The Chipmunk Song

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

It was Christmas of 1958. I (and most of my fellow classmates of the Class of '64) was 12 years old. The class members of 1965 and 1966 were younger. I was still living on Clinton Street and going to Huntsville Junior High, not yet joining the Lee Bunch for Junior High. My media device at the time was a console stereo record player/21" black and white television connected to a four-channel cable television system. That system showed up unexpectedly one day as a present from one of the men we used to rent a weekly room to during the Redstone Arsenal expansion. It was a gift to show how much he appreciated having a place to live while temporarily working on the Arsenal. It was a high-tech contraption at the time.

I did not own the record at the time because even the $1.00 cost of a 45rpm record was a lot of money to spend for entertainment in my family, but I saw and heard The Chipmunk Song constantly that season. especially on WAAY 1550 on my radio dial. I found out the song was also called "Christmas Don't Be Late". Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that song would still be around (and popular) in 2023, some 65 years later. Yes, it has been 65 years!

"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is a novelty Christmas song written by Ross Bagdasarian (under the stage name of David Seville) in 1958. Bagdasarian sang and recorded the song, varying the tape speeds to produce high-pitched "chipmunk" voices, with the vocals credited to Alvin and the Chipmunks, Seville's cartoon virtual band. The song won three Grammy Awards in 1958, for Best Comedy Performance, Best Children's Recording, and Best Engineered Record (non-classical);it was also nominated for Record of the Year.

The song was very successful, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, becoming The Chipmunks' first (and only), as well as David Seville's second and final, No. 1 single. It had the distinction of being the only Christmas record to reach No. 1 on the same chart until Mariah Carey’s "All I Want for Christmas Is You" did so 61 years later in 2019. The single sold 4.5 million copies in seven weeks, according to Ross Bagdasarian Jr. It eventually sold 12 million copies. Before the song's success, "The Chipmunk Song" was featured on American Bandstand's "Rate-A-Record" segment and received the lowest possible rating of 35 across the board.

Between 1958 and 1962, the single re-entered the Hot 100 several times, peaking at No. 41 in 1958, No. 45 in 1960, and No. 39 in 1962. With the release and popularity of the film Alvin and the Chipmunks in December 2007, "The Chipmunk Song" re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 70. As of December 25, 2011, Nielsen SoundScan estimated total sales of two versions of the digital track by The Chipmunks at 867,000 downloads, placing it third on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in SoundScan history (behind Mariah Carey's 1994 hit single "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and Trans-Siberian Orchestra's 1996 track "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24").

Below is a similar system to the one I am writing about.