Music In My Shoes
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Music In My Shoes
E57 Do They Know It's CHRISTMAS VACATION?
Join me, as we wander through the echoes of the 1980s and revisit "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band-Aid. We reminisce about this iconic charity single that, despite limited US airplay, became a hallmark of Christmas for many. We touch on the powerhouse lineup that included Bono, Sting, and Phil Collins, and explore why this heartfelt anthem still resonates today, alongside timeless holiday films like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."
I can't get enough of 'Christmas Vacation', with Clark Griswold, the Christmas tree, Cousin Eddie, Snots the dog, Margo the next-door neighbor and of course Aunt Bethany.
As we journey through musical history, we look back at 'Beatles 65' and a salute to The Clash's game-changing album "London Calling" on its 45th anniversary. Discover the backstory of The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" and unravel the enigma of Yes's "Leave It" music video.
"Music in My Shoes" where music and memories intertwine.
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You can contact us at musicinmyshoes@gmail.com.
He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.
Speaker 2:He's got the feeling and it's out there growing. Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge, and you're listening to Music In my Shoes. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 57. As always, I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old. So I am broadcasting today from Levittown, new York, actually out of the bedroom that I grew up in. I know I've broadcast a few times from here before, but it's always exciting to throw my laptop on the bed and just kind of talk about music and think about things that I used to think about a long, long time ago when I used to live here. Jimmy, you're there in Atlanta, georgia. How are you today?
Speaker 1:Doing great. Glad to have you on Zoom here.
Speaker 2:I'm glad to be part of it. So 40 years ago, on December 7th 1984 in the UK and December 12th 1984 in the US, the song Do they Know it's Christmas was released by the super group of UK musicians that were called Band-Aid. It was a charity single with a purpose of raising money and awareness of a famine in the country of Ethiopia. The force behind the single whether it was writing the song, producing and getting musicians to join the project was Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Midjor of Ultravox. I believe without them there is no Do they Know it's Christmas or we Are the World, which was the single by USA for Africa, or Duran Duran Sting of the Police, tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet, bono of U2, paul Weller of the Jam and members of Status Quo, the Boomtown Rats, u2, ultravox, bananarama. I mean, jimmy, this is like everybody who was somebody in England at the time.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I'd really put together that. Paul Weller was on that. That's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Heaven 17, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran Cool and the Gang, which was the only US band. But I think that's because they were on the same record label as the Boomtown Rats and they were in England to promote something, so somehow they got involved.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that is a little random.
Speaker 2:Jody Watley and Marilyn Phil Collins on drums and John Taylor of Duran Duran on bass. He played some guitar but I think they cut all the guitar parts out and just left some of the bass. Song reached number one in the UK but only number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and this was mostly due to radio airplay. Most of the artists were not household names in the US. Most of these bands were played on WLIR radio on Long Island and the song was Screamer of the Week the first week of December 1984. But again, it wasn't something that a lot of people in America were familiar with. So it sold a lot of records. The single sold a lot. It just didn't have as much airplay. It was really a lot of selected radio stations at the time that were playing it.
Speaker 2:This is one of the first Christmas songs that was made for my generation, in my opinion. Off the top of my head there was Little Drummer Boy by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts that came out in 1981. Christmas rapping by the Waitresses I think that was 81, 82. And Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmas Time that came out November 16th 1979. Now this might be a stretch as a Christmas song for my generation, but I still think it is. It reached number six on the UK charts, but it didn't make the Billboard Hot 100 when it came out. Yet it's one of the most played holiday songs each year, and that's speaking of Wonderful Christmas Time. I mean, it seems like it's on nonstop. I think. Do they Know it's Christmas really was one of the first Christmas songs for my generation.
Speaker 2:A lot of bands that ended up going on to have worldwide fame and I think that they put this together with the best intentions. If you read articles, they talk about the words. Maybe the lyrics aren't the best lyrics, but they were just trying to put something together as quickly as they could so that they could release before Christmas and have the opportunity to raise money for people that were affected by this famine in Ethiopia. And I think it's cool because when the song comes on my kids, you know, 40 years later after the song, they're still listening to the song. So, jimmy, I know some people like the song. Some people hate the song. Where do you stand on this?
Speaker 1:I wouldn't say I hate the song, but it's not. It's not one of my favorite Christmas songs and I think, like one of the things that bugs me a little bit about it is that it's a little bit presumptuous of them to assume that they should know it's Christmas in Africa, because most people in Africa don't celebrate Christmas anyway. So you know, I think it's Christmas in Africa because most people in Africa don't celebrate Christmas anyway. So, you know, I think it's just kind of putting their culture onto somebody else and it no, it doesn't snow in Africa cause it's hot there. You know, it's just. Those are little things that rub me the wrong way.
