Dead People Christmas Music
By Mark Mangie. Driving home this afternoon from my bi-weekly trip to Hogan’s with my little pal Vinny the Pooch, my radio happened to land on Channel 70 on Sirius/XM radio. Those of you who are Hallmark Channel aficionados will know the significance. Blaring from my extremely high-tech speakers was Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy, warbling Here Comes Santa Claus . He first recorded the song in 1947. He re-recorded it in 1953. Why? Who the hell knows. The song sucked then. The song sucks now. The second version conjures up one of my earliest memories…playing that Gene Autry gem on my little brown 45 rpm record player when we lived in a second-floor duplex on Prestwick Drive. I was three going on four…in 1953!!! That makes 65 years of Gene Autry singing "Click Click Click" ad nauseum. It's time to bury Gene Autry once and for all. I am oft reminded of what my grandmother told me years ago when I asked if she was going to put up a Chr