Green Christmas - Stan Freberg (1958)

[disneyfan81]

My favorite part has always been "We Wish You a Merry Christmas, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, And Please Buy Our Beer!"  LOL!!

[OrezThegrey]

Handn't heard this in YEARS. Googled it under "amalgamated cheese".....that did it.

[Kingscrib]

@ lensuniverse: Stan Freberg was all about PARODY! If you don't get it, I feel sorry for you. As a 10 year old when this came out, I understood the message. Try learning about someone before condemning them, okay? Stan Freberg hated the crass commercialism of Christmas and thus this. :)

~We wish you a Merry Christmas!

[lensuniverse]

video?- this is Stan Freberg ...sacrilege!

[seadaawg2]

Does anyone remember what the Stan Freberg quote "Yep, somebody sure cut through that fence, all right." comes from?

[JustVaMe]

@seadaawg2 Bang Gunlee (sp?) US Marshal Fields

[nealbfinn]

For those who weren't around during the late 50's, in the Tiny Tim Chestnut ad, there are numerous references to commercials that were all over tv and radio to a point of saturation.

"This invisible shell, protects the nut" was based on the Gleem toothpaste ad, as was "for people that can't roast after every meal". ("for people that can't brush after every meal")

"And ...they are mild" was the tag line for the Pall Mall cigarette ad of the day

[Tracymmo]

@nealbfinn Thanks for the extra info! So fun hearing Freberg's stuff.

[GrizzledGeezer]

"Green Chri$tma$" was controversial because it attacked the commercialization of Christmas. Radio stations refused to play it, because advertisers would refuse to pay their bills. Freberg was a genius at offending people with G-rated matieral.

Note the very brief appearance of June Foray.

Some things have changed. "Xmas" is no longer considered offensive. And as discounting wasn't common, there was no Black Friday, so the crack "Don't you make enough the rest of the year?" carried weight.

[chelelev]

Glad to see some pictures of old Ground Round. Remember it well.

[hotskel2546]

@chelelev Glad you enjoyed the photos of Ground Round. Some posters haven't been so kind thinking it was stupid. This GR was torn down right after I took the pictures.

[Pbsmike]

Still funny as Hell!

[MsBkirk]

I'd never heard this before, though the idea of Scrooge as the head of an advertising company seems relevant today.

I recognise Daws Butler's voice in the staff.

[BuddyNovinski]

I first heard this performance on Doctor Demento around 1984, and I even played it on college radio a few years later. While it takes me back to the early 1960's (to understand some of the advertising), I thoroughly enjoy this parody.

[timmmahhhh]

@BuddyNovinski That's about the same time I first heard it having discovered the Dr Demento show. So thankful we have the good doctor to keep such great music alive.

[DamazViccar]

I want to perform this with the Econ department.

[layman2003]

He hit it on the head a long time ago. I'm 64 years old and heard this when I was just a kid. I still love it. Every company should have to listen to it before the Christmas season.

[000266617]

Green Christmas got him in trouble. The sponsors didn't like this criticsm of big business and advertising and left

His attacks on advertising and business hurt him, but I love the truth he tells.

Here, he complained that Christmas is all money making and ignores Christ.

[scottmyers63]

Heck, Stan could have done wonders with Jeff Foxworthy's "Twelve Redneck Days of Christmas" routine!

[RoyFive]

Freberg, ahead of his time as usual. Going green in 1958.

[wpl955g]

"They roast hot, like a chestnut ought." Genius.

[colliourebee]

Love the jingle bells kerching ending. Sums it all up nicely.

[Soulthinker2007]

Great parody! Hilarious! More than 50 years later is still brings truth to capitalism in Christmas. You never hear that on a radio station playing funny Christmas bits because it brings reality.

[billmc67]

I used to stop at a Ground Round for a great 'burger around Roseville, Loomis California on my way to-from skiing around Donner Summit.

