Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Last year we had Christmases mixes covering the 1950s and 1970s; this year we have the yulevibes of the groovy 1960s.

Not too long ago it seemed that things cultural changed in the course of a decade. 1962 looked nothing like 1968; 1971 nothing like 1977; 1980 nothing like 1989. Then, in the 1990s, time seemed to start moving more slowly. Today, it seems to me, 2017 might as well be 2007; Bieber and Perry and Beyoncé and Swift are still megastars”¦ And Any Major Dude is still with you, as her was ten years ago”¦

The 1950s were the decade of seismic change in popular culture, what with the rise of rock & roll and the advent of The Teenager. But the 1960s probably saw the fastest developments in pop. The Beatles and the Beach Boys saw to that, as well as Stax, Motown, Atlantic et al in soul music.

This mix features The Beatles and The Beach Boys, and a few other exponents of the sounds of the latter 1960s. But the Christmas vibes find their most joyous, carefree, festive expression in the tracks from the early, more innocent parts of the decade, when Bing could still sing about “noggins” in the snow.

The Bee Gees are represented twice here: on their own with the rather melancholy sounding Thank You For Christmas. Before they come in, The Majority perform the Gibb Brothers composition All Our Christmases.

One song here featured on the Any Major Christmas Bells mix from two weeks ago, albeit in a different version. The Bacharach-David song The Bell That Couldn”t Jingle appears here by Bobby Vinton. A track that failed to make the bells compilation has been shifted to this mix: The Royal Guardsmen“s Snoopy”s Christmas. Seeing as this is the last centenary of a World War I Christmas, it seems appropriate to run it now.

Talking of war, the penultimate track is not very joyous: The Charmels want their man to come home from Vietnam. A similar theme “” wanting a soldier boyfriend home at Christmas “” is handled by Toni Wine in the closing track, though Toni is more Army Wives than Nam protester. Which makes some sense, since Wine”s track, recorded in 1963, precedes the heat of the Vietnam War. How might her song have panned out had it been recorded five years later?

At Christmas it might not be nice to make people feel old, but here”s a disturbing thought: The baby of whose first Christmas Connie Francis is crooning is now a grandparent aged 56.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes covers made by indentured elves. PW in comments, wherein you may wish me a merry Christmas.

Don”t forget: next week, before New Year”s Eve, I”ll post the now traditional Any Major Disco mix.

I wish you a Merry Christmas, or “” in the words of Lou Rawls “” I hope Santa socks it to you.

1. JB – Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year (1967)
2. Ike & Tina Turner – Merry Christmas Baby (1965)
3. The Ronettes – Sleigh Ride (1963)
4. The Majority – All Our Christmases (1968)
5. Bobby Vinton – The Bell That Couldn’t Jingle (1964)
6. Bobby Vee – Christmas Vacation (1962)
7. The Debonairs – Christmas Time (1961)
8. The Drifters – Christmas Song (1964)
9. Jackie Wilson – Silver Bells (1963)
10. The Soul Stirrers – Christmas Means Love (1968)
11. Nancy Wilson – That’s What I Want For Christmas (1963)
12. Lou Rawls – Christmas Is (1967)
13. Bing Crosby – The White World Of Winter (1964)
14. Doris Day – Be A Child At Christmas Time (1964)
15. Connie Francis – Baby’s First Christmas (1961)
16. Jim Reeves – An Old Christmas Card (1963)
17. The Echoes – Merry Christmas Baby Blue (1961)
18. The Bee Gees – Thank You For Christmas (1967)
19. Chad Mitchell Trio – The Marvelous Toy (1963)
20. Lisa Miller – The Loneliest Christmas Tree (1968)
21. Claudine Longet – I Don’t Intend To Spend Christmas Without You (1967)
22. The Playboys – The Night Before Christmas (1963)
23. King Curtis – What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve (1968)
24. Canned Heat – Christmas Blues (1968)
25. The Beatles – Christmas Time (Is Here Again) (1967)
26. The Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy’s Christmas (1967)
27. Beach Boys – The Man With All The Toys (1967)
28. Four Seasons – Christmas Tears (1962)
29. The Dynamics – Christmas Plea (1962)
30. The Charmels – Please Uncle Sam (Send Back My Man) (1966)
31. Toni Wine – My Boyfriend’s Coming Home For Christmas (1963)

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More Christmas Mixes
Any Major Christmas Favourites
Any Major 1980s Christmas
Any Major 1970s Christmas
Any Major 1960s Christmas
Any Major 1950s Christmas
Christmas Mix, Not For Mother
Any Major X-Mas Mix
Any Major Christmas Pop Vol. 1
Any Major Christmas Pop Vol. 2
Any Major Christmas Carols (in pop)
Any Major Christmas Bells
Any Major Smooth Christmas Vol. 1
Any Major Smooth Christmas Vol. 2
Any Major Christmas Soul Vol. 1
Any Major Christmas Soul Vol. 2
Any Major Christmas Soul Vol. 3
Any Major Doop Wop Christmas
Any Major Rhythm & Blues Christmas
Any Major Country Christmas Vol. 1
Any Major Country Christmas Vol. 2
Any Major Acoustic Christmas
Christmas In Black & White Vol. 1
Christmas In Black & White Vol. 2
Christmas In Black & White Vol. 3
Song Swarm: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

Or all in one place