The "Insane World Of Mike Sain" airs every Wednesday at 9:00 AM Eastern Time on WPON-AM 1460 Detroit. Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!! Today's show featured novelty and other oldies Christmas songs. For each song listed below, the year corresponds to when it was first heard on the radio, typically around late November to early December of that year. Many of these Christmas oldies charted more than once and have, over the years, became perennial fixtures.
- Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - The Crystals - 1963
- The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) - The Chipmunks - 1958
- Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes - 1963
- All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth) - Spike Jones - 1948 (by request)
- Silent Night - Simon And Garfunkel - 1966
- Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer - Elmo And Patsy - 1983 (by request)
- Winter Wonderland - Darlene Love - 1963
- I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas - Yogi Yorgesson - 1949
- Here Comes Santa Claus - Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans - 1963
- I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus - Kip Addotta - 1984
- The Christmas Song - Nat "King" Cole - 1946
- 12 Days Of Christmas - Bob and Doug McKenzie - 1981
Disclosure: This page includes links that will take you to various online merchants outside of allbutforgottenoldies.net that sell recordings with some of the songs featured on this page. Please note that these are referral or affiliate links from which allbutforgottenoldies.net may receive, at no additional cost to you, a commission if you should make any purchases through them.
Notes: All songs listed above except for "Silent Night" by Simon & Garfunkel and "The Christmas Song" by Nat "King" Cole are included on the compilation CDs Dr. Demento Presents: Greatest Christmas Novelty CD and A Christmas Gift for You From Phil Spector.
- The Crystals' "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" was included on Phil Spector's 1963 compilation album, "A Christmas Gift For You" (Philles PHLP-4005).
- The Chipmunks' "The Christmas Song" first topped the charts in 1958 and became a perennial favorite thereafter. The Chipmunks are also famous for a number of other Christmas novelty songs including "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer." The Chipmunks were created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville) by recording normal voices and speeding up the playback on a tape machine. Prior to the Chipmunks, Bagdasarian had appeared in several movies and debuted on the charts with "The Trouble With Harry" (1956, recorded as Alfi & Harry). He also charted with several solo songs as David Seville, including "Armen's Theme" (1957).
- The Ronettes' "Sleigh Ride" was included on Phil Spector's 1963 compilation album, "A Christmas Gift For You" (Philles PHLP-4005).
- Spike Jones' "All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)" topped the charts around Christmas in 1948. Spike Jones and His City Slickers was a zany band whose signature sound was created by using lots of real bells and whistles.
- Simon & Garfunkel's "Silent Night" was included on their 1966 album, "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme" (Columbia CS-9363). This unusual rendition of "Silent Night" has a news broadcast of then-current events running continuously in the background.
- "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy topped the charts around Christmas in 1983 and 1984 and recharted in 1992 and 1998. "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" was the only charted song for this husband-wife performing duo.
- Darlene Love's "Winter Wonderland" was included on Phil Spector's 1963 compilation album, "A Christmas Gift For You" (Philles PHLP-4005). Darlene Love also charted in 1993 with another Christmas song, "All Alone On Christmas." Singer-actress Darlene Love charted with several solo songs in the early 1960s and was the lead singer for the Blossoms. She also sang the lead for a number of songs by the Crystals and Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans.
- "I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas" by Yogi Yorgesson (real name: Harry Stewart) is sung and (mostly) spoken in a pseudo Swedish accent. Yorgesson's only other charted song was another Christmas novelty song, "Yingle Bells," which was the flip side of "I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas."
- Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans are best remembered for their rendition of the classic Disney song, "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" which was their chart debut song in 1963. Their version of "Here Comes Santa Claus" was included on Phil Spector's 1963 compilation album, "A Christmas Gift For You" (Philles PHLP-4005).
- "I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus" by comedian Kip Addotta is a risque spoof on the 4 Season's more innocent "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (1964).
- Another perennial favorite is "The Christmas Song" by Nat "King" Cole. The original version of this beloved chestnut as performed by the King Cole Trio first charted in 1946 on Capitol 311. A newer version was released in 1954, and in 1960, another version was released on Capitol 3561 which charted throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and most of the 1980s. "The Christmas Song" also topped the charts for Herb Alpert in 1968 and was a chart hit for several other artists as well.
- Canadian comedy duo Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas (a.k.a. Bob & Doug McKenzie) had only one chart hit, "Take Off" (1982). Their spoof on "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" was included on their 1981 album, "The Great White North: Bob and Doug McKenzie" (Anthem Records ANR 1-1036).
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