True Stories Behind Christmas Songs & Dangerous Decorations- Bonus Holiday Episode

Christmas decorations are meant to be cheerful — but some have been anything but. Over the years, certain holiday decorations have turned out to be creepy, hazardous, and even deadly. This episode begins with some of the strangest and most dangerous examples. https://www.epa.gov/radtown/radioactivity-antiques?utm Many classic Christmas songs have surprising backstories. Brenda Lee was only 13 when she recorded Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was tossed in the trash before becoming a holiday staple. Music journalist Annie Zaleski joins me to share these and many other stories. She is author of This Is Christmas, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits (https://amzn.to/3ZomPBn). There’s a lot of myth and speculation surrounding The Twelve Days of Christmas. We take a closer look at where the song came from, what it was really about, and how much all those gifts would actually cost if you bought them today. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/12-facts-about-12-days-christmas-180967569/ PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! AURA FRAMES: Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://AuraFrames.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and get $45 off Aura's best selling Carver Mat frames by using promo code SOMETHING at checkout. INDEED: Get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Indeed.com/SOMETHING⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ right now! QUINCE: Give and get timeless holiday staples that last this season with Quince. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Quince.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns! DELL: Your new Dell PC with Intel Core Ultra helps you handle a lotwhen your holiday to-dos get to be…a lot. Shop now at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Dell.com/deals ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ AG1: Head to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://DrinkAG1.com/SYSK ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get a FREE Welcome Kit with an AG1 Flavor Sampler and a bottle of Vitamin D3 plus K2, when you first subscribe! NOTION: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Notion brings all your notes, docs, and projects into one connected space that just works . It's seamless, flexible, powerful, and actually fun to use! Try Notion, now with Notion Agent, at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://notion.com/something⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ PLANET VISIONARIES: In partnership with Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, this… is Planet Visionaries. Listen or watch on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. SHOPIFY: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at⁠ https://Shopify.com/sysk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Pink Pantheress here. Coach and Spotify are teaming up to bring music and style together, and they want you to be part of it. Grab your friends and head to the Tabby Tour, hitting cities around the country with live performances from special artists, exclusive experiences, and personalized products. And discover custom playlists on Spotify, booked just for you based on who you are and how you listen. Live your story with Coach. Learn more at coach.com.

• 0:30Mike Carruthers?

  Today on Something You Should Know, our third Christmas bonus episode. You know, every year around this time, we hear the same songs at the mall, on the radio, in commercials, everywhere. Today, we have some wonderful stories about your favorite Christmas songs, including "White Christmas," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song."

• 0:53Speaker 02

  What I love about this song is that it was written during the summer. What happened is that Mel was going to Robert's house just for, you know, a writing session, and it was a very, very hot summer day. And he was like, you know, getting in the Christmas spirit, writing this Christmas song, maybe this will cool me down. And so they ended up writing the song in like 45 minutes. And Nat King Cole, you know, liked the song enough that he recorded it the following year twice.

• 1:18Mike Carruthers?

  So grab some cocoa, settle in, and we'll discover some fascinating facts about some Christmas songs we all know and love on Something You Should Know.

• 1:29Mike Carruthers?

  Now, here's something that might be worth a minute of your time. How would you like $1,000 to spend on shopping? Especially with the holidays coming. Well, the people behind Shopify have a shopping site called shop.com. And to celebrate the new shop.com, they're giving away $1 million in Shop Cash. But not to one person. A thousand people will each win $1,000 in Shop Cash. And shop.com is actually a really clever idea. It brings lots of different stores together in one place. So instead of bouncing around from website to website, you can search across stores,

• 2:12Mike Carruthers?

  find what you're looking for, and track your orders all in one place. Clothes, electronics, gifts, things for the house, all kinds of stuff. And whether you win or not, it's worth knowing. But with 1,000 chances to win $1,000,

• 2:29Mike Carruthers?

  I'd certainly take a look. Enter to win the $1 million Shop Cash giveaway from now until November 1st. Just go to shop.com. There are so many ways to win. That's shop.com. Shopping designed around you. No purchase necessary. Restrictions apply. Official rules available at shop.com.