Speaker 2:And I think it rubs a bunch of people the wrong way. But I really think it was with the best intentions and it's brought a lot of money. You know, between the song and then, like I mentioned earlier, Live Aid, the concert, a lot of money, a lot of attention that ended up helping a lot of people and I think that's really what the spirit was all about, Right, Right, there are some classic Christmas movies, such as it's a Wonderful Life from 1946, Miracle on 34th Street from 1947, A Christmas Story from 1983. And in my group of classic Christmas films would be December 1st 1989, with the release of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Classic yeah, with Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid was in it. I love this movie and can't get enough of it. I saw it in the theater when it came out and I have to say I've probably seen it at least a hundred times on TV. If it's on, I'm watching it.
Speaker 1:There's nothing that's going to stop it.
Speaker 2:Do you find that? That it just grabs you and you have to continue watching it? You do, Even though you know everything that's going to happen.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, even though you might have it on your DVR or DVD or whatever you have now, it doesn't matter. If it's on TV, you watch it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, without a doubt. So it's the story of Clark Griswold. He's played by Chevy Chase and you know he's just a guy that's trying to have a good old fashioned family Christmas and that's really what the premise of the movie is about. And you know, from the beginning of the movie, when they go out to get a tree and they forget to bring a saw and they have to, you know, take the whole root ball and throw the tree on the car and it's way too big. And you know the lights on the house, you know he's got thousands of lights on the house and he can't get the lights to turn on. Cousin Eddie, you know he has not the dog and you know the Rottweiler. I mean, he's got a big heart. He definitely has a big heart.
Speaker 2:And I'm not trying to give away the plot, even though I'm sure most people have seen it, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus kills me as Margot, the next door neighbor of the Griswolds. And this is after her Saturday Night Live years and just before starring on Seinfeld. So she didn't do so hot during those years of Saturday Night Live. None of them did actually. You know, I think that was like the you know 80s, you know mid 80s, something up to like 85 or so, and just before she starred in Seinfeld she does this movie, so a lot of people weren't really familiar with her in this kind of a role, but she just kills me. She is so funny between her and the guy that plays Todd, her husband, in the movie. Randy Quaid is just so deadpanned as Cousin Eddie, whose heart is bigger than his brain, as Clark says at one point in the movie.
Speaker 2:And I could go on about the cast and included Johnny Galecki before he was on Roseanne and before the Big Bang Theory, but I won't because I just don't like giving away everything. Let people have the opportunity to enjoy it from themselves. Yeah, but I will mention Mae Questel, who played Aunt Bethany. She was the voice of Betty Boop from 1931 to 1938. Wow, from 1933 to 1938, she was the voice of Olive Oil from the Popeye cartoon and she only stopped both in 1938 because she wanted to have a family. So she decided I'm going to stop working, let me raise a family. She returns as Olive Oil from 1944 to 1962. From 1944 to 1962. In the 1988 film who Framed Roger Rabbit, she's the voice of Betty Boop again.
Speaker 2:They let her reprise the role you know and you know it's just super cool. I think it's just really neat that they let her come and be in this film and in the scene of, you know, from Christmas Vacation, just before Clark cars the turkey, he asked Aunt Bethany to say grace and she's, you know, has trouble hearing. And they're saying grace and you know, her husband says the blessing and she starts off with I pledge allegiance to the flag.
Speaker 1:And everybody just joins in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cousin Eddie stands up, puts his hand on his heart and basically everybody recites with her the Pledge of Allegiance and with Clark adding amen when she's done. I think that you know they paid respect to someone that had been part of film back from the early days. This ended up being her last film role that she was in and every time I watch the movie I can hear you know her voice. I can hear, definitely, betty Boop, I can hear parts of Betty Boop as she's speaking and it's really cool. And for any of you out there that did not know that, watch the film and look at it from that perspective of Betty Boop or olive oil, I will.
Speaker 1:That's a really cool story.
Speaker 2:Christmas Vacation, because I never called it National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I always just call it Christmas Vacation.
Speaker 1:I call the first movie Vacation. I don't even call it National Lampoon's Vacation. That's too many words.
Speaker 2:I agree with you, without a doubt, and Christmas Vacation is one of the classics. The Beatles' Beatles 65 album was released on December 15th 1964. Capitol Records continued the process of releasing albums with a different song list or, in this case, a different album title. Beatles for Sale was released first in the beginning of December with 14 songs. Beatles 65 had eight of those songs and three additional ones. And again, jimmy, we've talked about that many times how they would take different Beatles songs and records and sometimes call it the same title, sometimes not, and kind of butcher them up a little bit. And they did this all the way through until Sgt Pepper's, sgt Pepper's being the first one that they did not do this. So I think this album was part of the continued evolution of the Beatles, with songs like no Reply I'm a Loser which has a great harmonica by John Lennon. I just love listening to his solo on that Babies in Black, a cover of Chuck Berry's rock and roll music, and George Martin, their producer, plays the piano on it and it's kind of cool because you think of George Martin, kind of a straight-laced older guy not realizing he can play some rock and piano the way he does on that song. That's awesome and I'll Follow. The Sun ends up side one, a cover of Carl Perkins' Honey Don't, with Ringo singing. That starts off side two. I'll Be Back. She's a Woman and that's a great rockin' song by Paul.
Speaker 2:I'd Feel Fine with one of the first uses of feedback on a record. Jimmy. You know how. There's a bass note and then the guitar feedback at the intro of the song. It's just super cool the way that they do that. Is it the first? No, it's just one of the first. I know that we talk about that too. It's tough to say what is the first. You know when did this happen, and so forth. But as far as a popular rock record, this is definitely one of the first uses of feedback.
Speaker 1:And it was probably accidental. They probably listened and said, hey, that little thing at the beginning, let's leave that.
Speaker 2:It actually wasul had played a note on his bass and at the same time john had laid his guitar up against the amp and the guitar picked up through the uh amp and that's where that all came from and they talked about that they were going to clean it up and they're like, no, we like that, what was that? They were, you know, kind of mystified themselves and they were like this is really cool, let's keep it. Song reaches number one on Billboard by the end of 1964. And then the final song on side two is another cover of Carl Perkins, with Everybody's Trying to Be my Baby with George Harrison on lead vocals. I love this Rockabilly song. I know it's a cover, but George's guitar is awesome on the song, does such a fantastic job. I think he was really comfortable in covers. He did the Roll Over Beethoven and his guitar work is fantastic on there. It really is on this also.
Speaker 2:He was a huge Carl Perkins fan and he sang with him. There was like this Carl Perkins tribute in the mid 80s and he sang Everybody's Trying to Be my Baby with him. And Ringo was on the same show singing Honey Don't, which I just mentioned earlier, with Perkins on the same show. That's awesome. So giving some, you know, yeah, giving some tribute back to Carl Perkins for all the things he did for early rock and roll. And speaking of tribute, are you ready for A Minute With Jimmy? Ooh, it's time for A Minute With Jimmy. Minute With Jimmy. Minute With Jimmy. It's time for A Minute With Jimmy Minute.
Speaker 1:With Jimmy, and today is almost exactly the 45th anniversary of the release of the Clash's iconic album London Calling 1979, released December 14th 1979. As we know from an earlier episode of the show, my brother and my friend, greg Wheat, were there at the show in Atlanta prior to the album coming out, where they played all these songs. It's just an amazing album. They kind of hold themselves up in this country estate as other great bands have done, and they played soccer together and they just kind of bonded and they just kind of bonded and they came up with different styles of music that they incorporated. And it has a lot of my favorite clash songs on it spanish bombs, uh, lost in the supermarket, and my favorite, death or glory, which oddly enough is a song that they didn't really play live very much, but it's a fantastic song.
Speaker 2:Wow, that was perfect for the minute with Jimmy there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've stuck the landing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is a great album, and the fact that it's a double album I think a lot of double albums struggle to be good, never mind great and that the fact that they pull it off as great, that that's really a testament to them. They were all over the place with the type of music that they were listening to and wanted to absorb from other types of bands and other types of music being played all over, and it definitely comes out in the album London Calling. Yeah, I love it. Love it, I do too, and that was a great choice for Minute with Jimmy. Minute with Jimmy Jimmy. Do you remember the song Video Killed the Radio Star? Oh, yeah, by the Buggles.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:So it peaked at number 40 in the US December 15th 1979, and it reached number one in the UK 15th 1979. And it reached number one in the UK On August 1st 1981, it was the first video shown on MTV Right. Trevor Horn lead vocals and bass on the song and Jeff Downs, keyboards and percussion, went on to join the band yes, yes, the band yes. And that was after John Anderson and Rick Wakeman left. Summer of 1980, the album Drama was released and included a pretty good song, tempest Fugit. That got radio airplay here in New York.
Speaker 2:Yes fans didn't like the new sound and yes breaks up in 1981. Trevor Horn became a full-time producer, very successful. When yes reforms with John Anderson on vocals, they get Trevor Horn to produce the album that became 90125, and their biggest hit, owner of a Lonely Heart. So this guy becomes the singer. People don't like it. The band breaks up. They get back together and he tries out but they're like, yeah, that's not working. But he's like, how about I produce it? And they say, yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2:And if you notice on 90125 by yes, definitely more of a poppy sound than any other yes album to that date. I mean they were like what prog rock you would say, when they were first starting back in 69, through the early 70s, and I don't know why they let him stay. I mean it must have been difficult to say, hey, you're the guy that replaced me, but now I'm back. But they did a great job with that, because I love 90125. I think it's a fantastic album. On November 25th 1984, trevor Horn lends his studio free of charge for 24 hours for the recording of Do they Know it's Christmas Now? He didn't have anything to do with it. He did a remix, the 12-inch version. He did the remix, but he lent his studio for free so they could record that song. That's coming full circle in this episode.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Do you remember the Leave it video from this album?
Speaker 2:Off the top of my head. I don't remember the video. I know the song, but I don't remember the video.
Speaker 1:So they made 18 different versions of the video for that song and you never knew which one you were going to see. And on youtube they have seven of them, but, uh or they, they have all but seven of them and the rest of them they can't find, like nobody knows, nobody recorded them and, yes, hasn't released them.
Speaker 2:Wait a minute. They can't find different versions of the video. Like they literally just left it.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, they did.
Speaker 2:Well done. I have to be honest, I did not know that there were multiple versions. Again, I know the song, I love the song, but I did not know that. Yeah Well, were you still in? I love the song, but I did not know that.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, were you still in high school when this came out? I was yeah. Okay, I was thinking maybe you were beyond things like worrying about multiple versions of music videos, but I was like 13 or 14. I had nothing better to do with my time than watch multiple versions of music videos. So you do remember watching all of them, or yeah, I remember watching mtv all the time and a different one would come on like, oh wow, that's a different one, okay yeah, I remember, uh, mtv.
Speaker 2:I watched a lot of it in um 82. So mtv did not come out in new york, in the part of new York that I'm in, even though it was being broadcast from New York City, it did not come to Long Island until a year later, on November 1st 1982. We did not have MTV the first year.
Speaker 1:We didn't have it the first year. In Atlanta we had a great thing called VMC, Video Music Channel.
Speaker 2:I think we might've had something like that. I think we did. Well, that's cool about all those different videos and the fact that they can't find them. How is that possible?
Speaker 1:I don't know. I mean, maybe yes knows where they are. The record company knows where they are, but they're not out on YouTube. You can't find them right now.
Speaker 2:And then he also produced ABC, some early ABC Frankie Goes to Hollywood, all the songs that you know by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Seal, all of the songs that you know by Seal, all those early songs, the hits. They were all produced by Trevor Horn. So, jimmy, I think it was in the beginning of November when I read a story on multiple media outlets that the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City had a Tony Iommi guitar that he wanted back. The guitar was a 1964 Gibson 56 Special and he called it Monkey. A lot of guitarists have names. Jimmy, do you have names for any of your guitars? No, how do you say that Flatly no Okay.
Speaker 2:So it was used on early Black Sabbath albums.
Speaker 2:So you know I think the first four albums, or maybe the second through fifth album. This guitar was the primary guitar on many of the Black Sabbath songs that we know Now. According to Iommi, he sold it to the Hard Rock with the understanding that if he wanted it back he could purchase it at the same price he sold it for. Well, the guy died and the Hard Rock doesn't know anything about the deal and they won't give his guitar back. Now. I've been at the Hard Rock New York City a few times over the last few years. Now I've been at the Hard Rock New York City a few times over the last few years and actually one time sat at the table that had the guitar on display and took some pictures of it. I was there yesterday. The guitar is gone, it's off the wall and I find that very interesting because I looked all over and did not see it. But everything that was there the last time I was there is still there, except that one guitar. Okay, I wonder what happened with it. I'd like to know.
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Well, that's enough of interesting things for today, because that's it for Episode 57 of Music in my Shoes. I'd like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios located in Atlanta, georgia, and Victor Hill, for our podcast music. This is Jim Boge broadcasting from my bedroom from when I was a young lad here in Levittown, new York. I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing, thank you.
