"Jingle Bells" - Part 99 -With a Swing!

As we continue with "Jingle Bells," we run across a couple of pretty new versions that are based on classic records from the Swing Era.

We start off with the Airmen of Note, a terrific ensemble from the ranks of the United States Air Force Band. Their 2011 album "Cool Yule" featured Christmas songs patterned after big band hits.

Here's their take on "Jingle Bells":

That's a blast!

Leader Benny Goodman (left) with star drummer Gene Krupa

If the title of "Jing, Jing, Jing" wasn't enough, big band fans will immediately recognize that the arrangement is a takeoff of Benny Goodman's epic 1938 recording of "Sing, Sing, Sing" on RCA Victor:

That's a classic by any standard. If anyone wants to know what the fuss about big bands was, play them that record!

Getting pretty close to the present day, we skip to 2019 for the album "O Howly Night" from Pittsburgh's Neon Swing X-perience with this version of "Jingle Bells":

That's also a blast!

The source material is a bit more obscure, but the title "Big Noise from the North Pole" will let aficionados know that it's based on "The Big Noise from Winnetka," a novelty duet by bassist Bob Haggart and drummer Ray Bauduc from the Bob Crosby band, as recorded on Decca Records in 1938:

That's just a unique performance!

Singer/leader Bob Crosby (far left) clowns around with Haggart and Bauduc!

To keep things interesting, Bob Crosby also recorded the song with the full band in 1940 (losing the "the" along the way!):

Bob's supporting vocal group the Bob-o-Links (get it?) included a young Johnny Desmond, seemingly light years before "The Stingiest Man in Town!"

And to keep it going, the talented bassist/arranger/composer/whistler Bob Haggart of "Big Noise" fame was much later the co-leader of The World's Greatest Jazz Band with former Crosby trumpeter Yank Lawson. 

The group recorded a Christmas album in 1972 titled "Hark The Herald Angels Swing," which featured this version of "Jingle Bells:

That's a fun cut from a fun album with stellar musicianship! I feel like I should know who does the Satchmo-esque vocal, but the liner notes don't say!

In any event, good job by the modern groups in keeping the spirit alive!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 98 - Gone Country!

We move into the (relatively) contemporary Country Music field with "Jingle Bells," stopping in 1997 with the cassette-only release "Wrangler Cowboy Christmas Volume V" from Universal Music Special Markets.

It's hard for me to believe that 1997 was 25 years ago, but the math doesn't lie! I guess the fact that cassettes were still being issued at that time also tells the tale!

That was also early in the whole Internet deal, with most people still not having home computers, but it was all growing fast!

1997 saw the fifth volume of the "Wrangler Cowboy Christmas" series, which were promo cassettes sponsored by the famous jeans (dungarees?) company. I don't really know how they were originally issued, but I hadn't come across any of the series before Volume V, which I was able to purchase online!

This had me thinking that the Internet was the greatest thing ever! And I stand by that statement!

The Wrangler series rounded up (cowboy talk!) various tracks from prior releases from the MCA family of labels and Volume V featured a version of "Jingle Bells" by Tracy Byrd, the popular neo-Western Swing singer, who had recorded it as a one-off for MCA for a previous compilation:

I like that a lot! You can never go wrong with a Western Swing beat!

Tracy also had another Christmas single with an even more pronounced Western Swing arrangement with 1999's "Merry Christmas from Texas Y'all" on MCA:

That one's been on my Country Christmas playlist since it came out!

Tracy Byrd's most obvious influence is George Strait - my favorite - who has cast a large shadow on the Country Music scene since the early 1980s.

The Wrangler series always had a cut from George (naturally) and Volume V featured the great swing number "When It's Christmas Time in Texas":

That was originally featured on George's 1986 MCA release "Merry Christmas Strait to You!" which was his first Christmas album and holds up well!

Mr. Strait cut his version of "Jingle Bells" for his third Christmas album, "Fresh Cut Christmas" in 2006:

We could be here all day listening to great George Strait Christmas records!

Another county superstar, Alan Jackson, was featured on Volume V with his terrific version of "A Holly Jolly Christmas":

I think that record is absolutely brilliant! It's one of my favorite holiday records of all time!

