Bonus Episode: Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Other Great Music History Christmas Moments

Hey, discos, need a little more Disgraceland in your life, just to touch, to get you through. Yeah, me too. This is the podcast that comes after the podcast. Welcome to Disgraceland, the after Party. Welcome to the Disgraceland bonus episode, a little thing we like to call the after party. This is the show after the show, the party after the party, the bridge to get you from one full episode of Disgraceland to the other. The backyard, to dig into the dirt, our mission to uncover the truth, to confront the myth, to reclaim the story. On this bonus episode, we are discussing the biggest Christmas moments from music history, Phil Spector and John Lennon, a massive new announcement from myself and the folks here at Double Elvis, and we

get into your emails, comments, dms, and as always a whole lot of This is the podcast for the musically obsessed, the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. Disgraceland is where I tell the stories they didn't want told, the kind you'll end up telling someone else. All Right, this goes, let's get into it. Two days ago I heard a Christmas song I never heard before, and it stopped me in my tracks. I was scrolling Instagram and up pop the reel with the performer singing his ass off and feeling every note of the song and every fiber of his being. I went immediately to Spotify to hear the full tune, and by the time the course hit no joke,

my eyes were tearing up. This song was Christmas Must Be Tonight by the band Rick Danko's voice in this tune. It's got so much more in it, just the effortless kind of emotion, not the contrived kind. And the story the lyrics about a man witnessing the birth of Jesus, witnessing a miracle. It's gutting, and of course it's the band, So the feel that the song has is as powerful as the vocal in the lyrics. When the tune ended, I had that great feeling that we're all very familiar with, the feeling of Catharsis, of exhilaration, that feeling that only great music can provide, and that revelation, that holy shit moment.

As soon as it faded, I felt something else. I felt stupidity. If this song was so great, how come I never heard it before. It's not like it was from some obscure artist I'm unfamiliar with. This is the band we're talking about. I just spent an entire week and a half blabbing about the band with you guys here and on Patreon and social during the Thanksgiving holiday.

I don't have a reason other than to say that, you know, we can't be aware of every thing. This song, Christmas Must Be Tonight. It's on the band's last album with Robbie robertson a record called Islands. And you know this nineteen seventy seven album, it's not that great. It's not really an album either. It's a collection of previously recorded outtakes, of which Christmas Must Be Tonight is one.

The tomb is recorded as a single in nineteen seventy five, and the brain trust at Capitol Records decided that it wasn't good enough to release, so the song didn't see the light until a couple of years later, when it was buried into the sequencing of the album called Islands at the end of side one, an album released by a band that was over Okay, Islands comes out after the Last Waltz and you know, after Robbie Robertson, the band's primary songwriter, had left and made it clear that he didn't want anything else to do with the band.

Little side note, We've done a lot of band talk, like I just said, and we've never really dove into the beef between Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson and what it was that Levon accused Robbie of doing to him and the rest of the members of the band. It's ugly, murky, and I've always avoided this story because I like to keep these guys pure in my mind. But today, in the exclusive section of this after party, I'm gonna have Zeth take me through these accusations and the ins and outs of this saga, and we're going to look into what Levon said and what Robbie did or did not do.

Hopefully we learn a thing or two that's coming up at the end of this episode. Go to its grace lampod dot com to become an all Access member if you're not one already, so they can hear this in more exclusive content every week. Plus add for you listening all right, back to the excellent band holiday tune, Christmas must be Tonight. The fact that the song was released after the band was done is unfortunate because I can see an alternate reality where Christmas Must Be Tonight is a massive hit. It's that great, and when you listen to it, you can easily imagine it being released as a single and hitting as a single, and working its way into the zeitgeist of late seventies rock and roll music and culture, and ultimately becoming a cultural touch point

that we returned to every holiday season, like we do with Mariah Carey or Wham and Sir Paul and so many others. But Christmas Must Be Tonight it never had its moment, and so it remains buried in the basement of music history. But the song got me thinking about other great Christmas moments for music history, and it's a fun topic because there are many. There's the release of this week's full episode subject Phil Spector's genius Christmas album, A Christmas Gift for You, released on November twenty second, nineteen sixty three, the day President John F. Kennedy was shot.

