Imagine it's Christmas, 1971. You are a US veteran convalescing in a VA hospital at Christmas time and seeing the after effects of the prolonged Vietnam War. Your daily routine consists of awaking in your hospital bed, nurses wheeling in your meals, therapy for most of the day. You can then watch television, read in the library, or listen to the soothing sounds the overheard speakers pipe in.
This album is one of several that I was very fortunate to purchase from Marc Bird of Spindle Records. Bird has been compiling rare and obscure music of the doo-wop era, the novelty era, and the psychedelic era and offering them at his site. Did I mention he's got some Christmas CDs over there?
Tennessee Ernie Ford is your host on this 16 minute program. He get the Big Guy out of the way quickly - President Richard M. Nixon takes time out of his busy covering up schedule to thank the injured vets for "buying time" for lasting peace.
We are then treated to many celebrities making appearances on the album (see the record label above), each thanking vets for their sacrifices and offering their good wishes. One of the highlights is hearing Bob Hope - introduced by Bing Crosby no less - reciting a "hip" version of "Twas The Night Before Christmas".
What's on side two?
These five songs you can easily find on other compilations and are not included with this bundle. Raid your collections to find these five and presto!
As Bob Hope prefaced his poem, "see how you dig this":
Christmas 1971 Veterans Administration Hospital Program
Happy listening...
Capt