It was first released as part of the soundtrack for 1992's "Home Alone 2" and I bought a cassette of that soundtrack just to have this cut!

Alan has also released a lot of great Christmas music and he recorded his version of "Jingle Bells" for his 2002 album "Let It Be Christmas" (his second Christmas album) on Arista Nashville:

That's another fun swingy arrangement, with some horns added in!

Christmas and Country Music have always seemed to work well together and these artists with their traditional roots keep it going!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 97 - Bubbly!

As we continue with "Jingle Bells," it's not too much of a jump from Canadian singer Diana Krall to Canadian crooner Michael Bublé!

He's joined by the Puppini Sisters on his version of "Jingle Bells" from his 2011 "Christmas" album on Reprise:

That's a lot of fun and it's obviously based on the famous 1943 record by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, down to Michael slipping in the "Oh, we'll have a lot of fun" à la Bing!

Here's a studio clip with Michael talking about the influence

:

I remember when this album came out that some Christmas purists (snobs, actually) were skeptical that a popular modern singer could record a solid holiday album and they were surprised it was good.

But those of us who were familiar with Michael Bublé's earlier work (and are not snobs anyway) knew he could handle a standard and were not surprised at the quality of the album!

Michael had actually released a Christmas EP back in 2003 (as Diana Krall had done in 1998) which featured his first version of "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!":

That's a great showcase for his way with a standard!

As for the Puppini Sisters, the retro trio had recorded their own version of "Jingle Bells" for Verve in 2006:

That's also fun. The obvious inspiration seems to be the Andrews Sisters, but they must like the Boswell Sisters too!

That single was later followed by the Sisters' full-length album "Christmas With The Puppini Sisters" in 2010, which featured them retro-izing a variety of Christmas songs, including this take an often-heard modern classic:

That's a blast!

And Michael Bublé actually had a unique ballad arrangement of that song on his album:

For the record and since no one's asking, I do think the original by Mariah Carey is played a lot, but I like it, so more power to her!

Back to "Jingle Bells" and Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters and whatnot, Barry Manilow teamed with Exposé back in 1990 for an even more faithful version of that arrangement on his "Because It's Christmas" album on Arista:

I think that's fun too! How can you go wrong?

For completists, I'll point out that the Puppini Sisters sang the Bublé arrangement with singer/entertainment reporter Rory O'Connor on their 2020 "Christmas at Home" special and also overdubbed vocals with the London Symphony Orchestra onto the original Crosby/Andrews recording for the 2019 album "Bing at Christmas."

"Jingle Bells" - Part 96 - Jazzy!

We continue with some "modern" (to me, anything past 1980!) renditions of "Jingle Bells" from a couple of jazz (or jazz-influenced) singer/pianists!

First is Diana Krall, who included a small combo version on her "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" EP from Impulse! in 1998:

That EP also included a great version of "Christmas Time Is Here":

That recording has been on my "modern" Christmas playlist since it first came out!

"Christmas Time Is Here" also appeared on Diana's 2005 "Christmas Songs" from Verve in the same recording, but the full-length album sported a new version of "Jingle Bells" featuring the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Here's the video:

A couple of fun versions! 

Harry Connick, Jr. has released three Christmas albums, so you know "Jingle Bells" would be popping up somewhere!

It was first included a a bonus track on the special edition of 2003's Columbia album "Harry for the Holidays" available only at Target stores. I think the only way to hear that still is to get your mitts on the CD!

But another version of "Jingle Bells" surfaced on 2008's "What a Night!" album, also on Columbia:

Harry's Christmas albums are all good, but there's also a fun little nugget on one of his earliest albums. It's from 1989's ""Music From The Motion Picture 'When Harry Met Sally...'":

That album is really solid and was Harry's introduction to a lot of people!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 95 - Tiki!

We stay somewhat in the modern world with some takes on "Jingle Bells" from the exotica/tiki/lounge world!

First up is the Blue Hawaiians with "Jungle Bells" from their 1995 album "Christmas On Big Island" on Restless Records:

The whole album is excellent and I quite like their version "Of Christmas Time is Here," the Vince Guaraldi tune from "A Charlie Brown Christmas":

That is awesome!

