
Speaker 1: often stark on Last Christmas, there's a very simple foundation

1950
01:53:44,200 --> 01:53:47,439
Speaker 1: for the vocal and the melody to sit on, and

1951
01:53:47,479 --> 01:53:49,639
Speaker 1: it's interesting to note that this is a rare song

1952
01:53:49,720 --> 01:53:52,120
Speaker 1: that has the same tune and chords for both the

1953
01:53:52,240 --> 01:53:55,639
Speaker 1: verse and the chorus with no bridge. Now, of course,

1954
01:53:55,800 --> 01:53:58,240
Speaker 1: no mid eighties song by a British pop act would

1955
01:53:58,240 --> 01:54:02,160
Speaker 1: be complete without a video. The visuals for Last Christmas

1956
01:54:02,160 --> 01:54:06,439
Speaker 1: were filmed at sauce Fee, Switzerland in November nineteen eighty four.

1957
01:54:06,920 --> 01:54:11,400
Speaker 1: What was that again? My attempt is sauce Fee SaaS

1958
01:54:11,479 --> 01:54:16,439
Speaker 1: dash Fee, Switzerland Beautiful in November nineteen eighty four. The

1959
01:54:16,520 --> 01:54:19,679
Speaker 1: video depicts a cozy ski trip tainted by tension from

1960
01:54:19,680 --> 01:54:22,759
Speaker 1: a love triangle. You recall from a video that Andrew

1961
01:54:22,840 --> 01:54:26,160
Speaker 1: Ridgeley is wearing a brooch originally gifted by George Michael's

1962
01:54:26,240 --> 01:54:29,960
Speaker 1: character to his ex. Andrew originally has described the video

1963
01:54:29,960 --> 01:54:32,720
Speaker 1: shoot as mayhem. He said he got so drunk during

1964
01:54:32,760 --> 01:54:35,480
Speaker 1: the dinner party scene, which used real wine, that his

1965
01:54:35,600 --> 01:54:38,560
Speaker 1: eyes puffed up from laughter and he was forced to

1966
01:54:38,600 --> 01:54:41,520
Speaker 1: sit out the next scenes. I have never in human

1967
01:54:41,600 --> 01:54:46,879
Speaker 1: history heard of that occurring, but okay. Video director Andrew

1968
01:54:47,000 --> 01:54:50,680
Speaker 1: Morahan admitted to encouraging the drinking. He said, I encouraged it.

1969
01:54:51,080 --> 01:54:53,040
Speaker 1: I have to be honest. It made for a more

1970
01:54:53,080 --> 01:54:56,280
Speaker 1: realistic shoot. Some of the outtakes are pretty good. Supposed

1971
01:54:56,280 --> 01:54:57,720
Speaker 1: to be a bunch of friends on a ski trip.

1972
01:54:58,200 --> 01:55:02,240
Speaker 1: That's nice. Yeah. Kathy Hill played George Michael's love interest

1973
01:55:02,320 --> 01:55:06,760
Speaker 1: in the shoot, she recalled Gopher. She recalls bonding during

1974
01:55:06,800 --> 01:55:11,760
Speaker 1: their shoot over wine and George Michael's love of Van Cellist.

1975
01:55:12,280 --> 01:55:16,040
Speaker 1: She said, I wouldn't normally drink on a shoot, but

1976
01:55:16,120 --> 01:55:18,120
Speaker 1: during that scene at the dinner table, it was all

1977
01:55:18,160 --> 01:55:21,320
Speaker 1: getting a bit silly. I was dating the composer Vangelis

1978
01:55:21,320 --> 01:55:24,920
Speaker 1: at the time, and George was so interested in his music,

1979
01:55:25,400 --> 01:55:27,840
Speaker 1: so he kept asking me about that. He had an

1980
01:55:27,880 --> 01:55:30,720
Speaker 1: amazing sense of humor. There's a scene when we're walking

1981
01:55:30,800 --> 01:55:32,640
Speaker 1: up the hill, and every time he went up, he

1982
01:55:32,800 --> 01:55:35,440
Speaker 1: just fell down, so every time I burst into laughter.

