By Jim Fusco:
Welcome to Day 2 of Jim Fusco’s Rock’n’Roll Christmas! I think you’ll all agree that getting a brand-new recording of a Christmas song you can download for FREE is MUCH better than getting a couple of turtle doves. I mean, what do you even feed those things??
Today’s song is a unique one- it’s a cover of Mavis Staples’ “Christmas Vacation” that she recorded for the movie, “Christmas Vacation”, one of the absolute classics. In fact, we just had our yearly watching of this movie the other night with our friends Bob and Sue. Of course I have the high-definition Blu-Ray version. I just had to see Clark Griswold fall off that ladder in glorious HD!
I actually noticed that Mavis Staples sings a different final verse in the version that begins the movie. I chose to go with the version from the soundtrack, which is the one I’ve been listening to for about ten years now. Over at WCJM Free Internet Radio, we actually named our final Christmas show after the movie and featured this song!
I hope you enjoy tonight’s song. I think I did a pretty good job of recreating the sound without going too late-80s (like the original). This was a fun one to do and really stretched out my vocal chords. And you KNOW I did it in the original key. 🙂 Take care, everyone — and enjoy the rest of the series!