Songs & Singles: J

• Jamie Nicole (Hamell On Trial, 2021)
• January (Nancy Wallace, 2014)
• Jesus Christ
  • Big Star (1975)
  • Kristin Hersh (1995)
  • Mike Mills & Sally Ellyson (2006)
  • REM (2002)
  • Screaming Santas (1995)
• Jesus Versus Santa (Beaumonts, 2021)
• Jing Jing A Ling (Honey & The Bees, 1969)
• Jing-A-Ling, Jing-A-Ling
  • Andrews Sisters (1950)
  • Starlighters (1950)
• Jinga Bell Rock (BoDeans, 1989)
• Jingle All The Way (Lena Horne, 1966)
• Jingle Bell Blues (Billy F. Gibbons of ZZ Top, 2021)
• Jingle Bell Hop (Jackson Trio, 1955)
• Jingle Bell Hustle (Wayne Newton, 1976)
• Jingle Bell Imitations (Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell, 1961) [close]

  Chubby Checker - the "Twist" man - was the most valuable player of the Philadelphia-based Cameo-Parkway label group. The Cameo stable also housed Bobby Rydell, one of the more talented teen idols (c.f. Fabian) and a prolific hitmaker in his own right ("Wild One," "Volare"). In 1961, the label mates recorded an eponymous LP featuring several holiday tracks including a good-natured cover of Bobby Helms' greatest hit, "Jingle Bell Rock." While the single reached #21 on the charts, what I treasure most is its weird little b-side, "Jingle Bell Imitations."

  Unlikely as it seems, both Checker and Rydell were gifted impressionists, and thanks to the duo's capacity for mimicry, we witness a host of stars - Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, the Chipmunks, and Crazy Guggenheim (actor Frank Fontaine) - rendering "Jingle Bells" in a manner similar to Checker's first charted hit, "The Class." Unfortunately, Cameo-Parkway was notoriously strict with their master tapes, so neither the LP nor the single saw the light of day for many years. Thankfully, "Jingle Bell Rock" was finally reissued on CD as part of the peachy-keen boxed set, Cameo Parkway 1957-1967 (2005), but its wacky b-side has only ever been reissued on the 2010 edition of the MP3 album, Cameo Parkway Holiday Hits.

  For collectors, the third-and-final holiday track from the LP, "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" has never been reissued in any digital format. In 1962, however, it was issued in America as a one-sided promotional single and in England as the b-side of "Jingle Bell Rock" (which struggled to #40 on the UK charts).

• Jingle Bell Jamboree (Keb' Mo', 1999)
• Jingle Bell Rock
  • Chet Atkins (1961 and 1983)
  • Teresa Brewer (1958)
  • Chubby Checker & Bobby Rydell (1961)
  • Dion (1993)
  • Mickey Gilley (1981)
  • Bill Haley & His Comets (1968) [close]

    Long after Bill Haley & His Comets helped kick-start the rock 'n' roll juggernaut with songs like "Rock The Joint" (1952), "Crazy Man Crazy" (1953), and "Rock Around The Clock" (1954), the band was briefly signed to United Artists in 1968. Their tenure produced just one unsuccessful single, "That's How I Got To Memphis," released in 1969 (and written by Tom T. Hall, by the way). But, they recorded more songs for United Artists - a fact revealed in 1992 by the EMI compilation Legends Of Christmas Past.

    The album includes two recordings by Bill Haley & His Comets that had been gathering dust in the vaults since 1968, no doubt intended for a holiday single that never happened. The tracks are fairly pedestrian covers of Bobby Helms' "Jingle Bell Rock" and Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree," but their historical significance makes up for it since they represent the only Christmas songs that Haley ever recorded with the Comets, formally speaking. Haley had, in fact, previously recorded a Christmas single back in 1951 for a little label called, appropriately, Holiday Records. But, it was credited to Bill Haley & The Saddlemen - and it consisted of two country weepers, "I Don't Want To Be Alone For Christmas" and "A Year Ago This Christmas." Shortly thereafter, the band renamed themselves the Comets and, well, the rest is rock 'n' roll history.

    Other than Legends Of Christmas Past, Haley's two United Artists holiday tracks have seldom been reissued. "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" - the better of the two - is also found on Capitol's Ultra-Lounge Christmas Cocktails 4, the final, digital-only volume of Capitol's landmark lounge series. Both songs also appear on a very rare German CD called Merry Christmas compiling 18 Haley-related holiday tracks including scratchy vinyl transfers of the Holiday sides and two tracks by "Bill Haley's Comets" recorded live in 1997, long after Haley's death in 1981.