1983
01:55:36,000 --> 01:55:38,120
Speaker 1: That shot while we're rolling around and he ends up

1984
01:55:38,120 --> 01:55:41,960
Speaker 1: sitting on me, I'm genuinely laughing my head off. It

1985
01:55:42,040 --> 01:55:45,200
Speaker 1: was great. Yeah. There's a new documentary on Netflix that

1986
01:55:45,240 --> 01:55:47,640
Speaker 1: premiered this year for the fortieth anniversary of this song,

1987
01:55:47,720 --> 01:55:51,160
Speaker 1: called Last Christmas Unwrapped, where Rigeally and the rest of

1988
01:55:51,200 --> 01:55:53,400
Speaker 1: the cast of the video returned to the very same

1989
01:55:53,480 --> 01:55:57,280
Speaker 1: swisky Shelle I believe and reminisce, which I think is sweet.

1990
01:55:57,320 --> 01:55:59,280
Speaker 1: I haven't seen all of it, but the clips are cute,

1991
01:56:00,120 --> 01:56:03,839
Speaker 1: obviously tinged with sadness due to the absence of George Michael,

1992
01:56:03,880 --> 01:56:10,320
Speaker 1: who you'll recall died on Christmas only sixteen for reasons

1993
01:56:10,320 --> 01:56:13,400
Speaker 1: that I'm still not totally sure about. One of the

1994
01:56:13,480 --> 01:56:16,000
Speaker 1: less nice moments for George during the filming of the

1995
01:56:16,040 --> 01:56:20,000
Speaker 1: Last Christmas video was his fussiness over his hair. This

1996
01:56:20,160 --> 01:56:23,400
Speaker 1: made him a frequent target, understandably so kind of for

1997
01:56:23,480 --> 01:56:27,760
Speaker 1: Snowball attacks. One of the actors on the video recalled.

1998
01:56:27,840 --> 01:56:30,240
Speaker 1: During the shoot, we decided that George, who was very,

1999
01:56:30,360 --> 01:56:33,600
Speaker 1: very sensitive about his hair all throughout his career, was

2000
01:56:33,640 --> 01:56:35,920
Speaker 1: going to get it. So he loaded up with Ammo

2001
01:56:36,000 --> 01:56:38,879
Speaker 1: and snowballed him to death. He took it, not literally,

2002
01:56:39,080 --> 01:56:41,560
Speaker 1: he took it very well. He always took it very well.

2003
01:56:41,800 --> 01:56:43,960
Speaker 1: He had this way of raising his eyes to the

2004
01:56:44,000 --> 01:56:48,840
Speaker 1: heavens but smiling. All this would explain why he wore

2005
01:56:48,840 --> 01:56:51,480
Speaker 1: a hood in the final video, because his famous hairdo

2006
01:56:51,560 --> 01:56:56,120
Speaker 1: is quiffy hairdoo was ruined by the snow. Also speaking

2007
01:56:56,120 --> 01:57:00,800
Speaker 1: of George Michael's appearance, this video, apparently, according to listicles

2008
01:57:00,840 --> 01:57:03,880
Speaker 1: across the Web, marks the last time in his life

2009
01:57:03,880 --> 01:57:09,839
Speaker 1: that he was filmed without a beard. When I say beard, oh,

2010
01:57:09,840 --> 01:57:13,280
Speaker 1: I walked right into that No, like an actual beard.

2011
01:57:15,120 --> 01:57:18,680
Speaker 1: He remained deeply insecure. Poor George. During post production, he

2012
01:57:18,840 --> 01:57:21,879
Speaker 1: ordered many shots cut because he didn't like the angle

2013
01:57:21,920 --> 01:57:24,200
Speaker 1: on his face, and they cut so much that the

2014
01:57:24,200 --> 01:57:30,560
Speaker 1: band's management worried that the video was incoherent. Last Christmas

2015
01:57:30,600 --> 01:57:32,960
Speaker 1: was released on December third, nineteen eighty four, and it

2016
01:57:33,120 --> 01:57:36,440
Speaker 1: stalled at number two on the UK charts, behind another

2017
01:57:36,520 --> 01:57:40,160
Speaker 1: song featuring George Michael band aids. Do they know It's Christmas?