• 2:54Speaker 03

  Something you should know. Fascinating intel. The world's top experts. And practical advice you can use in your life. Today. Something you should know. With Mike Carruthers.

• 3:07Mike Carruthers?

  You know, I love doing these holiday bonus episodes. Doing them and then actually listening to them really gets me into the holiday spirit. They're just fun to do, and I hope you enjoy them. And we start this holiday bonus episode with holiday decorations. If you think today's Christmas decorations are excessive, well, there was a brief period when they were actually dangerous. In the early 1900s, some Christmas ornaments and artificial snow were made with radioactive materials, including radium. At the time, radium was considered healthy and modern. It glowed in the dark. So manufacturers added it to everything, from watches to holiday decor.

• 3:52Mike Carruthers?

  People literally put faintly radioactive decorations in their living room without knowing that it could cause all kinds of health problems. And that wasn't the only odd Christmas decoration. In parts of Eastern Europe, families decorated Christmas trees with fake spider webs. Sometimes even real spider webs. It comes from a folk tale in which poor families wake up on Christmas morning to find spider webs on their tree turned into silver. To this day, spider web ornaments are considered a symbol of good luck and prosperity in countries like Ukraine. So, once upon a time, Christmas trees were either covered with spider webs or dangerously

• 4:37Mike Carruthers?

  glowed in the dark, both of which were considered perfectly festive at the time. And that is something you should know.

• 4:48Mike Carruthers?

  Unlike any other holiday, Christmas brings with it its own music. Lots of music. Songs and carols that we listen to over and over again. Maybe you've noticed how some radio stations switched to an all-Christmas music format and seem to do it earlier and earlier every year. And why do they do it? Because listeners like it. People love Christmas music. And while some new songs get added to the mix every year, it is the classics that we're drawn to. And those classic songs all have stories. Joining me to reveal some of the interesting backstories to many of your favorite Christmas songs is Annie Zaleski.

• 5:29Mike Carruthers?

  She is an author, editor, and journalist with a focus on music and pop culture, and she's author of a book called This is Christmas: Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits. Hi Annie, welcome to Something You Should Know.

• 5:44Speaker 02

  Thanks for having me.

• 5:45Mike Carruthers?

  So let's start with why you like Christmas music so much and why you like going and investigating all the stories behind the songs.

• 5:53Speaker 02

  Christmas music, I've always been a longtime fan, ever since I was a small child. And I think one of the things that I'm really fascinated by is that you can really see the world history, social movements, and they're all reflected in Christmas music. So when you look at the history of Christmas music across the decades, you can kind of see how American culture has moved forward.

• 6:16Mike Carruthers?

  So let's start off with White Christmas, because it's been around a long time. It's a perennial favorite. Everybody seems to like it. What's the story with White Christmas?

• 6:27Speaker 02

  You know, so that was written by Irving Berlin. I don't think Irving Berlin needs any introduction. He's one of the greatest composers in American history. And he actually ended up writing it for a movie called Holiday Inn. And that came out in 1942. However, White Christmas came out the year before and basically emerged during the Christmas season, right after World War II broke out. The song was actually, he played it on his radio show. The song was actually- Actually shipped to the UK that year, late 1941, to kind of provide solace for troops. And what I just really love about this song is that it's reassuring, you know, it's a very, he's very empathetic about it, you know, it's a very kind of longing song, it's full of nostalgia,

• 7:12Speaker 02

  it's very wistful, that with the hope that maybe one day, you know, everyone will be together, Christmas will be better again. And it really kind of summed up the time, you know, it was a very anxious time in the world, a very fraught time, families were being separated, and it was sort of a beacon of comfort, I guess.

• 7:28Mike Carruthers?

  Was it written for that purpose? Was it written with soldiers in mind that one day they'll be home for Christmas? Or was it just, it just fit at the time?

• 7:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, it just fit at the time. No, I mean, he wrote this movie, so Holiday Inn had a couple of other holiday-themed songs that were kind of included on the movie soundtrack. And it did not, you know, obviously, I think when World War II broke out, it was one of those right place, right time things. The song just really summed up the mood.

• 7:57Mike Carruthers?

  So my favorite Christmas song that I love to hear, when I hear it on the radio, I think, okay, it's Christmas time, is Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song.

