Boney M - "Mary’s Boy Child/Oh My Lord"

For some reason this song seems to have appeared out of nowhere as a Christmas standard about 10-15 years ago. I don't ever recall hearing it in the 80s or early 90s.

My copy is an import single on Atlantic. I'll have to compare it to the GH album.

Edited by Hykker

So all versions that run (4:32) (my copy is from "L'Essential") are not the correct 45 version?

Ron, I believe the DJ 45 used little stars due to the length of the title. That didn't dissuade some DJs from spinning the starless B-side, though, as it Bubbled Under at #103 a couple of months later.

But both my DJ and commercial copies of "Mary's" have "Dancing In The Streets" (#103, March '79) on the B-sides. And their release numbers are all Sire 1036, rather than your Sire 49144. Your DJ copy appears to be a later pressing, after all of the WEA labels had switched to the descending five-digit release number series. "He Was A Steppenwolf" is the B-side of my commercial copy of "Rasputin" (Sire 1049.) (An aside: the non-charting "Rasputin" Sire DJ 45 contained a 3:58 edit in addition to the 4:45 commercial side.)

We'd touched on "Mary's Boy Child" during the earlier "Rivers Of Babylon" thread, where I'd mentioned that "Mary's Boy Child" had been an absolute smash at WJON/St. Cloud, MN in 1978. Our local import collector had given me a copy of the German Hansa 45, which also had "Dancing In The Streets" on the B-side.

One almost needed a scorecard to keep track of the ever-changing recording publishing rights on the Sire 45s: first, from Hansa Productions, Ltd. to Hansa Musik Produktions, GmbH on "Babylon" and then to Atlantic Recording Corp. on "Mary's."

"Mary's Boy Child" was also the release that truly made me rue Warner's decision to switch from Columbia to Capitol for the bulk of their pressing needs. My promo copy is much quieter than all four of my commercial copies.

Edited by Yah Shure

Hykker wrote: For some reason this song seems to have appeared out of nowhere as a Christmas standard about 10-15 years ago. I don't ever recall hearing it in the 80s or early 90s.

I was thinking the very same thing. Not to mention, how rare is it to see a group like Boney M who had only one minor hit in the U.S. (though achieved much greater success in other countries) manage to score a yearly Christmas radio staple all these years later?

Good point.