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Dominick the Donkey

FieldValue
nameDominick the Donkey
coverDominic the Donkey cover.jpg
caption"Dominick the Donkey" 1960 release
typeSong
artistLou Monte
languageEnglish
B-side"Christmas At Our House"
releasedDecember 1960
September 28, 2011 (re-release)
recorded1960
genre{{flatlist
length
labelRoulette Records,
Dexterity Records
writerRay Allen, Sam Saltzberg, Wandra Merrell

| B-side = "Christmas At Our House" September 28, 2011 (re-release)

  • Christmas
  • folk}} Dexterity Records

"Dominick the Donkey" is a Christmas song written by Ray Allen, Sam Saltzberg and Wandra Merrell, and was recorded by Lou Monte in 1960, on Roulette Records. The song describes Dominick, a donkey who helps Santa Claus bring presents ("made in Brooklyn") to children in Italy due to the reindeer, despite their flight, being unable to climb the mountainous terrain. The song was re-released onto Amazon on September 26, 2011, on Dexterity Records. The spelling of "Dominick" was modified to "Dominic" for the re-release. It was included in Volume 2 of the Ultimate Christmas Album series produced by Collectables Records and on the Christmas compilation album Merry Xmas 2011 by Cinquenta Musica.

The song was listed at No. 14 in *Billboard'''s "Bubbling under the Hot 100" list in December 1960.

Christmas 2011 number 1 campaign

In the United Kingdom, the song was used extensively on the BBC Radio 1 morning programme The Chris Moyles Show in reference to Newsbeat newsreader and regular show contributor Dominic Byrne around the Christmas 2011 period. It appeared on the UK Singles Chart following a campaign by Chris Moyles. In the week leading up to Christmas of 2011, the show hinted at listeners to download the song from iTunes and Amazon. This led to the song being the No. 2 song on the British iTunes chart between December 19–25, 2011. The song eventually peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending December 31, 2011.

Cover versions

In 2023, the song was covered by The Philly Specials – a vocal trio composed of Philadelphia Eagles offensive linemen Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, and Jordan Mailata – featuring Jason's brother and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. It was released as a part of the trio's second Philadelphia-themed Christmas album, A Philly Special Christmas Special. The lyrics in this release are altered slightly to state that the presents Dominick is carrying for the children of Italy were "made in South Philly" – Philadelphia's traditional Italian immigrant neighborhood – rather than in New York City's traditional Italian immigrant borough of Brooklyn.

The recording became a fan favorite of the album, with Jason Kelce citing it as a favorite in his household. The War on Drugs's drummer Charlie Hall, who produced the full album, said of the song: "We turned it into this lysergic fever dream. It's one of these things where the song is so bizarre anyway, why not lean into it and make the most wild and strange version of it imaginable."

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1960)Peak
position:
US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (Billboard)14
Chart (2011)Peak
position:
Chart (2014)Peak
position:
US Holiday Digital Songs (Billboard)23
US Holiday 100 (Billboard)69

Year-end charts

Chart (2011)Position
UK Singles (OCC)178

Certifications

References

References

  1. "Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey by Lou Monte". [[Amazon.co.uk]].
  2. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000008CK Ultimate Christmas Album 2] on [[Amazon.com]], retrieved December 20, 2011.
  3. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nB0EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Dominick+the+Donkey%22&pg=PA33 ''Billboard'', 26 December 1960, page 33].
  4. "Dominick the Donkey could beat X-Factor stars Little Mix to UK Christmas no. 1". pocket-lint.com.
  5. "The Philly Specials".
  6. "A Philly Special Christmas Special".
  7. "Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, Lane Johnson, The Philly Specials – A Philly Special Christmas Special".
  8. "A Philly Special Christmas Special".
  9. "A Philly Special Christmas Special".
  10. Swartz, Laura. (2023-11-01). "This Year's Eagles Christmas Album Has a Deluxe Version and a 500-Piece Puzzle". Philadelphia Magazine (Philly Mag).
  11. "A Philly Special Christmas Special".
  12. "Dominick the Donkey".
  13. "Dominick The Donkey".
  14. Hunt, Kristin. (2023-12-01). "Is Jason Kelce's 'Dominick the Donkey' the dark horse favorite of the Eagles' holiday album?". PhillyVoice.
  15. DeLuca, Dan. (2023-12-01). "All the songs from the Eagles' new Christmas album reviewed. Yes, even the newest ones.".
  16. (January 11, 2014). "Lou Monte - Chart history". www.billboard.com.
  17. (January 11, 2014). "Lou Monte - Chart history". www.billboard.com.
  18. "End of Year Chart 2011". ChartsPlus.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1960-songs 1960-singles american-christmas-songs american-novelty-songs christmas-characters fictional-donkeys songs-about-animals roulette-records-singles songs-about-santa-claus christmas-novelty-songs uk-independent-singles-chart-number-one-singles
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