Count Your Blessings II

A holiday mix by Laurel Krahn, created in December 2001. Part 2 of a 2 disc set.

This is, more or less, a collection of songs I listened to as a kid and a teenager around Christmastime. Can you tell my folks had a Perry Como Christmas album? Unabashedly Christmas-y, more of the Santa/Rudolph stuff than the religious stuff (I may tackle that next year, hoo boy). Festive, I hope. It's all sure very familiar to me and flashes me back bigtime. You can find liner notes for Count Your Blessings I over here.

1) Count Your Blessings - Bing Crosby

This is from the movie White Christmas (arguably my favorite holiday movie). In the film, Bing sings this with (and to) Rosemary Clooney, but I don't have a good recording of that, alas. Rosemary Clooney did record this song on her own, too.

2) Baby, It's Cold Outside - Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting

Such a cute song, I'm not sure if this is the version I listened to as a youngster or not, but it's pretty fabulous. Featured on all sorts of classic holiday compilations, including the excellent Merry Christmas Baby.

3) It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas - Bing Crosby

Christmas and Bing, you can't go wrong really, right?

4) We Need A Little Christmas - New Christy Minstrels

My parents had the New Christy Minstrels Christmas album, but I think I only ever really listened to this one track. I guess I liked it. Very . . . festive. Yup.

5) It's The Most Wonderful Time of The Year - Andy Williams

I'll admit I was torn here, as I quite like the version of this song by Johnny Mathis, too. But I think I knew and liked the Andy Williams version first.

6) There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays - Perry Como

I really really really love this. Was always one of the first tracks I'd play when the snow first fell each year.

7) Christmas Is - Lou Rawls

I think I'm cheating a little here, as I'm pretty sure I never heard Lou Rawls do this particular song until a few years ago. But I've been charmed by it and I'm pretty sure I used to listen to Rawls sing some carol or other, so it's close enough. Maybe I'm revising my childhood.

8) Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson

So very classic.

9) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autrey

I thought about including Perry Como's take on this song, but I had to give the edge to Gene Autrey since he's the one who recorded the song first and made it a hit. Plus my parents didn't have a recording of Autrey doing the song, but my Grandpa Olson had a very old record of it (perhaps from it's original release?) that he'd play on his old record player in the basement for me and my brother while we worked at his workbench on making all manner of gizmos over Christmas vacation. I think it was the only record we ever listened to down there and we listened to it over and over and over.

10) (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag - Kay Starr

I'm cheating again, I never heard this as a kid. But I heard it a few years ago and it seems to fit in well here, so here it is.

11) Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters

Several years ago I missed listening to my parents' Christmas records and found that my holiday CD collection was just too contemporary and not doing the trick. I ended up buying a very cheap cassette of a Christmas record that Bing Crosby recorded with the Andrews Sisters. Boy was/is it cool.

12) Cool Yule - Louis Armstrong

Another one I discovered after I moved away from the family homestead. If my parents were hipper, I'm sure I'd've known it back then. Not that my folks aren't cool! They taught me about Louis Armstrong at an early age, just not this song.

13) Here Comes Santa Claus - Doris Day

I find Doris Day utterly charming on this recording.

14) Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! - Dean Martin

I love this song, used to be able to play it on the piano. Martin's version isn't the one I like best and I nearly drove myself crazy trying to figure out what version it was I listened to growing up. I'm still not sure, haven't solved that mystery. But Deano's version is still pretty nifty.

15) The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire) - Nat King Cole

It would be wrong to include anyone elses version of this song, though there are some other good ones out there. I adore Nat King Cole, always have, and especially his rendition of this song. Just say no to versions that include Natalie.

16) Do You Hear What I Hear? - Andy Williams

The first version of this song I ever heard, believe it or not.

17) I'll Be Home For Christmas - Perry Como

Another great version of a holiday classic by Mr. Como. Have I mentioned my favorite holiday album growing up was one of Como's albums?

18) Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland

Not my favorite rendition of this song, but the original. So there.

19) Snow - Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and whoever did the vocals for Vera-Ellen

From White Christmas. I love this scene, I love all the songs in the movie, but this one is pretty cool. And they all sing on it. I had a hard time tracking this song down, I still don't own a soundtrack for the film myself, darnit (but I do own a DVD of the movie, whee!).

20) Jingle Bells - Johnny Mercer with the Pied Pipers

This is the version I heard first.

21) Winter Wonderland - Johnny Mathis

Mathis was born to sing this song, and other holiday songs (like "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"), as far as I'm concerned.

22) White Christmas - Bing Crosby

I'd swear there are better versions by Bing out there, but this was the best I could do. And it's still pretty great.

23) Here We Come A-Caroling/We Wish You A Merry Christmas - Perry Como

I have a hard time imagining these songs apart, as I listened to this so often way back when. As for wassail? Pshaw, it's "caroling," dangit.

24) What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? - Margaret Whiting

If I heard this song as a kid, I'm sure it bored me silly.

25) Santa Claus is Coming To Town - Perry Como

Strangely enough, the only repeat offender on this CD. Two versions here. I couldn't help it, I really liked Bing's version with the Andrews Sisters and I adore this Perry Como version. Strange, since I wouldn't ever list this as a favorite holiday song.

26) A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives

From the Rankin-Bass Rudolph Christmas special, of course. I listened to a lot of Burl Ives as a child, but not this song 'til I was in college and got very nostalgic for the Rudolph special and threw a holiday party in the dorm where we watched it and we listened to the soundtrack a lot, etc.

27) Frosty the Snowman - Jimmy Durante

Not the version I grew up with (that'd be Perry Como's probably), but the version immortalized in the Frosty holiday special, which I like a lot.

28) Hark The Herald Angels Sing - Vince Guaraldi Trio

From the Charlie Brown Christmas. Do you detect a theme at the end of this record?

29) Snoopy's Christmas (Snoopy vs. the Red Baron) - Royal Guardsmen

Um. I was downloading holiday mp3s one night this year and discovered this and well . . . it's strange. Of course as a kid I had the single of the original Snoopy vs. the Red Baron and listened to it incessantly. I never dreamed there was a Christmas version. My apologies for the explosions and stuff.

30) Christmas Time - Bill Cosby

Not a song, but just a short bit from an old Bill Cosby album. I was raised on Bill Cosby's comedy albums and Perry Como's Christmas records, really. Plus albums by the Limeliters and Simon & Garfunkel. And Peter, Paul, and Mary. It explains a lot, doesn't it? (Okay, maybe not . .. ).