I first heard Soul Coughing's version of "Suzy Snowflake" back when I was in high school, living in Rochester, NY and listening to the radio station that did a fantastic job shaping my music taste and giving me a good picture of what radio should be. WBER is still a fantastic station, and I really hope they still dig out this gem every year during the holidays (I'm pretty sure I heard them play it a few years ago when I was home for Christmas), because it's almost impossible to hear anywhere else.
"Suzy Snowflake" was made famous by Rosemary Clooney in 1951, but something about this version, with its pairing of scratchy, almost robotic vocals with the toy-like instrumentation in the background seems brilliant to me. It's a Christmas tune I seek out year after year after year, this one being no exception.
Soul Coughing - "Suzy Snowflake"
I didn't know until this year that a stop-animation cartoon was also created for the song in 1951, to be aired on WGN-TV in Chicago. Something about it is weirdly creepy - plus I'm pretty sure that's just a barbie on a string.
I actually own the soul coughing promo that has Suzy snowflake. A prized Christmas item that I've been listening to for years.
Posted by: Candice | Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 05:57 PM