We move to 2001 with guitarist Vinnie Zummo for his version of "Jingle Bells" from his extremely descriptively-titled "A Retro Cool Bossa Nova Christmas with Vinnie Zummo" album:

You could definitely play that album at a cool holiday cocktail party!

Apparently no Scrooge, Vinnie has a "Volume 2" in the "Bossa Nova Christmas" series as well as the 2014 "A Retro Cool Mixed Bag Christmas" album on which we find "Jingle Bells Surf Party":

And we hit 2010 with Tiki Joe's Ocean from Double Crown Records' "Seasonal Favorites, Volume 3" album:

That's just a blast!

Tiki Joe's Ocean has a couple of Christmas albums which are really fun. "Vol. 2" contains a great take on another "A Charlie Brown Christmas" song - "Skating" - and both volumes can be purchased as downloads from their online store.

One more fun version of "Jingle Bells" comes from perhaps an unlikely source: the popular TV cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants":

That show features some really cool background music!

Hopefully Santa's somewhere warm with an umbrella in his beverage listening to these tunes after a long holiday season!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 94 - Rockabilly!

Let's jump ahead to the 1990s and beyond with "Jingle Bells" for a handful of latter-day Rockabilly versions!

First up is the Honeydippers from the 1997 "12 Days of Christmas" album on the Shattered Music label:

That's a fun record, taking off from the 1957 Frank Sinatra arrangement by Gordon Jenkins.

I see this track sometimes credited to the Honeydrippers, which was the retro group led by Robert Plant that recorded "Sea of Love" on a memorable EP back in 1984, but this is the Honeydippers, featuring British singer Gary Twinn and American guitarist Danny B. Harvey.

SOme of the songs from "12 Days of Christmas" were included on 2001's "Swing Cats Present A Rockabilly Christmas" on Cleopatra, which also featured the titular Swing Cats with this snappy medley called "Christmas Tree Boogie":

I like that one a lot!

The Swing Cats were former Stray Cats Lee Rocker and Slim Jim Phantom with Danny B. Harvey and they cut some solid instrumentals.

Next is Reverend Horton Heat with their take on "Jingle Bells" from 2005's "We Three Kings" album on Yep Roc Records:

Reverend Horton Heat is one of those acts that's the group name, but the leader, in this case Jim Heath, is also known by the group name.

Here's the title track from that album:

We move to 2009 with Mexico's Rebel Cats version of "Jingle Bells" from their "Navidad Rock-A-Billy" on Grabaxiones Alicia:

That's very fun as well!

I also did "Triste Navidad," their take on "Blue Christmas":

Rockabilly and Christmas go together well!

"Jingle Bells" Bonus - Happy Birthday, Ray Anthony!

Here's a bonus version of "Jingle Bells" to celebrate the 100th birthday of the handsome, trumpet playing bandleader Ray Anthony, who was born on January 20, 2022 and is still around!

Ray cut a ton of records in his day, but didn't get around to recording a Christmas album until 1995 with "Dream Dancing Christmas," which featured this version of "Jingle Bells":

In addition to Ray's trumpet, the album features a couple of his trademarks, the Glenn Miller style arrangements and the "Dream Dancing" title.

19-year-old Ray Anthony (first trumpet on left) with Glenn Miller's band in the 20th Century Fox movie "Sun Valley Serenade" (1941)

One of Ray's earliest jobs was playing trumpet with Glenn Miller's band as a teenager, so when the Miller style had a revival in the 1950s, Ray at least was qualified to use it!

And Ray had a best-selling series of albums on the Capital label back in the day with "Dream Dancing" in the title featuring lush versions of standards, so this treatment of "Jingle Bells" was a nice throwback in 1995 (was that really 27 years ago?)!

Happy birthday, Ray!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 93 - Some Brass!

Still digging the 1960s vibe, our next version of "Jingle Bells" is in the hands, well lips, of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass!

Here they are from their 1968 "Christmas Album" on A&M Records:

I like how you get a minute or so of Jackie Gleason-esque lushness before the typical Tijuana Brass arrangement kicks in!

Herb Alpert (left) and Burt Bacharach confer!

The album also included the "Jingle Bells" spinoff "The Bell That Couldn't Jingle" with Herb on the vocal (he had the huge vocal hit with Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "This Guy's in Love with You" earlier in the year):

That cute number was written by Burt Bacharach (with Larry Kusik AKA not Hal David!) back in 1964 but for some reason I think it works better in this format, as the earlier versions are too cute-sy.

