24 Songs of Christmas, Dec. 20: Cartoon Christmas Specials Songs -- Burl Ives and Jimmy Durante

I'm sad to report that while The Singing Cowboy himself, Gene Autry, popularized "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman," as well as "Here Comes Santa Claus," he did not make the cut for any of them.

I suppose the reason is quite simple: I love cartoons.

Seems like reasonable answer to why I picked the Chipmunks for "Here Comes Santa Claus" (See Dec. 7) and why I would choose the two versions we'll be talking about today.

These are kids songs, so the most important version, for anyone, will be the version he or she grew up on.

For people a generation or two ahead of me, that was probably Gene Autry on the radio.

For me, it was the classic cartoons on TV.

In my mind there is no better presentation of "Rudolph" than from Burl Ives. And no one captures "Frosty" quite like Jimmy Durante, even if he really couldn't sing.

So, there's nothing much more to say except that I'm sorry that these aren't the actual videos from the TV specials. Copyright laws and youtube are sometimes at odds.

For the first day of winter: "Winter Wonderland"

Past Posts

The 24 days of Christmas (songs)
Dec. 1: 'Sleigh Ride' -- The Ronettes
Dec. 2: 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing' -- Marty Robbins
Dec. 3: 'O Tannenbaum' -- Vince Guaraldi Trio
Dec. 4: 'Blue Christmas' -- Elvis
Dec. 5: 'Santa Baby' -- Madonna
Dec. 6: 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas' -- Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters
Dec. 7: 'Here Comes Santa Claus' -- Alvin and the Chipmunks
Dec. 8: 'Angels We Have Heard on High' -- Brian Setzer Orchestra
Dec. 9: 'White Christmas' -- The Drifters
Dec. 10: 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' -- Bing Crosby
Dec. 11: 'Carol of the Bells' -- Celtic Woman
Dec. 12: 'Jingle Bells' -- Frank Sinatra
Dec. 13: 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' -- Judy Garland
Dec. 14: 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' -- Tennessee Ernie Ford and Straight No Chaser
Dec. 15: 'What Child Is This?' -- Johnny Mathis
Dec. 16: 'My Favorite Things' -- John Coltrane
Dec. 17: 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings' -- Barenaked Ladies/Sarah McLachlan
Dec. 18: 'Holly Jolly Christmas' -- Burl Ives
Dec. 19: 'The Christmas Song' -- Nat King Cole