We talk about this obviously in this week's full episode on Phil. It's a crazy story. Phil's album ended up giving birth to another great music history moment, come much later Christmas moment, I should say, and that was the tradition of singer Darlene Love, the tradition she created by performing her great version of the specter produced Merry Christmas, Baby, Please Come Home every year on David Letterman Show here in the United States, a tradition that I got to say, I really miss It was great. I loved it. I looked forward to it every year. It's fantastic. There's also John Lennon in Yoko Ono's excellent protest song Happy Christmas War Is Over, released on December one, nineteen seventy one.

Now that was a moment for sure. The song came with billboards, and it came with a bunch of blowback and consternation from American radio stations who refused to play the song at first anyways, because they thought it was too political, you know. But eventually it warmed its way into the zeitgeist, and now it returns to us every holiday season, and the lyrics are quite humbling and pretty great still to this day. And then, of course there's the granddaddy of weird Christmas music history moments from nineteen seventy seven, where David Bowie appeared with Bing Crosby to duet on the Little Drummer Boy slash Peace on Earth, a moment that I think a lot of us are still trying to figure out. Anyways, these great Christmas moments,

holiday moments, whatever you want to call them, from music history, they help shape how we all experience the holiday season to this day, and I'm grateful for it, even if I don't wake up every December clamoring to hear Bowie and Bing's version of a tune that I never really liked that much to begin with. But nonetheless, I am, like most people, a creature of habit, and I get nostalgic just like you guys. And also, like most people, I'm a fan of our cultural traditions, so it's interesting to think about how much music influences those traditions. Now, it's too bad that the band's Christmas Must Be Tonight never had its moment, and that this great song that it's not part of our larger cultural tradition every holiday season.

But who knows. Maybe the Internet is about to do its thing and shine a new light on this tune. Maybe maybe its moment is coming. Maybe we're part of the beginning of it right now. I don't know, but I highly recommend that you guys give this man tune a spin this holiday season. Whether you've heard it or not.

If you've heard it before, go check it out. If you have not heard it, check it out. You won't be disappointed. Okay, So, speaking of John and Yoko, This week, December eighth is the anniversary of John Lennon's death, which is in part why we're featuring our London episodes in the rewind spot coming out right after this bonus episode.

We also chose these rewind episodes because of John's connection to Phil Specter. This week's full episode subject of Disgraceland. Next week we're featuring Shame McGown and the Feed And well that's obviously because of The Pogue's excellent Christmas tune, one of, if not the greatest Christmas tune of all, fairy Tale of New York. What do you guys are listening to this story? Be thinking about which Christmas songs recorded by musicians from the rock or punk or funk or country or rap genres? You know, the genre we deal with the most. Which songs from these artists move you the most? Is it The Pogue's fairy Tale of New York or any of the others that I mentioned so far as it's something a bit more esoteric, like

James Brown Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto, or Pretty Paper by Willie Nelson, or maybe even that great collab between Dolomite and Easy E entitled Merry motherfucking Exmas. You know, like, I was just thinking, we talk about this every year, we talk about great Christmas Christmas music, but I want to know what the songs are that just got you the Christmas songs Like I'm telling you, man, that band song, it's like it opened a vein. I was trying to sit there, my wife and my oldest son.

