Stan belongs in the Christmas records' hall of fame for his Christmas novelty records of the 1950s. "Christmas Dragnet," a parody of the TV cop show, is from 1953 and itself was a sequel to Freberg's "St. George and the Dragonet," another Dragnet parody based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon. Freberg struck again with "Nuttin' For Christmas," and in 1958 took a funny and effective stab at social commentary with "Green Christmas," in which Bob Cratchit, owner of a spice shop in Orange, N.J., turns down advertising advice from Scrooge, here presented as chairman of the board of Scrooge Chiat Day, or some such high-powered New York ad agency. UPDATE: Fred Clemons corrects the release date of "Green Christmas" and notes that "Christmas Dragnet" was re-released as "Yulenet" in 1954, though it remains the same recording. End update. As for "Nuttin' For Christmas," Freberg hit the charts with this in December 1955 -- and so did the Fontaine Sisters and Barry Gordon, a seldom-equaled blitz of versions of a single song. The bad-litttle-boy riff makes this song a Christmas novelty staple, although Freberg's version throws in colloboration with an actual burglar at the end, making this version darker than the others, and need I add, funnier. UPDATE: Bob Bailey notes there were actually five charting versions of this song that year; the other artists were Joe Ward and Ricky Zahnd, the latter of whom went on to serve as vice president of the New York Knicks and the Rangers. I'm guessing the latter two's success was much more limited, since other sources I consulted didn't turn up their names.
"Christmas Dragnet," "Green Christmas," "Nuttin' For Christmas," Stan Freberg (Capitol)
Stan belongs in the Christmas records' hall of fame for his Christmas novelty records of the 1950s. "Christmas Dragnet," a parody of the TV cop show, is from 1953 and itself was a sequel to Freberg's "St. George and the Dragonet," another Dragnet parody based on the legend of St. George and the Dragon. Freberg struck again with "Nuttin' For Christmas," and in 1958 took a funny and effective stab at social commentary with "Green Christmas," in which Bob Cratchit, owner of a spice shop in Orange, N.J., turns down advertising advice from Scrooge, here presented as chairman of the board of Scrooge Chiat Day, or some such high-powered New York ad agency. UPDATE: Fred Clemons corrects the release date of "Green Christmas" and notes that "Christmas Dragnet" was re-released as "Yulenet" in 1954, though it remains the same recording. End update. As for "Nuttin' For Christmas," Freberg hit the charts with this in December 1955 -- and so did the Fontaine Sisters and Barry Gordon, a seldom-equaled blitz of versions of a single song. The bad-litttle-boy riff makes this song a Christmas novelty staple, although Freberg's version throws in colloboration with an actual burglar at the end, making this version darker than the others, and need I add, funnier. UPDATE: Bob Bailey notes there were actually five charting versions of this song that year; the other artists were Joe Ward and Ricky Zahnd, the latter of whom went on to serve as vice president of the New York Knicks and the Rangers. I'm guessing the latter two's success was much more limited, since other sources I consulted didn't turn up their names.
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