It was on this day in 1958 that Alvin, Simon and Theodore hit #1 with The Chipmunk Song. It became the first Christmas song to hit #1 in America. It remained #1 for four weeks. Christmas had been over for a month and most folks had taken down the lights and decorations, and that song was still hanging in at #1.
Influence for the song stemmed from real life events. The song was written and produced by Ross Bagdasarian (a.k.a. David Seville). Its inspiration came to him from his youngest son, Adam. It seems he had a habit of asking in September if it was Christmas yet. That got Ross thinking. He figured if his son was already asking about the holiday so early, other kids probably were too.
According to songfact.com: The song went through three versions before Bagdasarian’s family gave it the OK. The first version was an instrumental, the second was titled “In A Village Park,” and the third and winner was “The Chipmunk Song.” Bagdasarian came up with the idea for a trio of singing chipmunks after seeing one of those creatures on the road, refusing to move for his car.
Fun Fact: Ross Bagdasarian can be seen playing the piano as a struggling composer in the Alfred Hitchcock movie classic Rear Window starring Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly.
Speeding up his voice was nothing new to David Seville. He had previously recorded two singles using the pitched-up voice technique. The first was “Witch Doctor,” which went to #1 US in April 1958. On that song, the high pitched voice represented the witch doctor, not a chipmunk.
When he decided on having three separate voices for his Chipmunks, Dave took advantage of his record label. The Chipmunks were called Alvin, Simon and Theodore. They were named after Liberty Records president Al Bennett, owner Si Warnoker and the engineer on duty when it was recorded, Ted Keep.
The song would go on to win three Grammy Awards: Best Comedy Performance, Best Recording For Children, and Best Engineered Record – Non-Classical (this one went to engineer Ted Keep, the namesake for Theodore). It was also nominated for Record of the Year.
The Chipmunk Christmas albums were a big part of my childhood. My brother and I always had them playing on our record players. In 2020, I wrote about them and featured one of their songs. You can read that blog here.
Every year around November 1st, the “Defrosting of Mariah Carey” memes start to post on social media. It’s become quite the joke. Back in the day, Bing Crosby was the “King of Christmas.” I suppose that title today would go to Michael Buble’. However, the undisputed “Queen of Christmas” has got to be Mariah Carey.
Say what you want about her Christmas music, but the numbers don’t lie. Mariah hit a milestone record this week. According to Billboard Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-tying 19th total week atop the chart. It matches the reigns of two hits that led over one release cycle each — Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” in 2024, and Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, in 2019 — for the longest command over the chart’s 67-year history.
The song was originally released in 1994 on her “Merry Christmas” album. It hit the Top Ten in 2017, went Top Five in 2018 and since 2019 it has hit number one every year. It was number one for for three weeks, two weeks in 2020, three weeks in 2021, four weeks in 2022, two weeks in 2023 and four weeks in 2024. This week it hit number one again which makes Carey the first artist to have ranked at No. 1 on the chart in four distinct decades (1990s, 2000s, ‘10s and ‘20s)!
In 2021, Mariah said, “When I wrote [it], I had absolutely no idea the impact the song would eventually have worldwide. I’m so full of gratitude that so many people enjoy it with me every year.”
Now up to 19 weeks, “All I Want for Christmas Is You” extends its mark as the holiday song with the most time logged atop the Hot 100, among three Yuletide No. 1s. “The Chipmunk Song,” by the Chipmunks with David Seville, led for four weeks beginning in December 1958, followed by Brenda Lee’s three weeks in the 2023 holiday season with “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
Who knows, maybe she’ll achieve a new record next week …
One of the songs on their second album was called Wonderful Day. It is essentially a rip off of their famous Chipmunk Song.
In the musical interlude, Dave lets the boys open a gift. Alvin opens a harmonica. Dave asks about it and Alvin replies, “It’s a present, Dave. From me – To me!”
That line, and some conversation at work this week, got me wondering just how common this is. Do you buy yourself Christmas presents? Do you wrap up your own gift to open on Christmas morning? Is this really a thing?
Have I bought myself things before? Yes. have I wrapped them up to place under the tree? No.
My wife and I have again decided not to buy anything for each other this year. We both know that if there is something we want, we look at our budget and if we can afford it, we get it. She has about 100 items in her cart on Amazon. When she sees something that she wants for the kids, me, or herself, she adds it to her cart.
I do sort of the same thing, except I add it to my Amazon Wish List. However, many times, I add things to my Wish List so I won’t forget about them, not necessarily because I want to buy them. I want to revisit them after I see some reviews.
With all that being said, have you ever bought something for yourself – as a gift to yourself? I’m interested to hear your thoughts.
