Well down in Eugene we got girls and boys
Who wake up on Christmas morning but don’t find any toys
If they’re lucky their healthy Mom and Dad come to chat
About how they’re missed, but you can change all that …
I remember the first time I heard this song —well, it’s not actually a song— it’s a public service announcement. I also remember thinking it sure sounds like the Beach Boys, but what would they be doing singing about Eugene? Stan Love, younger brother of The Beach Boys lead singer Mike Love, was a star basketball player for the Ducks from 1968 to 1971. And yes, I know The Beach Boys have played in Eugene numerous times as I have enjoyed several of their concerts. One of my favorite concert memories was when Mike dedicated their hit song “Be True to Your School” to his brother Stan during a concert at Mac Court. They did have a connection to Eugene. Additionally it sure did sound like their original Christmas song from about 1963 called “Little Saint Nick.”
Yeah we’re the Beach Boys for Chrystalship and toys
`Cause this Christmas we want you to help spread the joy
It would feel so good, it would make ’em feel well
It would cheer ’em all up at Children’s Hospital …
Yes, it was the Beach Boys, singing about Eugene, to the tune of their holiday classic. It seems that in November 1977 on their first tour stop in Seattle they booked time at Thom Bell’s Kaye Smith Studios to finish vocals for some recently recorded tracks for an upcoming album. While in the studio they were asked to assist in a toy drive for the Children’s Orthopedic Hospital in Seattle. They recorded a number of these public service announcements that were personalized for various Pacific Northwest radio markets.
Merry Christmas, children
Bring your toys to Chrystalship, ooooo
Merry Christmas, children
Christmas toys to Chrystalship, ooooo
The mention of Chrystalship, the local-at-the-time record and tape store in downtown Eugene brought back a flood of memories. I was probably in high school the first time I ventured there and it was some sort of culture shock. The scent of incense wafted in the air and the purple hue of the black lights shining on posters filtered out of the back room. There was always some music playing that I’d never heard before and some foreign paraphernalia in a glass display case that I had no clue about. It was a pretty heady place for a naïve country bumpkin from Cottage Grove.
Chrystalship, as the legend goes, was started in the late 1960s by a guy from California by the name of Ron Prindle. That was about the same time that KZEL made its debut on FM radio with a format of Album-Oriented Rock, coincidentally the same market the new music store was catering to. According to that same legend, Prindle was a huge fan of The Doors and particularly liked the songs Soul Kitchen and The Crystal Ship from their self-titled first album. He considered each song title for the name of his newly established business, but his wife’s choice of The Crystal Ship prevailed. (Somehow I’m not sure how Soul Kitchen Records would have been accepted) Not unlike the Beatles and Byrds, a bit of creative spelling was employed in the moniker.
Despite the presence of the University of Oregon, Eugene was much more of a blue collar town then than now and the new record store wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms. This was a time when “Don’t Californicate Oregon” bumper stickers were prevalent, anti-war protests were going full tilt, and any gathering of long-haired hippies threatened the status quo. Any odds maker probably wouldn’t give a guy from California selling records that included its share of war protest songs to long-haired hippies in western Oregon a snowball’s chance of making it. Yet despite the odds, Chrystalship not only survived but thrived as “Oregon’s Only World Class Record & Tape Store.” Much of my once-extensive record collection and my first exposure to the blues came from that store. By the late 1970s several locations in Portland were in operation as well.
All good things must pass and by the early 1980s Chrystalship had passed. But thanks to the Ultimate Christmas CD by The Beach Boys and obscure track #24, “Toy Drive Public Service Announcement, Chrystalship lives on in our memory. It seems nearly impossible to comprehend how and why this recorded-for-radio-only track was included on the CD, but I’m very thankful it was. I play it every year during the Christmas holiday season and it serves to remind me of the “good old days” and more importantly that there are many less fortunate in this world who deserve our compassion and generosity.
Published 2011
It Happened in Oregon... 