The second day of Christmas: Ruby Red Dress

Here's another one that wasn't a hit in the UK - in fact, it was never even RELEASED in the UK for some reason, although it got to no. 1 in the USA.

Helen Reddy - Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)

I've always thought of this song as "Ruby Red Dress" and was quite surprised to discover, when I went in search of it, that that isn't actually the title. It was around in 1973, when I was very young, and I remember hearing it a lot on the radio. (Must ask my mum which radio station we used to listen to in those days, because they were clearly ahead of their time by playing songs that were never to be released!)

Again, it's a very simple song, but it's a great one to sing, and the tune won't leave your head any time soon. It starts off more or less in D major, although the fact that every chord is a D7 chord (and there are lots of C7 chords) makes the key slightly awkward to pin down. In fact, you could almost think of the whole verse as a dominant pedal, because at the chorus it finally resolves to G major.

My favourite things about the song, though, are the backing vocals and the brass parts. Both of these only join in at verse 2, and again they're very simple but effective. This is not quite my favourite Helen Reddy song - that would be Angie Baby - but Angie Baby was a big hit in the UK so it's more likely you've heard that one. If you find yourself still singing "leave me alone, won't you leave me alone" this time next week, I apologise!