I was trying not to cry. It was so fucking emotional. It's just incredible. Rick Danko, Man, So what are those songs? Christmas is a super emotional time, and I feel like it's it's the emotion is heightened by the music. What are those songs that really you know, Yeah, I guess if you want to, you want to hit me back, and you know, talk about Irving Berlin or Bing Crosby or whatever. That's fine, or Sinatra, But you know, what are the ones that we may not be familiar with, you know, like like the ones I mentioned, like the Dole Might Easy Thing, the James Brown, Santa Clauso, Straight to the Ghetto, Pretty Paper by Willie Nelson. It's kind of the obscure ones by rock and classic rock and country and hip hop artists that that really resonate and

means something to you. All Right, let's get into it. Hit me up six one seven, nine oh six sixty six three eight voicemail, text, email me Disgrace Lampod at gmail dot com. Hit me on socials at Disgrace lamp Pod and let me know your answers. We'll talk about it next week and next week's after party. In the meantime, I'll be back right after this, not only with your voicemails and text, but with a very special announcement that you're not gonna want to miss. All right, guys, welcome back.

So today today is the day. Today we are announcing the launch of a new podcast here at Double Elvis, a video podcast co hosted by myself and doctor Zeth Mundy called This Film Should be Played Loud. This Film Should Be Played Loud, feature Zess and Me combining our love of music Disgraceland and film Hollywood Land in a discussion about what else the great music from the films we love, the best soundtracks, the best scores, the best needle drops performances, et cetera. We kicked off this series today with what is quite possibly the most incredible movie soundtrack of all time, The Good Fella's Soundtrack. All Right, this is a video podcast, a first for us here at Double Elvis, and a chat podcast, which is a

first for years, truly. Normally I'm reading from a script in our full episodes, or I'm talking to you guys solo here in the after party. Zeth and I love movies and music, clearly, and we talk about them all the time, both on and off the mic. And now we've got a way to focus that conversation around the convergence of music and film, and to do it in front of the cameras. We're super excited for you guys to watch. This film should be played loud, guys, Seriously, this might be my favorite thing in the world, the convergence of great music and great film. It's so exhilarating to me. You know this. I've talked to you about this before, talk about that moment when de Niro walks into the bar in mean streets. Talk to you about

the you know, the tides turning and boogie nights on New Year's Eve when everything goes to shit, and the music that's responsible for these incredible moments in film history. That's what we're getting into. That's what we're unpacking, that's what we're deep diving, and we're doing it one movie at a time. Okay, can't wait for you guys to watch.

Now.

Here's the thing about the show. It's available exclusively for our all Access members in Patreon. Episodes are going to be around forty forty five minutes, maybe longer, depending on the subject, and they're gonna be released every month. This first episode is available right now for all Patreon members, okay, even those who are following us as free members. But starting next month, future episodes of this film should be played loud. Will be available only for members who sign up for the new Love It Loud ten dollars tier. Okay, that's right. We've now got additional tiers in Patreon. You can become a member for just a dollar now, just one buck, and that'll get you into the Patreon community,

into the chat where you can talk Disgraceland and all things music and movies and true crime and grime with me and your fellow discos and Zeth of course too. And you can still obviously become a member for just five bucks a month, like we've been doing since we launched our Patreon and we launched our Apple subscription service, and you're gonna get exclusive content like the bonus after party segment that we do each week, including the conversation you're about to get today on Robbie Robertson and leave on Helm. And at the five dollars level, you also get three exclusive mini episodes per month and ad free listening on all disgrace Land and hollywood Land episodes, and of course you get to be a part of the

disgrace ind community and you get access to the chat. Okay, that's all for five bucks, and and I've been teasing this out for about two months now, that five dollars tier is going up once and for all next week and will then be five dollars and ninety nine per cents. So now is your time to sign up and save money.

And now, as I just mentioned, we have a new ten dollars tier that'll get you everything I just talked about, plus the new this film should be played loud video podcast along with the Act Party exclusive content in video form every week. And and you, me and your other Disgraceland community members who support at the ten dollars tier level, we're going to meet over zoom twice a year to discuss and determine which subjects that we're going to cover in our full episodes. That's right, at the ten dollars tier, you're gonna get direct input into what topics we cover and produce for our flagship show. Plus, like I said, this film should be played loud video podcast. All right, this is turning into an infomercial, and I apologize for that,

