Song #131: "Mary's Boy Child/O My Lord"--Boney M (1978)

When this song first hit the radio after being rushed to completion in November, 1978, it made phones, as we say in the radio business, "blow up". I guarantee you, ask any WRVA veteran of that era and they will tell you they were besieged with request calls for "that Mary's Boy Child song".

The "Mary's Boy Child" part of this now Christmas classic was originally a hit for Harry Belafonte back in the late 1950's. Now, a Caribbean based group teams with a German producer to form a mesmerizing sound with the carol, and then add a twist that would cement the song's legacy on All-Christmas radio stations forever.

The addition of the newly written, at the time, "O My Lord", to create, in essence, a medley, was the cherry on top. And, every year since, you can hear Boney M on radio, on Pandora, or in malls and stores across America during the holiday season.

Knowing how important it was to get my hands on a copy of this song, and being unable to find it on a CD or LP in 1989 when we debuted "The Christmas Station" on the former WDYL-FM, I got a buddy of mine in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to record a copy and mail it to me, and we played that song on cassette, probably a thousand times over the years. It was a heavy rotation mainstay.

This is the #2 Christmas song on our countdown. Number one will probably around the time the temperatures are starting to surge towards summer...as if they haven't already.  :) :)