We have one more song for 1948 in our playlist, and it should dispel all the loneliness from our last one!
Here's Tex Ritter on Capitol Records with "Merry Christmas Polka":
That's a snappy number from Tex. I like the western-style polka!
This recording was new for 1948, but the flipside was Tex's 1945 hit "Christmas Carols by the Old Corral," which we heard before, but let's hear it again:
We had heard that one back here, but it's worth hearing again, plus in the interim I found this cool sheet music for the song:
Tex Ritter always sounded to me like a cowboy who sings, rather than a singing cowboy, you know? And I say that as a compliment!
I think Tex was the only artist to record his "Merry Christmas Polka," but if we sneak into 1949, there was another song with the same title (give or take the "The") that has been recorded quite often.
Here's Dinah Shore with the "other one" on Columbia Records:
As you can hear, it's quite a different song! I did sometimes see Tex Ritter listed has having recorded a version of this one, but it was really that one!
Freddy Martin cut a version with his band for RCA Victor, with future talk show host/entertainment mogul Merv Griffin on vocals:
I took the liberty of adding the little greeting from Freddy on there!
Decca had the Andrews Sisters and Guy Lombardo record the song as well:
Those two acts blend well!
By 1951, the song made its way to actual polka specialist Frankie Yankovic, who recorded it for Columbia with his Yanks:
Now, that's a polka!
The next year, 1952, found the Three Suns with an instrumental take on their "Christmas Party" 10-inch LP:
That does sound like a party!
Lawrence Welk always featured a lot of polkas, so it was inevitable that he would record the song as well, and Mercury Records released his version in 1955:
Odd that the label says it's an instrumental when it's very vocal-oriented!
We do have one more actual instrumental, though, with veteran bandleader Vincent Lopez's quick version from his "Christmas Music" LP on Coral Records in 1957:
That whole album is fun! And dig the crazy cover!
So, the other "Merry Christmas Polka" sure got around!
Jumping back to our starting point of 1948, Frank Gallagher had a song called "Merry Christmas," which was a polka on the flip of his "You're All I Want for Christmas" record on the Dana label:
I think that's the only recording of that song. I presume co-writer Walt Dana was involved with the label!
Now we'll go off the grid a bit and jump to 1963, which is only fifteen years later, but somehow seems like more) for an unrelated song also named "The Merry Christmas Polka" and sung by the great Jim Reeves on his RCA Victor "Twelve Songs of Christmas" LP:
Did I mention before that I totally want Jim's cardigan?
While we're in the 1960s, here's a fun little instrumental by Buck Owens and his Buckaroos from their 1968 "Christmas Shopping" album on Capitol. It's "The Jolly Christmas Polka":
Hey, why not jump all the way to 1992 with "Santa's Polka" by Brave Combo from their terrific album "It's Christmas, Man!" on Rounder Records:
OK, now I'm officially polka'd out!
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