but it's a lot of information and it's important. Patreon is proving itself to be a valuable tool for us all to build this community, and I'm super proud of what we've built together thus far. The conversations we have over in Patreon and the community we've built are meaningful, and in part it's what motivates me to get up every morning to bust my ass to write and to make content. I can't wait to see how this continues to grow in the new year. Guys, sign up and become a Disgrace and All Access member and support our mission to uncover the truth buried in the cracks music history, to celebrate the music and the films that help make us who we are. Go to disgraceandpod dot com, and without further ado, here is a clip from our new

video podcast. This film should be played loud the helicopter see. I went back and I looked. It's the best mixtape inside of a movie that I that I've ever come across, and it's it feels like it's a long tape when you think of the impact of it, but it's actually pretty short. It's Jumping the Fire by Harry Nilsson. Then it goes to Memo from Turner. The Mick Jagger version, however incorrectly credited in the soundtrack as a Rolling Stone song.

It's actual interesting Mick Jagger version. Then it goes into like a couple of seconds of the live version of Magic Bus by The Who, and then it goes into Monkey Man and then What Is Life by George Harrison. You kind of feel like he's getting away with it, like he's getting away with it, and then Managed Boy by Muddy Waters, and then of course the writing's.

On the wall for him to hill, but hang on. The best part about that whole stretch, for me, at least, my favorite part is in between Monkey Man and What Is Life. There's just the briefest clip of Muddy Waters at the beginning of Man is Boy going, yes, everything, everything is going to be all right.

That's it, everything, everything be all right this morning to.

Shot and then into What Is Life? And you're like, what the fuck is going on here?

You're absolutely right? And you know in that Okay, So we need to talk about Scorsese's approach here Before Goodfellas, Scorsese is famously the guy because of mean streets. He's famously the guy who uses rock and roll to express emotion, to use rock and roll songs pop songs to express emotion in film as opposed to using score. There's okay.

So by the time he gets to Goodfellas, you know, he's already gone through and he's worked up the script with Nicholas Plegi and he's got like he's indicating in the margins what songs he wants. And I read an interview with the music editor for the film where he said that Scorsese knew two years in advance what songs exactly he wanted playing in which frames of the film.

He was putting it in the script. He was like, put cream sunshin on your love heat.

Right, like exactly's rereading the rip. It's just as shine I love. It's just said add cream. Yeah, He's like, what the fuck do you mean? Ad cream? He's like, dun, dun. You know, it's interesting when I read this thing about the music editor from Goodfellas making a big deal of the fact that Scorsese knew exactly what songs he wanted in the film two years in advance, it didn't strike me as being strange. I was just like, well, yeah, that's how you fucking do it, dude, right right, But it's not how you do it. I mean, I've actually I've worked on indie films and stuff. I have music supervised stuff and did music for a film, a Parker Posi film, and the director, who was a friend, he was basically like, I don't know shit about music. You

figure it out. And I feel like that's an approach that a lot of directors have.

I think you're right, But remember that Scorsese started I mean One of his first major gigs was the Woodstock movie, which he's credited for now as an editor. But I believe at the time this was in that that mister Squarstase documentary was on Apple recently. He was like the second director of that movie. So like he's he's creating that movie. He's cutting that movie with music at the forefront of his mind.

Right exactly exactly, and he's obviously he's surrounded by great live music, Santana's Slashton and all that stuff. Yeah, but this is after he grows up. And this is the good thing about Goodfellas. It really feels like a like I don't know it was growing up in my small town. It was very much like this where you know, we all hung out on this main drag, right and you would just hear there just be this soundtrack constantly, cars driving by. People still carry boomboxes around. I'm not trying to make it sound like I grew up in the Bronx.

I didn't. But music was kind of like it was more in the air then than it is now.

Now.

Everyone's got you know, EarPods on and right, you know, right in their little pods and their cars and whatever it just it was. It was different then, and and I feel like it was much different in a much more extreme version of what I just explained in a tiny, little sort of you know, two block stretch of downtown New York where Martin Scorsese grew up in the nineteen sixties and that sort of like jukebox system that he was living in. Yeah, and that's what that movie feels like all the way throughout the beginning. I mean, the first you know, the opening is you know, by the time he blows up the cars, you've already whipped through like your ears are just on fire from all the incredible soundtracking that's going on.

