Released by a studio act under the name Santa’s Pixie
Helpers – but sounding an awful lot like David Seville’s Chipmunks – The
Animal’s Christmas Song backed with The
Christmas Song was issued by PRI records,
a division of Precision Radiation Instruments Inc. PRI were better known as a
Geiger counter and radio equipment manufacturer and would enter the record
business by merging with Tops Records – the company that produced soundalike
covers of hits of the day (rather like an American version of the old
Woolworth’s Embassy label) in 1958. The company went bankrupt in the mid 60s
and their assets were sold to Pickwick International. This brace of tracks also
appeared on the 1959 TOPS label album Sing Along With Santa's Helpers. My
own copy of this 45 is a white label promo: some (not mine: I swiped this one from the 'net) appeared in a very
rare picture sleeve, featuring the lyrics to the songs.
The third track today is by our old friend Lorene Mann – the
woman who issued the dreadful pro-life horror Hide My Sin (A-b-o-r-t-i-o-n
N-e-w Y-o-r-k). Today Lorene entertains us
with the wonderfully non-PC Indian Santa Claus, written and released just in time for Christmas
1970, a tale of how native Americans were planning to scalp the evil white
invaders as they lay in their beds awaiting the arrival of Father Christmas,
but how they decide instead to give up their birthright for a few strips of
leather presented by a Navajo Pere Noel. Tennessee-born tunesmith Mann, who
died in May 2013 ages 76, moved to Nashville at the age of 19 to pursue a
songwriting career, going on to pen songs for stars such including Kitty Wells
and Skeeter Davis. She signed to RCA Records in 1964 and worked with Justin
Tubb before carving out a solo career for herself. The singer, who co-founded
the Nashville Songwriters Association International, was also an actress –
appearing in the dreadful 1975 Burt Reynolds film W.W. and the Dixie
Dancekings - and in 2011 she won the Maggie Cavender Award, in
recognition of her ‘extraordinary service to the songwriting community’.
Enjoy!
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12/9/14
ReplyDeleteRobGems.ca Wrote:
David Seville's attorneys must have had one field day after another over all these Chipmunk rip-offs from1958-63. this one by Santa's Elves sounds cute, but contrived, as there wasn't any more original ideas to borrow. Pickwick Records was considered one of the largest budget labels in the world at the time, so they copied one trend after another naturally.
Some stereotypes being reinforced in that Lorene Mann song!
ReplyDelete