Then in 1980 (I think it was 1980), I heard that a local radio station was going to play – commercial free – in it’s entirety – a Star Wars Christmas.album. Young-teen me could not resist. It was scheduled for late at night, so I stayed up, punched the record button on the ole tape deck, turned the radio up to listen … and promptly fell asleep. Luckily, the recording was a success and I was able to listen to it the next day.
Not to be confused with the Star Wars Holiday TV special that is routinely mocked by everyone, this was the MECO album named “Christmas in the Stars” that is only mocked by most people. But I freaking loved it! It featured C3PO, R2D2 and others actually celebrating Christmas in space and answering questions like “What can you get a a Wookie for Christmas when he already owns a comb?” (side note: there are actually two very different answers, and you have to listen to the whole album to get them). This was another tape that I played until it ripped apart, but eventually I tracked down a CD and got back to listening to it every year.
At this point in life, I wasn’t buying a lot of music. But somehow, as part of a brief country music phase, I picked up a copy of Christmas Card by the Statler Brothers, which is still a favorite..And for many years, things are pretty normal. I’ve shown some early symptoms, but I’m still five solid steps away from full-blown Noelemia.
Fast forward to the late 90’s and I’m a husband, a dad and a homeowner and I feel the responsibility to build a strong collection of traditional Christmas carols. So every year I’m buying a couple of things like Bing, Elvis, Beach Boys, Nat King Cole, the Charlie Brown soundtrack, Leon Redbone, Mahalia Jackson, etc. I’m gradually getting a taste of the variety that’s available. Then, one December, there was a Sunday School party where we had a Dirty Santa Gift Exchange and one of the gifts was a pair of Christmas CDs by the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family. I’m like – “Wait – things like this exist? I must have them.” And I did. One step closer.
Then online music stores come along, and I can buy individual songs. I start rebuilding my Dr Demento collection and filling gaps. When I needed a version of “Nuttin’ for Christmas”, I stumbled on a cool version by Rosie O’Donnell and SmashMouth. Many hours went into finding and buying obscure carols. Another step.
There’s still just a bit more history that needs to be told here, and I’ll get to that in the next post. I need to wrap this up before [MESSAGE REDACTED]..