• 8:07Speaker 02

  What I love about this song, the origins, that I did not realize until doing this book, is that it was written during the summer. There was actually a lot of Christmas songs that were written during the summer. And so this was written by Mel Tormé and Robert Wells. And actually, what happened is that Mel was going to Robert's house just for, you know, a writing session, and it was a very, very hot summer day. It was excessively hot, as he put it. And he happened to see on the piano, there were some lyrics that referenced Christmas carols, roasting chestnuts, and he was like, you know, getting in the Christmas spirit, writing this Christmas song, maybe this will cool me down. And so they ended up writing the song in like 45 minutes. They immediately took the song to Hollywood, and Nat King Cole, you know, liked

• 8:51Speaker 02

  the song enough that he recorded it the following year twice, actually, he did two separate takes in 1946. But, you know, that just, that song just sums it up right there, you know, the, you know, that came out right as World War II ended. And so there were a lot of people that there were getting back together, you know, trying to recover from a very, very difficult four years. And so that also really kind of, you know, summed up and really provided a lot of comfort for families, sort of in the opposite way, that way Christmas did.

• 9:18Mike Carruthers?

  You know, what's interesting to me about that song is There have been a lot of really good covers of that song. I mean, a lot.

• 9:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 9:26Mike Carruthers?

  And some of them are really good, but they just don't quite do it the way Nat King Cole did it.

• 9:34Speaker 02

  Hundred percent. And I think that's, you know, his voice. He had such a singular voice. He was so deeply empathetic and he was such a wonderful interpreter. He really lived the songs that he sang.

• 9:46Mike Carruthers?

  And also, I think is such a big part of it. He has that, I don't know what that is, that haunting thing in his voice. You know, Sting kinda has that same thing. There's a hauntingness about it that just makes the song. And you know, another song, when I hear it at Christmas, or when I hear it anywhere, it gets stuck in my head for the rest of the day, and that is Blue Christmas by Elvis.

• 10:11Speaker 02

  Oh, I love Blue Christmas. Oh, absolutely. You know, then that came out in 1957, you know, and it's funny, he wasn't actually the first one to do it, which I was very interested about. That had been recorded many times before he ended up tackling it. But I think this is another one where his vocal performance just nailed it. You know, he just nailed the, when you're not having a good Christmas, basically, if you're having, anyone who's having a melancholy Christmas and not having a great year, you know, he really, he really captured it. You know, and it's funny enough, the writer actually was inspired by Gloomy Day, when he actually wrote it, Jay Johnson. And he was actually known for penning scripts for radio shows. He wasn't necessarily a songwriter.

• 10:52Speaker 02

  He was commuting from Connecticut to New York City and it was a rainy day. And he basically wondered why hadn't someone hadn't written a holiday song with some blues in it. And so he decided to write one himself. And he came up with a composer friend named Billy Hayes and they put it together.

• 11:09Mike Carruthers?

  I've certainly noticed, as I'm sure everyone has, that, you know, the Christmas classic songs stay forever. And there aren't a lot of new songs that really stick the way White Christmas or The Christmas Song do. But a few have. And recently, like Mariah Carey, I mean, she's criticized for that song, her Christmas song, but. But it has stuck and it probably will stick for a while.

• 11:36Speaker 02

  So she actually wrote it with a collaborator of hers, Walter Afanasev, who he also co-wrote Hero and One Sweet Day. And so they were writing a lot of songs together, you know, and she loved Christmas. I mean, I think that's obvious if everyone looking at it now. She really leans into it because of the song, but she loved Christmas. And so she basically wrote this song, you know, it was a silly love song, you know, a whimsical love song, not silly, but whimsical, that she's basically waiting for her beloved, you know, that she's going to be underneath the Christmas tree, you know, waiting underneath the mistletoe, waiting for them to come up. You know, and it's one of these songs that I'm still trying to figure out why it's become so popular and why it has just endured and why that one in particular has become a standard. And I think it's probably because, you know, you have her,

• 12:20Speaker 02

  she really leans into the vocal performance. She really goes for it. And the instrumentation as well is, you know, kind of old fashioned. You know, you have sleigh bells, you have piano, you know, with a little bit of a different production that could have come out in another decade.

