We’ve already established that I’m cheap. Frugal. Miserly. And this is another blog compounding that fact.
I like my deals and I like Christmas and I like public domain stuff.
Even if items are not in the public domain – you might be able to find some other types of deals. One deal I found a number of years ago was “foreign” tapes.
Now, for those of you who were born after, say, 1985, audio tapes and record albums ruled the day. For a short while 8-Track tapes were popular but they fell out of favor pretty quickly when you couldn’t have a song longer than, say 8 minutes on one track and had to split it up. Same went with 45’s (played at 45 RPMs – revolutions per minute). I know, I’m bogging you down in minutiae that makes no possible sense now in the days of CDs and MP3s and “Cloud Technology” and IPods and bladdity-bladdity-blah.
One of my first CDs I ever bought was a Christmas CD at 5th Avenue Records (loooooooooooong gone).
But back to foreign tapes. I soon found audio tapes of Christmas music and other artists and other collections that were “manufactured in France” or “manufactured in Italy.” These foreign creations were usually made up of popular hit songs but they were pulled from somewhere else. Let me ‘splain:
Nat “King” Cole has a hit song entitled “Mona Lisa.” It’s on an album, it’s popular but, somehow this other company finds a version performed on, say, the “Ed Sullivan” show and rips that and puts it on a tape. I don’t know HOW they do this. I don’t know if this is even legal, but somehow, in some way, I’m popping in a $2.99 tape of Nat “King” Cole hits and they’re mostly live performances from SOMEWHERE. They’re certainly not off the studio album as the quality and the applause make that abundantly clear. But these are rarities, just the same. And, sometimes, the quality is fantastic and, well, you can’t beat the price. And most, if not all, of these creations were FILLED with songs. At least 12, sometimes 15, most of them 20. Value AND Price – a winning combination – if you ask me.
Once I found these deals – I started grabbing up every collection I could find. Hits from the 1940’s! British Pop Hits from the 1960’s! Nat “King” Cole! And even rare early Frank Sinatra! (Note, the cover photo of Frank Sinatra tape gave him brown eyes....when his nick-name was “ol’ blue eyes.”) Silly foreigners and their weird possibly illegal music pressings.
A couple collections I got were of Christmas music. Speaking of Nat “King” Cole – one of his most famous songs is “The Christmas Song” or more commonly known as “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.” Was THAT song included? No. These tapes had those classic Christmas Cole songs of “Happiest Christmas Tree” and “Mrs. Santa Claus.” Not really your big hits.
When I was working at Miller Nash, long before the Internet and MP3s, I’d crank up the Christmas tunes with my co-worker Liane. One of the songs on these collections was the Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters song “Here Comes Santa Claus” – a classic staple that you probably hear a couple dozen times during the Holiday Season. Still...you probably haven’t heard THIS version. The version where Bing Crosby gets all “Ghetto” on our Christmas timey asses.
Bing Crosby is about as white as white can be. He plays golf, he croons, and he’s from Spokane for Chrissakes!
Standard Bing Crosby
But in this version of the song he sings a lyric:
“...Santa knows that we’re God’s Chillin’” Yes, that’s right, instead of “Children” he says “Chillin’”
Now, let’s ignore the obvious fact that we’re talking about “God” and “Santa” in the same sentence and this is quickly followed by the lyric: “Let’s give thanks to the Lord above ‘cause...Santa Claus comes tonight!” This blog is not a place to get into a God v. Santa smackdown. Still....
Liane turns to me and says: “What did he say?” I was pretty oblivious at the moment singing along like I always do when it comes to standard Christmas songs but we rewound the tape and listened to it again. Yes, it was Bing “Whiter-than-White” Crosby going all Ebonics on a classic Christmas tune. And damn, did we laugh about this.
Over the years I lost touch with Liane (thank God for Facebook and we’ve finally connected again) but every time I would hear this song...I would think of Bing “Gettin’ Down with the Sistas!” and think of Liane. Even if it wasn’t this EXACT version – because I’ve never heard this exact version played on the radio (I assume the company who made the tape pulled if off of some USO radio show in the 1940s). And every time it makes me laugh.
Bing Crosby, Christmas, and “God’s Chillin’” – always good for a laugh or two.
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