'Zat You, Santa Claus?'

You know the more I listen to my copy of 'Cool Yule - A 50's Christmas' the more I love it! If I haven't convinced you to get yourself a copy yet then maybe this post will spur you into action. Louis Armstrong was a real enigma with his totally unique voice and with Jazz being all the rage in the 50's its amazing really that 'Satchmo' was only an occasional visitor to the U.K. charts during the decade.

'Zat You, Santa Claus?' (1953) by the great man is proving to be one of my favourite tracks from 'Cool Yule' and Louis sense of timing is just so brilliant on the track! Fun lyrics and that cool, groovy feel make the song the ultimate Christmas song. I have no idea whether the song was ever released here as a single but if it was it wasn't a hit. How often does that happen though? That an artists best work either fails to chart or is never released as a single, I mean? But then, in these days of downloads the 'single' format as we knew and loved it has been made redundant for now every track on any album is effectively a single and able to get into the charts if it sells enough copies...

Old fashioned me really HATES that, you know? There was something really exciting as a kid in the 70's about discovering your favourite artist or band had a new single out. The joys of discovering a great track on the 'b side' was all part of the fun as well and then, of course, there was the picture sleeve and (if the artist you loved was big enough) the excitement of seeing a new interview pop up in 'Record Mirror', 'Jackie', 'Popswap', 'Disco 45', 'Look-In' or other magazines/musical newspapers. Once the song was in the charts you could even delight in getting the lyrics in 'Disco 45' so you could sing a long yourself!

Sadly, all of that has now gone out of the window. Who really ever bothers putting together a CD single anymore? If they do chances are that it has only tracks on it from the parent album... There isn't anything for kids to collect anymore, tacky badges, sticker collections, picture discs have all passed away leaving only maybe a T Shirt or a 'Deluxe Edition' of an album to encourage anyone to take more than a casual listening interest in an artist.

So, I guess if I was able to get a message to old 'Satchmo' up in heaven today I would send him warm Christmas greetings and thank him for reminding me in 2013 of, the simple, innocent things in life and of my precious childhood. I know my inclusion of a Gary Glitter magazine cover is controversial here but I grew up loving Gary, his style and his music and however badly things have turned out since, I cannot simply re-write my whole life nor stop loving someone who is part of the very fabric of who I am. After all, as Christmas itself often proves to us all, loving someone does not always mean that you get on with them, understand them or can communicate with them, does it?