2018
01:57:40,440 --> 01:57:43,640
Speaker 1: Which was released to raise money for the Ethiopian famine.

2019
01:57:44,000 --> 01:57:47,440
Speaker 1: George donated his royalties from Last Christmas to the same cause,

2020
01:57:47,600 --> 01:57:50,680
Speaker 1: and he continued to do so every year with the

2021
01:57:50,800 --> 01:57:54,160
Speaker 1: about half million dollars it raised annually. He was, by

2022
01:57:54,160 --> 01:57:57,600
Speaker 1: all accounts a genuinely really good guy. Damn man.

2023
01:57:57,640 --> 01:57:59,760
Speaker 2: I didn't know that he threw all of his Last

2024
01:58:00,000 --> 01:58:03,240
Speaker 2: Smith's money at charity. Bullsh Yeah, I mean not the

2025
01:58:03,240 --> 01:58:05,800
Speaker 2: bullsh was the charity? The bush is that song?

2026
01:58:06,160 --> 01:58:08,480
Speaker 1: Yeah? Do they know it's Christmas?

2027
01:58:08,520 --> 01:58:16,440
Speaker 2: Probably? It's an internationally famous holiday. I know when Boxing

2028
01:58:16,520 --> 01:58:16,920
Speaker 2: Day is?

2029
01:58:18,040 --> 01:58:25,080
Speaker 1: Do you know who Ramadan is? Got my ass? February

2030
01:58:25,080 --> 01:58:28,760
Speaker 1: to March? A happy early Ramadan. Thank you and also

2031
01:58:28,800 --> 01:58:33,879
Speaker 1: to you. For more than thirty five years, Last Christmas

2032
01:58:33,880 --> 01:58:36,360
Speaker 1: had the distinction of being the highest selling UK single

2033
01:58:36,400 --> 01:58:38,960
Speaker 1: of all time not to reach number one, but on

2034
01:58:39,080 --> 01:58:42,200
Speaker 1: January first, twenty twenty one, thirty six years after its

2035
01:58:42,200 --> 01:58:46,080
Speaker 1: original release, Last Christmas finally nabbed the top spot in

2036
01:58:46,120 --> 01:58:49,480
Speaker 1: the UK. For some reason, the song wasn't released as

2037
01:58:49,480 --> 01:58:52,160
Speaker 1: a commercial single in the United States and therefore wasn't

2038
01:58:52,200 --> 01:58:55,040
Speaker 1: eligible for the Billboard Hot one hundred chart until the

2039
01:58:55,120 --> 01:58:58,760
Speaker 1: rules were changed in nineteen ninety eight, and finally, in

2040
01:58:58,800 --> 01:59:01,560
Speaker 1: the wake of George Michael's unexpected death on Christmas Day

2041
01:59:01,600 --> 01:59:05,640
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, the song finally made its Hot one hundred debut,

2042
01:59:05,920 --> 01:59:08,440
Speaker 1: and it reached its peak position of number four on

2043
01:59:08,560 --> 01:59:13,320
Speaker 1: January third, twenty twenty three. We've said this before. There's

2044
01:59:13,320 --> 01:59:15,520
Speaker 1: a phrase in the UK where there's a hit, there's

2045
01:59:15,560 --> 01:59:18,720
Speaker 1: a writ, meaning a lawsuit, and the uber successful Last

2046
01:59:18,760 --> 01:59:22,879
Speaker 1: Christmas drew plagiarism accusations in the mid eighties. The publishing

2047
01:59:22,920 --> 01:59:25,640
Speaker 1: company Dick James Music, which owned a lot of the

2048
01:59:25,680 --> 01:59:29,320
Speaker 1: Beatles songs in the early days, sued Michael on behalf

2049
01:59:29,360 --> 01:59:32,840
Speaker 1: of the writers of Can't Smile Without You, which was

2050
01:59:32,880 --> 01:59:35,839
Speaker 1: a love song recorded by The Carpenters and Barry Manilow,

2051
01:59:35,880 --> 01:59:39,560
Speaker 1: among others. Have you ever heard this? No? Do you

2052
01:59:39,600 --> 01:59:42,880
Speaker 1: want to hear it? Do not know this song? You know? Why?

