Songs about Thanksgiving and about giving thanks.
The tone for our episode is set by the down-and-out Johnson family, who have no turkey on the table but enough moralizing from Dad that no one has an appetite anyway.
This PSA aired in 1951:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASd0Rm-7Vi4
Political correctness had not been perfected in 1958, when Maurice Chevalier sang “Thank Heaven For Little Girls." He seems sincerely thankful in this clip from Gigi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRnbtRPC6v4
Little Eva worked as a maid for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Supposedly one of their most successful songs “The Locomotion” was inspired by Eva’s dancing around their house. They also wrote “Let’s Turkey Trot” for her, and here she performs it on Shindig! from 1965:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkypxqxxGTs
That same year Philadelphia soul singer Dee Dee Sharp hit it big with “Mashed Potato Time." Here’s a live clip with Billy Preston:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80HBz3NcEb4
Every week on “Record bin Roulette,” KPLU’s John Kessler and John Maynard put an insightful and fun spin on a century's worth of discarded vinyl. The feature is published here and airs on KPLU 88.5 every Thursday during Morning Edition, All Things Considered and on Weekend Saturday Edition.
