This is one of the treasures of my music collection, with a great backstory. Many years ago, while the internet was in its infancy and the earth's crust was still cooling, I met a guy online and traded some tapes with him (I can't find him these days, so I won't name him and maybe get him in trouble). He claimed to have an uncle who worked for Motown during the early 80s, who gave him all kinds of rare outtakes. I have a wonderful 90-minute tape of this stuff, with vocal flubs and studio chatter.And then there's this.
As previously mentioned, this blog is officially neutral on the subject of cussing in Christmas songs. I apologize for the censor's bleep -- apparently that's on the original tape my friend's uncle copied. (No telling what generation that tape is, hence the low fidelity.) Close listeners will note that this appears to be the original backing track -- since the vast majority of Motown records were recorded first as instrumentals, then the vocals added*, apparently this is an alternate vocal take from Michael and the boys. Now I personally think this is absolutely adorable and hilarious in a juvenile way, but there are others who would find this offensive, so I understand why this will never officially see the light of day.
I'm posting this on Wednesday, December 10th. I'm also starting a pool to see how long it takes Motown to serve me legal papers to remove it, so get it while you can.
*Longtime readers of this blog will already know this, as Motown songwriter Barrett Strong told you this in this post.
1 comment:
Screw Linus, this is the true meaning of Christmas right here.
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