• 12:34Mike Carruthers?

  Well, it also seems like, like other songs like Blue Christmas, that when you hear it, it gets stuck in your head for a while. It's until some other song comes and bumps it out. But, but it is like infectious in that way. It gets in your head. And you know what other song that gets stuck in my head at Christmas time? And it is so hard to get rid of. And I want to ask you about that when we come back in just a minute.

• 13:02Speaker 00

  Pink Pantheress here. Coach and Spotify are teaming up to bring music and style together, and they want you to be part of it. Grab your friends and head to the Tabby Tour, hitting cities around the country with live performances from special artists, exclusive experiences and personalized products. And discover custom playlists on Spotify, booked just for you based on who you are and how you listen. Live your story with Coach. Learn more at coach.com.

• 13:29Speaker 04

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• 13:58Mike Carruthers?

  So Annie, another more recent Christmas song that gets stuck in my head all the time and that I can't get rid of is "Underneath the Tree" by Kelly Clarkson. I mean, I just, I hear it and I can't get it out of my head. And I, I like it, but God, I wish I could think of something else.

• 14:17Speaker 02

  You, you said that and I immediately started singing that in my head. Cause yeah, it is one of those memorable songs that like her hook with that. And you know, it's funny, she wrote that song with Greg Kirsten and who has a very interesting background. He was in a nineties band called Gagita that very few people remember, but he's done a lot of production for mainstream pop. And they conjured kind of the wall of sound production style. They kind of modernized it and kind of drew on that. And you know, basically true love makes Christmas better. You know, I think it's none of one of those timeless songs that, you know, they, they went with the classics and decided to go for it. And I think her vocal performance too. You know, she is obviously a big fan of Mariah Carey's, but also some of the other,

• 14:59Speaker 02

  you know, powerful songwriters and powerful vocalists, female vocalists through the years. And there are a lot of women who have sang Christmas songs, you know, Darlene Love, obviously, the Ronettes. And so that she's kind of in the long tradition of those very powerful women singing Christmas songs.

• 15:15Mike Carruthers?

  Let's get back to some of the classics. Have yourself a merry little Christmas. I mean, that's been around forever. Well, I don't know if it's been around forever. Has it been around forever?

• 15:23Speaker 02

  It's been around since the 40s, which feels like forever, I guess, you know, but depending on your perspective. This was in "Meet Me in St. Louis," which is, you know, Judy Garland, so it's very connected to her post-Wizard of Oz. And what was so fascinating about the song is that it almost didn't come to be. So the songwriters were Ralph Blaine and Hugh Martin. And, you know, basically Hugh was writing the song and, you know, played it, just couldn't get the song to work, and he threw it in the trash. And Ralph was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. And he actually, you know, said, no, no, no, this is good, and made him take it back out of the trash so they could finish it. And, you know, even then, you know, obviously, it's such a pivotal part of "Meet Me in St. Louis"

• 16:08Speaker 02

  as well. And it actually almost didn't end up in the movie, apparently, because they were worried that it was a little bit too, you know, dour.

• 16:15Mike Carruthers?

  So Annie, "Merry Christmas Darling" by The Carpenters, when that came out, I think it just instantly became a hit, and it has sustained for all these years. And it's, I mean, it's her voice. It's just the way she sings is like an angel.

• 16:32Speaker 02

  Absolutely. And I think, you know, when I was talking about female vocalists, you know, just really nailing Christmas songs, she really did. And this one as well, so, you know, Richard Carpenter handled the music, and Frank Poehler wrote lyrics. And people might not necessarily know who he was. What's interesting is that he wrote the song, you basically, as a Christmas gift for a girl to get a crush on. And, you know, it didn't work out or anything, but he kind of kept the song. And he later became a teacher. He was a choral director at California State University Long Beach, and met Richard and Karen Carpenter. And basically, you know, they asked, hey, do you have any Christmas songs they could perform? And he dug out his lyrics, and Richard wrote music to it.

