As mentioned in some of the donkey blogs, I love a good Christmas helper animal. What is that you may ask? Well, it's any creature who isn't a reindeer who helps Santa or Christmas in some way. Actually, I will correct myself, I do like some of the lesser known helper reindeer like twinkle toes, there are a few that are not including in the usual Santa eight plus Rudolph line up. Most of these creatures pop up in old novelty records from the 60's through the 80's and remind me of my childhood listening to them on a little record player. It's rare to find anyone making these kind of songs anymore.
If you go back through the older entries on this blog, it's obvious that donkeys are at the top of my helper list, but just below that is Harvey the Hippo.
Harvey the Hippo was recorded by Long John Silver and The Silver Elves in 1959. I tried to find some info on the band, but like most of these one off novelty records, there was very little out there. One of the commenters on the YouTube site did say the song was recorded by their father Jack Silverman, but I could find nothing to back this up. I'm not discrediting this person, I just don't have any information to back this.
The song is about a hippo who helps Santa one very snowy day. Old Harvey plows out the stable and reindeer runway so they can take off and deliver toys in time for Christmas. I like the idea that Santa has no snowplow at the North Pole, instead he has a hippoplowtamus! To many it adds to the magic of the Santa myth along with so many other characters found in songs and books.
I have a massive love for any Christmas song that puts Santa in some sort of space adventure. Particularly for tunes that were made either pre-space travel or when it was in it's infancy. I'm 39, so NASA and space exploration have always been a part of my life. That being said, hearing most of the songs on this list makes me feel some sort of displaced nostalgia for the days before space exploration. I think it's great that Santa would have his own space suit and spaceship to make his toy run in space. I can only imagine the wonder the children of the 40's and 50's had at what was out there beyond our planet.
1. Zoot Zoot Zoot, Here Comes Santa in His New Space Suit - Tiny Tim; A song about Santa's new space suit, pretty self explanatory.
2. Zoomah the Santa Claus from Mars - Barry Gordon; Not really sure what's happening here, for undisclosed reasons the Martian Santa is coming to Earth to give the earth kids Martian toys. Maybe a cultural exchange happened?
3. There's No Christmas on the Moon - Thee Spivies; A sad tale of a family that moved to the moon and now the kiddies are unable to get Christmas presents because Santa doesn't have a space suit. Perhaps Thee Spivies weren't familiar with Tiny Tim's song, because Santa does indeed have a space suit.
4. Spacey! Santa's Space Ship - Johnny Collins & The Caravans; If you can get past the vocals, this is a cute song about Santa's space ship which is named Spacey of course.
5. Space Age Santa Claus - Jaymz Bee & His Royal Jelly Orchestra and also recorded by Hal Bradley Orchestra w/Patty Marie Jay; This song documents Santa's first trip into outer space. Lots of exciting things take place like a gift shop being set up on the moon and space kids putting out nylon hoses instead of stockings.
6. Solar System Simon, Santa's Supersonic Son - Francis Smith; The heir apparent to the Santa empire. I'm not sure when the clauses had this guy, but despite the boast of him being highly educated I have a feeling he's daddy's dirty little secret.
7. Santa's Rocket - Tim Dinkins; Yet another song about Santa visiting the moon kids in his rocket. I guess there were some serious plans for populating the moon back then.
8. Santa to the Moon - Sonny Cole; And another one about Santa doing due diligence and delivering presents to the children on the moon.
9. Santa Claus Meets the Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley; While making his space run, Santa almost crashes into Sputnik, but he is saved by the purple people eater.
10. Santa & the Satellite - Buchanan & Goodman; As with most Buchanan & Goodman songs, it features a bunch of audio clips spliced together to form a story. This time it's a story about Santa being kidnapped by aliens on Sputnik.
