Christmas Is Johnny Farnham Explained

Christmas Is... Johnny Farnham
Type:Studio
Artist:Johnny Farnham
Cover:LP xmas.jpg
Released:December 1970
Recorded:December 1970
Genre:Pop
Label:EMI, Columbia
Producer:David Mackay
Prev Title:Looking Through a Tear
Prev Year:1970
Next Title:Johnny
Next Year:1971

Christmas Is... Johnny Farnham (later re-released twice as Memories of Christmas by Johnny Farnham, with different cover art, at the time of the album's release, he was now recording under John Farnham) is a studio album of Christmas songs recorded by Australian pop singer John Farnham (then billed as Johnny Farnham) and released on EMI Records in December 1970.[1] [2] [3] The single, "Christmas Happy", was also released in December. It would be Farnham's only Christmas album until some 46 years later, when in 2016 he would release Friends for Christmas, a duet seasonal album with Olivia Newton-John.

Re-releases

The album was re-released under the new title of Memories of Christmas,[4] on 13 November 1995 and again on 6 December 1997 with different covers and an altered track list each time.

Background

Johnny Farnham's first No. 1 single on the Go-Set National Singles Charts was the novelty song "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" released in 1967.[5] Selling 180 000 copies in Australia, "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" was the highest selling single by an Australian artist of the decade.[2] [3] His first Christmas song was a non-album single, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", in November 1968.[6] A cover of B. J. Thomas' "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" was released in November 1969 and peaked at No. 1 for seven weeks in January–March 1970.[7] [8] After his third album, Looking Through a Tear was released in July 1970, a non-album single, "Comic Conversation" was released in October and peaked at No. 10 on the Go-Set National Top 60 Singles Chart.[9] Farnham recorded his fourth album as Christmas Is... Johnny Farnham, it was released in December and contained Christmas songs but did not chart on the Go-Set National Top 20 Albums Chart. One of the songs, "Good Time Christmas", was written by Farnham.[10] The single, "Christmas Happy", was also released in December.

Track listing

  1. "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 3:14
  2. "Christmas Is" (Percy Faith, Spence Maxwell) – 2:58
  3. "The Ringing Reindeer" (Gunnar Skoglund) – 3:10
  4. "Little Drummer Boy" (Katherine Kennicott Davis, Henry Onorati, Harry Simeone) – 3:42
  5. "Jingle Bells" (James Pierpont) – 2:49
  6. "Good Time Christmas" (John Farnham) – 2:28
  7. "Everything Is Beautiful" (Ray Stevens) – 3:50
  8. "White Christmas" (Irving Berlin) – 3:55
  9. "The First Noel" (Traditional; arranged by Davies Gilbert) – 3:08
  10. "Silent Night" (Josef Mohr, Franz Gruber, translated by John Freeman Young) – 2:50
  11. "There's No Place Like Home" (Henry Bishop, John Howard Payne) – 3:11
  12. "Little Boy Dear" (François Vaz) – 3:38
  13. "It Must Be Getting Close to Christmas" (Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen) – 3:21
  14. "Christmas Happy" (Tommy Leonetti, A. Kitson) – 2:28

Notes and References

  1. Encyclopedia: McFarlane . Ian . Ian McFarlane . . Encyclopedia entry for 'John Farnham' . 4 September 2009 . 1999 . . St Leonards, NSW . 1-86508-072-1 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20040829235034/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=583 . 29 August 2004 .
  2. Book: Jenkins, Jeff. Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia. Ian Meldrum . 2007 . Wilkinson Publishing. Melbourne, Vic. 978-1-921332-11-1 . 5 September 2009. Ian Meldrum.
  3. Book: Creswell, Toby. Toby Creswell

    . 1001 Australians You Should Know. Toby Creswell. Samantha Trenoweth. 2006. Pluto Press. North Melbourne, Vic. 978-1-86403-361-8. 84–85. 4 September 2009.

  4. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20131127164627/http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/f/farnhamjohn.html . John Farnham . Holmgren . Magnus . Scott . Reboulet . Lyn . Albury . Beeb . Birtles . Beeb Birtles . Stefan . Warnqvist . Peter . Medlin . Passagen.se . Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren) . 27 November 2013 . 15 May 2014 .
  5. Web site: Go-Set search engine results for "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)". Go-Set. Waverley Press. 5 September 2009.
  6. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian)

    . Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book. St Ives, NSW. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. Kent Music Report. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1970 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988.

  7. Web site: Go-Set search engine results for "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head". Go-Set. Waverley Press. 5 September 2009.
  8. Web site: Go-Set Magazine's Number One Singles in Australia 1966–1974. Go-Set. Waverley Press. 5 September 2009. 25 May 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110525190121/http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/singles.html. dead.
  9. Web site: Go-Set Australian charts – 6 March 1971. Go-Set. Waverley Press. 6 September 2009. 12 May 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130512205036/http://www.poparchives.com.au/gosetcharts/1971/19710306.html. dead. NOTE: Farnham's single is listed as "Cosmic Conversations" at #52, over its 18-week run it had a peak position of #10.
  10. Web site: Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). "Good Time Christmas" at APRA search engine. 6 September 2009.

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