Interestingly, A&M also released a version by Mr. Bacharach in 1968:

That doesn't really stray from the Tijuana Brass version, as it fits what I think of as the A&M "house" sound of the 1960s.

That sound shows up all over the 1968 A&M album "¡Something Festive!" which I think was a promo item for Goodrich Tires and included Burt's version of "The Bell..."

The album also includes Herb and the TJB with "Winter Wonderland":

Also fitting right in is Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 with "The Christmas Song":

And there's also TJB percussionist Julius Wechter's Baja Marimba Band with "Partridge in a Pear Tree (Twelve Days of Christmas)" (originally from 1966's "For Animals Only" album):

That's a fun take on the traditional carol!

Something festive was indeed in the air for A&M Records in 1968!

And Herb and Burt are both still around, so a Happy 2022 to them!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 92 - Hits the Spot!

We're back in the mid-1960s with "Jingle Bells" as we run into the Swedish group the Spotnicks with this cut from their "Winterland" album from 1966:

That's a fun version, really has that 1960s Venture-ish sound!

The Ventures had a great instrumental take on "Sleigh Ride" and so do the Spotnicks:

Those tracks have now found a home on my mid-1960s Christmas playlist!

I don't know much about the Spotnicks, but they seem to have been mostly an instrumental combo with some vocals mixed in, such as on the "Winterland" title song:

That has such a 1960s European vibe! If there had been a James Bond movie named "Winterland," this could've been played over the end credits. Now I also have a pitch for Cubby Broccoli when I finally get my time machine!

The album also includes a novelty vocal version of "I Saw Mommy (Mama) Kissing Santa Claus":

I wonder if that's supposed to be the little cartoon guys in the space ship who are singing? Are they the Spotnicks? The group apparently dressed like spacemen sometimes, as seems to befit their name:

I notice that the vocals are in English, but I'm aware that people in Sweden are way more likely to speak English as a second language than we in America are to speak any second language at all!

Instrumentals need no translation, however, and I understand that the Spotnicks' big hit was their 1963 updated instrumental of the old Jimmy Dorsey hit "Amapola":

I dig it!

I see various European releases of the song, but I don't think it made it over to the States.

What keeps things interesting is that there was an imported instrumental version of another Jimmy Dorsey hit that was a hit in the U.S. in 1963 - "Maria Elena" by Brazil's brother guitar duo Los Indios Tabajaras:

The 1960s music scene was certainly diverse!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 91 - Rockin'!

Staying in the country-tinged field with "Jingle Bells" but jumping ahead to 1970, we come across Bobby Helms!

He cut a version of "Jingle Bells" for Certron Records:

That was included on Bobby's "Jingle Bell Rock" album and it's probably obvious that I'm going to start talking about the title song!

Bobby Helms originally recorded the song for Decca Records in 1957:

That's a genuine classic! It's never been out of print or off the radio during the holiday season every year. There have also been a zillion other versions of the song in any genre imaginable.

It's almost as famous as "Jingle Bells" itself!

There's actually a whole conspiracy theory type story about "Jingle Bell Rock," so here's the short version...

The story goes that the song was originally called "Jingle Bell Hop" and it wasn't much of anything, but had made its way to a Bobby Helms recording session. Dissatisfied with the song, Bobby reworked it into its present form with ace session guitarist Hank Garland and the song was recorded. Such things apparently happened in the studio from time to time.

The song became an enormous hit but Bobby and Hank got no composer credit for it, as the song had already been published. Bobby was like "That's show biz!" about it, but Hank was resentful and made a squawk about it.

This and other issues caused Hank Garland to be on the outs with the big shots in the music industry (despite his brilliant playing), so they had someone shoot out one of the tires on Hank's car, leading to the horrific crash that ended Hank's professional career.

Is that all true? Who knows, but it's fascinating!

Back to that original record, it had a fun flipside:

Sixty-odd years later, most artists who were popular in 1957 are not known to current audiences, but Bobby Helms's voice is still heard every year!

