Playlist: Listen, my mince pie-munching pals! ~ Christmas 2017

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In the words of Moby Grape… listen, my friends! Yes, it’s the (hopefully) monthly playlist presented by George’s Journal just for you good people.

There may be one or two classics to be found here dotted in among different tunes you’re unfamiliar with or never heard before – or, of course, you may’ve heard them all before. All the same, why not sit back, sip a glass of mulled wine, munch on a mince pie and listen away; for in the words of Noddy Holder, ittttttt’s… well, I’m sure you know what comes next…

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CLICK on the track titles to hear them

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Edmund Gwenn and Margaret O’Hara ~ Christmas Is A Frame Of Mind (1947)¹

Donald Duck and Chip and Dale ~ Toy Tinkers (1949)

Julie London ~ I’d Like You For Christmas (1957)

The Springfields ~ Bambino (1962)

The Beatles ~ Christmas Songs Medley (1963-66)²

Thurl Ravenscroft ~ You’re A Mean One, Mr Grinch (1966)

The Rolling Stones ~ Cosmic Christmas (1967)³

Kenneth More and Albert Finney ~ I Like Life (1970)⁴

Albert King ~ Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’ (1974)

Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale ~ Slade’s Christmas Carols (1975)⁵

Kate Bush ~ December Will Be Magic Again (Live) (1979)⁶

Agnetha Fältskog and Linda Ulvaeus ~ Bjällerklang (1981)

Kenneth Williams ~ Willo The Wisp (Christmas Box) (1981)

Howard Blake ~ The Dance Of The Snowmen (1982)⁷

Frankie Goes To Hollywood ~ The Power Of Love (1984)

The London Symphony Orchestra ~ Escape From Piz Gloria/ Ski Chase (1999)⁸

Bing Crosby (featuring Martha Mears) ~ White Christmas (1942 and 1977)⁹

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¹ Miracle On 34th Street, the classic Christmas flick in which this scene appears, celebrates its 70th anniversary this year; Edmund Gwenn won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Kris Kringle

² These tunes are drawn from the Christmas records sent out to members of the Fab Four’s fan club members, a practice that lasted throughout the band’s existence in the ’60s

³ A hidden track to be heard after the opening song on the Stones’ heavily psychedelic album Their Satanic Majesties Request; ‘Cosmic Christmas’ was also a working title for the album

⁴ From Scrooge, the 1970 Hollywood musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol, for which Albert Finney won a Golden Globe Award for his take on Dickens’ iconic anti-hero

 A scene from the first Christmas special of the classic BBC prison-set sitcom, entitled No Way Out and first shown on December 24 1975

⁶ As performed on Ms Bush’s Christmas TV special, broadcast by the BBC on December 28 1979

⁷ From the soundtrack of the seminal seasonal animation The Snowman (1982)  

⁸ Originally from John Barry’s score for the festive-set Bond film extraordinaire On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, this soundtrack piece was performed here for the album Bond: Back in Action (1999)

⁹ The first and last ever versions of perhaps the most seasonal of all tunes, as recorded by Bing Crosby; the first, from the film in which it debuted – and for which it won the Best Original Song Oscar – Holiday Inn (1942) and, the second, from the 1977 CBS special Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas (the legendary star would die just weeks after its September 1977 recording; it was first broadcast on November 30 1977).

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