"Jingle Bells" - Part 8 - Spike Jones!

As we back up a bit from where we left off with "Jingle Bells," we land in 1943 with my favorite artist, Spike Jones!

Spike and his City Slickers were just hitting the big time when the recording ban started, but they had managed to cut "Der Fuhrer's Face" on Bluebird Records and that became a big hit and they were on the map.

Being signed to RCA, Spike had to wait until the end of 1944 to get back into the recording studio, when he cut "Cocktails for Two" and cemented himself as the greatest novelty bandleader ever!

Fortunately for Spike Jones fans, he and the City Slickers made some V-Discs and transcription recordings during the ban and also made lots of radio appearances, many of which resulted in arrangements and/or songs that they never officially recorded but are now a treasure trove.

Which leads us to this fun version of "Jingle Bells" from the Bob Burns show from December 23, 1943:

That's really great!

You also really get the Bob Burns-ness! He was a unique talent!

The next year, Spike and the City Slickers had a new arrangement:

I'm not sure what show that's from, but it's so much fun and typical of Spike's sound at the time.

I like how both versions include special lyrics that turn "Jingle Bells" into an actual Christmas song!

(left to right) The Nilsson Twins, Del Porter, Spike Jones, Dick Morgan, Carl Grayson, Red Ingle

On the vocal choruses, I can pick out the Nilsson Twins, Eileen and Elsa, who never got the chance to record with the band.

Del Porter sings the topical verse with the WWII references. The band was very big on including patriotic themes whenever possible.

Del sang on the majority of the group's Bluebird sides and was still with the group after the ban, contributing original songs and arrangements in addition to his singing and clarinet (and ocarina) playing.

Despite Spike's reaction, Red Ingle was a fine musician!

The verse about hanging socks on the tree is sung by Red Ingle, another extremely talented fellow who later formed his own novelty group, The Natural Seven, and had a huge hit with the hillbilly spoof "Tim-Tay-Shun" featuring Jo Stafford!

I'm not sure who does the kid voices, but it doesn't appear to be George Rock, who may not have joined the band yet. 

Speaking of George Rock, he and Spike later made a permanent impression on the world of Christmas music with the original recording of "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth," a number one hit in 1948!

Let's give it a listen:

As usual, Spike and the boys take the novelty kiddie Christmas single to heights that no one else would ever achieve, despite the flood of such records over the years!

Intriguing to me is that the "Slicker Chorus" is actually "Jingle Bells" played on toy instruments, very much like those earlier radio performances!

George Rock provided his wacky kid voice on a number of recordings, but his biggest contribution to the City Slickers was actually as a trumpeter. He was a tremendous player and carried many an arrangement. 

He got the chance to show off his trumpet chops on the studio recording of "Minka" with Spike Jones and his Other Orchestra from 1946:

He could really play, but it took a lot of skill to play the wacky City Slicker arrangements, which was part of the reason that Spike experimented with the Other Orchestra, to show his musicians could play "real" music too.

But we'll always remember him for his superior novelty numbers and recognize the virtuosity and creativity involved!