Multiple Mondays - Holiday Update Edition

Hi, everyone. This is an odd edition of Multiple Mondays. I'm going to update a lot of older MM posts with new versions from new artists.

First, let's start with the suggestions from Boy Howdy. He runs Cover Lay Down, the cover blog I'd most like to run if I weren't so dang lazy. In the comments section here last year, he recommended Amy Kuney's (video) take on "River" and Rosie Thomas' cover of "Christmas Don't Be Late (The Chipmunk Song)." They're both wonderful, magical Christmas tracks -- Rosie Thomas does something unexpected and unlikely: she takes a decades-old novelty song and transforms it into something meaningful and, yes, significant.

Remember "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky?" Sure you do. Well, REM want to play you a version called "(Ghost) Reindeer In The Sky."

Then, we'll hear two more versions of Charles Brown's classic "Merry Christmas Baby." First, Dolemite himself, Rudy Ray Moore growls his way through a bluesy 1971 take on it. Then, Sweden's Krystoffer Ragnstam knocks the song out of the park. If 1971 were a lot weirder, and you lived in a college town, this is the type of blues-pop fusion you could've heard in that alternate universe.

As always, I recommend the zipfile, but you can cherrypick if you insist.

Zipfile

1. Amy Kuney - River 1 2
2. Rosie Thomas - Christmas Don't Be Late 1 2
3. REM - Ghost Reindeer In The Sky 1 2
4. Rudy Ray Moore - Merry Christmas, Baby 1 2
5. Krystoffer Ragnstam - Merry Christmas, Baby 1 2

Have Yourself A Bluesy Little Christmas

Here is 2007's second mix. This one focuses on rhythm, blues, and soul with some hints of gospel thrown in. (2008's mixes will be posted on the 21st and the 23rd of the month.)

You'll note that this CD and ...Country Little Christmas both started with variations on "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." I actually had another one for the country CD, a Buck Owens tune called "Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy" but it didn't make the cut.

This CD contains two of my favorite Christmas records of all time, "White Christmas" by The Drifters and "Merry Christmas Baby" by Chuck Berry. I like both these songs so much they got their own posts earlier this month.

Tracklist:

01. Mark Anthony - Mama's Twistin' With Santa Claus
02. Lightnin' Hopkins - Santa
03. Canned Heat - Christmas Blues
04. The Drifters - White Christmas
05. Ray Charles - Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
06. Elvis Presley - Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)
07. Chuck Berry - Merry Christmas, Baby
08. Ike and Tina Turner - Merry Christmas Baby
09. Champion Jack Dupree - Santa Claus Blues
10. Clarence Carter - Back Door Santa
11. Fat Daddy - Fat Daddy
12. Ron Holden - Who Say There Ain't No Santa Claus
13. The Youngsters - Christmas In Jail
14. Seasick Steve And The Level Devils - Xmas Prison Blues
15. Leroy Carr - Christmas In Jail, Ain't That A Pain
16. The Harmony Grits - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
17. Charles Brown - Please Come Home For Christmas
18. Graham Parker and Nona Hendryx - Soul Christmas
19. Harmon Ray - Xmas Blues
20. Martin Sexton - Holly Jolly Christmas
21. The Black Ace - Xmas Time Blues
22. The Orioles - Lonely Christmas
23. Amos Milburn and Charles Brown - Christmas Comes But Once A Year
24. Otis Redding - White Christmas
25. B. B. King - Lonesome Christmas
26. Jimmy Liggins and His Drops Of Joy - I Want My Baby For Christmas
27. Solomon Burke - Presents On Christmas

Zip file

Multiple Mondays - Merry Christmas, Baby

I owe Charles Brown an apology. By all rights, and in the tradition of Multiple Mondays, his picture, or one of his album covers, should be over there to the right. (Keep reading to learn why I photoshopped a Santa hat on Chuck instead.)

You see, waaaaay back in 1947, rhythm and blues singer Charles Brown met a songwriter named Lou Baxter, who wanted him to record a song called "Merry Christmas Blues." Brown reworked the song and took it into the studio, where his usual collaborators, Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, provided the backing track. (Apparently it's actually Brown on the celeste, not an instrument you hear often on blues records.) Since then, Charles Brown rerecorded the song at least ten more times for about as many labels. I've included a version he did with Bonnie Raitt down below as a sample.

In 1958, Chuck Berry recorded his
version (the single included his new song "Run Run Rudolph" -- talk about a double A-side!). Chuck's version of this song is prime cover territory -- Johnnie Johnson's tinkly piano stands in for the celeste, while Chuck's almost-mournful guitar chills the happiness of the lyrics, showcasing the mellowness of this song. Also, Chuck doesn't include Brown's lyric "all lit up like a Christmas tree" -- this is a mellow version for cuddling by the fire with your baby, not rocking out or even swaying in time to the music. My good friend Steven Rusling suggested this song as his guest-post, and also sent along that alternate take down below, which just got released ten months ago in a massive box set I'm drooling over.

This post contains eight versions out of literally dozens and dozens that've been recorded. You get to hear B. B. King blast through the song, Ike and Tina rave it up, and Elvis starts out slow then builds to a rocking climax. Otis Redding's version is probably the happiest record he ever made. Next year I'll probably post a part two, and I'll inflict Mae West's version on you then. (I have a lot of good versions too, but hers will burn into your brain, like the rest of her full-length Christmas album.)

Johnny Moore's Three Blazers with Charles Brown
Chuck Berry (released take + alternate version_
Ike and Tina Turner
Elvis Presley
Otis Redding
B. B. King
Bonnie Raitt and Charles Brown

Zipfile