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slipjig3First of all, let me state that yes, I do honestly and truly loathe 99% of all Christmas music with every filament of my mortal being. Sue me. No, it's not because of any lack of Christmas spirit or any impairment of my soul, but—and understand this is my own humble opinion—because it all sucks So. Very. Hard. (And not in a good way.) It all comes off as painfully mediocre: the classics are treated with unearned reverence, the new songs are schmaltzy and substandard, and everything is slathered with string sections the size of the Swedish navy and those #%@$ing jingle bells that are meant to fill us with memories of those horse-drawn sleigh rides that ALMOST NO ONE HAS EVER ACTUALLY DONE. And to make things so ever much more lovely, instead of listening to these songs for a few days or a week before the Big Day, we're subjected to it a month in advance, sometimes to the exclusion of all the music that doesn't inspire homicidal ranting.
That said, however, I must confess that there are a few seasonal tunes that fail to make me twitch and foam at the mouth. So in the interest of fairness, allow me to present a not-quite-exhaustive, but perhaps representative, list of Christmas Songs That I Don't Hate:
1) "Fairytale of New York," The Pogues w/ Kirtsy MacColl
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But of course. Yes, there's the appeal of subversion that only lines like "It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank" and "Happy Christmas, yer arse, I pray God it's our last" can provide, but not only does it hang together beautifully on its own merits, it somehow manages to be tender and sentimental almost in spite of itself. The fact that it has become a modern classic is reason enough to keep hope for the human race.
2) "A Christmas Song," Jethro Tull
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I admit that this one's on here largely because I'm a fan of Jethro Tull; it's not my favorite song of theirs, but it wins points simply by merit of being a Tull song. But it does have its own graces, the biggest one being how it manages to sound "Christmasy" without the usual trappings: a small string section instead of the Brobdingnagian Orchestra and mandolin instead of the frelling jingle bells. Add a timely message that's something more than just "Merry Christmas!" and you have what the other Christmas songs would like to be, and aren't.
3) "I Believe in Father Christmas," Greg Lake
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This is odd: I hate Christmas music, and I think Emerson, Lake and Palmer is/are pretentious as hell, but I adore this. Musically, Lake got it dead-bang perfect; it's the rare song that merits the traditional holiday sort of arrangement, and bites back. It's also perhaps the most sincere song on this list, and so much like so many people I know: questioning, sad, even cynical in places, but mirabile dictu, still hopeful.
4) "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings," Barenaked Ladies w/ Sarah MacLachlan
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The problem with covering one of the classic carols is that too many people forget that in the end, they're just songs, and either take them wayyyy too seriously or go all punk-iconoclastic on the things and set to destroy them. One of the reasons I love Barenaked Ladies is that they're not afraid to put their own stamp on everything they touch. Here's a word you seldom hear with dealing with carols: fun.
5) "A-Soalin'," Peter Paul and Mary
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I grew up on Peter Paul and Mary, and on this song. I remember hearing "A-Soalin'" back when I was six. It was the first song I ever learned on guitar that wasn't just strummed chords, and I played at as part of an oral presentation in high school. Still adore it. Always will.
6) "Pretty Little Dolly," Mona Abboud
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Believe it or not, the novelty Christmas songs tend to irk me as well. I make a few exceptions: Weird Al Yankovic's and Tom Lehrer's contributions, for instance. And "Pretty Little Dolly," which is just as wrong today as it was a half-century ago. So very, very wrong.
7) "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," John Lennon
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I debate whether or not I like this one every year, and every year it comes on the radio and I turn it up. C'est la vie.
8) "12 Days of Christmas," John Denver and the Muppets
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Shut up. Just shut up.
That said, however, I must confess that there are a few seasonal tunes that fail to make me twitch and foam at the mouth. So in the interest of fairness, allow me to present a not-quite-exhaustive, but perhaps representative, list of Christmas Songs That I Don't Hate:
1) "Fairytale of New York," The Pogues w/ Kirtsy MacColl
[Error: unknown template video]
But of course. Yes, there's the appeal of subversion that only lines like "It was Christmas Eve, babe, in the drunk tank" and "Happy Christmas, yer arse, I pray God it's our last" can provide, but not only does it hang together beautifully on its own merits, it somehow manages to be tender and sentimental almost in spite of itself. The fact that it has become a modern classic is reason enough to keep hope for the human race.
2) "A Christmas Song," Jethro Tull
[Error: unknown template video]
I admit that this one's on here largely because I'm a fan of Jethro Tull; it's not my favorite song of theirs, but it wins points simply by merit of being a Tull song. But it does have its own graces, the biggest one being how it manages to sound "Christmasy" without the usual trappings: a small string section instead of the Brobdingnagian Orchestra and mandolin instead of the frelling jingle bells. Add a timely message that's something more than just "Merry Christmas!" and you have what the other Christmas songs would like to be, and aren't.
