"Jingle Bells" - Part 46 - Alviiinnnn!

 

We move from Disney's All-Mouse Chorus to another group of singing varmints - The Chipmunks!

Here's their take on "Jingle Bells" from their 1962 album "Christmas with the Chipmunks" on Liberty Records:

That's actually a fairly straightforward rendition of the song, which is interesting in that they could have done whatever they wanted with it, since it's a public domain song and there wouldn't be any pesky song publishers complaining!

The "Christmas with the Chipmunks" album came about to follow up on the success of the trio's debut single, the Christmas-themed "The Chipmunk Song."

Note the early "realistic" chipmunk designs!

That particular record was issued in 1958, a year after Disney's All-Mouse Chorus, but creator Ross Bagdasarian (stage name David Seville) developed a distinct personality for each chipmunk, giving the record a stronger hook.

Here's that record:

I think that holds up very well and remains a Christmas essential! And, wow, did that lead to a whole Chipmunk industry!

Gotta love how the back of the EP sleeve shows the back of the witch doctor!

Of course, Seville/Bagdasarian had used the sped-up voice trick earlier in 1958 on his smash hit "Witch Doctor." And I love novelty records, so let's listen to that:

The other element that went into the typical Chipmunks song is the instrumental backing, which has a distinct sound, such as found on "Armen's Theme," the 1956 hit and first "The Music of  David Seville" release:

I think that's a good sound and you can see how that informed the instrumental backing track for "The Chipmunk Song!"

Teen idol Bobby Vee cut a vocal version of "Armen's Theme" in 1963 under the title "Yesterday and You":

 

I think it's a blast how the record starts like "Armen's Theme" then builds into a full-blown big band arrangement! Bobby Vee handles the vocal quite well!

Liberty Records had it going on!