Popular Nostalgia

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A Muppet Family Christmas is a 1987 Christmas television special starring Jim Henson’s Muppets. Fozzie Bear’s mother thinks she has it all worked out for Christmas. She is going to California for the holidays and is renting out her home to the quiet and unassuming Doc. Until Fozzie comes home bringing all of his Muppet […]

Vaughn Wilton Monroe was born October 7, 1911 and showed an early talent for the trumpet. He wanted to be an opera singer, but the Depression made that ambition impractical. Instead, he sang with several bands, among them Austin Wylie (who later worked for Artie Shaw), Larry Funk (for which he made his recording debut), […]

Released in December 1994, this song reached number 1 in several countries although it lost out to East 17’s “Stay Another Day” in the UK. It sold eight million copies and was belted out by many a hen-night up and down the land. In December 2006 “All I Want for Christmas Is You” became the […]

Boney M were a West German pop and disco group who toured extensively throughout the 1970’s. The line-up of singers has changed many times over the decades, but the singers who performed and lip-synched on this single were: Maizie Williams, Bobby Farrell, Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett with Frank Farian as manager and behind-the-scenes vocalist. […]

“Two Little Boys” is a song written by Theodore Morse and Edward Madden in 1902 about the experiences of two men in the US Civil War. In 1969 it was revived by good old Rolf Harris, who hobbled his way through the notes and made it all sound like there was a punch line coming […]

“Christmas Alphabet” was Christmas #1 in 1955. He had been named Top UK Male Vocalist in 1952 and 1954. He could impersonate many famous singers and had sung with the top big bands of the era. Dicky appeared on “CALLING DICKIE VALENTINE” (ATV) in 1961. This series for the popular fifties and early sixties singer […]

“Mistletoe and Wine” got to number one in the UK in 1988. It features a choirboy, brass band and some dodgy graphics on the video. Check out the 80’s bouffant hair and the long grey shapeless coats. Anyone who can sway with as much gusto as Cliff Richard deserves a number one. The original was […]

“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” was written and first performed in 1934. The original was more instrumental than vocal. There is a version by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, which was one of the first covers. The best part about this song is the latitude for jazz and big band antics, which is […]

“Stop the Cavalry” was released in 1980 for Christmas. This track was originally written as an anti-war song but a line about about a soldier wishing he was home for Christmas led the record company to add tubular bells and turn this tune into a yuletide staple. Thanks to the brass band arrangement, the track […]

Mud’s cover of the Elvis hit was a glam rock success. Rob Davis (lead guitar) went on to write “I just can’t get you out of my head” for Kylie Minogue and “Spiller” for Groovejet. Les Gray (vocals) died in February 2004 after taking his show “Les Gray’s Mud” around the UK. Mud were big […]

This song was released in 1987. Kirsty MacColl was drafted in for the female lyrics after Cait O’Riordan left the band. MacColl was later killed in a boating accident and Katie Melua sang the part instead on a 2007 performance for Jonathan Ross. The track reached #1 in Ireland but was kept off the top […]

This song was kept off the top spot in 1984 by Band Aid’s “Do they know it’s Christmas?”. George Michael had still had input on that day and Wham! decided to donate all of the money from their song to the Band Aid appeal anyway to help mitigate the effects of the Ethiopian famine. “Last […]

The biggest selling track of Brenda Lee’s career is “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”. In 1958, when she was 13, Owen Bradley asked Lee to record a new song written by Johnny Marks, who wrote “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (Gene Autry) and “A Holly, Jolly Christmas” (Burl Ives). Lee recorded the song, in July with […]

The story of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer was written in 1939 by Robert L. May, a copywriter for the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward department stores, as a promotional gift for the store’s customers. May considered Rollo or Reginald before settling on Rudolph. Rudolph’s story was made into a song when May’s brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, developed […]

First released by Gene Autry in 1950, Frosty the Snowman was later performed by the Jackson 5 and many other artists. The first version got to number 7 in the US charts and is a perennial success. Gene Autry had previous success with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. “Frosty” was written by Steve Edward Nelson and […]