He recorded at least 10 holiday tracks, as singles and for other albums, that could be repackaged to fill a CD—“A Merry Christmas at Grandmother’s House (Over the River and Through the Woods)” and the kiddie-voiced “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” with the Andrews Sisters, the novelty songs “Santa Claus Looks Like My Daddy” and “Eat Eat Eat,” “Snow” and “White Christmas” with his White Christmas co-stars, a jazzy “Jingle Bells” for the Five Pennies soundtrack, and holiday standards “Deck the Halls,” “Oh Come All Ye Faithful,” and “The First Noel.”
But there are also at least a half-dozen more numbers that could be used, now that Danny’s daughter, Dena, has shown a willingness to crack open the vault that for decades has held hostage his radio shows, TV series and specials. “Jingle Journey,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” “Waltz Around the Christmas Tree,” “We Won’t Be in England for Christmas,” and “Some Children See Him” could all be pulled off the soundtracks of his variety series’ annual Christmas shows to be used on a CD.
Over the years, Danny’s wife, Sylvia Fine, would write well over 100 songs for her husband to perform. Ironically, she didn’t write any of these 16 holiday songs. The one Sylvia Fine Christmas song I could find a lyric sheet for Danny never recorded. It’s a short ditty called “Why, Mommy?”:
It’s a funny thing about Santy Claus –
It suddenly just came to me –
I saw him in all the department stores
And he never looked the same to me.
In Macy’s he was tall and fat,
In Gimbel’s he was short and flat,
At Rogers Peet he was red as a beet,
At Lord & Taylor he looked much paler;
At F.A.O. Schwartz his nose had warts,
Next day at Sears – they disappears;
Then came an even worse dilemma:
Two of him were at Hammacher Schlemmer.
Poor old Santy Claus, alack and alas,
How does he know when it’s him in the looking glass?
® Sylvia Fine
Maybe we’ll see a “Christmas with Danny Kaye” CD released in time for next Christmas. It just won’t include “Why, Mommy?”
Putting out a Kaye holiday album would keep his talent and memory alive! It's a wonderful idea and perhaps you can drop that into Dena's ear at that Paley event!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lisa! I'll do my best.
ReplyDeleteBeing one of those that has all you listed here, being an avid Danny collector Why Mommy is included as part of "Santa Claus looked like my Daddy. There also seems to be 2 versions of Jingle Bells out, one which seems to be Danny Solo, and I believe the other may include Bob Crosby vocals as well. And not to forget from the Five Pennies soundtrack as well, with a pitch, The Clicquot Club Eskimos are on the air, from Indiana Radio Montage fits rather nicely. He also recorded Good King Wenceslas
ReplyDeleteZzebon-
ReplyDeleteThank you for the great additions! Is "Why Mommy" part of the song "Santa Claus Looks Like My Daddy" or something added on?
David
Hi David,
DeleteSeems Santa Claus Looks Like My Daddy is a DK song. Although Buck Owens had Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy, they are two separate songs. I wouldn't be surprised if it's all penned by Sylvia, but as so close to the idea of the other, it just wasn't mentioned. The "Why Mommy" part is a vocal bridge bringing the song together and is pretty much the center of the song. Lyrics are:
Sssshhhhh!!
I take me out of bed
And down the stairs I go
I should be fast asleep by now
I know, I know, I know
But I hear reindeer up above
And downstairs I here noise
The door is open and I see
Santa Claus, Woe is ME!
Santa Claus Looks Like My Daddy,
My Daddy, My Daddy,
Santa Claus Looks Like My Daddy,
Except for his funny red nose.
(Kiddie laugh)
Santa Claus is big and jolly,
My golly, he's jolly
Looks an awful lot like Daddy
Except for the beard that he grows
Now I see him by the Christmas tree
with presents for you and presents for me.
Stockings by the fireplace,
Oh, he just kissed my Mommy goodnight!!
OOOHHH!
I am gonna tell my daddy
Believe me, my Daddy
When I tell him in the morning
My Pop is gonna wanna fight
Santa Claus may look just like my Daddy
but he can't kiss my Mommy goodnight
It's a funny thing about Santa Claus
It suddenly just came to me.
I saw him in all the department stores
And he never looked the same to me.
In Macy’s he was tall and fat,
In Gimbel’s he was short and flat,
At Rogers Peet he was red as a beet,
At Lord & Taylor he looked much paler;
At F.A.O. Schwartz his nose had warts,
Next day at Sears – they disappears;
Then came an even worse dilemma:
Two of him were at Hammacher Schlemmer.
Poor old Santy Claus, alack and alas,
How does he know when it’s him in the looking glass?
Hmmm?
Now I see him by the Christmas tree
With presents for you and presents for me.
Stockings by the fireplace,
Oh, he just kissed my Mommy goodnight!!
WEEEOOOHHH!
I am gonna tell my daddy
Believe me, my Daddy
When I tell him in the morning
My Pop is gonna wanna fight
Santa Claus may look just like my Daddy
but he can't kiss my Mommy goodnight
Merry Christmas
He can't kiss my Mommy goodnight
That's all!!
If you search Danny Kaye Christmas Dog (Don't ask!) on youtube, there's a rough sounding audio, but you can hear the song clearly, just misses the first few words