You can see on the rather worn back cover my checkmarks, showing which songs were my favorites. "Rudolph" and "Twelve Days" were by far the most played, made easy as the first track on each side. I'm sure my parents in our four-room home got tired of hearing these played so frequently, and throughout the year.
I've toted this record everywhere with me as I've moved about - from home to college, then from college to Kansas City (2 apartments, one townhome, and two houses). It's where my love of Bing Crosby came from. It's where I first learned the nickname "Der Bingle" (although it's spelled "Der Bingel" on the back of the album). And it's absolutely the seed of my love for Christmas music. It's the icon of nostalgia of Christmases for me, bringing back the memories that seem to fade just a bit more each year. Seeing this record and putting it on the turntable sends me back to rural Kansas in the late 60s and early 70s. Thanks to Linus, we all know what Christmas is all about, but running a close second for me is Bing and Songs of Christmas.
I'm sharing the music from this record, although it's all available for you to purchase or stream through every media possible. If you want to listen to how well ol' El Bingo sounds on this one-owner 1960 vinyl, download and give a listen. If you're the rare reader here who doesn't already have their own selections of Bing Crosby, and you like what you hear, please consider making a purchase and supporting those who continue to make this great Christmas music available.
Lovely background story! 🙂
ReplyDeleteThis inspires me to actually write down the history (and feelings) about a few of my most beloved Christmas songs.
The first has to be "There's always Tomorrow (for Dreams to Come True)" from the 1964 Rankin & Bass classic TV special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." While not a 'Christmas' song, it still is definitely part of my Christmas, as I have watched the TV special every year since I was 5 years old (1970) (maybe before that, but I don't distinctly remember).
First it was only on TV (only ONCE each year!), then in the 1980's one of our local TV stations would run it twice, once the day after Thanksgiving and again the next week. Then in the mid 90's I got a VCR and taped it one year so I could see it whenever I wanted. Eventually I purchased it on DVD and now I have it on Blu-Ray.
This show starts the Christmas Season for me every year (although I listen to Christmas music throughout the entire year 😉
Loved this - thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI think Bing is the cornerstone of every Christmas music lover's collection. Even the people who only like the contemporary stuff today will eventually come around to it since it's timeless. I think this album was a freebie with the purchase of a chair from La-Z-Boy, so that may be how it came to your collection at such a young age. Amazing that you've kept it all these years.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this LP. You can never have enough Bing in the playlist. This is a real gem.
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