2053
01:59:48,920 --> 02:00:14,160
Speaker 1: Can't SMI Lamb came same fun lane Plan I hear

2054
02:00:14,360 --> 02:00:17,840
Speaker 1: what they're saying, But the suit was dismissed after a

2055
02:00:17,960 --> 02:00:22,640
Speaker 1: musicologist presented sixty plus songs that have a similar chord

2056
02:00:22,640 --> 02:00:28,200
Speaker 1: progression and melody. Yes, Last Christmas has drawn more than

2057
02:00:28,240 --> 02:00:30,400
Speaker 1: its fair share of covers over the years from everyone

2058
02:00:30,520 --> 02:00:36,600
Speaker 1: ranging from Jimmy Eat World, Hillary Duff Good, Charlotte, Ariana Grande, Coldplay, Apparently,

2059
02:00:36,760 --> 02:00:41,560
Speaker 1: Carl Red, Jebson, Gwen Stefani, Backstreet Boys, and Taylor Swift.

2060
02:00:41,760 --> 02:00:45,240
Speaker 1: Its ubiquity has led to an internet game known as Wamageddon,

2061
02:00:46,680 --> 02:00:49,800
Speaker 1: in which players attempt to avoid the song between December

2062
02:00:49,840 --> 02:00:53,520
Speaker 1: one and December twenty fourth. According to the very simple

2063
02:00:53,600 --> 02:00:56,120
Speaker 1: rules of the game, once you hear the original wham

2064
02:00:56,240 --> 02:01:01,000
Speaker 1: version of Last Christmas. Remixes and covers don't count. Once

2065
02:01:01,040 --> 02:01:04,800
Speaker 1: you've been whammed, you then admit defeat on social media

2066
02:01:04,840 --> 02:01:09,000
Speaker 1: with the hashtag wham Ageddon. Note the rules prohibit you

2067
02:01:09,040 --> 02:01:14,600
Speaker 1: from quote deliberately sending your friends to whamhlla wam Halla.

2068
02:01:14,760 --> 02:01:17,640
Speaker 2: That's pretty fun. That is an incredible turn of phrase.

2069
02:01:17,760 --> 02:01:20,960
Speaker 1: Yes. Finally, I like to end on the story of

2070
02:01:20,960 --> 02:01:25,640
Speaker 1: the Austrian DJ Joe Kolhoffer, who began his eight am

2071
02:01:25,800 --> 02:01:29,440
Speaker 1: radio show on December eighteenth, twenty fifteen, by complaining that

2072
02:01:29,480 --> 02:01:32,480
Speaker 1: he felt like his listeners were not in the Christmas spirit.

2073
02:01:33,560 --> 02:01:37,360
Speaker 1: He then barricaded himself in his studio, shoving a wooden

2074
02:01:37,440 --> 02:01:40,879
Speaker 1: chair under the doorknob, and proceeded to play last Christmas

2075
02:01:40,880 --> 02:01:43,760
Speaker 1: on loop for upwards of two hours as a quote

2076
02:01:43,840 --> 02:01:48,360
Speaker 1: Christmas protest. His co host and station producers tried to

2077
02:01:48,400 --> 02:01:51,960
Speaker 1: break down the door, but to no avail. He eventually

2078
02:01:52,040 --> 02:01:54,840
Speaker 1: stopped playing Wham only after his four year old daughter

2079
02:01:54,960 --> 02:01:58,160
Speaker 1: called into the station to tell her father give up

2080
02:01:58,360 --> 02:02:02,560
Speaker 1: that she didn't like the song. Please, just I'm begging you,

