It’s day 13 of our holiday countdown, but it’s the second day of our space-themed mini-series, ahead of this month’s “Christmas star” planetary conjunction. This one comes from Barry Gordon, best known for his holiday hit “Nuttin’ For Christmas.” (There’s also a jazz pianist by this name, and he also makes Christmas music, but apart from the name, you can usually tell them apart – jazz piano Barry Gordon did not go on to head the Screen Actors Guild.)
Young Barry followed up his big hit with several other novelty and seasonal tracks, though none turned into the something that “Nuttin'” became. “Zoomah the Santa Claus From Mars” was the b-side of his 1956 single, “I Like Christmas (I Like It, I Like It).” That song is pretty much him just gushing about how great Christmas is. “Zoomah” is a benevolently bizarre creature who heads to Earth to give out toys.
Two thoughts here. First, this came out eight years before “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians”; why did they need to kidnap our Santa when they apparently had their own? And second: if a Martian did show up on Earth to give out toys, would that be the weirdest thing that’s happened in 2020?
