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December 23, 2006

Christmas Music

xmas_carols.jpg
I'll be leaving town for Placerville this weekend, then back to Chico for Christmas, then down to the bay area. It's just not Christmas if you don't celebrate it 3 or 4 times in 3 or 4 places.

It's also not Christmas if you don't hear some of those lovely old Christmas songs. I've been listening to quite a bit of Christmas music over the last month, and downloaded a dozen or so songs from iTunes for our company Christmas party. When you add a collection a neighbor gave us last year that puts me at around 40 Christmas songs.

I think I'm well qualified to list the top 10 all time Christmas songs on my iPOD. Feel free to download these songs and listen to them yourself, but if you use them for any social gathering be sure to credit me and my iPOD.

1. The Chanukah Song - Adam Sandler: OK, it's not about Christmas. But it mentions Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and OJ Simpson. That's hard to beat in a holiday tune. It also precipitates a discussion of religion and the violence in the Middle East when heard by children.

2. Disco Santa (Santa Claus/N.O.EL) - Holiday Express: A couple of tunes about Christmas sung to the tune of some Village People classics including N-O-E-L spelled out like Y-M-C-A. Lyrics like "Santa, there's no need to feel down.. Santa, reindeers fly you around!" ice this cake.

3. 'Zat You, Santa Claus? - Louis Armstrong and the Commanders: I don't really like this song, but without a classic blues musician in the mix the list fails to get any "street cred".

4. I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - John Mellencamp: Much like the Chanukah song this tune creates an interesting social dialogue. You can either tackle marital infidelity or why parents dress like Santa Claus after your kids hear this one. There's a ton of versions of this, but John Cougar's strikes a chord with me.

5. Fairytale of New York - The Pogues: I'll do anything to get an Irish-y rock band song on a list. This one starts off "It was Christmas Eve in the drunk tank", and ends with some fancy swear words. Not one for the family party, but edgy enough make your Christmas play list feel hip.

6. Blue Christmas - Johnny Cash: If Elvis is "the King" then Johnny is "the God-Emporer of all things good and worth having".

7. Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano: I love mexican music anyway so this makes my list(or is that hispanic or latino I can't keep up with the PC requirements?). I should say I love music with a "south of the border" flavor. As with all music selections I recommend avoiding versions by Celene Dion and The Cheetah Girls.

8. Father Christmas - The Kinks: Not very uplifting, but catchy and fun. About delinquents robbing a department Santa. Again, hits the social issue of giving toys to the poor when they might actually need some money. It leaves with the message "have a merry Christmas, have a good time, but remember the kids that have nothing when your drinking down you're wine".

9. Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt: This is the song from the Victoria Secret commercial. I was listening to it long before it hit the boob-tube (get it, Victoria Secret...boob-tube...catch my Comedy Central special after the holidays). This song is a seductive list of Christmas gifts desired by a high maintenance gal. The list includes a platinum mine, yacht, etc.

10. Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies: Starts slow, ends fast, includes a stanza "Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg..." which is how we all learned the song anyway. Good stuff.

So there's my list. I know I've been pretty snarky. My playlist is about 1/2 full of older, really classic songs that I didn't list here. When interspersed with newer quirky versions the classics take on a new life (at least for me).

Don't let the Christmas music be relegated to mall muzak. Make an effort to get an earful this weekend, it's well worth it.

Posted by Lon at December 23, 2006 09:48 AM

Comments

I'm just gritting my teeth for another 24 hours for all this to be over with. There are millions of great songs already recorded, and lots of great music that no one will ever hear because of the dynamics of the music industry. So it really annoys me that roughly 8 percent of the music programmed for public consumption each year is this same old drivel. I just want to roast Rudolph, melt Frosty, and bury all jingling bells in cement. Santa Baby? That was the earworm that kept me from getting back to sleep the other morning. Bah, and furthermore likewise humbug.

Posted by: Alan Chamberlain at December 25, 2006 07:54 AM

Well, take a big breath, it's almost over, thankyou Jeeee-sus.

Jesus is just alright with me, but this consumer holiday that has sprung up in his name is the worst thing about winter. It is something I overcome every year, like the flu. I bake and I clean like crazy, not for guests, but to keep myself from going nuts.

And here comes the end of it - hang in there Alan -- New Year's Eve, one last barrage of YUCK! Our friend is BBQ-ing a huge pile of prime rib, and I dug up all our horse radish and made a nasty batch of sauce - like to melt the lid off the jar, know what I mean? We saved fireworks from last July, and at about midnight, if you look out into the unincorporated area north of town, you'll see us lighting it up with a hail of bottle rockets - my apologies to Marie Fickert, maybe she'll stop speeding by my house in her city vehicle.

Posted by: juanita at December 30, 2006 08:26 AM