11. Rudolph Pouts - Israfel's Son; This song is awesome in so many ways, Vixen must take over pulling the sleigh because Rudolph is too lazy and tired to make the trip to space to deliver the toys to the space kids! There is some serious smack talk about Rudie's work ethic.
12. Rocketship Santa - The Bellrays; Santa drives a rocket ship Cadillac in this song. It's obviously the vehicle of choice to go to Mars and mess around with electric guitars.
13. Outer Space Santa - The Lennon Sisters; A tale of Santa's milky way work shop where toys are made for the good children of space.
14. Futuristic Christmas Tree - Camarata; This technologically advanced tree decides to take a trip to the moon, probably so the moon children will have a tree.
15. Flying Machine (for Christmas) - Flo Price; Yes, in the future kids will want their own flying machines to visit nearby stars.
16. Christmas on the Moon - Troy Hess; Another one with bad vocals, this young man sings about Christmas on the Moon of course. We had such plans for the moon in the 50's and 60's.
17. Captain Santa Claus (And His Reindeer Space Patrol); Santa's sled breaks down, and then another Santa? this one Captain Santa shows up with his reindeer space patrol. They quickly build a rocket for Earth Santa to use.
I'm sure there are many more space themed Christmas songs that I've missed. If anyone is actually reading this, I would love to know some of them.
I have a soft spot for songs that are about people doing harm to Santa. I know that sounds weird coming from a guy who adores Christmas, it's just my thing and we're not here to be all judgey right? Some of you readers know all to well what I'm talking about and others are like "How many songs about doing harm to Santa can there be?" Believe me there are a lot and we will get to each one in due time.
This song was originally recorded by Loretta Lynn for her 1966 album "Country Christmas". It has been covered by many people including Amy Gore and Coal Fire Bicycle. In the song, Ms. Lynn is a bit disgruntled with the fat man in the red suit because he forgot to bring her gifts last year. So dear reader, we once again have run into the theme of how poorly managed the North Pole seems to be. Believing in old timey southern justice, Loretta has decided that Santa must pay for his transgressions. Her plan is to light a fire in the fireplace so he burns his whiskers off! She would also like to punch him in his ho ho ho...which I'm guessing is his belly or.....man bits! Or perhaps the ho ho ho is a real anatomical thing in the elf world. Who knows?
Lyrics
Last year I hung my stockin' by the chimney
And ole Santa didn't bring me anything
Well, I wrote a note and I told him what to bring me
But I didn't even hear his sleigh bells ring.
So to heck with ole Santa Claus
When he goes dashin' through the snow I hope he falls
I'd like to hit him in his ho ho ho
With a bunch of big snowballs.
To heck with ole Santa Claus.
This year I'll build a big fire in the fireplace
I'll be like a little pig I read about
If that big bad wolf in red comes down my chimney
He's a gonna scorch his whiskers there's no doubt.
So to heck with ole Santa Claus
When he goes dashin' through the snow I hope he falls
I'd like to hit him in his ho ho ho
With a bunch of big snowballs.
I have to admit, I only recently discovered this song and it's amazing! Dominick used to be my favorite Christmas donkey, but little Burrito has moved into the number one spot!
"Burrito" was recorded by Don Lucas in 1962. I wasn't able to find a lot of info on Don, it looks like he has one other album to his name, an adult party record of some sort with mature themes. That's okay though Don, Burrito is all you ever needed to do.
Once again Santa needs the help of an animal other than his awesome flying reindeer to deliver toys in a country other than America. Why? No idea actually. Burrito is Santa's go to mode of transport in Mexico and instead of his sleigh, Santa loads all of the toys onto a wagon that Burrito pulls. Once again, seems really inefficient, but I guess Santa has reasons. Maybe the reindeer are in a union and this would violate their contract?
"Burrito" is a really fun and catchy song and Don Lucas does this awesome bray thing. His voice had to be so sore after word. I couldn't find the lyrics or a video to post, but trust me this song is so worth finding!