Yeah, it's like a radio station, you know, it's just like switching the channels. It's do up zach groups, It's it's Italian, It's it's all over the place.

But it's what he would have heard, right, and he's so fearless with his music choices. All right, guys, that is this film should be played loud. A new video podcast from Double Elvis. Go to Disgray lampod dot com to sign up to become an All Access member today so that you can watch. I will be back after this with your voicemails text animal all right, we got Christmas music on the brain this month. As always every December, let's hear from mister Taylor from North Carolina. Matt play the nine one six, Yike, this.

Is mister Taylor from North Carolina calling to answer the question of the best Christmas songs. Look, you already said it. Darlene loves Christmas Baby, Please come home. It is the best Christmas song of all time, Christmas music inside, it's just an excellent, excellent masterpiece of a song. Fotus points for its use in Goodfellows. So that's my answer. But I will say, as you kid, growing up in the nineties, man, Christmas music was bad, really bad. Carry I'm pretty sure is playing on repeat in the waiting room in hell.

The nineties featured a bunch of really great artists whose careers had stalled out, all trying to get one last cash grab by doing Christmas songs and trying to get on. Now that's what I call Christmas twenty six. So I askeewed Christmas music for a very long time, but as a father of for I know now that Christmas music is a requirement. So I took it upon myself to try and go out and find Christmas music that I liked, Christmas music that I felt was of the quality that I required. So I mean, look, there's a lot of good music out there. I will say I've stretched the definition a little bit. You know, songs that include sleigh bells I think are Christmas music, right, God only knows.

By the Beach.

Boys ben Folds five, those are like that sounds like a vince Garaldi Christmas song. Songs that even include references to Christmas leave On by Elton John he was born on a Christmas Day. Another benfold Five song, Brick starts with you know, six am, day after Christmas, or even just songs like Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah. Man. If that isn't Christmas, I don't know what is. So I'm curiated a playlist for my family. It plays on repeat all December long, and hopefully my kids will have a better view as they grow up of Christmas music. But that's up to them to figure out.

That's all I got.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukhat all the discos, Rock and Roller to you, Jake, Santa Claus wants some Loven thank you.

You know, I've never really thought about Christmas music by decade. That's interesting. I can't say for certain whether the nineties were as bad as you as you say, just be thinking about it quickly. Nothing's coming to mind from the nineties that really blows me away. I guess. I guess there's a lot of good stuff from the eighties. You might be onto something here. And I love the broadening of the Christmas music definition just including sleigh bells. Yeah, I can see God Only Knows as a as a Christmas song, and Levon and Hallelujah as well. I kind of like what you're doing here, man, You're kind of opening up this topic of songs. And aren't Christmas songs but our Christmas songs? What are the diehards of Christmas songs?

I love this. That might be a question of the week for next week. I don't know. We shall see. Thanks to the call I appreciate it. Thanks for the voicemail. All right, let's check out this one from the eight one to five.

Hey, Jake, this is Matt Callin from the eight one to five finished Phil Specter episode, and you had asked for recommendations for Christmas Munich. One of my all time favorite Christmas songs. It's a fifteen minute song by Sophia and Stevens called the Christmas Unicorn, and the first half of the song is actually the Christmas Unicorn, but the second half he covers level terroist Apart by Joy Division.

Please check it out. You will not be disappointed. All right, Very Christmas, Happy Holidays, Rock and ROLLO.

Eight one five. I've never heard the song. You've got me very excited to hear it. Yeah, Joy Division, Level Terrorists Apart is a Christmas song. Uh yeah, I don't know how, but I'm excited to check it out. I'll report back next week. Thank you. Six one seven nine oh six six six three eight. Appreciate the recommendations, guys.