• 17:16Speaker 02

  So I mean, what a lovely story, you know, and he didn't realize that he was doing it. Richard just kind of invited Frank to the studio and said, hey, I want you to listen to something. And he put together the song. And, but, oh, yeah, I mean, Karen's performance on this is just so, I mean, there's almost no words to describe how beautiful it is. And it's just so tender and dynamic. And it's really, you know, that was fairly early in their career becoming hitmakers. And I think it was definitely one of those songs that showed, you know, another side of her and just showed her depth.

• 17:46Mike Carruthers?

  One Christmas song that's fairly popular that I am not a big fan of, because I think it's cute the first time you hear it, it's not so cute the 700th time you've heard it, is "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas."

• 17:59Speaker 02

  I knew you were gonna say that, because I did not realize what a polarizing that song was. And so, this was actually written by a man named John Rocks. You know, he basically, he had studied music in Vienna, you know, he wrote some Broadway songs, and the singer was 12. You know, her name was Gala Peavy, and so they, she was kind of on, you know, a child star who was kind of on an upswing, and she sang the song. And I think what's most fascinating about this song is that the way they promoted it. I think now, it's kind of foreshadowed the way music promotion is now, you know. So basically, the whole story is, she wants a hippopotamus for Christmas. And so, how they promoted the song was saying, she needs, the real gala needs a hippopotamus. And so, they did all of these fundraisers

• 18:44Speaker 02

  and promotion, and they did a fundraiser, and they actually donated, people donated $4,000, which in the early 50s, you know, I calculated, was more than $40,000 today. And they basically found an elephant, a medilda, and they, she went to the Oklahoma City Zoo, and she lived there for decades. So, it's a weird song, and it's definitely, it's kind of "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth." There were a lot of songs like this in the early 50s, you know, the post-World War II baby boom, you know, children were music consumers, and I think that was definitely one of the songs, too, geared toward them.

• 19:17Mike Carruthers?

  Well, and the Chipmunks' Christmas song would fall into that category, because, but it's such a novelty song. Yeah, I guess you still hear it a lot at Christmas time, but, you know, again, I can hear it once a year, and that's plenty for me.

• 19:33Speaker 02

  That one is so funny, because it's one man, and he, you know, he basically, and so if people know the song "Which Doctor?" by David Seville, and he put together the Chipmunk song, he bought a real, real cassette recorder, and manipulated the tapes to make the Chipmunk voices, which honestly, for the time, was very forward-thinking. And he basically made these characters, these Chipmunks. It's funny, because he actually almost did not end up on Chipmunks. You know, he wasn't sure if the singer should be them, or insects, he actually thought of being butterflies, which is, or mice, or rabbits. They almost were not Chipmunks, which is funny.

• 20:11Mike Carruthers?

  So I want to go back because we talked about White Christmas, which came out in the 40s, Bing Crosby and all that. But there's also I'll Be Home For Christmas, which is kind of similar in its theme and its time and the same guy sings it. So sort that out.

• 20:29Speaker 02

  Oh, boy. I mean, and so this this came out in 1943, which, you know, obviously was in the middle of World War II. It was even more fraught time, I think, than when White Christmas came out. And, you know, basically, it's less optimistic. I mean, I think, you know, even, you know, I'll Be Home For Christmas. When you hear the title, you're like, that's a promise. I'll be home there. But honestly, it's when you actually kind of listen to the song, the lyrics almost hint that coming home for the holidays is a fantasy, that this is something that might not be possible. You know, I think the parenthetical is if only in my dreams is, I think, you know, kind of, you know, basically points to that, basically, that, you know, that there's no guarantee. And I think this is another song that just really, really summed up the time.

• 21:14Speaker 02

  And funnily enough, the song actually has a very complicated backstory because there were lawsuits involved in terms of these songwriters. People had shared this song and there were copyright things. And so for a song that is just so melancholy and just, you know, so downtrodden, there was a lot of drama and legal drama behind the scenes. But boy, Bing just really, too, his, his performance and his delivery on the song, too, you know, he really, really lived the song and leaned into the melancholy. But it was very, it was comforting in a way, you know, for people who weren't feeling great at the holidays, who were feeling like, were feeling hopeless that things weren't going to work out. You know, he, he was really the soundtrack to that and really told people it's okay to feel that way.

• 21:55Mike Carruthers?

