The Silver State Chronicles

And tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago!

Big Daddy Never Lets Us Down

Run, run, reindeer!

Prospero año y felicidad!

Una de mis canciones favoritas en Español es Feliz Navidad!  Gracias, Jose!

There must have been some magic in the old silk hat they found…

But as for me and Grandpa, we believe!

My favorite Christmas song!  And I’ve had the hots for Cousin Nell since 1983, and I’m not embarrassed to say it!

It’s a Marshmallow World!

One of my favorite Christmas songs, courtesy of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra!

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2″-3″ of Snow Forces McCarran Airport to Close

Now to be fair, that’s a pretty wimpy ‘blizzard.’

A more recent entry into the Christmas songbook!

Christmas-themed entertainment is always a great investment -- if it’s 1/2-way decent, you can count on your song, movie, or tv special to get repeat business in the last month of every year.  Those residuals add up!

So of course, our friends at Disney stacked the deck with the second entry into their Santa Clause franchise, including a song by young Hilary Duff in the soundtrack.  Cross-marketing at its finest!  A shame she just does a lip-sync and not a live performance, but that may have just been too much of a challenge and to be fair, her target audience can’t tell the difference anyway.

Enjoy ‘Down Santa Claus Lane!’

A classic never goes out of style

One of my favorite slices of Americana is “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late),” a song written by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville) in 1958.  Although it was written and sung by Bagdasarian (in the form of a chipmunk voice), the singing credits are given to The Chipmunks, a fictional singing group consisting of three chipmunks by the names of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore.

The song was very successful, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, becoming The Chipmunks’ first (and only), as well as David Seville’s second and final, #1 single. It has the distinction of being the only Christmas record to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart. The single sold 4.5 million copies, according to Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.

Between 1959–1962, the single managed to re-enter the Hot 100, peaking at #41 in 1959, #45 in 1960, and #39 in 1962. (Starting in 1963, Billboard would list re-current Christmas songs on a separate chart.)

“The Chipmunk Song” is the last Christmas song to make #1 on any US single record chart totaling performance of all available records, a record that may never be equaled.

I’m including the memorable animated video to the song from The Chipmunks 1960s animated series, as well as their live-action version from their 2007 film Alvin and The Chipmunks, as well as their popular 2007 remix of the song!  Enjoy!