As a bonus, let's listen to my favorite blending of "Jingle Bells" and "Jingle Bell Rock." It's by Randy Travis from 1992's "A Very Special Christmas 2":

That seems like 100 years ago to me!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 90 - Not H & J!

It seems like we're due for a wacky novelty version of "Jingle Bells," so here's country duo Lonzo and Oscar with "Jangle Bells" on Decca Records from 1953:

That's fun and it's interesting to see the song credited to Boudleaux Bryant, later well-known for writing several Everly Brothers hits!

Things get even more interesting with the flipside, "Frosty the De-Frosted Snowman":

That's interesting as it has the exact same parody lyrics as Homer and Jethro's version, which we heard here!

Not to be unfair to Lonzo and Oscar, but I think of them as a sort-of road company Homer and Jethro, talented but not operating at the same high level.

I also think L & O are more likely to sing novelty songs, whereas H & J also include many parodies of popular songs.

This leads me to believe that Lonzo and Oscar are covering Homer and Jethro's parody of "Frosty the Snowman" here, which is an unusual circumstance.

I think that Homer and Jethro wrote their parody lyrics, but the publishers still controlled the songs and usually only the original songwriters got credit. So are parody lyrics up for grabs?

Whatever the case, Lonzo and Oscar lasted a long time, with Rollin Sullivan's Oscar teamed with three different Lonzos.

The duo's biggest hit was the popular novelty song "I'm My Own Grandpa" from 1947. Here they are on RCA Victor:

Fun!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 89 - Other Brothers!

Moving along with "Jingle Bells," we come across another family group which was around even longer than the Ames Brothers - The Mills Brothers!

The core group of Donald, Herbert and Harry Mills had been performing and recording successfully for over 25 years when they cut a version of "Jingle Bells" for their 1959 "Merry Christmas" album on Dot Records:

That's another album that splits the sides between familiar holiday pop songs on one and traditional carols on the other. Very nice, as is to be expected!

We had heard the Mills Brothers here with a terrific Christmas single from 1949, at which point the group still included their father, John, Sr., who had taken the place of brother John, Jr. when the latter tragically passed away in 1936.

Dad hadn't retired yet when the group had another Christmas single on Decca Records in 1954. Here are both sides:

I think the guys sound great on these, but I think the songs themselves are a bit clunky, so I can see why neither went anywhere.

Of note is that "You Don't Have to Be a Santa Claus" was written by Seger Ellis, who co-wrote "You're All I Want for Christmas," which the Mills Brothers did not record, but should have!

Since we don't have a lot of holiday material from the Mills Brothers, let's watch a clip of them performing "Tiger Rag," their big hit from 1931 that put them on the map:

I've always been fascinated by their early style of imitating musical instruments and am particularly drawn to John, Jr. on guitar and bass vocals.

And here they are with a "Soundie" of their huge 1943 hit "Paper Doll" (with John, Sr.):

How awesome that the paper doll is young Dorothy Dandridge!

I notice that Harry sings his verse to Donald rather than in the first person as on the record. I guess for plot purposes?

Always great stuff from the Mills Brothers!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 88 - Taking "Ame"-s!

As we continue with "Jingle Bells," we go from the Four Aces to four Ames - The Ames Brothers!

The quartet from Massachusetts (yay!) featuring brother Ed on lead vocals was extremely popular in the 1950s with several big hits.

They included a very snappy version of "Jingle Bells" on their 1957 RCA Victor LP "There'll Always Be a Christmas":

Fun to hear the early stereo. But where have I heard that "jet speed" line before?

The title track of that LP was actually originally one side of an RCA Victor holiday single from the boys in 1954:

Kind of an odd pairing, but the quartet was pretty versatile and easily went from novelties to ballads.

One thing about the Ames Brothers is that they were definitely not a bunch of Scrooges, as they recorded quite a few Christmas songs!

Their first was a coupling of "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland" on Coral Records in 1949. This single was paired with 1951's single of the Vaughn Horton adaptation of "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" and Horton's "Ting-A-Ling-A Jingle" on the "Christmas Greetings" EP.

Here are both sides:

Of note is that the same two Vaughn Horton tunes were released as a single by the Pinetoppers with the Marlin Sisters also on Coral Records also in 1951!

Presumably Coral put together that EP because the Ames Brothers had recently moved to RCA Victor and they wanted some competing product out there.

