While we're still hanging around Capitol Records digging up "Jingle Bells" recordings, we come across Johnny Mercer!
Johnny Mercer was one of the greatest lyricists in pop music history with an incredible list of hit songs over 30 or so years.
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| Johnny Mercer (left) with Capitol Records co-founders Glenn Wallichs and B.G. DeSylva |
Along the way, he also co-founded Capitol Records in 1942 and recorded several successful singles for the company.
For our current purposes, Johnny recorded an extremely snappy version of "Jingle Bells" in 1947 with the Pied Pipers vocal group and Paul Weston's studio orchestra:
Presumably Johnny was responsible for the updated lyrics which add to the fun!
And props for questioning what "up sot" means!
And was the inevitable flipside of this record? Naturally:
More updated lyrics with such a great 1940s sound!
The year before, Johnny recorded a mellow version of "Winter Wonderland" along with his frequent collaborators, the Pied Pipers and Paul Weston:
That track was reissued a couple of times with different non-holiday flipsides.
So, I think Johnny Mercer only had those three holiday/seasonal recording, so he never did get the EP treatment from Capitol!
The Pied Pipers did get this non-holiday EP in 1956 with a cool, ever-so 1956 cover:
The title song, "Dream," was written by Johnny Mercer and was a huge hit for the Pied Pipers in 1945:
That's as dreamy as a record named "Dream" should be!
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| June Hutton with the Pied Pipers |
Jo Stafford had been the lead singer for the Pied Pipers when they came to prominence with Tommy Dorsey's band and when they first signed with Capitol Records, but June Hutton had replaced her when Jo started her own hugely successful solo career.
Hey, let's throw in a June Hutton recording of a sort-of "Jingle Bells"-esque song with backing from Axel Stordahl:
June and Axel were married at the time, as were Jo Stafford and Paul Weston!
Romance in the air at Capitol Records!
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