Dominick the Donkey is a Christmas song written by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell, and was recorded by Lou Monte in 1960 on Roulette Records. In a later release of the song it was retitled "Dominic the Donkey". The song is about a donkey who delivers Christmas presents to the children in Italy because the reindeer are unable to climb the hills there. Sure it's silly but the song is really catchy with the chingedy chang chorus and Dominick's hee-haws.
I want to make it very clear, I love this song. However, there are questions. Why would flying reindeer need to climb hills at all? Couldn't they just fly over them? We all know the toy factory is in the North Pole so why is Dominick delivering items made in Brooklyn to the fine boy and girls of Italy? This whole thing doesn't seem legit. My best guess would be that the mob told Santa Italy was their territory and they have their own jolly fat man who uses a donkey to deliver their poorly made goods. Just a theory. Would love to hear yours.
I stumbled on this song a few years back. Believe me little helpers, I've heard some depressing Christmas songs over the years, and this one is up there in my top 5 of all time for sure. It's not the king singing about a blue Christmas, or a soldier
singing about their Christmas in Vietnam (trust me we'll get to that song some
other time), it's a song about a boy who has no father that was forgotten by Santa! Ahhhhh...mazing!! And then you ask....how do I know he has no father? Well silly, it's mentioned in the song of course! I guess in 1937, while this country and the world was in the midst of the great depression, being forgotten by the one guy who shouldn't forget anyone wasn't enough. Gee guys while you're at it why not burn down this kid's house and condemn him to repeat this day over and over a la Groundhog's Day?
Of course the Christmas ghoul in me finds such glee and delight in the sheer sadness of it. This poor kid hasn't been naughty, he was just so insignificant that Santa completely forgot to go by his home or orphanage or box car or whatever. I mean come on!!! Santa, the jolly old fat man who keeps track of all of the good boys and girls, Santa who has a massive city at the North Pole staffed with thousands of elves, helpers, mystical all seeing crystal balls and light up reindeer somehow missed this guy? And that's not to mention that he supposedly checks his list twice. Two list checks and this kid doesn't make the cut! It makes me wonder are their others Santa has missed? Are there thousands of children who have slipped through the yule cracks due to the North Pole's inefficiency? Maybe, just maybe there is a child army who vow vengeance on the man in the red suit! Or maybe Santa just decided he really didn't like the kid in this song and gets a kick out of his sadness. Who can say?
According to Wikipedia - "The Little Boy that Santa Claus Forgot" is a 1937 song written by Michael Carr, Tommie Connor and Jimmy Leach; most notably performed by Vera Lynn. It is also known for the use of her version in the opening scene in the Pink Floyd film Pink Floyd—The Wall.
Other people who have recorded it include Johnny Adams, Billy Mackenzie, Elsie Carlisle, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Billy Cotton, John Farnham, Alex Harvey, and Arthur Tracy. A portion of the song was sung by Jim Belushi in the 1996 film Jingle All the Way.
Lyrics
He's the little boy That Santa Clause forgot, And goodness knows, He didn't want a lot.
He sent a note to Santa For some soldiers and a drum, It broke his little heart When he found Santa hadn't come.
In the street he envies All those lucky boys, Then wanders home To last year's broken toys. I'm so sorry for that laddie, He hasn't got a daddy, The little boy That Santa Clause forgot.
Spoken: (You know, Christmas comes but once a year For every girl and boy, The laughter and the joy They find in each brand new toy. I'll tell you of a little boy That lives across the way... This little fella's Christmas is just another day. He's the little boy That Santa Claus forgot, And goodness knows, He didn't want a lot.)
In the street He envies all those lucky boys, Then wanders home To last year's broken toys. I'm so sorry for that laddie, He hasn't got a daddy, The little boy That Santa Clause forgot
So, there you have it Christmas fans. Stay tuned for more of my favorite Christmas things!
Unofficial video of the song, the Nat King Cole version