With Coral in 1950, the Brothers also had a ten-inch album of Christmas carols titled "Sing a Song of Christmas," which included these two also released on a 78 record:

Very nice, with just simple accompaniment. They had a great blend!

Jumping ahead to the 1960s, Ed Ames had a solo career as an actor (notably on TV's "Daniel Boone") and singer and he actually had two more Christmas albums on RCA Victor!

Ed's version of "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" from 1967 is particularly memorable to me as it was contained in the various artists Christmas album shown above, side one of which I played a lot as a kid!

Here it is, with the rarely heard verse:

Takes me right back!

Ed Ames is still around at age 94, so Happy New Year to him!

And for more holiday spirit, here's a clip of the Ames Brothers singing a medley of Christmas tunes on the Ed Sullivan show in 1959:

Fun!

Bonus - Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Hard to believe, but today is the 87th anniversary of the birth of Elvis Presley!

So, if really is still hiding out somewhere, he's getting up there!

In keeping with the Christmas spirit, here's my favorite Elvis Christmas cut:

That's, of course, from his 1957 RCA Victor release "Elvis' Christmas Album."

At this point, Elvis was already a huge multi-media star, but he had been popular enough the previous holiday season to inspire the novelty song "I Want Elvis for Christmas," which actually had a few competing versions!

The least annoying by far is by the Holly Twins on Liberty Records:

That's fun as far as it goes, but doesn't bear up to heavy rotation listening on one's 1950s rock 'n' roll holiday playlist!

The secret weapon on that recording was the formidable Liberty artist Eddie Cochran, who contributes his stellar guitar playing in addition to the Elvis-like "Baby, baby, baby" vocals. Eddie gives the proceedings a ton of retro cred!

Despite the talents of co-writers pre-fame Bobby Darin and Don Kirschner, I think the song itself is a bit clunky (starting with the awkward title) and doesn't work as well as "I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas," which we heard here, the ode to RCA Victor's star of only two years prior!

How times had changed!

For my dough, the best Elvis tribute record from the period was from his RCA Victor label mate, Janis Martin, from earlier in 1956:

That's just a fun little rockabilly number on its own!

So, if you are still out there somewhere, Elvis, have a good one!

"Jingle Bells" - Part 87 - Easy Aces!

We're still hanging around the early to mid-1950s with "Jingle Bells" as we turn our attention to popular vocal groups of the time.

One such group that was extremely popular was the Four Aces, who scored such big hits as "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing" and "Three Coins in the Fountain."

They included a version of "Jingle Bells" on their 1955 LP "A Merry Christmas" on Decca Records:

That sounds just as it should with lead singer Al Alberts leading the way.

The flipside of the single version was this by-then familiar tune:

The whole album is actually familiar songs done in typical Four Aces style, with pop songs on the first side and hymns/carols on the second side, a common practice which I always liked, so I'm sure the album was pleasing to their many fans.

The group had recorded a much less familiar Christmas song in 1951 on the small Victoria label:

That song is just too much of a buzzkill for me. There's also a version of the song by Eddy Howard, and I can't even listen to that one too many times in a season!

The interesting (to me anyway) thing is that the Four Aces hit the big time with their version of "Sin" earlier in 1951 on Victoria Records, leading to their contract with the major Decca label. The biggest hit version of "Sin" was by Eddy Howard, so the A-sides of the two records by the Four Aces on the Victoria label (that I'm aware of) were also recorded by Eddy Howard at the same time. These things fascinate me!

Anyway, the Four Aces also released a Christmas single in 1958 that paired a couple of lesser-known songs:

I can't say I really dig either side, as I could never understand why a tree would want to become a Christmas tree (they should follow the lead of "Guffy the Goofy Gobbler" rather than Charlie the Tuna - huge plot hole) and "Ol' Fatso" also has a major plot holes (what's the kid's "proof" despite a sleigh and reindeer on his roof? Does he need some ghosts to visit him too?)!

If "Ol' Fatso" is remembered at all, it's probably because it was also recorded by Augie Rios as the flipside of "¿Dónde Está Santa Claus?" from 1958, which is a cute novelty.

I'll mention that "Ol' Fatso" was written by Irving Gordon, then I will stop going down the rabbit hole!