2. BOBBIE BOYLE WITH THE SINGERS - Santa Claus Goes Modern
3. NORRIS THE TROUBADOR, SEABOARD COASTLINERS - Christmas Time Philosophy
4. DICK KENT WITH THE LANCELOTS - A New Year's Dawning
5. THE SISTERHOOD - The Rocking Disco Santa Claus
6. STAN BEARD & THE SWINGING STRINGS - Snowbows
7. BOBBIE BOYLE WITH THE MSR SINGERS - Randy, The Lil' Elf
8. RODD ROGERS - Maury, The Christmas Mouse
9. RANDALL REED WITH THE FORERUNNERS - The Peppermint Stick Man
10. THE SISTERHOOD - Christmas Treat, Peppermint
11. KAY BROWN - Daddy, Is Santa Really Six Foot Four?
12. RODD & THE LIBRETTOS - How Do They Spend Christmas In Heaven
13. THE SISTERHOOD - Ole Year Christmas
14. GENE MARSHALL - Evelyn Christmas
15. RODD & NITA - Jolly, Jolly Santa Claus
16. SONNY CASH - Merry Christmas Polka
17. RODD & JUDY - Santa Fix My Toys For Christmas AMAZON
18. THE SISTERHOOD - Baby, It's A Cold Night In December BAR/NONE RECORDS
19. ROD ROGERS & THE LIBRETTOS - Santa Claus Goes Modern
20. CARA STEWART WITH LEE HUDSON ORCHESTRA - The New Year Song
21. TERI SUMMERS & THE LIBRETTOS - Season's Greetings
Back when I was young, if you spent time reading all the classifieds in the backs of various magazines, you could find ads promising to put your poems to music. The ads would raise the hopes of would-be songwriters with specters of records and radio airplay and royalties and perhaps even a "Hit Record". And then would come the punchline. They would put your poems to music, alright, for a fee of...well, it varied. $79? $129? $200? $400? Some of these companies are still around and have taken their act to the Internet--Ramsey Kearney (famous for making a Song-Poem record about a blind man's penis that was submitted as a goof) and Magic Key for example.
Most people coming across such ads dismissed them for the scams they were, but there's always a percentage of the population that will take the chance. So lots of folks sent in their money and, sure enough, their poems were put to music and recorded and pressed to vinyl and delivered back to the would-be songwriters. Not a single one became a hit. In most cases, these outfits were assembly-line music mills, where the music was crafted in under an hour and the singers got just one take. In the rest of the cases, they put in even less time and effort. Strangely enough, most of these would-be songwriters were quite happy with the results.
As the collecting and cataloging of Song-Poems became larger than a cult and certainly at least a niche, collectors learned to recognize the styles, sounds, names and labels of the industry's "stars". Such performers as The Sisterhood, Dick Kent, Bobbie Boyle and, most especially, Rodd Keith are well known to any Song-Poem aficionado and new "finds" are celebrated with the type of ecstasy one might expect of a Beatles fan discovering a lost tape in someone's attic. Keep in mind, Song-Poem records were never printed in huge quantities (generally just as many as the song-poet was willing to pay for and, maybe, a few serviced to local radio stations as part of the song-poem contract).
Some of the songs on the Christmas collection have attained mythic status among holiday music collectors--generally the ones that are mythically awful (so bad they're good) like "The Rocking Disco Santa Claus". But, honestly, there are some genuinely terrific tracks here which, in my opinion, might have done well in the right hands, with a little love and care and the proper promotion. So "The American Song-Poem Christmas" is hit and myth, then. (Sorry, just couldn't resist.)
In particular, there's no mistaking the genuine talent of Rodd Keith, who, under a wide assortment of monikers, routinely made the most amazing records out of the most absurd and horrendous Song-Poems. There's a quartet of tunes here from The Sisterhood, who plied their trade through the disco drenched seventies, and a pair of tracks From Dick Kent, one of which--"Santa Claus Polka"--carries the name Sonny Cash. Then there's the legendary tale from Heather Noel of Santa going the full Slim Pickens, "Santa Came On A Nuclear Missile". And one of my personal favorites from the album is the remarkable "Christmas Time Philosophy" by Norris The Troubador--a song which manages to have an early to mid sixties Folk-Rock sound in spite of the fact it was reportedly made in 1950.
"The American Song-Poem Christmas" is a must-own disc on multiple levels for any collector of Christmas music. Mostly, I recommend this disc because it captures so wonderfully (in an alternate universe kind of way) the pure innocence of an earlier time, of would-be songwriters with stardust in their eyes dreaming of White Christmases and hit records. And, for a brief moment in time, as they opened that package and gazed upon a grooved gleaming circle of sound with their name--and song--upon it, their dreams came true. As much as the Song-Poem mills were taking advantage of those soliciting their service, for just that moment in time, Santa (six foot four or otherwise) existed as surely as you or I. And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.