Thursday, January 13, 2022

"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!

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