In which Small Town Talk rummages through the ginger Santa’s sack and digs out the grooves to boogie through lockdown all the way to Christmas Day.

1. Christmas Day - Detroit Junior

2. Hooves On The Roof - Nick Lowe

3. Christmas Blues - Gatemouth Moore

4. Christmas Blues - Canned Heat

5. My Christmas Prayer - Billy Fury

6. Merry Christmas Baby - Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers Feat. Charles Brown (The first recording of this classic Christmas song)

7. Christmas Time In The City - Mary Chapin Carpenter

8. Christmas Celebration - B. B. King

9. Socks - J. D. McPherson 10.

Christmas (Comes But Once A Year) - Amos Milburn

11. A Child’s Christmas In Wales - Superchunk

12. Baby It’s Cold Outside - Cerys Matthews & Tom Jones

13. Mr Santa’s Boogie - The Marshall Brothers

14. Christmas - Smokey Wilson

15. There Ain’t No Chimneys In The Project - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings

16. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Dion

17. Please Come Home For Christmas - The Insight with Johnny & Edgar Winter

18. Empty Stocking Blues - Floyd Dixon

19. Bad Kid - J. D. McPherson

20. Christmas Presents From Heaven - Solomon Burke

21. All Alone On Christmas - Darlene Love

22. Gonna Have A Merry Christmas - Mickey Champion & The Nic Nacs

23. I’ll Be Home For Christmas - The Pilgrim Travelers

24. North Pole Express - Nick Lowe

25. Dig That Crazy Santa Claus - Oscar McLollie & His Honeyjumpers

26. Happy New Year - Lightnin’ Hopkins

Theme Music: Small Town Talk - Bobby Charles

MERRY CHRISTMAS PRETTY BABY

YOU SURE BEEN GOOD TO ME

WELL, I HAVEN’T HAD A DRINK THIS MORNIN’

BUT I’M ALL LIT UP LIKE A CHRISTMAS TREE

Merry Christmas Baby - Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, featuring Charles Brown

Note: track 21 is from the soundtrack of “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”. The original intention was to use Darlene Love’s "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" but because she had been ripped off by Phil Spector, Love refused to put more royalties his way, so Steve Van Zandt wrote and arranged “All Alone On Christmas” in the typical Spector “Wall of Sound” style. It was recorded in 1992 by Love with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and the Miami Horns. Check out the official video on You Tube.

For further information and musings on the music contact me at:

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Illustration: Ginger Baldie dons the Santa outfit and dishes out the Christmas beer - sorry - cheer.