  So rock and roll changed music, but it also changed the landscape of Christmas music when it appeared. And I want to ask you about that in just a moment.

• 22:08Speaker 00

  Pink Pantheress here. Coach and Spotify are teaming up to bring music and style together, and they want you to be part of it. Grab your friends and head to the Tabby Tour, hitting cities around the country with live performances from special artists, exclusive experiences and personalized products. And discover custom playlists on Spotify, booked just for you based on who you are and how you listen. Live your story with Coach. Learn more at coach.com.

• 22:35Speaker 04

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• 23:04Mike Carruthers?

  So Annie, when rock and roll showed up, it produced a couple of Christmas songs like Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and Jingle Bell Rock that said, hey, rock and roll is, you know, part of the culture now.

• 23:18Speaker 02

  Absolutely. And, you know, Jingle Bell Rock is another one of those when I mentioned, you know, songwriting credits, that is a fascinating, fascinating one because the songwriters who are credited are Joseph Carlton Beal and James Ross Booth. And there's not a lot of information about them. You really have to kind of dig to find out sort of what they did. Bobby Helms over the years has always claimed, you know, and he's no longer with us, but when he was alive, he claimed, I wrote a bunch of this stuff. I really rewrote this song and he didn't get credit for it. And so, but, but he, and he was in country music. That was so interesting is that he had had a couple of country hits. So when he kind of came up with this song that was, you know, a little bit, um, you know, I, I want, it's funny because it's very early rock and roll, kind of easygoing.

• 24:03Speaker 02

  You can tell that he was in country by the way, with the instrumentation and the musician, Chapin Garland was on it, big country music performer and just really sort of being laid back and sort of shuffling and it's, it's just, it's one of those feel good songs when, you know, Jingle Bell Rock, Jingle Bell Rock is basically, it's people going, you know, you're going to Jingle Bell Square, you know, so it's, it's kind of playing up the iconography of Christmas and just kind of for teenagers going out and dancing, that's very much this. Same thing with Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, you know, and this Brenda Lee, first off nailed it. This was another song that she recorded right in the, the dead of summer and it was written by Johnny Marks, who is notorious because he also wrote Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

• 24:45Mike Carruthers?

  And she was only like 13, right?

• 24:49Speaker 02

  No, actually, you know what she was? She was 12 worth. She might have even been 12. I'd have to look up what her birthday was. She was so young and you wouldn't know it. I mean, I think that's what's so incredible about that song is that, you know, she always sounded so much more sophisticated and adult than she actually was.

• 25:05Mike Carruthers?

  And I remember reading in an interview with Brenda Lee that when Home Alone came out and Home Alone features that song, that that was a real shot in the arm for the song.

• 25:15Speaker 02

  Hundred percent, you know, and she said that it was a turning point, you know, and that it's really, she called an interview, it breathed new life into the tune. And, you know, it hit number one last year. I mean, I think that's what's striking, you know, decades after it came out, she, you know, it basically, Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You perennially hits number one around the holiday season and Brenda Lee did last year. Just unbelievable.

• 25:41Mike Carruthers?

  Well, as we were talking about before, you know, the all time great Christmas songs, they don't let many new members into that list very often, but when they, but, but sometimes there's like the little flurry and it happened like in the eighties with Wham! and the Eagles, their Christmas songs are now classics.

• 26:03Speaker 02

  And it's funny when you think about it, you know, that was 40 years ago now, you know, and the Eagles was almost 45 years ago. And so, you know, when we were growing up, those songs from the 40s and 50s, those were the classics. So yeah, they are now the classics. Wham! Last Christmas is so, you know, unbelievable because I think George Michael especially has been getting a lot more credit for his songwriting, his production, you know, in recent years. And that song, he basically wrote himself. He was at his parents' house and he was hanging out, you know, Andrew Ridgely, his Wham! bandmate was also there. And he basically got inspiration and he went upstairs and he happened to have a keyboard in his childhood bedroom and started writing the song. And then he actually ended up recording it in the studio by himself. There was just an engineer and he played

• 26:48Speaker 02

  the instruments on it too, with some synthesizers and a drum machine. And, you know, that was basically a George Michael production. And that song is so funny because the Interpretations of it vary so wildly, you know, I mean, I I've always said that, you know, that it's basically you run into an ex at, you know, at a Christmas time and that you go through a whirlwind of emotions, you know, your anger, your bitter, your sad, you know, your longing and that, you know, you're you're basically saying, nope, they're they are no longer worth my time, you know, I'm done with you, it's time to move forward. But people have many different interpretations of that. It's it's very, very interesting. I've had some heated conversations with people about last Christmas, which you would not expect for the way it sounds, being such a synth pop classic.

