The Best Christmas Music, Part 2. 

As I have said before, I love Christmas music. And the history of Christmas music goes all the way back to at least 400 AD, pretty much all in Latin. By the 1300s, you started to hear Christmas music sung in local languages. By the 16th century, you might hear Christmas carols that we recognize today. God rest you merry gentlemen, O Christmas tree, 12 Days of Christmas.

We'll come back to music history in a little bit, but I want to look at some other very unusual and some very funny Christmas songs. 

we'll off we'll start off with Louis Armstrong, The Commanders - 'Zat You, Santa Claus? I have no idea when this was recorded. It kind of sounds like it was done in the 40s. 

It's just a fun song. I hope you enjoy it. I got it off of an old Christmas compilation.  

As I said before, I like to collect Christmas music and I've collected lots of CD's of various Christmas artists and compilations.  

Much of the Christmas music that I love has quite a bit of humor in it, and this is certainly no exception. Now, I don't actually own a recording of this, but you can see it online on YouTube. it's Pearl Baily - Five Pound Box of Money, In its day, a very unconventional Christmas song. 

One of the stranger CD's I've collected over the years is the Doctor Demento Christmas Collection. If you're not familiar with Doctor Demento. Here's what Wikipedia has to say. “Barret Eugene Hansen (born April 2, 1941),[1] known professionally as Dr. Demento, is an American radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present.”
On that collection are rare and bizarre songs, including “I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus.” Now don't freak out on me. Listen to it to the very end. Kip Addotta - I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus 1985. 

Every time I play it for somebody, there's a giant sigh of relief. At the end of the last verse. 

If you're into acapella vocals, I've got something for you as well. The group is called The Bobs. This is a vocal group that wanted to be acapella, but they also wanted to Have the attitude of the Ramones, thus they call themselves the Bobs. 

The Bob's, “Too Many Santas” 

The whole album is total fun. It's wonderful. if you like this sound you're going to love the whole album. 

So, we're not going to leave the world of country music out of this either. There's a band called The Tractors. I don't know if you've heard of them. But they do have an excellent Christmas album and one song in particular I find very fun. 

The Tractors - “The Santa Claus Boogie” 

Now back to our music history lesson. My favorite piece of classical Christmas music Is Handel's Messiah. I remember singing it in high school and in college and for several years after. The Christmas portion of this oratorio is what we're most familiar with, and most performances end with the Hallelujah Chorus. It was first performed in 1742. 

Now I went through that to tell you this. One of the coolest recordings of Handel's Messiah was released in 1992. It was called Handel's Messiah, a soulful celebration. You used a multiple of styles of African American music and to my way of thinking is one of the best. Imaginings. Of this musical work. 

Quincy Jones arranged and directed this version of the Hallelujah Chorus. 

This makes me happy every time I hear it.
Whatever Christmas music you love. Play it. Play it loud and proud, and if you want to **** *** the neighbors, don't forget to roll down the windows.