Swiss Christmas by the Smothers Brothers—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2023-‘24

                                                        Some Smothers Brothers Christmas spirit from their 1963 album curb Your Tongue, Knave!

Word came that Tommy Smothers died the day after Christmas at age 86.  Another milestone figure of my generation gone.   Tommy was, of course, one half of the folk/comedy duo The Smothers Brothers.  He was the blonde older brother on the string base, mentally slow and slightly addled who was argumentative and jealous of his brother.  That would be Dick, the supposed brains of the act and a straight man on guitar.  In reality, Tommy was highly intelligent and shrewd and was the main creative force of the pair.

The brothers united as a folk act in the late 1950s and on Tommy’s suggestion added comedy to distinguish themselves from the glut performers during the folk revival.  It worked.  They soon graduated from dingy folk bars to the hippest night clubs on both coasts and Chicago.  In 1961 they recorded their first Mercury LP, the first of many.  Those albums and routines filled hours in bedrooms and dorms.  The same year they made their first television appearance with Jack Parr and became regulars in the comedy roster of the Steve Allen Show.  After a failed one season sitcom they made a deal with CBS-TV for their own hour long variety show with supposed creative control. 

                        Chicago's Mr. Kelly's, then the city's hippest night club was one of the Smothers Brothers gigs in the early '60s.

The Smothers Brother’s Comedy Hour came on the air in 1967 in the midst of the civil rights movement and urban revolt, Vietnam War protests, and the stirrings of second wave feminism.  The network expected a younger, hipper version of the variety show than those usually fronted by older stars.   It did have a kind of goofy, hippie charm but, mostly a Tommy’s urging became more daring about the issues.  A parade of top rock stars and other musical acts introduced controversial ideas and language challenged increasingly sensitive network censors. 

George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Joan Baez, Buffalo Springfield, Cass Elliot, Harry Belafonte, Cream, Donovan, The Doors, Glen Campbell, Janis Ian, Jefferson Airplane, The Happenings, Peter, Paul & Mary, Spanky and Our Gang, Steppenwolf, Simon and Garfunkel, The Hollies, and The Who were showcased despite the advertiser-sensitive nature of their music.

Pete Seeger’s appearance was his first appearance on network television since being blacklisted in the 1950s. It became controversial because of his song choice, Waist Deep in the Big Muddy, an anti-war parable for the Vietnam War song that the network considered to be an insult to President Lyndon Johnson and his war policy.  It was just the most celebrated of  Tommy’s battles with the censors which only escalated. 

                                        The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour became a cultural phenomenon.

On April 4, 1969, ironically the first anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., the network abruptly canceled the show at the height of it popularity city the Brothers failure to deliver tapes of completed programs to the censors.  It became a cause celeb and Tommy became an outstanding advocate of free speech and First Amendment rights. 

He also became increasingly radicalized and personally engaged in left political action.  Dick was far more conservative, and the brothers were often at real odds.  But they continued to work together until they retired from touring in 2010.  Dick acknowledged that their real differences were part of the chemistry that made the act continue to work.

                                    Tommy Smothers won an Emmy in 2008 for his later show The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

Today we will share a seasonal song off The Smothers Brother’s most successful album, Curb Your Toung, Nave from 1963 when they were still working mainly in clubs.  It captures the comic schtick between the two,   

Happy New Year by ABBA—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2023-‘24

                                                        Happy New Year--ABBA

For Americans New Year’s Day is a kind of low key and lethargic holiday.  Many New Year’s Eve revelers nurse hangovers.  For other’s it is a spend the day in pajamas and robe affair to veg out in front of the tube to watch the Rose Parade and endless college bowl games.   It is the biggest day of the year for ordering pizza delivery.

For many Americans New Year's day means drinking coffee, nursing a hangover and watching the Tournament of Roses Parade from Pasadena.

There have not been many songs for January 1.  For years we were stuck with U2’s first big hit, New Year’s Day released in 1987 and dedicated to the Polish Solidarity movement.  It set the tone for decades of self-important and self-righteous songs with supposedly meaningful and progressive themes with Bono doing his patented vocal pyrotechnics.  A lot of folks love that stuff, but it has come to irritate the hell out of me.  

In 2017 Taylor Swift offered us an alternative.  I know that there are folks who follow this blog who have nothing but scorn for the pop diva and her endlessly autobiographical songs of failed relationships.  But I have always thought that if you take her for what she is and don’t try to compare her female stars of country music’s golden age she does what she does very well.  Needless to say, Swift had a very, very good 2023 and ’24 might be even better for her.  Glad somebody is doing well

New Year’s Day was off Swift’s sixth studio album, Reputation. She co-wrote and co-produced the track with Jack Antonoff.  She debuted the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and was only a mid-level country music hit.  But the critical reception was very positive.  The song, however, does not seem to have long term traction outside Swift’s large and devoted fan base.

But we are not turning to either of those songs, or a Bon Jovi entrant into the New Year sweepstakes.  Instead, we are turning to those relentless Swedish Pop hit makers, ABBA.

ABBA around the piano for the New Year.

ABBA was formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group’s name was an acronym of the first letters of their first names and sly pun on a rhyme scheme frequently used in pop music lyrics. Originally a folk quartet, they reached international stardom when they began writing, recording, and touring using English language lyrics even in their home country. They were one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982. ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest and establishing that televised completion as the most important international venue for emerging artists.  At the height of their world-wide popularity, they were the biggest and most important Swedish economic export topping industrial giants like Volvo and Saab.

Back when they first penetrated the American charts, my rock snob friends derided them.  But their catchy melodies and tight harmonies produced what seemed like an endless list of irresistible ear worms that have outlasted many of the arena rockers of the era.  Their flashy ‘70s style costumes, heavy on synthetic fibers, bright colors, and glitter and the good looks of the two women were part of the appeal.

                                        ABBA's 1980 European single release of Happy New Year.

Happy New Year was off their 1980 album Super Trouper written by Andersson and Ulvaeus with lead vocals are by Fältskog. The song’s working title was the more festive and humorous Daddy Don’t Get Drunk on Christmas Day, presumably with different lyrics.  It was released as a single in Europe in 1999 and charted in several counties.

                                        The Argentine release of Felicidad.

ABBA also released a version in Spanish, Felicidad and became a top hit in Argentina and other Latin American countries.  But the song never got traction in the U.S.

It has, however, become a New Year’s Eve tradition in Sweden where videotaped performances are the annual highlight of the celebration.