[SpotterOz]

Stan was a brilliant humorist indeed. Glad I got to listen to his stuff when it was new... and we had tubes in radios. Ahhhh what a way to warm your hands on a cold morning.

=D

[yoursaxman]

The last few seconds of this brilliant piece says it ALL!

"Jing-Gle-bells (cha-ching!).

Jing-Gle-bells (cha-ching!).

Jing-Gle All The Way...."

[JoeRailfan]

Besides being incredibly creative and funny, Stan Freberg was a thoroughgoing radio professional. The production values on this recording made with analog technology and live musicians 50 years ago are just amazing. Still sounds as good as the day it was released.

[AdamsApple1963]

I love it and my two nephews loved it when they were kids...the message rings even more true today!

[demonsbutterfly]

This still knocks me out, i heard it first in 1982 as a cynical 19 year old. Loved it ever since......51 years ago!!! you legend Stan.

[guyglowmore1]

saw stan last time i was in l.a. he lives nex door to my brother and married a lady i've known for 60 years. all's well in la la land. . .

[fromthesidelines]

The 45 reissues (and I've seen copies of those; they "split " it at 3:35) came about because, by that time, Capitol had finally "agreed" with Stan's attitude towards the subject material, and no longer thought it "controversial".

[wmbrown6]

@fromthesidelines - The funny thing about the reissues is, some record price guide books dated them as 1956. I have the actual #F3503 from 1956 - "Avenue L'Opera" b/w "Song for Sweethearts" by Cliff Townsend [sic]* and His Singing Saxophone. The musical director on that record was Ronnie Aldrich, who later conducted on all but three Thames TV "Benny Hill Shows." (And Hill later did a video version of Freberg's "John and Marsha" - but that's another story.)

* Father of The Who's Pete Townshend.

[vvfking]

Lol my last name is freberg...

[Vodka25]

I've never noticed this until now, but Stan Smith's voice (from American Dad) kind of reminds me of Stan Freburg's.

[fromthesidelines]

Among the other personnel working with Stan on this one were Wil Wright {"Abercrombie" and "Crass"}, Daws Butler {"Cratchet"}, and Marvin Miller {"Announcer"}. Jud Conlon's chorus and Billy May's musical settings are also heard. This was one of Stan's most controversial recordings (as described in his autobigography, "It Only Hurts When I Laugh")- Capitol initially didn't want to release it, and TIME magazine killed a review of it because their sales department objected.

[wmbrown6]

Ironically, in spite of the controversy generated at the time of its original 1958 release on Capitol #F4097, the label subsequently reissued "Green Chri$tma$" in two parts on Capitol #3503 in late 1972 and made new pressings around Christmas time for years thereafter, as they did for Nat "King" Cole's "The Christmas Song."

[ACcountryFan]

Much of the controversy around this song was the irony of Freberg, who was a master advertiser himself, putting out a song skewering his own profession: advertising.

He wrote/produced funny commercials heard on radio and saw on television throughout the '50s, '60s, '70s, and into the '80s in addition to having a successful recording career and a completely different career as a voice artist on cartoons.

There was also some controversy over the concept of the holiday being satirized, period.

[artistsworks]

I memorized it as a child and sang it for my mommy every year...or rather she sang it to me.

[ouroboris]

Yeah that's a classic bit, to be sure. I've heard it 100's of times. But it would have been much better with a video (this is YouTube Videos after all) or photos that made sense rather than a string of incredibly boring photos that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Green Christmas bit. One star for the genius of Stan Freberg.

[stresslie58]

Agreed. It would have been cool If Stan

Freberg Could have filmed this as a stage production, and had that as the post.

[jonceramic]

I don't know, I think that the Ground Round is somewhat inspired. Stan might like it himself... LOL

You know ouroboris, _you_ could animate it! :)

[barrelracer45]

Yep! (I feel nerdy for listening to it though, lol) ♥ it!

[stresslie58]

Great Stuff. a classic!