2081
02:02:02,720 --> 02:02:05,360
Speaker 1: give up peacefully. I don't know how much this was

2082
02:02:05,360 --> 02:02:08,520
Speaker 1: a promo like it clearly must have been some kind

2083
02:02:08,560 --> 02:02:10,680
Speaker 1: of hype event. But in a lot of ways, I

2084
02:02:10,760 --> 02:02:14,040
Speaker 1: feel like that DJ right now holding you and listeners

2085
02:02:14,080 --> 02:02:19,280
Speaker 1: hostage with my holiday cheer. No, this has been good.

2086
02:02:19,320 --> 02:02:20,320
Speaker 1: I enjoyed this.

2087
02:02:20,480 --> 02:02:23,080
Speaker 2: I not only because it's your birthday, but because you

2088
02:02:23,200 --> 02:02:27,640
Speaker 2: clearly love Christmas songs so much I do, and I

2089
02:02:27,680 --> 02:02:30,600
Speaker 2: hope you can all just see this holiday with your eyes.

2090
02:02:30,720 --> 02:02:34,320
Speaker 2: My friend, Ah, thank you.

2091
02:02:33,920 --> 02:02:35,480
Speaker 1: I you know what I will take.

2092
02:02:35,400 --> 02:02:40,800
Speaker 2: As it keeps as it keeps going. Yes, well, Grandfather

2093
02:02:40,880 --> 02:02:42,120
Speaker 2: clock going again in my house.

2094
02:02:43,240 --> 02:02:46,240
Speaker 1: I think that's a great way to end it. Well,

2095
02:02:46,320 --> 02:02:49,080
Speaker 1: Father Time does make fools of us. All twas not

2096
02:02:49,160 --> 02:02:52,200
Speaker 1: quite the night before Christmas, and all through the house.

2097
02:02:52,040 --> 02:02:55,320
Speaker 2: All through the house, the podcasters were stirring because we

2098
02:02:55,360 --> 02:02:56,560
Speaker 2: don't have anything better to do.

2099
02:02:56,840 --> 02:02:58,800
Speaker 1: Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house

2100
02:02:58,880 --> 02:03:06,440
Speaker 1: a slow of obscenities from Heigel's mouth. Oh well hopes

2101
02:03:06,440 --> 02:03:08,720
Speaker 1: that Johnny Katzenberg soon wouldn't be there.

2102
02:03:09,720 --> 02:03:12,520
Speaker 2: Peace, honor, I think, goodwill to all men, especially my

2103
02:03:12,560 --> 02:03:16,120
Speaker 2: co host. And on this the anniversary of his birth,

2104
02:03:16,200 --> 02:03:21,320
Speaker 2: he's turning a whopping seventeen. One day he'll be able

2105
02:03:21,320 --> 02:03:24,800
Speaker 2: to vote and buy liquor, and until then he has

2106
02:03:24,840 --> 02:03:27,920
Speaker 2: to console himself with his rare beatles and Beach Boys

2107
02:03:28,000 --> 02:03:31,600
Speaker 2: records and talking to all of you are fine listeners

2108
02:03:31,640 --> 02:03:34,880
Speaker 2: here at too much information. So everybody wish Jordan a

2109
02:03:34,880 --> 02:03:37,440
Speaker 2: happy birthday wherever you can find him, and give his

2110
02:03:37,480 --> 02:03:40,560
Speaker 2: birthday presents to me, because I can be trusted with

2111
02:03:40,680 --> 02:03:44,160
Speaker 2: somes of money and I will pass them on to him.

