Three under the tree, Vol. 10

You know you need something special for that Christmas party.

If it’s one of those dreadful office parties with no proper beverages, these three tunes should get things good and loose.

If it’s a rocking bash with all the right bevvies, these three tunes just might cause a stampede to the mistletoe … or elsewhere.

All I know about Kay Martin and Her Body Guards is what I have learned from the web, from folks who passionately seek out and share obscure, quirky Christmas albums.

The short version is that Martin was best known as a singer on the West Coast club and casino lounge circuit from roughly 1953 to 1963. She also recorded what were known as “adult party records.” In other words, material you couldn’t do on TV at the time.

She’s still around, running a lodge in Reno, Nevada. You’ll learn all that, along with lots more about Martin, in these fine posts by Captain OT over at his Christmas Yuleblog and at WFMU’s Beware of the Blog.

I think the album cover and the names of the tunes will give you a pretty good idea of what’s going on here. (And, no, that is not Miss Martin on the cover, though she claims to have been a model before she became a singer.)

“Come On Santa, Let’s Have a Ball”

“Santa’s Doing the Horizontal Twist”

“I Know What You Want for Christmas”

All by Kay Martin and Her Body Guards, from “I Know What He Wants for Christmas (But I Don’t Know How to Wrap It),” 1962. It’s out of print and much in demand among collectors.

Enjoy. More to come.