This will absolutely be the silliest Multiple Monday ever, and it's also another oddball one. We're looking at some wildly different (but all closely-related) versions of a call-and-response style of song.
(Next week I can put up a regular MM post, I think.)So,
sometime in the last four hundred years (estimates vary and historians are widely divided on the
genealogy of the song), German-speakers came up with a call-and-response song named "
Schnitzelbank." It's known in America these days as a drinking song heard at Oktoberfests all around the country.
First, we'll hear a traditional Oktoberfest version from Schwarze Schafe, then a kiddie parody from The Biscuit Brothers.
Bill Haley and His Comets rewrite it and rock it up as "Rockin' Rollin' Schnitzelbank." Next, the version probably best known to Americans under 35 and not of German heritage, the version from
Animaniacs.
Okay, so in 1953, Mel Blanc recorded a holiday version of "Schnitzelbank" entitled "Ya, Das Ist Ein Christmas Tree" which is an excuse to showcase his incredible voice talents. And that was in turn parodied decades later by Joel Kopischke as "Stupid Christmas Song."
Somewhere in the middle of all this mess,
our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft, added his own version of the song, a silly love song called "Oh You Sweet One."
Now, finally, we come to the point. At least by 1961, which is when Mitch Miller committed his version to tape, we got around to hearing "Must Be Santa." It retains the structure and polka style of "Schnitzelbank" but changes the tune a little and the lyrics a lot. Now it's all about the fat man in the red suit.
(I know, I know, I'd never have guessed I'd post a Mitch Miller track on this blog, but it really brings out the call-and-response aspect, and I don't have another good classic take on the song.)I'd intended at this point in the post to write a long review of Bob's album, but it's been done other places by better, more knowledgeable writers and this post is already a leetle long. So, let me just say this: it's not a particularly good Christmas album, and it's not a particularly good Dylan album.
(Bob is one of those people like Tom Waits or Lou Reed, who has the ability to make sweet pretty music but doesn't do so very often. He doesn't try to make any of these songs particularly pretty, and most of them were written to be pretty.)It is, however, all for charity. A good charity. There's no buy link today, just a link to donate to that charity.
"Must Be Santa" is the best track on the album, largely because (in my opinion) it doesn't express or try to inspire reverence for the holiday which means a lot of different things to a lot of different people (and has meant several different things to Bob over the span of his career, I'd bet).
Then, after Bob finishes up, we have the triumphant return of
Glenn Campbot, with his ladyfriend Linda Ronbodt, singing "Must Be Giftbot." I love me some singing robots. As always, I recommend the zipfile.
1. Schwarze Schafe - Die Schnitzelbank
1 22. The Biscuit Brothers - Schnitzelbank
1 23. Bill Haley and His Comets - Rockin' Rollin' Schnitzelbank
1 24. Animaniacs - Schnitzelbank
1 25. Mel Blanc - Ya, Das Ist Ein Christmas Tree
1 26. Joel Kopischke - Stupid Christmas Song
1 27. Thurl Ravenscroft - Oh You Sweet One
1 2
8. Mitch Miller and The Gang - Must Be Santa
1 29. Bob Dylan - Must Be Santa
1 210. Glenn Campbot and Linda Ronbodt - Must Be Giftbot
1 2
Hi, everyone. I'm back in town from my wonderful honeymoon, and I'm afraid I let Thurl Ravenscroft's birthday slip up on me. I don't have any new stuff uploaded, but here's a link to all the stuff I've put up in the past.
This will absolutely be the silliest Multiple Monday ever, and it's also another oddball one. We're looking at some wildly different (but all closely-related) versions of a call-and-response style of song. (Next week I can put up a regular MM post, I think.)
The Asylum Street Spankers (official Myspace wiki AMG) are an Austin-based group of bluesy, folkie swingers. This track uses each verse of the song to highlight a different side of their musical versatility. Besides the country verse I excerpted as a hidden mystery track here, they also take on lounge crooners, oldschool ska, and Mr. Tom Waits. And they acquit themselves admirably in each style.
First, I need to get some housekeeping out of the way. Here is last year's Halloween post, with links to all of 2008's spooky stuff. This year, in addition to the stuff this week, I've posted 20 versions of "Season of the Witch" and ten more versions of "I Put A Spell On You." If the stuff I've put up this week is too goofy, and not horrific enough for you, why not try this post, with a cowboy ghost story? Or this post about crazed murderers? (Speaking of murder, there's no Stag post today, sorry. Stagger Lee Saturdays will return in one week.)
Ye come seekin' adventure and salty old pirates, eh? Sure, ye've come to the proper place. Aye, har be the final post o' Pirate Week. Forty-some years ago, the Disneyland ride Pirates O' The Caribbean opened. Soon after they called on our patron saint, Thurl Ra'enscroft, t' narrate a record tellin' the story o' the attraction. I posted that record on Thurl's birthday this year, and ye may find it har.
Stan Jones (AMG wiki Disney-centric bio), if the back cover of this album can be believed (click through to read it, then click to the AMG link to read a different version of the story), was a simple park ranger, until one day he coincidentally met some Hollywood types. They suggested he seek fame and fortune, and the rest is history.
Today is February 6, which would've been Thurl Ravenscroft's 95th birthday. Around here, we call it Saint Thurl's Day. (You'll recall, I'm sure, that Thurl is the patron saint of She'll Grow Back.)
Here is post number one, in my attempt to write a post every day between now and Christmas. Our patron saint, Thurl Ravenscroft, recorded lots of Christmas music, and here's the 35 minutes I have in my collection. This includes 3 songs in which Thurl plays Santa, four tracks about the birth of Jesus (a subject dear to Thurl's heart -- his first public performance was in the church choir), and clips he recorded for Christmastime in the Disney parks.
Howdy all. I'll be back to posting all-new stuff tomorrow morning. But first, here's a holiday megapost, with all the spooky stuff I've posted so far on this li'l bloggity, and a little bonus.
I missed last week's Multiple Monday, and I'm in the middle of compiling a monster for next week. But I couldn't let two Mondays in a row go by without something. So I'm going to let someone else do my work for me. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you lilgorgor, and his tribute to (Ghost) Riders In The Sky!
Howdy, folks. Here's some early Disneyland audio to round out our week of Disneyana MP3s.
First off, I must introduce all of you to Thurl Ravenscroft, the patron saint of She'll Grow Back. That's him, right there to the right. He's the original voice of Tony The Tiger, and the singer of "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (not Boris Karloff, as so many people assume). During his 70-year career, he also did quite a bit of work with Disney. He voiced characters for The Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, narrated The Disneyland Railroad, and sang lead on this song, "Grim Grinning Ghosts".
