1979 Christmas Single

What would you have released as the 1979 Christmas single?

  • Home For The Holidays

  • Little Altar Boy

  • Do You Hear What I Hear?

  • He Came Here For Me

  • What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

  • I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day


Results are only viewable after voting.

newvillefan

I Know My First Name Is Stephen
"Before their tenth anniversary expires...they expect to send a token of their appreciation to the fan club members (The Carpenters DECADE Book)...and intend to release a Christmas SINGLE, to be selected from EXCESS material recorded from Christmas Portrait..."

@GaryAlan posted the above excerpt from the September 1979 fanclub newsletter on another thread and it gave me the idea for a poll. A 1979 Christmas single would have to have been something that later surfaced on An Old Fashioned Christmas. Which track do you think would have been selected, assuming it was a KC lead vocal (and assuming they wouldn't re-release Santa Claus Is Coming To Town)?
 
I would vote for Home for the Holidays as it would probably get the most airplay, however, I think New Year's Eve is a much better selection.

True; however, the question is "what would YOU have released...as the SINGLE." And although some of the songs on the choice list are better, Home for the Holidays makes for a better "single."
 
I went with Do You Hear What I Hear? It’s a magical arrangement, very Christmassy and they would have been attracted to its status as an oldie, with Bing Crosby having covered it and released it as a single many years earlier. I also like to think they would have corrected the vocal error and had a full Karen vocal on the song.

Home For The Holidays is a nice tune but just way too corny for a single in 1979 and would have got hammered by the critics at the time.
 
I almost went with Home For The Holidays, but with Karen still alive in 1979, she could sing the first verse and knock that song out of the park. It would have been the last time that a good traditional arrangement of the song would be heard in a popular vein.
 
@GaryAlan posted the above excerpt from the September 1979 fanclub newsletter on another thread and it gave me the idea for a poll. A 1979 Christmas single would have to have been something that later surfaced on An Old Fashioned Christmas. Which track do you think would have been selected, assuming it was a KC lead vocal (and assuming they wouldn't re-release Santa Claus Is Coming To Town)?
There’s also the possibility that Toyland could’ve been released, as Karen had mentioned in the October 30, 1978 interview. In the interview Karen mentions how Richard’s take brought her to “tears”.
 
There’s also the possibility that Toyland could’ve been released, as Karen had mentioned in the October 30, 1978 interview. In the interview Karen mentions how Richard’s take brought her to “tears”.

I’ve just watched that clip again from the TV special. I’ve never known what attracts fans to it. His pronunciation is stilted and he just doesn’t have the vocal quality to cut it. Where he could go for the high notes in a chest voice, he opts for the wispy head voice. Now, “You’ll Never Know”? That’s a different story altogether. The perfect match of singer, song, range, key and arrangement. I still long for the day he includes it on some release or other but I believe he’ll take it with him.
 
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I went with (There's No Place Like) Home For the Holidays. It is just about perfect. Definitely livelier and less corny than the Perry Como version in my opinion. However, Do You Hear What I Hear? would have been a masterpiece had Karen been able to complete it correctly.
This question is SO hard. I agree with others who mention New Year's Eve because it might have been one that's played each year that isn't really done by others. And I Heard The Bells is just absolute vocal gloriousness that it should be heard far and wide. But I'm sticking with Home For The Holidays. I can play that one over and over and when I'm feeling a certain way outside of the holiday season, that is the one I want to listen to first.
 
I’ve just watched that clip again from the TV special. I’ve never known what attracts fans to it. His pronunciation is stilted and he just doesn’t have the vocal quality to cut it. Where he could go for the high notes in a chest voice, he opts for the wispy head voice. Now, “You’ll Never Know”? That’s a different story altogether. The perfect match of singer, song, range, key and arrangement. I still long for the day he includes it on some release or other but I believe he’ll take it with him.
I'm with you on your assessment of Toyland. His reading sounds strained, breathy. I'm also not a huge fan of Do You Here what I hear or New Year's Eve. But I adore Home for the Holiday's and feel it would have been the best choice for a single however had this come out in late '79 I doubt the track would've even cracked the top 50. . .our guys were just DOA in radioland by this point. . .which shows just how good TMWWD (No. 16) was 18 months later .
 