I love Christmas Music. I have blogged about it in the past. I have Christmas songs on my iPod that I can listen to at any time of the year, just because they make me feel good! I usually give my wife a hard time when she plays her Pandora on shuffle when she is getting ready for work and it plays Christmas music, however, deep down, I am ok with it.
In the many years I DJ’d weddings and parties, I used to love DJ’ing Christmas parties. As people were coming in, and as they ate dinner, I would just sit and play many of my favorite Christmas songs. I had a huge tote full of nothing but Christmas CD’s. I had everything from instrumental Christmas songs, country Christmas songs, children’s Christmas songs, classic Christmas songs, novelty Christmas songs, jazz Christmas songs and everything in between.
At some point I decided to try to put the songs I played most often on a hard drive to cut down on all the stuff I was bringing to DJ gigs. I came across the hard drive in a box of our Christmas stuff and there were a lot of albums on it. I wondered if it would play in the USB in my car, and sure enough it does. I will go from folder to folder and play track by track.
I came across a folder that brought me back to when I was just a little kid. Here I was driving home listening to this album and laughing at the cuts I had forgotten about. Every year on the radio, they over play one of their songs, and while this album was geared more toward kids, I was pleasantly surprised at some of the songs on it.
Admittedly, you either love or hate the Chipmunks. That being said, if you base your opinion on the Chipmunk Song that plays every hour on stations throughout December, I can see where you might lean toward disliking them. Now, if high pitched voices annoy you, then you probably won’t like anything they do!
Growing up, their Christmas album was one that my brother and I played a lot. We played it on my dad’s stereo and on our little portable record player. I remember it had a yellow label – why I remember that I don’t know.
The Chipmunks First Christmas Album
I’m not sure, but I’m sure that this album came about because of the success of the Chipmunk Song (Christmas, Don’t Be Late). It’s a pretty straight forward album. There is interaction between the rodents and David Seville on some songs like Rudolph )where they take him to the North Pole to meet the famous reindeer), and White Christmas (where Dave is sad because there is no snow).
What’s interesting is that when I looked at the folders my CD’s were in, there were actually 3 Chipmunk Christmas CDs. I wondered why, and then I realized that years ago, when I bought them, not all the songs from Volume 2 were actually on the Volume 2 CD (and it actually had many of the songs from the first album, too).
At any rate, the original album starts basically the same way as the first one – with Dave introducing the boys and straight into Jingle Bell Rock. This volume is more “playful” than the first album. There is a “copy cat” song that is reminiscent of the Chipmunk Song called Wonderful Day in which Alvin drives Dave crazy with a harmonica. In the 12 Days of Christmas, Alvin gets more and more anxious for the song to end, and even sings about how tired he is getting. Theodore laments about his two front teeth, the listener can sing along with Deck the Halls, Dave does a swinging rendition of The Night Before Christmas, and it’s a lot of fun to listen to (even as an adult.)
The whole point of me writing this blog is because of one song that I had forgotten about. Greensleeves is a traditional English folk song. The album contains a Christmas song sung to the melody of Greensleeves. I’m not sure why I was so moved by this song when I heard it. I love the instrumental arrangement and yes, the rodent harmonies. The lyrics are what really got to me, they kind of hit me. I will post a YouTube link to the song, but first, here are the lyrics:
Christmas Time (Greensleeves)
Oh, Christmas time, oh, time of joy A wondrous day for each girl and boy The fire is warm and the spirits bright What a beautiful sight, it is Christmas
Raise up your voice and sing Fill the room with joy Let the laughter ring Sing out with word and rhyme It’s a wonderful time It is Christmas
The children gathered around the tree How they look and wonder and laugh with glee Their hearts are filled with a hundred dreams And they’re counting the moments ’til Christmas
Raise up your voice and sing Fill the room with joy Let the laughter ring Sing out with word and rhyme It’s a wonderful time It is Christmas
Come sit you down and eat your fill It’s a time for happiness and good will May all good thoughts and dreams come true And we wish you all Merry Christmas
Raise up your voice and sing Fill the room with joy Let the laughter’s ring Sing out with word and rhyme It’s a wonderful time It is Christmas
___
I began to think about lyrics in general and out of a holiday context. How often do you find yourself happy enough to raise your voice and sing? Shouldn’t every day be a time for happiness and good will? Shouldn’t laughter ring out every day? These questions took me back to the Elvis Presley song where he asks “Why can’t every day be like Christmas? Why can’t that feeling go on endlessly? ‘Cause if every day could be just like Christmas, what a wonderful world this would be.”
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 