1968 Santa List

When I was young, my sister and me would turn the pages of the Christmas catalog until the paper was as thin as a Kleenex. My check mark by each item was made in hopes that mom or dad would see it and buy that toy for little Philip. New toys for Christmas that year included Hot Wheels cars, and lots of space toys. A Billy Blastoff Doll that ran its own moon rover and other vehicles was the holy grail of Christmas dreams. Little Phil needed to be extra good that year and that meant trying to help with chores and less tv time. That was tough when holiday specials like Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolf the Red nosed Reindeer, the Grinch, and the Little Drummer Boy were on. I also was first noticing songs I heard on the radio. A British singer that called himself Leapy Lee had a December hit called Little Arrows. My dad liked it enough to buy it and we used to play it on our Decca portable record player. Other hits in December of 1968 included, I Heard It Through the Grapevine-Marvin Gaye, Magic Carpet Ride-Steppenwolf, Cinnamon-Derek, White Room-Cream, Son-Of-A-Preacher man-Dusty Springfield, Going Up the Country-Canned Heat, and Shake-Shadows of Knight. By the way, I did get a Hot Wheels set that Christmas and a Billy Blastoff Doll for Christmas 1969. I also got plaid pants, and a v neck sweater with a blue dickey (think Cousin Eddie in Christmas vacation).

This Saturday night during Those Were the Days on WRCO, I will spotlight some of the chart hits from 1968 and your rock and roll requests between six and midnight. You could be a winner of some awesome prizes during our trivia contests. On behalf of the Solid Gold Dancers, I hope you have a great holiday season. Perhaps you can find time to join us during the show this weekend on FM 100.9, WRCO.com or the Civic Media app.

Phil