Speaking of a potential 2nd Christmas album that the duo always intended to put out I think a lot of the tracks that ended up on AOFC in abridged instrumental or choral form would have been recorded in full with a Karen lead when they went back into the studio to complete the album.

Maybe a full AOFC that would have been released mid-'80s would have looked like this. Italics show full songs with KC lead.

1)It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
2)Overture (abridged selections - shorter than what currently appears.)
3)An Old Fashioned Christmas (Karen lead)
4)Home for the Holidays
5)O Holy Night
6)I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
7)Frosty The Snowman/Rudolph (mini medley)

8)Little Altar Boy


9)Do You Hear What I Hear
10)Santa is coming to Town ('74)
11)Toyland (Richard vocal. . .both loved the track so it'd probably be on there)
12)Here Comes Santa Claus
13)He came here for me
14)New Year's Eve
15)Nutcracker Suite
16)Heard The Bells

Of course these are just my thoughts and it really isn't so different from what was released, but this added dose of Karen's leads plus the showcase of more upbeat fun Xmas numbers amongst the heavier carols might have made AOFK come that much closer to rivalling the masterwork that is CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT.

One last thing. I'd have loved Karen to record the Bing number "Mele Kalikimaka". I've loved that song since I first heard it as a kid when it was featured on the film Christmas Vacation ('89) and I think her voice would've fitted it perfectly.
 
I love all the choices, too, but went with "Home for the Holidays" - it's one of theirs you still here today on the radio Christmas rotations, so I think that says a lot! "Little Alter Boy" is beautiful and very poignant now considering the lyrics and Karen's ultimate fate, but not a good pick as a single choice.
 
"Do You Hear What I Hear" would of made a memorable single for the 1979 holiday season, backed with "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?"
Both contain her later 70's refined vocals, which is well suited for this kind of music.

Ultimately, "Do You Hear/Little Alter Boy" ended up being a (promotional) single in 1984, but it might of been remembered had it been released five years earlier.........
 
Ultimately, "Do You Hear/Little Alter Boy" ended up being a (promotional) single in 1984, but it might of been remembered had it been released five years earlier.........

Has anyone ever heard this being played on the radio? I haven’t, which is a shame.
 
Speaking of a potential 2nd Christmas album that the duo always intended to put out I think a lot of the tracks that ended up on AOFC in abridged instrumental or choral form would have been recorded in full with a Karen lead when they went back into the studio to complete the album.

Maybe a full AOFC that would have been released mid-'80s would have looked like this. Italics show full songs with KC lead.

1)It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
2)Overture (abridged selections - shorter than what currently appears.)
3)An Old Fashioned Christmas (Karen lead)
4)Home for the Holidays
5)O Holy Night
6)I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
7)Frosty The Snowman/Rudolph (mini medley)

8)Little Altar Boy


9)Do You Hear What I Hear
10)Santa is coming to Town ('74)
11)Toyland (Richard vocal. . .both loved the track so it'd probably be on there)
12)Here Comes Santa Claus
13)He came here for me
14)New Year's Eve
15)Nutcracker Suite
16)Heard The Bells

Of course these are just my thoughts and it really isn't so different from what was released, but this added dose of Karen's leads plus the showcase of more upbeat fun Xmas numbers amongst the heavier carols might have made AOFK come that much closer to rivalling the masterwork that is CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT.

One last thing. I'd have loved Karen to record the Bing number "Mele Kalikimaka". I've loved that song since I first heard it as a kid when it was featured on the film Christmas Vacation ('89) and I think her voice would've fitted it perfectly.

"One last thing. I'd have loved Karen to record the Bing number "Mele Kalikimaka". I've loved that song since I first heard it as a kid when it was featured on the film Christmas Vacation ('89) and I think her voice would've fitted it perfectly."

Thank you for pointing that out. I imagined Karen singing the lyrics to it. I think she would've had a blast recording it and would've been a very memorable moment. Much like her playfulness with the lyrics on B'wana She No Home.
 
"One last thing. I'd have loved Karen to record the Bing number "Mele Kalikimaka". I've loved that song since I first heard it as a kid when it was featured on the film Christmas Vacation ('89) and I think her voice would've fitted it perfectly."

Thank you for pointing that out. I imagined Karen singing the lyrics to it. I think she would've had a blast recording it and would've been a very memorable moment. Much like her playfulness with the lyrics on B'wana She No Home.
Beautiful thought.
 
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