3) "I Believe in Father Christmas," Greg Lake
[Error: unknown template video]
This is odd: I hate Christmas music, and I think Emerson, Lake and Palmer is/are pretentious as hell, but I adore this. Musically, Lake got it dead-bang perfect; it's the rare song that merits the traditional holiday sort of arrangement, and bites back. It's also perhaps the most sincere song on this list, and so much like so many people I know: questioning, sad, even cynical in places, but mirabile dictu, still hopeful.
4) "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings," Barenaked Ladies w/ Sarah MacLachlan
[Error: unknown template video]
The problem with covering one of the classic carols is that too many people forget that in the end, they're just songs, and either take them wayyyy too seriously or go all punk-iconoclastic on the things and set to destroy them. One of the reasons I love Barenaked Ladies is that they're not afraid to put their own stamp on everything they touch. Here's a word you seldom hear with dealing with carols: fun.
5) "A-Soalin'," Peter Paul and Mary
[Error: unknown template video]
I grew up on Peter Paul and Mary, and on this song. I remember hearing "A-Soalin'" back when I was six. It was the first song I ever learned on guitar that wasn't just strummed chords, and I played at as part of an oral presentation in high school. Still adore it. Always will.
6) "Pretty Little Dolly," Mona Abboud
[Error: unknown template video]
Believe it or not, the novelty Christmas songs tend to irk me as well. I make a few exceptions: Weird Al Yankovic's and Tom Lehrer's contributions, for instance. And "Pretty Little Dolly," which is just as wrong today as it was a half-century ago. So very, very wrong.
7) "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)," John Lennon
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I debate whether or not I like this one every year, and every year it comes on the radio and I turn it up. C'est la vie.
8) "12 Days of Christmas," John Denver and the Muppets
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Shut up. Just shut up.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-24 10:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-24 10:56 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 07:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-24 11:03 pm (UTC)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8
12 days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-24 11:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-24 11:56 pm (UTC)...I was admittedly ten. But I adored it anyway!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 12:49 am (UTC)That one doesn't suck either.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 01:38 am (UTC)I like the Barenaked Ladies' cover of the Carol of the Bells, myself. They did have fun with it, and they are so recognizable.
one of my faves
Date: 2010-12-25 02:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 05:17 am (UTC)Especially:
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 06:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 01:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 06:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 07:56 pm (UTC)And thank you so much for "Pretty Little Dolly", I'll be annoying my parents with that later today.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-26 01:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-26 01:50 pm (UTC)Late comment
Date: 2011-01-27 04:52 pm (UTC)But I poked around and found this, and it looks like you combined into one post the very same kind of Christmas music rundown I split among a few entries. And because you included The Pogues, The Muppets, John Lennon and Greg Lake on your list, I wanted to share my own...if you'll indulge me:
* Run DMC's "Christmas in Hollis." It's gloriously goofy, and that is the entire point. And it time-warps me back to the mix tape I made for a far-distant friend when I was in high school.
* I take it that the Peter Paul & Mary "A Soulin'" is the song "Soul Cake" by a different name; I'm actually partial to Sting's version that came out a couple years back. But I'd actually heard another one in Jr. High when I was with our school's madrigal group and was part of a huge Boars' Head celebration given at our local Episcopal church; some other group sang this, and I fell for it. And then promptly forgot it existed until I heard Sting singing it 20 years later.
* Bruce Springsteen, "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town." My best friend is an enormous Springsteen fan, and I'm always amused how Bruce Springsteen can cover anything and make it sound like he was the guy who wrote it originally. He'd throw a Clarence Clemons sax solo into a version of Nessun Dorma.
* Elvis Costello, "The St. Stephens Day Murders." It's a song about getting so sick of your family by the time December 26th rolls around that you kill them.
* Sting again -- "Christmas At Sea." This takes a Robert Louis Stevenson poem about spending Christmas at work on board a ship for its lyrics, but pairs it with a traditional Scotch Gaelic song from the isle of Skye. It is mesmerizing.
* ...Okay, this takes some explanation -- on December 19th, someone broke into my apartment and stole my computer, and along with it everything I've written for the past ten year (because of course, I didn't back anything up). I got a new computer the next day, and some friends managed to turn up some drafts of things I'd written and I was starting to rebuild, but was still grumpy -- and that's when a friend sent me Denis Leary's "Merry F%&$ing Christmas" to cheer me up.
* The Eels, "Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas." You can find this in two versions -- a fast-paced sort of ska sounding version, and a folky acoustic one. The lyrics are strangely reassuring, and the faster version also has the quip, "Baby Jesus - born to rock!" which is just dandy.
...Sorry, I rambled. Trigger the inner DJ and you do that.