  • Daryl Hall & John Oates (1983)
  • Bobby Helms (1957) Top 100 Song [close]
    Though he remained active through the 1980's, Bobby Helms never had a lot to show for his career besides "Jingle Bell Rock," his rockabilly-flavored smash from 1957. A few months earlier he had launched his career, promisingly enough, with "Fraulein" and "My Special Angel," both of which made the Top 10. Then, "Jingle Bell Rock" zoomed to #6 and charted again four of the next five years. Oddly, Helms never graced the pop charts again, though he remained a fixture on the country circuit. "Jingle Bell Rock," however, became a musical archetype, one which shows up frequently on Christmas albums (such as Rockin' Little Christmas), either with Helms' snappy Decca original, his remakes for Kapp (1965) or Little Darlin' (1967), or in one of hundreds (perhaps thousands) of cover versions. (The original Decca 45-rpm record, by the way, featured Helm's wonderfully goofy "Captain Santa Claus And His Reindeer Space Patrol" on the flipside. Both songs are included on Bear Family's Fraulein: The Classic Years 2-CD set.) [back to list]
  • Lindsay Lohan (2022)
  • Platters (1963)
  • Ventures (1965)
  • Mary Wells (1982)
• Jingle Bell Slide (Jack Scott, 1963)
• Jingle Bells
  • Austrian Death Machine (2008)
  • Count Basie (1961)
  • Blues Magoos (1967)
  • Booker T. & The MG's (1966)
  • Tennessee Brown & The Silvertones (circa 1965)
  • Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters (1943)
  • Celia Cruz with La Sonora Matancera (1958)
  • Duke Ellington & His Orchestra (1962)
  • Benny Goodman (1935)
  • Jeff & Jane (1983)
  • Jack Jones (1969)
  • Gladys Knight & The Pips (1982)
  • Gene Krupa (1945)
  • Les Troublemakers (2010)
  • Joe Loco Quintet (1955)
  • Lisa Loeb (2002)
  • Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers (1947)
  • Bret Michaels (2017)
  • Glenn Miller with Tex Beneke and Ernie Caceres (1941)
  • Steve Miller with Howard Alden (2011)
  • Mountain (1974)
  • Ricky Nelson (1960)
  • Partridge Family (1971)
  • Les Paul (1951)
  • Pearl Jam (2007)
  • Wilson Pickett (1982)
  • Ray Price (1969)
  • Puppini Sisters (2007)
  • Lou Rawls (2004)
  • Paul Revere & The Raiders (1967)
  • Smokey Robinson & The Miracles (1970)
  • Carson Robison & His Pleasant Valley Boys (1945)
  • Roy Rogers (1967)
  • Earl Scruggs (2003)
  • Bunny Sigler (1975)
  • Frank Sinatra (1957)
  • Singing Dogs (1956)
  • Springfields (1964)
  • Ventures (1965)
  • Leo Watson (1946)
  • John Waters (2024)
  • X (2009)
  • Yello (1995)
• Jingle Bells Calypso (Edmundo Ros, 1951)
• Jingle Bells Cha-Cha-Cha (Pearl Bailey, 1959)
• Jingle Bells Jam (Romeos, 1980)
• Jingle Bells Jingle (Platters, 1963)
• Jingle Everyday (Village People, 2018)
• Jingle Jangle (Penguins, 1955) Top 100 Song
• Jingle Jangle Heart (Librarians With Hickeys, 2021)
• Jingle Jangle Jump (Dexter Gordon, 1952)
• Jingle My Bells (Strip Mind, 1993)
• Jingle-O The Brownie (Tennessee Ernie Ford, 1960)
• Jingle On Christmas Day (Sir Jablonski, circa 1959)
• Joe And Mary (Bryan Adams, 2019)
• Joel The Lump Of Coal (The Killers featuring Jimmy Kimmel, 2014)
• Johnny Snowball (Red Buttons, 1954)
• Johnny's Gone Sledding With Queen (Super Deluxe, 1995)
• Jolly Old Saint Nicholas
  • Eddy Arnold (1960)
  • Chet Atkins (1961)
  • John Fahey (1983)
  • Montana Slim (1950)
  • NRBQ (1980)
  • SSD (1983)
• Joseph, Better You Than Me (Killers with Elton John and Neil Tennant, 2008)
• Joseph, Who Understood (New Pornographers, 2007) [close]

  This shifting cast of Canadian alt-poppers released a three track "digital EP" on Apple Music in late 2007. Called The Spirit Of Giving, it features an unexceptional title track pulled from the group's recent album, Challengers. No matter, because "The Spirit Of Giving" could only be called a Christmas song in the most obtuse sense. One of the two remaining cuts (both non-LP) is a medley of covers - "Arms of Mary" (Sutherland Brothers & Quiver, 1976) and "Looking At A Baby" (The Collectors, 1967, who evolved into Chilliwack). Fun, but it stretches even the most liberal definition of the already loose holiday genre. However, the third cut, "Joseph, Who Understood," is a real gem - a gorgeous song that plows deeper into the lyrical ground broken by fellow Canuck Bruce Cockburn with his "Cry Of A Tiny Baby" (Nothing But A Burning Light, 1991). The Pornographers' new song examines the biblical Christmas story from the surrogate father's perspective. "Mary, I'm trying to be cool," sings A.C. Newman as Joseph, but "you're asking me to believe in too many things." Repeatedly he asks, "Mary, is he mine?" Singer Neko Case harmonizes sweetly, but she never proffers an explanation, leaving Joseph to struggle with the unlikely story his new bride is feeding him. Miracle? You be the judge.

• Joy (Tracey Thorn, 2012)
• Joy To The World
  • Butties (2002)
  • John Fahey (1968)
  • Infant Kings (1997)
  • O.C. Supertones (1998)
  • Jackie Wilson (1963)
• Joys Of Christmas (Chris Rea, 1987)
• Jr.'s Christmas Blues (Thomas Alexander, Jr., 1988)
• Jungle Bells (Dingo-Dango-Day)
  • Four Seasons (1962)
  • Les Paul & Mary Ford (1953)
• Jupiter Jingle (Apollo Four, 2014)
• Just A Lonely Christmas
  • Moonglows (1953)
  • Supremes (1965)
• Just A Sad Xmas (Soul Duo, 1969)
• Just Another Christmas Song (This Time I'll Sing Along) (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, 2014)
• Just Like Christmas (Steve Barton, 2022)
• Just Like Christmas
  • Low (1994)
  • Silversun Pickups (2022)
• Just Once This Christmas (The Drag, 1995)
• Just Put A Ribbon In Your Hair (Alan Jackson, 2003)

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