Will Ferrell is such a cut-up I never know what to expect from him. As such, when he does something not looney, I often sit waiting for the punch line. Sometimes it never arrives and you realize there never was one. Sometimes he’s just serious. I think this is one of those times. I might be wrong. It’s just done too well to be his usual farcical self.
Growing up in rural Kentucky in the late 70′s and early 80′s, listening to David Bowie wasn’t considered cool by almost anyone’s standards. Those friends that did think I was cool for challenging the social norms by listening to an androgynous asexual most of rural US wished was from Mars were usually the kind of people you really didn’t want thinking you were cool. Those that did listen to Bowie with me in those days did so with the doors closed and the headphones on. They did it often, but no one was allowed to know. If someone did suspect, it was vehemently denied. If the chatter got too much, the closed-door headphone sessions ended and we played southern rock to assure everyone we were not “that way”. Times were rough then.
I grew out of that phase ( basically everyone else adjusted ). Times passed by and I wanted a family. After several years of futility, I decided to consult with “experts”. I was told quite frankly I would most likely never have kids. I won’t bore you all with the extinuating circumstances. But, I pretty much gave up on the idea and went back to sinning and lusting and having all kinds of fun with rather reckless abandon.
So, I think it should be obvious why this rather crappy video I shot with a cell phone means so much to me:
Cruising the streets of my home town, listening to my all-time favorite performer who I used to be ostracized for listening to being broadcast for all to hear at Christmas, with the son I was told I’d never have.
Pretty damn cool.
For those that don’t remember, here’s a much better sounding version:
Bing Crosby gained fame for recording probably the most sold song ever recorded, White Christmas. Penned by Irving Berlin and recorded by Crosby, it blew away the standards for a hit. That was in 1942. He made movies, recorded more hits, and enjoyed a career that lasted to the end of the 70′s.
Starting in the late 60′s, Bing started doing Christmas specials. He usually had very family oriented performers and the shows were, for lack of a better word, very safe. Imagine my, and I imagine most of the world’s surprise, when in 1977, for Christmas, David Bowie appeared on the show with Bing. He talked about his boy, joked, and otherwise acted as safe as Roy Clark would have. It was SHOCKING! Together they performed Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy, which was very beautifully done. They fit and countered perfectly. Later in the show, Bowie introduced ‘Heroes’ to the public in the form of a video ( not a normal move in those days ).
I was stuck in a small hotel room with my entire family somewhere in Florida during that Christmas. We were all in one room the night Bing’s special previewed. I had to turn the tv around backwards and cover the entire thing with a blanket to keep the light from bugging my parents. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hear it very well ( I have never had much hearing ), so I took a cassette recorder and crammed it against the tv so I could play it back later. The tv sent as much sound out the back as it did the speaker, so my dad started yelling and cussing about 2/3 through Heroes. I treasured that recording until it eventually disintegrated. I bought the album, only to find out the song was actually about twice as long as the video, and the video cropped out the best part, “Maybe we’re lying, so you’d better not stay. But we would be safer, just for one day”.
I enjoyed that Bing Crosby special more than any other, even if I couldn’t hear much of it. The one person who never got to see the special was Bing himself, he died before it was aired.
Without any further delay or distraction, here’s that performance: