Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: AUTRY,GENE
Title: RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER & OTHER CHRISTMAS C
Street Release Date: 09/16/2003
Domestic
Genre: XMAS VOCAL

Track Listing

1. Here Comes Santa Claus
2. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Gene Autry, Pinafores
3. He's a Chubby Little Fellow
4. Santa, Santa, Santa
5. If It Doesn't Snow on Christmas Day - Gene Autry, Pinafores
6. When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter
7. Frosty the Snowman - Gene Autry, Cass County Boys
8. Night Before Christmas (In Texas, That Is) - Gene Autry, Rosemary Clooney
9. Night Before Christmas (In Texas, That Is) - Gene Autry, Cass County Boys
10. Where Did My Snowman Go? - Gene Autry,
11. I Wish My Mom Would Marry Santa Claus
12. Sleigh Bells
13. 'Round 'Round the Christmas Tree
14. Merry Christmas Waltz
15. Everyone's a Child at Christmas
16. You Can See Old Santa Claus (When You Find Him in Your Heart)
17. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Gene Autry, Cass County Boys, The King Sisters
18. Up on the Housetop

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14326 in Music
• Brand: AUTRY,GENE
• Released on: 2003-09-16
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.com
The late Gene Autry (a.k.a. the "Singing Cowboy" and the former owner of the Anaheim Angels) co-wrote the popular standard "Here Comes Santa Claus" in 1947. Over the next six years he seemed to keep reinventing it, if this 18-song collection of Autry’s recorded Christmas music is any indication. There's "Santa, Santa, Santa," "He's A Chubby Little Fellow," and "I Wish My Mom Would Marry Santa Claus"--all variations on a theme (but what Christmas music isn't?). Still, for lovers of cowboy music and particularly Autry's amicable straight-forward vocal style, this is a respectable, unvarnished collection that also includes a duet with Rosemary Clooney ("The Night Before Christmas Song"), a number of tunes penned by Johnny Marks (including "Rudolph…"), and a couple of notable "Frosty the Snowman" themes. There’s also a little ditty called "Sleigh Bells," co-inked by the Singing Cowboy six years after his success with "Here Comes Santa Claus," as proof that lightning does strike twice. --Martin Keller

Customer Reviews

The Christmas Classics from the Singing Cowboy himself
Everybody knows that the biggest Christmas hit of the first half of the 20th century was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." Now, the question is whether you know that Gene Autry's recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" comes in second on that list (no idea what is third, sorry). The story is that Autry only recorded the song because his wife told him to. The singing cowboy had already had a major holiday hit with "Here Comes Santa Claus" and would have another with "Frosty the Snowman." Autry had a rather large catalogue of Christmas songs, as this collection amply proves. These songs were recorded in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and include some songs that I absolutely guarantee you have never heard before, such as the Autry originals "He's a Chubby Little Fellow" and "I Wish My Mom Would Marry Santa Claus." There is also a duet with Rosemary Clooney of "The Night Before Christmas (In Texas, That Is)"; the song comes in two parts because of the limitation on how much music you could get on one side of a single way back when (a time closer to Edison's wax discs than the CD).

This 2003 release adds a couple of tracks to the CBS "Christmas Favorites" album from a while back, and remasters the entire bunch. That does not exactly make these songs sound like they were recorded last week, but they do sound better and there is something totally appropriate about the old fashioned sound of these recordings that you do not really want them tampering with anyway. It is interesting to note that the most "traditional" song Autry does is the last track, "Up on the Rooftop"; most of these songs are about Santa Claus. You would think there would be something less secular, especially given we are talking about a major country western star, but that is not the case. Apparently that was the way things were a half-century ago. Just remember, this collection is nostalgia and not kitsch, even if these songs were recorded before you were born.

Back in the Sleigh-dle Again
Prolific. That was Gene Autry, it seems. His wife asked him to record "Rudolph", a promotional tune for the long-time but now-defunct Montgomery Ward department store. It went beyond a mere promo and ended up as a Christmas standard. Who knows how much money it's made. Gene could also write a tune now and then and not just "Ridin' Down the Canyon". He wrote some of these songs himself. It's worth having, believe me. And as for prolific, reviewer L. Bernabo (with the typo in his branding) couldn't tell you which song is the #3 most popular (after White Christmas and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer). Well, trust me, it's "The Christmas Song" written by the "Velvet Fog" Mel Torme and sung by Nat "King" Cole. It's been around like 50 years. You can find it easily enough. In the meantime, buy this one.

Christmas Classics
What a wonderful CD. All of these songs are classics. And the master of Christmas melodies performs them with his usual mellow voice. Christmas is not Christmas with out Rudolph. And the song "Where Did My Snowman Go?"....what a treasure. Rosemary Clooney and Gene's voices really blend well together on "The Night Before Christmas Song". This version of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" is wonderful. This CD is a must for anyone who loves Christmas music. Mr. Autry is in top form on all of these selections.