Appreciate the voicemails. Appreciate the text. Let's do some texts here. Let's check out what we got here back of my neck of the woods. The nine seven eight nine seven eight rights in non human intelligence. These days it's hard to believe in human intelligence. Great episode as always. Brother nine seven eight is referring to our Blink episode, which if you have not heard that, check it out and check out the documentary The Age of Disclosure that we were talking about last week as well in connection with that Blink episode six one seven nine six six six three eight. You guys want to get it at me about anything, you can also email me disgrace lamppod at gmail dot com. Like Victoria Anabelle who writes in Hello,

I came across your profile and I wanted to ask if your books are currently available for reading or purchase during this festive season. Well, yeah, Victoria, they are. You can find Disgraceland musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly wherever you get your fine books, finer books, any books really, I don't know about wherever. But you can just go to Amazon get it there. It's available, I think. If not, Barnes and Nobles got it. At least it did last time sold out on Amazon, but then they they're good about restocking. It should be there, and you know, make a good, good little gift under the tree for your loved one or for yourself. Thanks for writing in, Victoria, disgracelampod at gmail dot com. You

guys want to hit us up about anything related to music, true crime, Christmas. I'm digging this, uh this this new potential question, Christmas songs, that aren't Christmas songs. I like this, like this angle. If you want to get ahead of next week's question of the Week, you can hit me up with your answers to that. Disgrace sampod at gmail dot com. Listen. Earlier I was talking about Robbie Robertson Leavon Helm and some wild criminal accusations being hurled about the band's camp which is not the same as band camp.

And you know, Zeth and I are going to get into that in the exclusive section of this afterparty right about now. You want to be a member to hear that exclusive content and to get access to our new video podcast. This video should be played loud. You got to become a member. Go to Disgrace sampod dot com to sign up. Now, all right, we are back. This is about it for this after party. Thanks for listening.

Appreciate you. Guys talked about Beach Boys today or we mentioned them anyhow, mentioned David Bowie as well, and we did not mention dime Bag Daryl, whose death date was this week, same day John Lennon passed, same date I should say December eighth. But we have episode. We have a great episode on dime and Pantera, and also on Bowie and the Beach Boys. Check those out if you haven't heard them already. You just want to give him a spin, go for that, give him a little, give him a little rewind. All right, let's recap, shall we.

Number one, this week's new episode on Phil Spector is available for you right now. There's also a new mini episode available right now. Number two new mini episode for all Access members on Phil and John Lennon's Mad Influence. Go check that out. Number three rewind episodes on John Lennon in the Assassination of John Lennon Parts one and two.

Those are hitting your feed tomorrow. Number four. Next week we start celebrating the Christmas season for real with our Shane McGowan. Episode five gives you those Hollywood Land crime vibes in the Hollywood Land Feed, so make sure you're subscribed. Also, we've got Christmas in New Year's movie specials coming your way in the Hollywood Land Feed for the rest of the month. Head over there check those out. Six one, seven, nine oh six, six sixty three eight. Your voice keeps us digging into the dark corners of music history, so keep calling, texting with your answers to this week's question of the week, or with whatever else you want to talk about, And don't forget this goes. This isn't just content.

It's a community, a community of the obsessed. No one cares about music, books, records, and the crime and grime. It ties them all together like you do. And well that's a disgrace. Go sign up to become an All Access member and check out this film should be played loud all right. November twenty second, nineteen sixty three, That's the day JFK died. It's also the day Phil Spector released his Christmas album. And here's what America was listening to on that day. Number one, I'm leaving it up to you, Dale and Grace. Last week four weeks on Churt eighth peak position one three number two Sugar Shack, Jimmy Gilmour and the Fireballs. Last week two weeks on chart number not applicable dominant peak positions one number three

Washington Square position had the Village Sobers last last six peak positions you should press two to Last week number one dominate the singer Dande last week last week, I wonder what peak positions on one in the town. Number five position's all right. The impressions last week wonder peak position three wonderful.

Quit talking and start mixing,

Bonus Episode: Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Other Great Music History Christmas Moments

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