We’re headed back to 2001 for today’s episode of “Man, that singer really sounds like that other singer.” You’re watching the first season of “Scrubs,” the episode guest-starring Sean Hayes as a new intern that might be cooler than JD. Toward the end, you hear “Camera One,” a song with a singer who sounds a lot like Michael Stipe. “Camera One” eventually makes it to Number 22 – and Number One on the Adult Album Alternative chart. You call your local radio DJ and ask for it. That’s when you find out “Camera One” isn’t REM, but Josh Joplin Group.
To be fair, only parts of “Camera One” are REMesque. I would say it’s solidly in the male singer-songwriter pocket that was popular at the time, even if that singer was backed by a band. Remember Semisonic? Five for Fighting? Train? Josh Joplin was right there, giving radio and MTV what they wanted.
Wrapping up (get it?) my series of posts about Christmas music with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Grammy-winner Darlene Love. Love is one of producer Phil Spector’s discoveries and featured on 1963’s “A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector” album. That record still sounds great, but we now know that Spector is a monster and a literal murderer. I’d rather think of happier things on Christmas, so let’s focus on Love. From her official YouTube channel, here’s an animated video for “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).”
In 1986, Love first appeared on “Late Night with David Letterman” to sing her signature holiday tune. Between Letterman’s NBC show and “Late Show with David Letterman” on CBS, Darlene Love performed “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” 28 times. (The scaled-down tradition continues on “The View.”) Here’s a Leterman supercut through the years.
“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” has since been covered by both Mariah Carey and Cher, who is rumored to be a back-up singer on the original. Another rumor is that Love helped out U2 with their version by singing back-up herself.
Today’s Christmas song is side one, track one from Johnny Mathis’ 1958 album, “Merry Christmas” – “Winter Wonderland.” Growing up, just looking at my mom and dad’s copy of this LP meant it was Christmastime. You can put on the record, listen all the way through, and let those strings and Mathis’ silky vibrato work their magic.
Mathis’ version of “Winter Wonderland” has both the original 1930’s lyrics about Parson Brown and the later version of the lyrics, meant for children, removing the romance and changing the snowman to a “circus clown.” He also moves the intro to the middle.
Just for fun, here’s Johnny Mathis singing the same song almost 40 (!) years later in 1997.
A bootleg Christmas song for you today, one that, as far as I can tell, has never been officially released. Paul Simon sings “Silver Bells” while Steve Martin does a mock-solemn monologue about the meaning of Christmas. Billy Joel plays piano and sings harmony. It’s funny. You should listen…
There are lots of rumors about the recording, but it’s the internet, so solid facts are tough to nail down. It’s sometimes called an SNL outtake, but the three were never on the same episode. Billy Joel quotes about the recording come from an interview in a 2001 American Airlines magazine, but the original article isn’t online any more.
“One night around Christmas 20 years ago, I was doing a recording session at A&R Studios in Hell’s Kitchen. We had just finished the session, and my producer and I decided to get some food. It was fairly late at night, and we ran into Paul Simon and Steve Martin at the restaurant. We had a little bit of wine, and then we had a little more wine. Nobody was feeling any pain.”
“We got a brainstorm that we would go back to the studio and record a Christmas record. It must’ve been about midnight at this point. So we go back to the studio, and Paul Simon and I are singing in the background that Christmas carol ‘Silver Bells.’ We’re harmonizing, and Steve Martin starts into this soliloquy ‘What Christmas Means to Me,’ with these hysterical descriptions of the secretary sitting on the copying machine, all these very risqué scenarios. And Paul and I are just trying to keep it together.”
“We did this maybe in one take and we had a Christmas single. Now, it was never given to a record company, but there’s a copy of it floating around somewhere. Stuff like that happens in New York. It’s a small town.”
One story goes that (now retired) Los Angeles radio DJs Mark and Brian were the first to play a bootleg copy of “Silver Bells” on the air. Now, you can find multiple copies on YouTube and since an official release seems unlikely, that’s the best place to find it.
Today, a little Christmas music gift for me. I’ve been a fan of Nick Lowe since I found a discount cassette of Rockpile’s “Seconds of Pleasure” on sale at the University of Missouri student union. It’s a magnificent collection of rootsy power pop. From there, I moved to Nick’s 1985 solo album, “The Rose of England” and have followed him every since.
If you don’t know Nick, you might recognize his one Top 40 hit, “Cruel to be Kind,” or Elvis Costello’s cover of “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.” In 2013, Nick got around to making a Christmas album, “Quality Street.” The name comes from a tin of British chocolate and sweets that’s a popular Christmas treat – a mix of different flavors in one package.
John Graham is That Guy on TV – an Emmy-winning producer/writer/host and owner of Mosquito County Productions, based in Orlando, FL.
Over the years, John has produced YouTube videos with millions of views, worked with Muppets and Princesses, won two regional Emmys for travel reporting, interviewed celebs from Ariana Grande to Hillbilly Jim, and done thousands of live news broadcasts. (You know it’s me writing this, right?)
