Wednesday, August 03, 2005

 

Joy to U.C. (Berkeley, That Is)

Here's an interesting archival item. In December of 1964, the U.C. Berkeley Free Speech Movement released a 7" EP of traditional Christmas carols with the lyrics changed to relate to their situation. From what little I could discover on the web, it may or may not have been credited to "Joe LaPenta, Barry Jablon, Dustin Miller, Ken Sanderson and friends." According to this site (scroll to the Dec. 9th entry at the bottom), they sold 4500 copies in two days (no word as to the total number of records pressed). It had a picture sleeve and came with a lyric sheet; if anyone can hook me up with scans, that would be amazing.

Fortunately the library at U.C. Berkeley has streaming audio of the complete record. I've taken that, split the tracks up and converted them to mp3s--all for your listening pleasure.

Joy to U.C. [10MB zip file]

The track listing :

Oski Dolls [Jingle Bells] / We Three Deans [We Three Kings] / U.C. Administration [O, Little Town of Bethlehem] / Hail to IBM [Ode to Joy] / It Belongs to the University [The Twelve Days of Christmas] / Silent Night / Call Out the Deans [Carol of the Bells] / Masters of Sproul Hall [*] / God Rest Ye Free Speech Movementniks [God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen] / O Come All Ye Mindless [O Come All Ye Faithful] / Joy to U.C. [Joy to the World]

* - can't quite place this one, though it is not, as one site claims, a parody of "Masters of War." If you know it, please leave a comment. Thanks!

edit: The King of Jingaling has pegged it! It's "Masters in This Hall." Well done, King; I can't say I'm surprised, though ; )

Comments:
Very cool. Since I work at one of the UC campuses, this may come in handy around the holidays.
 
Based on the title, I'd say it's Masters In This Hall.
 
Wow, lots of Christmas tunes around here! Great stuff, thanks very much.
 
Your link is down, I would really love to hear this. We need this music now more than ever.
 
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