Sorry for the radio silence—the buyers of my old house moved up the closing from the 15th to the 7th and now they want to close on Friday (i.e., in two days). I'm not complaining—God bless 'em—but with the New Year's holidays intervening, we're all scrambling. My pool table is still in the basement there and I have a trailer full of stuff in the driveway and a hundred and one things to do—I need the property tax receipt, my realtor has to collect lien waivers, all sorts of details I thought I'd have another week to plug away at. It's not so much that this move has been difficult, as that I'm just really bad at this sort of thing.
In a lot of ways, 2014 was one of the best years of my life. I'll be sorry to see it go, and I'll be hoping for a lot of carryover into 2015. I didn't have one of these—
Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson's "Blue Christmas" is mainly associated with Elvis Presley, who recorded it in 1957, but it had already been a hit for several musicians by that time and it would go on to be recorded by everyone from Shakin' Stevens to Polkadot Cadaver. Including a version by the Beach Boys in 1964 that's so schlocky it'll make your fillings tingle.
On the other hand, it's a perfect match for the antiquarian stylings of Mister Colonel Redbone, whose '20s jug band sensibilities and mouth-full-of-cotton-balls singing is perfectly matched to the lugubrious sentiment of the song...which benefits from the straight deadpan delivery and stripped-down accompaniment. Joined in this video by some beautiful playing by the swing stalwart Ken Peplowski (virtually all of whose many records are enjoyable—I love his Benny Goodman interpretations for instance) and some guy doing a pitch-perfect comedic impression of a TV host. I love it in the beginning when the camera pulls back from the host to reveal old Leon in his shades and top hat. Makes me laugh even when I know it's coming.
Have a good New Year's Eve and be careful out there if you're driving tonight. And don't be blue. Raise a glass of seltzer water to me and my beloved S. if you think about it. Here's to you and here's to 2015.
Mike
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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:
jsmidt: "The host is a son of Wisconsin."
Mike replies: Oh, so he's a real music guy then. My bad. All is forgiven.
Bob Keefer: "Another Ken Peplowski fan! He's not only a great musician, but a lovely guy. I've gotten to know him a bit over the years as he's frequently played in Oregon."
Thanks for posting Mr. Leon Redbone. His Christmas album is one of the few I can listen to.
Posted by: Hank | Wednesday, 31 December 2014 at 02:45 PM
Happy New Year from Sydney to you and your loved ones (including the dogs). It is a lovely sunny morning here and we are off for a walk with our dog. Enjoy 2015 and thank you so much for your blog. I am a big fan and regular reader though don't comment often. Looking forward to the coming year!
Posted by: ann | Wednesday, 31 December 2014 at 03:44 PM
Hopefully you won't move so much that you get good at it Mike. The first 10 years we were married we moved 11 times. They were easier (we didn't accumulate many belongings) but moving frequently gets old.
My favorite rendition of Blue Christmas is Leon Redbone's.
Posted by: Jim Bullard | Wednesday, 31 December 2014 at 04:14 PM
That Blue Christmas video was just, just, so subtly bizarre. Great.
Posted by: Roger Bradbury | Wednesday, 31 December 2014 at 06:07 PM
"...swing stalwart Ken Peplowski (virtually all of whose many records are enjoyable—I love his Benny Goodman interpretations for instance)..."
As a teenager in the 1960s, I was as out of step with the mainstream as I am today. :) The two fields in which I dabbled, photography and clarinet playing, were towered over by a couple of men whose work I revered: Ansel Adams and Benny Goodman. On the eve of 2015, nothing has changed. I'm still dabbling and the work I most admire is by those two guys.
Ken Peplowski gave what he thinks is his definitive interview on Benny Goodman a couple of years ago. It's available to read here:
http://kenpeplowski.com/my-last-interview-on-benny-goodman
Enjoy! Thanks Mike; Happy New Year.
Posted by: Sal Santamaura | Wednesday, 31 December 2014 at 07:31 PM
Thank You
I had forgotten how much i love Leon Redbone
Posted by: dennis | Wednesday, 31 December 2014 at 08:45 PM
Mike, thanks for all your posts in 2014, I don't know if I am a better photographer as a result of your insights, but I sure did enjoy all your writing this year. Good luck with the move, they are never fun, and have a Happy and safe New Year.
Posted by: Eric Erickson | Wednesday, 31 December 2014 at 09:07 PM
I love Leon Redbone. A friend booked him to play at our little arts centre on the Isle of Wight (England) a few years ago. A great evening.
Posted by: Steve Smith | Thursday, 01 January 2015 at 09:01 AM
I've got a bunch of Leon Redbone albums, but I also remember a Far Side cartoon called "The Leon Redbone Workout" which consisted of keeping one leg crossed over the other. Maybe you had to see it, but it was pretty funny. I went looking for it on the net, but didn't find it. I did find an example of the net's tendency toward plagiarism. Somebody, at some point, asked, "anybody remember the Leon Redbone Workout Far Side Cartoon?..." That question must reoccur in fifty different blog posts, with exactly the same words, in the same order, never with attribution from anyone else.
Posted by: John Camp | Thursday, 01 January 2015 at 02:42 PM
I don't believe I ever heard Leon's version of Blue Christmas before, but somehow that's exactly how I always sang it.
I like Peplowsli's accompaniment, but I imagine a sloppy trombone as a good stand-in for the background vocals in the Elvis version.
Posted by: Luke | Friday, 02 January 2015 at 07:23 AM