Come and See the Peppermint Tree
July 10th, 2010
Got an extremely rare download for you. This is an album that my sister, brother and I had when we were kids in the sixties. We had a kids’ turntable; must have been a Fisher-Price one, I think. We played this record to death!
The songs on this record go a way toward explaining me and my siblings’ sense of humor. Interspersing magical things—such as sliding down rainbows, talking critters, and elves—with everyday experiences, like finding a penny or playing on a swing, the story is partly sung in a wacky falsetto, partly narrated, partly evoked with quirky piano accompaniments that used more modernistic dissonant touches than I’ve ever heard in kids’ music, then or since. The whole thing had an edge…so sincerely, enthusiastically silly it verged on weird and nutty.
Listen to “My Shoes Went Walking”
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
We’ve spent years searching for a reissue, or someone else’s rip, or a less damaged copy—anything—for years, to no avail. Recently, I discovered that my brother-in-law owns a vinyl-to-digital converter. So on my last family visit, I borrowed the LP from my mom and converted it.
I’ve cleaned it up as best I could with Audacity; that is to say, it’s pretty gnarly. Track #21 had pretty hopeless skips, which I could not really repair properly. Well, take it or leave it!
Download it here: Peppermint Tree (95 MB zip file)
Come and See the Peppermint Tree
Artists: Donny McKayle, Evelyn D. Lohoefer, Stan Raiff, Charlie Byrd
Composer: Evelyn D. Lohoefer
Riverside Wonderland RLP 1453
1960
SIDE A
Follow Me
Kitchen Stuff
My Shoes Went Walking
The Yellow Bee
Jabberty-Jib
The Elf
A Shiny Penny
Putt-Putt
My Pretty Red Swing
Riddle
Dance Awhile
SIDE B
Jump and Spin
Riding on a Star
Me, Too
Wheels
All Mixed Up
Miriam
The Dress
The Ribbon
Carrots and Things
The Crow, The Worm and The Fish
The Moon in the Yard
Thingamabob
The Peppermint Tree
Mr. Sandman
Tags: freebies, kids, vintage music
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Thanks for posting this, and for your great description of this album, which my 3 brothers, sister & I also listened to ad nauseum in the ’60′s, until it became embedded in our psyches and an underlying part of our personalities …
Hey Diane, I am so glad you found this post. If you and your siblings could get together with me and mine, what a crazy fun sing-along we would have!
Yay! I’ve been looking for this for a long time! Hard to find.
My sister and I have a copy of the album because Evelyn Lohoefer is our aunt. We also played it over and over.
Oh my goodness, Wicca, what a talented musician and composer your aunt is! Thanks so much for dropping by.
OMGoddess!!!! I have been looking for this album for years! I have a badly scratched up copy that survived myself and two siblings.
Thank you so much for putting this out there!
You’re welcome, Caitlin! I’m glad you found it. I’m sorry my audio cleaning skills aren’t better, but hopefully, the scratches just bring back the memories. These tracks are well-loved!
OMG! My siblings and I have been looking for this forever too! They will be so thrilled! You have just made us happy and jumpy to be sure. We should ALL have a reunion/sing along to this amazing album!
BTW, I live in Indiana, but my daughter lives in Santa Cruz!
Maybe we can meet the next time I get out there? My fav. song was The Elf….I sang it to my kids and still remember it……and most other songs. I wonder if the composer and singer know how much joy they brought to us kids?
Absolutely, Janiece! I hope that the musicians had an inkling…maybe they did, since Evelyn’s niece (see comment above) says she played this record a lot, too!
Let me know when you’re heading to Santa Cruz. I’d love to meet you.
P.S. I love that an elf who lost his shoe consoled (no pun intended) himself by throwing the other away!
YES!
I can’t seem to play the whole lp. I have adobe player, but don’t know if I have javascript….
Hi Janiece, you shouldn’t need javascript to play the music after you download it. iTunes, WinAmp, or VLC will do just fine. You can even follow a procedure to make it play in Windows Media Player.
If you’re a Windows user, try this article, which has links and info on all of the above:
http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/how_to_play_aac_files.cfm
I hope that helps!
I did a google search for “My Shoes Went Walking” and came across this blog post. Thanks for posting the song! I had this album when I was a kid too and I have great memories of the wacky songs. My husband listened to it and thought it was a little creepy, but I love it! I know the album is somewhere at my parent’s house, but I have no idea what condition it’s in. I’ll have to salvage it for my son.
Emmy, you’re so welcome! I think that the album is so different as to be a little creepy to some people is part of what makes it so great. Good luck finding your old copy!
“That was good Ice-Cream. Could it have grown on a Peppermint Tree? What a delicious thought!”
…and “Me too! I can make a rattly rattly rattly sound!”
So excited to see this! My siblings(especially my sister closest in age to me) would listen to this all the time. Our friends thought it was a little weird, but we were artsy, musical types and really “got it” My sister downloaded “My shoes” as her ringtone but we couldn’t find the other songs until now. Thanks!
You’re so welcome, Jency! Hope you enjoy it, despite the severe crackles and pops.
To anyone who says this is too weird, I say: flibberty jib is nonsense!
;)