• 27:32Mike Carruthers?

  And the Eagles?

• 27:34Speaker 02

  Oh, the Eagles. And so, and I, you know, this is, it's funny that the Eagles have so many good songs. And I honestly think this is my one of my favorite Eagle songs, to be very honest. And I think it's, you know, I for starters, I think it's the vocal performances, you know, I think, obviously, their harmonies are unparalleled. And I think this one especially, this really highlights it. This was actually written, though, by Charles Brown. And so, and he is, you know, he's a very, very underrated musician, basically, you know, he was, he had started playing in the 1940s with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, who actually had a hit with Merry Christmas Baby, long before, you know, it became very well known. And then he also fronted the

• 28:17Speaker 02

  Charles Brown Trio. And so he but he basically, you know, recorded this song for King Records, which was a very, you know, infamous and very influential record label in Cincinnati. And so he basically, the Eagles found it and covered it. And so it had been released decades before, and they put just a really wonderful kind of R and B, you know, rock, soft rock spin on it. And like I said, I just, you know, I love this song, you know, I mean, I think Joe Walsh and Don Felder, they were really, they're such powerful guitar players, and they were very, very subtle. And it was actually the first time Timothy B Schmidt contributed bass to an Eagles song, which I think also probably contributes to the sound of it as well.

• 28:56Mike Carruthers?

  Well, I must admit, I always like hearing stories behind popular songs. They're just so interesting to me. And apologies to anybody who, if we didn't get to your favorite Christmas song. We only have so much time and there are so many songs. I've been talking to Annie Zaleski. She's an author, editor, and journalist, and one of her books is called This is Christmas: Song by Song, The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits. And there's a link to her book at Amazon in the show notes. Great, Annie, thanks. Merry Christmas.

• 29:27Speaker 02

  Thank you so much. This was fun.

• 29:33Mike Carruthers?

  Since we're talking about Christmas music, you've probably heard the song "The 12 Days of Christmas" more times than you can count. But there's a lot to that song you may not know. First of all, the 12 days don't actually refer to the days leading up to Christmas, as many people believe. Traditionally, they begin on Christmas Day and then run through January 5th, the eve of the Christian Feast of Epiphany. So if you've been singing it as a countdown to Christmas, technically, you're 12 days early. And what about all those odd gifts in the song? Well, many people have heard the story that each line of the song contains a hidden religious

• 30:15Mike Carruthers?

  message, like two turtle doves representing the Old and New Testaments. It's an interesting idea, but historians say there's no solid evidence for that. It seems that the song started out as a simple memory and forfeit game. In 18th century England and France, players would take turns reciting the growing list of gifts in the song, and if you messed up, you owed a forfeit, which was usually something silly or embarrassing. Speaking of gifts, if someone actually sent you all the birds and all the people represented

• 30:52Mike Carruthers?

  in that song, repeating each gift every day, you would end up with 364 total presents. That includes 184 birds and 40 different entertainers to dance, leap, and pipe around your house. And finally, the cost. Every year, a financial firm publishes what they call the Christmas Price Index. It's an estimate of how much it would cost to buy everything in that song. Today, the full set of gifts would run well over $40,000, and that's without the repeating days. If you include all the cumulative gifts, you're looking at a total somewhere in six figures.

• 31:35Mike Carruthers?

  So the next time you hear the 12 Days of Christmas, remember, it's not a secret code, and it's not a countdown, and it's definitely not a very practical gift list. And that is something you should know. Hey, this was fun. This was a really fun episode to do. I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you're having yourself a very merry Christmas season. I'm Mike Carruthers. Thanks for listening today to Something You Should Know.

• 32:02Speaker 00

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• 32:29Speaker 05

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