Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Merry Christmas (Darling)

This is my favorite Christmas Song.  And if you check out my podcast this week there's a great story behind the song. (Just scroll up and click on the gold arrow.)

It of course is Merry Christmas Darling by the Carpenters.  To my knowledge, no radio station has banned it yet.

And interestingly, it's one of the few Christmas songs that doesn't have a million cover versions.  Karen's voice is so integrated with the song that it's hard to imagine anyone else doing it.  

Christmas is a very special time.  This is the one day of the year you can wear those ridiculous sweaters.  So my wish to you is a joyous holiday filled with movies and Chinese Food.  Oh wait -- that's me.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

17 comments :

Stephen Marks said...

"a joyous day filled with food" followed by a Karen Carpenter clip.........YIKES! Ken, Ken, Ken, please, and on Xmas of all days. Christmas is no time for jokes, I am appalled and will never post here again. In this era of social correctness and this day of peace on Earth and good will towards man, plus the Queen's message being delivered to us today, this was not a time for levity. With the exception of Hung Lo's take-out just down the road from Ken's, nobody is going to benefit from this joke.

I have a fire going now and I'm going to throw in my box sets of Almost Perfect, Cheers, Frasier, MASH and Mary. I'm keeping Big Wave Dave's because, well, I liked it. I'm going over to Earl's blog now because I know he won't make fun of Sally Struther's weight issues or Rock Hudson's private life. But before I go I'm going to piss Ken off with this.......Merry Christmas R.J. Wagner.

On a happier note, there is no snow here in Canada and pot is legal.......MERRY CHRISTMAS

DrBOP said...

I know it's a geezer cliche, but it's not REALLY Christmas until this lady sings:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpimLgh3pJU

Hope everyone is havin" a rockin' little Christmas!

DrBOP said...

Of course, the family then kicks me out of the house ON CHRISTMAS MORNING just because I threw this on:

www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=134&v=aFXxTzFriTk

Just tryin' to say that we can all have a wonderful Clown Face-free life.

Mike Bloodworth said...

Ho ho ho! ¡Feliz Navidad a todos! I can't wait for your New Years rant.
M.B.

zapatty said...

I trust that you will be making rather merry today, Ken, but be back all the earlier tomorrow ;-)

tvfats said...

Back at ya fellow Valley Boy...

Mike Barer said...

Your story on the podcast was so good, I had to go to you tube to hear the song again.

Lauren said...

Not to mention the Carpenters Christmas album is exquisite all the way through!

Mike said...

And at #1 in our series of popstars looking gaunt at Christmas is Lemmy.
Here, adlibbing in an advert for dairy foods, Lemmy was dead within the month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl3_VPOAFBs

Nathan said...

For once Hollywood is ripping apart their own. Good!

It seems there are many celebrities who hate Kevin Spacey. The Arquettes especially.


https://www.indiewire.com/2018/12/jon-favraeu-ridicule-kevin-spacey-video-trump-legal-time-1202030557/


Merry Christmas Ken.

Mike Bloodworth said...

P.S. Speaking of Christmas songs, the one song I didn't hear this year is The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) Is this yet another song, like Baby It's Cold Outside, that's been banned because of political correctness? I don't know why that would be. Yet, I suppose that if one looked hard enough he or she could find offence in anything.
Joyeux Noel!
M.B.

Greg Ehrbar said...

Christmas with the Carpenters, Goodyear and Barbra

Funny you should mention a cover of "Merry Christmas, Darling." Actually The Carpenters did one, sort of. The original single was released in 1970, but when it was added to the "Christmas Portrait" album (with the Norman Rockwell cover) in 1978, the music bed was remixed and Karen sang a new vocal.

The 1978 version is the one we hear most of the time, and is the one she lip-synched on the TV special. The 1970 version appeared on a few compilation CDs and on the Columbia compilation album "Christmas Is..." sold at Goodyear tire stores in 1972 (that's the one that got me so curious about the two versions).

The way to tell the difference is in the way she sings "happy new year too." In 1970, she sang it the same way in the last half of the song as in the first. In the remix, she changed "too" the second time.

Few realize how influential the Goodyear Columbia Christmas album still are on the music we hear every year. In addition to including favorite selections from various Columbia albums (and a few from other labels), a PR firm called Malcolm Arnold and Associates arranged to have celebrities do new tracks especially for Goodyear every year--like Cary Grant, Petula Clark, Sally Ann Howes. Some of the ones that still get lots of play are "The Christmas Song" by Carol Burnett, "What Child is This" by Vikki Carr and "Silent Night by Julie Andrews.

Some are even like BUTTAH! Without the liner notes in front of me, I recall that Barbra herself recorded "Silent Night," "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and "The Lord's Prayer" for Goodyear when she was under contract to Columbia. Like steel-belted radial BUTTAH!

JoeyH said...

My favorite, too. Perfect.

PJ said...

this is my new favorite Christmas video, even though it's from 1996. She handled it like a pro!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z84QdJlPpHE

Alan Gollom said...

Great backstory. Thank you for sharing, Ken. Sleigh Ride (pretty well any orchestral version) and Merry Christmas Darling are the two songs I have to hear every Christmas. Happy Holidays.

Liggie said...

I'm just happy I got through this Christmas without hearing "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer".

Mike Barer said...

I sure love that song.