2112
02:03:45,720 --> 02:03:49,000
Speaker 1: And Jordan. Did you have anything to add to that? No,

2113
02:03:49,200 --> 02:03:52,360
Speaker 1: just thank you for oh, thank you Heigel for taking

2114
02:03:52,360 --> 02:03:54,240
Speaker 1: the time for doing this with me, and thank you

2115
02:03:54,280 --> 02:03:57,480
Speaker 1: all for listening and just being there for us and

2116
02:03:57,600 --> 02:04:00,080
Speaker 1: reaching out to us with the kind words and and

2117
02:04:00,600 --> 02:04:04,360
Speaker 1: jokes and insights and ideas for episodes. Let me that

2118
02:04:04,480 --> 02:04:07,400
Speaker 1: really is the best gift of all, just your time

2119
02:04:07,680 --> 02:04:10,120
Speaker 1: and sharing the space with us. It really means a lot.

2120
02:04:10,280 --> 02:04:13,040
Speaker 1: And Jordan, thank you. No, I thank you first, well,

2121
02:04:13,040 --> 02:04:19,480
Speaker 1: but Jordan, thank you. Can we have a sincere off

2122
02:04:19,560 --> 02:04:28,520
Speaker 1: right now? I don't know who would win? Jordan, thank you? Okay,

2123
02:04:28,600 --> 02:04:30,560
Speaker 1: I can't do it. I can't do it. Come on,

2124
02:04:30,640 --> 02:04:34,240
Speaker 1: come on, give me one. Hit me, hit me. I

2125
02:04:34,320 --> 02:04:36,840
Speaker 1: will thank you for doing this with me. It really

2126
02:04:36,840 --> 02:04:38,920
Speaker 1: means the world. Oh that was really good. I know.

2127
02:04:39,240 --> 02:04:40,840
Speaker 2: All right, all right, all right, let me see if

2128
02:04:40,880 --> 02:04:45,840
Speaker 2: I can an actor prepares unique New York, New York's

2129
02:04:45,960 --> 02:04:49,640
Speaker 2: Unique Jordan.

2130
02:04:52,200 --> 02:04:57,000
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, Master Wayne.

2131
02:04:57,040 --> 02:05:01,040
Speaker 2: Let me do the broken voice br Evoke and broken

2132
02:05:01,160 --> 02:05:05,600
Speaker 2: voice Cigar and Brandy's Poosy's voice Tom which it gets

2133
02:05:05,800 --> 02:05:06,920
Speaker 2: very very broken.

2134
02:05:07,120 --> 02:05:13,800
Speaker 1: Thank thank you, Master Pruce. Thank you for listening. Folks.

2135
02:05:13,800 --> 02:05:16,640
Speaker 1: I can't believe you put up with this. Our whole year,

2136
02:05:17,080 --> 02:05:19,600
Speaker 1: really our pleasure. We love hearing from you, guys. I

2137
02:05:19,640 --> 02:05:21,680
Speaker 1: love hanging out with Jordan. Wish him a heavy birthday

2138
02:05:21,680 --> 02:05:24,040
Speaker 1: wherever you find him, and I wish all of you

2139
02:05:24,280 --> 02:05:28,280
Speaker 1: wonderful holidays with your family and happy New Year. I'm

2140
02:05:28,280 --> 02:05:32,360
Speaker 1: Alex Heigel and I'm Jordan RUNTGG. We'll catch you next time.

2141
02:05:33,360 --> 02:05:42,040
Speaker 1: Happy Holidays. Too Much Information was a production of iHeartRadio.

2142
02:05:42,280 --> 02:05:45,520
Speaker 1: The show's executive producers are Noel Brown and Jordan Runtalk.

2143
02:05:45,680 --> 02:05:49,160
Speaker 1: The show's supervising producer is Michael Alder June. The show

2144
02:05:49,280 --> 02:05:52,040
Speaker 1: was researched, written, and hosted by Jordan run Talk and

2145
02:05:52,080 --> 02:05:55,080
Speaker 1: Alex Heigel, with original music by Seth Applebaum. I'm a

2146
02:05:55,080 --> 02:05:57,720
Speaker 1: Ghost Funk Orchestra. If you like what you heard, please

2147
02:05:57,720 --> 02:06:00,240
Speaker 1: subscribe and leave us a review. For more podcast us

2148
02:06:00,240 --> 02:06:04,240
Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

2149
02:06:04,280 --> 02:06:05,560
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows