For me, the 1960s were my season of Christmas magic. I was born in 1961, and by time the 70’s rolled around, I was already a jaded non-believer. But during that decade, Christmas was magical. It had a certain ‘feel’ to it that was exciting and full of wonder. When I look back, I remember many of the things our family did in the spirit of Christmas tradition, but I also remember the soundtrack of those years.Thanks to the big tire companies.What? It is true. During the 1960’s Firestone and Goodyear – the two largest tire companies, would put out Christmas albums. What was the relationship between tires and Christmas? I have no idea. But I know that most every year my dad would bring home a new Christmas album from the tire store, and that they were relatively inexpensive.
Here are pictures that might jog your memory:
Now the music was not some cheesy band they threw together just to release a Christmas record. The albums were a “Who’s Who” of important artists of the time. Names like:Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Woo-hoo!)
Johnny Mathis
Barbara Streisand
Mary Martin
Isaac Stern
Ella Fitzgerald
Andy Williams
..and a hundred others artists who now seem really, really old.Yeah, this is all old-timer stuff, but remember – this was what my parents were buying back in the ’60s. Before the days of iPods, CDs or even cassettes, those albums landed on the console record player in the front room the day after Thanksgiving, and were in constant rotation until Christmas day.When I was little, one of the songs on a Firestone album jumped out at me, and became my favorite Christmas song. Why? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just a white kid who wishes he had a little bit of gospel soul in him – kind of like the guy who sang it. It is called “Rise Up Shepherd and Follow,” by John Gary. I listened to this song a thousand times. And amazingly, I found it on YouTube.
Kinda makes you want to shout “Hallelujah,” doesn’t it?
The other album that is embedded deeply into my Christmas DNA was from a man named Mitch Miller. He had albums called “Sing Along With Mitch.” The Christmas album was a chorus singing Christmas standards, and we would sing-along-with-Mith, because that is what you were supposed to do. Here is the cover of the Christmas album:
I went back and listened to some of the songs yesterday, and was somewhat aghast to find that it is POLKA MUSIC! I don’t think I realized that when I was a kid. My parents played Christmas polka music? Here is a small taste:
Yes, we loved this stuff. It was Christmas catnip. Even with the polka vibe, I think I would prefer it to what we incessantly hear on the radio today: Paul McCartney, Wham!, Bruce Springsteen, etc.
I was surprised to see that you can buy MItch Miller on Amazon as a re-release, but if you want a Firestone Christmas album, you might have to ante up – because they are collectors items now.
Many of you will be too young to care about this post, but some of you will. I know my sister will. We all have our own Christmas soundtracks – I’m sure Amy Grant is a big part of the FOMLs Christmas memories. And I’m grateful that they came along before “Christmas Shoes” did.
What is on your Christmas soundtrack? What about your kids?
We had a few of those Firestone ones, but the all-time favorite was a Leroy Anderson album of Christmas music. The cover had a photo of a white cat and a Christmas package and we all called it the “kitty record.” (and still do) It’s so old that it was “hi-fi”, not even stereo, but we’ve made cds with all the scratches included and have distributed them to all the family. In recent years, I’ve heard a number of orchestras do the first selection- Christmas Festival, which is a medley of many classic Christmas carols arranged as only Leroy Anderson could.
I grew up in a household of classical music…Roger Wagner Chorale. Here’s a sample I found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTpUeItLKDI. As a child, I never knew there was any other Christmas music recorded…we had 2 of these 33 rpm Christmas records and they were played, like yours, 1,000s of times. Wonderful memories!!
My mom grew up in the 60s so we had ALL of the tire company records. I distinctly remember listening to Andy Williams’ version of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” over and over again on my blue record player. I’m pretty much convinced that Christmas music should have stopped being recorded after the 60s. That being said, I’m on a Osmonds kick right now. They have some wonderful Christmas music — nothing beats the tight harmony of siblings singing. And as for White Christmases … pft, Arizona people all know the best way to spend Christmas is in shorts, picking an orange off the tree in our back yards.
No one has mentioned John Denver and the Muppets yet! It was the soundtrack of my childhood in the 80s and my kids love it now. It’s fun, spiritual…pretty much the best. (Though on Sundays we like to blast MoTab’s “Angels We Have Heard on High” on the way to church).
My husband was a passionate “Ventures” fan so had an album of their Christmas music that he played constantly during the Christmas season. Our adult children still love it when they hear that guitar twanging version of “Scrooge”.
Love this. Seriously. We grew up with Amy Grant, Garth Brooks (Beyond the Season NOT The Magic of Christmas – there is a distinct difference in quality), and MoTab’s Messiah. My kids love Amy Grant’s and Garth Brooks’.
My husband grew up with the State Farm Christmas albums, much in the same vein as the tire company ones.
On a side note, I was surprised and delighted to see the Mormon Tab credited at the end of A Christmas Story! It is their Silent Night that is playing at the end!
We grew up on a Reader’s Digest 2 tape Christmas collection, but we also had the Mitch Miller sing along record, and I just sent my mom an email this week with a link to a youtube video of “Must Be Santa” because my mom had it in her head and didn’t know if we had the record anymore. And, just like you, I realized it was polka music!
Oh my goodness . . . haven’t heard that song in a loooong time, I’m pretty sure my Dad still has those Firestone albums tucked away in a closet somewhere 🙂
Your parents and my parents must have shopped at the same music store. Each of those records are part of my childhood and they now live safely in my own home. (When you’re the “baby” of the family you get to keep all the good stuff.) Included in our record collection was one by Jim Reeves. His rendition of “Dear Seniõr Santa Claus” made me wonder if Reeves was a Spainish name. Our Christmas music would make an appearance on the stereo turntable as we did Thanksgiving dinner dishes and played nearly non stop until the tree came down on New Year’s Day. Thanks for a wonderful trip down Christmas, I mean Memory Lane.
Ahhh, that brings back good ol’ memories. We had those records, too. We also had a record with another mix of artists — one of which was Mahalia Jackson. Every time she’d sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, I’d belt it out with all the heart and soul a little white girl could muster. Good stuff.
As a youth it started with Burl Ives for me, but my parents and grandparents always had Bing Crosby. Listening to the crooner today brings tears of fond memories of spending time with those who are gone. As an adult I got more into instrumental Christmas music of Pachelbel (classical) and Mannheim Steamroller (contemporary). For religious overtones, Silent Night will forever be my favorite, especially in German and nothing can beat the holiday spirit of fun found in “sleigh ride”. My youngest son will play the trumpet solo for Sleigh Ride at his Christmas concert this year (benefits of being a senior), which he has been looking forward to since he got into High School.
We had the Firestone albums too! My favorite was a local show called Ruth Lyons and the music is original to the singers on the show. Everytime I hear those songs I can feel the Christmas season. And we always had Mormon Tab–before I was a member! Special memories…thanks again for another uplifting post.
My Grandparents had all the Firestone records & loved our family sing alongs with Mitch Miller. My favorite has to be the Bing Crosby record though. Wonder if it’s still around somewhere…..love the memories.
We didn’t have the Firestone records, but every year, my mom got the True Value Hardware cassette. Similar idea – solid old timey stars singing their best Christmas bits. When I was in high school & college, she started getting one for me, too. I still prefer them to most of what you hear on the Christmas Station.
!!! He just sat at the piano and started figuring out Christmastime by sound…and pretty much nailed the first bit straight off. WTH?! How cool is that?
Hmmm. I like a whole bunch. “Christmastime” by Smashing Pumpkins makes me choke up pretty much every time I hear it. I like the Carol of the Bells.
The older two kids are out of the house, let me ask the youngest: He says Rockin’ around the Christmas tree, Dominic the Donkey, I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Christmas Canon by the TSO, Christmastime and “All of them”. =D
Great post, dude! All of our Christmas music got pounded out on the piano because Mom taught piano lessons to half the neighborhood. At school though, I loved it when we got to sing “Up on the House Top” and “Jolly Ol’ Saint Nicholas” and “You Better Watch Out.” I loved the Santa songs! Didn’t care much for the spiritual ones. My son, obviously more spiritually in tune than I’ll ever be, at three years old decided that the Hallelujah Chorus was and always would be his favorite Christmas song. We played it over and over until the vinyl nearly wore out. Luckily we found a cassette version for him as he got older. It’s one of my favorite’s now.
We had the Firestone albums at our house, but my favorite has always been Johnny Mathis. I could listen to his version of White Christmas all day long. Listening to him sing “The Christmas Song” almost makes me want to find some roasted chestnuts to this day. My grandmother loved Bing Crosby, so we always had him too. I found a re-mastered version of the Johnny Mathis album, but his voice is not the same. I think he had a stroke or something, but when I want to get in the Christmas mood, Johnny is always first on my playlist.
Oh..what memories! My Mom always had music on the HiFi..which led to me knowing hundreds of songs from an era not my own.So I recognize the albums you mentioned. My Mom also played Nat King Cole,Jack Jones,Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, and Al Hirt..besides the Ray Conniff Singers, Doris Day, Scott Joplin,etc..plus albums from various musicals..so it was a well rounded musical education.
From a store giveaway record..we learned a song called “Christmas Cookies and Holiday hearts” that I sang to my own kids every Christmas.
My oldest brother exposed me to an early pre-“Weird Al Yankovic” type singer who did parodies of other songs,named Allan Sherman.If people remember him at all,it is probably for his camp song “Hello Muddah,Hello Faddah..” but every Christmas my brother would play for us his version of “The 12 days of Christmas” which instead was “The 12 Gifts of Christmas”. We loved it!
And because my name is Holly..it didn’t seem like Christmas until I heard Burl Ives sing “Have a Holly,Jolly Christmas”! Those really were the days..
We didn’t have one. 🙁 It was whatever was on the radio. And there have been times that I wish we did have one cause I don’t know who sung the songs I loved when I was a kid. (Guessing it was prolly Amy Grant, Whitney Huston and Debbie Gibson)
When I think of Christmas songs I think:” Go Tell It On The Mountain” by Jim Nabors. My dad loves Jim Nabors.
Listened to and loved “Rise Up And Follow” above. Thanks for sharing.
We went to Grants Department Store and got an album that had a song “Morris the Moose” that we still sing and have taught my children some 40 years later. Of course who can forget the song “The Day Before the Night Before Christmas” We still have a copy of the sing along with Mitch and have recorded it over to digital format. Again we subject our children to it year after year. Muhhhaaa the joy of being a parent!
We had all of those, lol. AND the Julie Andrews Firestone album, which to this day, is my favorite Christmas album. (you can get it on iTunes).
We had a few of those Firestone ones, but the all-time favorite was a Leroy Anderson album of Christmas music. The cover had a photo of a white cat and a Christmas package and we all called it the “kitty record.” (and still do) It’s so old that it was “hi-fi”, not even stereo, but we’ve made cds with all the scratches included and have distributed them to all the family. In recent years, I’ve heard a number of orchestras do the first selection- Christmas Festival, which is a medley of many classic Christmas carols arranged as only Leroy Anderson could.
I grew up in a household of classical music…Roger Wagner Chorale. Here’s a sample I found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTpUeItLKDI. As a child, I never knew there was any other Christmas music recorded…we had 2 of these 33 rpm Christmas records and they were played, like yours, 1,000s of times. Wonderful memories!!
My mom grew up in the 60s so we had ALL of the tire company records. I distinctly remember listening to Andy Williams’ version of “Do You Hear What I Hear?” over and over again on my blue record player. I’m pretty much convinced that Christmas music should have stopped being recorded after the 60s. That being said, I’m on a Osmonds kick right now. They have some wonderful Christmas music — nothing beats the tight harmony of siblings singing. And as for White Christmases … pft, Arizona people all know the best way to spend Christmas is in shorts, picking an orange off the tree in our back yards.
No one has mentioned John Denver and the Muppets yet! It was the soundtrack of my childhood in the 80s and my kids love it now. It’s fun, spiritual…pretty much the best. (Though on Sundays we like to blast MoTab’s “Angels We Have Heard on High” on the way to church).
My husband was a passionate “Ventures” fan so had an album of their Christmas music that he played constantly during the Christmas season. Our adult children still love it when they hear that guitar twanging version of “Scrooge”.
Love this. Seriously. We grew up with Amy Grant, Garth Brooks (Beyond the Season NOT The Magic of Christmas – there is a distinct difference in quality), and MoTab’s Messiah. My kids love Amy Grant’s and Garth Brooks’.
My husband grew up with the State Farm Christmas albums, much in the same vein as the tire company ones.
On a side note, I was surprised and delighted to see the Mormon Tab credited at the end of A Christmas Story! It is their Silent Night that is playing at the end!
We grew up on a Reader’s Digest 2 tape Christmas collection, but we also had the Mitch Miller sing along record, and I just sent my mom an email this week with a link to a youtube video of “Must Be Santa” because my mom had it in her head and didn’t know if we had the record anymore. And, just like you, I realized it was polka music!
Oh my goodness . . . haven’t heard that song in a loooong time, I’m pretty sure my Dad still has those Firestone albums tucked away in a closet somewhere 🙂
Your parents and my parents must have shopped at the same music store. Each of those records are part of my childhood and they now live safely in my own home. (When you’re the “baby” of the family you get to keep all the good stuff.) Included in our record collection was one by Jim Reeves. His rendition of “Dear Seniõr Santa Claus” made me wonder if Reeves was a Spainish name. Our Christmas music would make an appearance on the stereo turntable as we did Thanksgiving dinner dishes and played nearly non stop until the tree came down on New Year’s Day. Thanks for a wonderful trip down Christmas, I mean Memory Lane.
Ahhh, that brings back good ol’ memories. We had those records, too. We also had a record with another mix of artists — one of which was Mahalia Jackson. Every time she’d sing “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, I’d belt it out with all the heart and soul a little white girl could muster. Good stuff.
As a youth it started with Burl Ives for me, but my parents and grandparents always had Bing Crosby. Listening to the crooner today brings tears of fond memories of spending time with those who are gone. As an adult I got more into instrumental Christmas music of Pachelbel (classical) and Mannheim Steamroller (contemporary). For religious overtones, Silent Night will forever be my favorite, especially in German and nothing can beat the holiday spirit of fun found in “sleigh ride”. My youngest son will play the trumpet solo for Sleigh Ride at his Christmas concert this year (benefits of being a senior), which he has been looking forward to since he got into High School.
We had the Firestone albums too! My favorite was a local show called Ruth Lyons and the music is original to the singers on the show. Everytime I hear those songs I can feel the Christmas season. And we always had Mormon Tab–before I was a member! Special memories…thanks again for another uplifting post.
One of my favorite albums was a collection we got from Avon.
My Grandparents had all the Firestone records & loved our family sing alongs with Mitch Miller. My favorite has to be the Bing Crosby record though. Wonder if it’s still around somewhere…..love the memories.
We didn’t have the Firestone records, but every year, my mom got the True Value Hardware cassette. Similar idea – solid old timey stars singing their best Christmas bits. When I was in high school & college, she started getting one for me, too. I still prefer them to most of what you hear on the Christmas Station.
Thanks for the memories! We listened to a lot of Ray Conniff albums at our house.
!!! He just sat at the piano and started figuring out Christmastime by sound…and pretty much nailed the first bit straight off. WTH?! How cool is that?
Hmmm. I like a whole bunch. “Christmastime” by Smashing Pumpkins makes me choke up pretty much every time I hear it. I like the Carol of the Bells.
The older two kids are out of the house, let me ask the youngest: He says Rockin’ around the Christmas tree, Dominic the Donkey, I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, Christmas Canon by the TSO, Christmastime and “All of them”. =D
Sounds like it was a Columbia marketing scheme. . . . http://yulelights.com/goodyear/goodyear.htm. But great memories for lots of people!
Yeah! I was just about to say Amy Grant.
Great post, dude! All of our Christmas music got pounded out on the piano because Mom taught piano lessons to half the neighborhood. At school though, I loved it when we got to sing “Up on the House Top” and “Jolly Ol’ Saint Nicholas” and “You Better Watch Out.” I loved the Santa songs! Didn’t care much for the spiritual ones. My son, obviously more spiritually in tune than I’ll ever be, at three years old decided that the Hallelujah Chorus was and always would be his favorite Christmas song. We played it over and over until the vinyl nearly wore out. Luckily we found a cassette version for him as he got older. It’s one of my favorite’s now.
We had the Firestone albums at our house, but my favorite has always been Johnny Mathis. I could listen to his version of White Christmas all day long. Listening to him sing “The Christmas Song” almost makes me want to find some roasted chestnuts to this day. My grandmother loved Bing Crosby, so we always had him too. I found a re-mastered version of the Johnny Mathis album, but his voice is not the same. I think he had a stroke or something, but when I want to get in the Christmas mood, Johnny is always first on my playlist.
We enjoyed Roger Whittaker. Beautiful voice and the man can WHISTLE!
We had those Firestone albums!! We may have had the sing-along-with-Mitch. Thanks for the jog down memory lane!
Oh..what memories! My Mom always had music on the HiFi..which led to me knowing hundreds of songs from an era not my own.So I recognize the albums you mentioned. My Mom also played Nat King Cole,Jack Jones,Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, and Al Hirt..besides the Ray Conniff Singers, Doris Day, Scott Joplin,etc..plus albums from various musicals..so it was a well rounded musical education.
From a store giveaway record..we learned a song called “Christmas Cookies and Holiday hearts” that I sang to my own kids every Christmas.
My oldest brother exposed me to an early pre-“Weird Al Yankovic” type singer who did parodies of other songs,named Allan Sherman.If people remember him at all,it is probably for his camp song “Hello Muddah,Hello Faddah..” but every Christmas my brother would play for us his version of “The 12 days of Christmas” which instead was “The 12 Gifts of Christmas”. We loved it!
And because my name is Holly..it didn’t seem like Christmas until I heard Burl Ives sing “Have a Holly,Jolly Christmas”! Those really were the days..
Still makes me think of http://xkcd.com/988/ =)
We didn’t have one. 🙁 It was whatever was on the radio. And there have been times that I wish we did have one cause I don’t know who sung the songs I loved when I was a kid. (Guessing it was prolly Amy Grant, Whitney Huston and Debbie Gibson)
When I think of Christmas songs I think:” Go Tell It On The Mountain” by Jim Nabors. My dad loves Jim Nabors.
Listened to and loved “Rise Up And Follow” above. Thanks for sharing.
We went to Grants Department Store and got an album that had a song “Morris the Moose” that we still sing and have taught my children some 40 years later. Of course who can forget the song “The Day Before the Night Before Christmas” We still have a copy of the sing along with Mitch and have recorded it over to digital format. Again we subject our children to it year after year. Muhhhaaa the joy of being a parent!
We had that Great Songs of Christmas album. We also had The Osmonds’ Family Christmas album. Because we were awesome.