Christmas Songs - S&D!!!!

D: most "traditional" Christmas music

D: McCartney's "Wonderful Christmas Time" and that George Michael monstrosity.

"There Ain't No Sanity Clause" by the Damned.

the one by mariah carey. gorgeous song. love "last christmas" by wham as well.

I think Kindercore released a Christmas cd a few years ago--original songs by K-core artists...

D: 'novelty' Christmas songs, Mr Blobby, etc

Also S: The cover of Mud's "Lonely This Christmas" my mate Feedle did. It's truly beautiful!

and the rest of their christmas album.

Mr. Noodles -- "Christmas Wrapping" OTM.

Destroy:
quickie holiday records by big artists recorded solely so that they'll have some new product in the shops during the December shopping season (way too many to list)

1. "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"
2. "Frosty the Snowman"
3. "Jingle Fuckin' Bells"

I especially loathe scat-splattered jazzy renderings of Christmas songs as well. Makes me want to shave my head, speak nothing but backwards Latin, become a full thelemite and go live in Bolskine House on Loch Ness.

I'd love to hear the Kinks' "Father Christmas" and Mud's "Lonely This Christmas", yet I don't believe I ever have.

For me:
Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here"... evokes childhood's christmases; beautifully melancholic. Piano playing of levity and gravitas; a spare production... very moving. Love the choral version.

Lew Stone produced 1946 version of "Let It Snow". A less obvious choice than "White Christmas" certainly, though that too inevitably has its place; it was always *there*...

Flaming Lips' "Christmas at the Zoo" is reasonably good I suppose, yeah.

Ashamed to say that Wham's "Last Christmas" has its place in my yuletide affections... I always seem to associate childhood christmases with things like Leslie Bricusse/Anthony Newley's "Thank You Very Much" from the 1971 film musical "Scrooge", starring Albert Finney. This always got shown on TV around the xmas period; I strongly recall watching it at junior school near the holiday and soon after it being on TV. ;-) Really loved the film, and this song in particular brings back so many memories...

Here's a Gone Daddy Finch version. 'Sokay. (Scroll down a bit.)

http://www.gonedaddyfinch.com/gonedaddyfinch/mp3page.html

S: Jona Lewie - "Stop The Cavalry", The Pretenders - "2000 Miles" (which Coldplay have apparently covered, for shame), Shane'n'Kirsty obv, "Last Christmas" oh yeah, Dandy Warhols - "Little Drummer Boy"

D: Cliff urgh. Most Christmas songs are aces tho, just cos it's Christmas innit.

"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is such a weird song when sung by Frankie Valli.

Oh, what a laugh it would have been
If Daddy had only seen
Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night

As sung by the Four Seasons this comes across like really surreal, mordant humor. Father walking in on his wife smooching a four-hundred pound mythical figure, and little Frankie sitting in the corner thinking it's all really quite an amusing scene.

Chris Rea - Driving Home For Xmas (The Revenge Re-rub)

hearing the Jackson 5 sing it is weird too because I doubt irl the kids would have ratted their mom out to their abusive dad if they had caught her cheating, especially with a guy like Santa who would have made a pretty awesome stepdad

yeah whenever I hear Michael say "I'm gonna tell my dad!" I just picture Joe Jackson losing his shit.

I just picture Joe Jackson losing his shit.

I was thinking the same thing hearing this song earlier today.

That's really funny that we all have the same comic-horror reaction to this JAckson Five song.

as a side story: my mom went to HS for a year with the Jackson Five, and she told me that one time she and her girlfriend puts wigs on and they went up to Jermaine and one of the other brothers and they sang "ABC" to them as a teasing joke -- my mom says that the Jackson Five weren't considered cool, like, say, Blind Faith (actual example) or whatever -- and that Jermaine took the joke in stride and thought it was funny but that everybody laughed when they did it.

Well since posting on ILM I inevitably link that story with the notion of baby boomer rockism, and vice versa.

Last night I spent another lonely Christmas
Darling, darling, U should've been there
Cuz all the ones I dream about
U are the one that makes my love shout
U see, U are the only one I care 4

Remember the time we swam naked in your father's pool
Boy, he was upset that night
But boy, was that ever cool
Remember that night we played poker 4 money
And U robbed me blind
Remember how U used 2 scream so loud cuz U...
U hated that number 9
Hey, I saw your sister skatin' on the lake this afternoon
Good heaven, how she's grown
She swoons the boy skaters cuz she's so tall
But of all your father's children
All your father's children, baby
U know U are the finest of them all
U are brighter than the northern star and I...

Last night I spent another lonely Christmas
Darling, darling, U, U should've been there
Cuz U see, of all the ones I dream about
U are the one that makes my love shout
U see, U are the only one I care 4, yeah

My mama used 2 say always trust your lover
But now I guess that only applies 2 her
Cuz baby, U promised me
Baby, U promised me U'd never leave
Then U died on the 25th day of December

Oh baby, last night, oh, I spent another lonely, lonely Christmas
Darling, baby, U, U should've been there
Cuz all the ones I dream about
U are the one that makes my love shout
U see, U are the only one I care 4, yeah

Your father said it was pneumonia
Your mother said it was stress
But the doctor said U were dead and I...
I say it's senseless
Every Christmas night 4 7 years now
I drink banana daiquiris till I'm blind
As long as I can hear U smiling, baby
U won't hear my tears
Another lonely Christmas is mine, yeah, mine, yeah
Another lonely Christmas is mine

Last night, yeah, I spent another lonely, lonely Christmas
Darling, darling, U should've been there, yeah
Cuz all the ones I dream about
U are the one that make my love shout
U see, U are the only one I care 4

Another lonely...

Ramones - Merry Christmas
Der Bingle - White Christmas(at one point was the best selling song, period)
the drifters - white christmas (killer version)
George Strait - White Christmas (ditto)
Shonen Knife - Space Christmas

second the request of where to find Can - Silent Night

http://www.mute.biz/can/silentnight.html

Apart from carols (Gaudete, Coventry Carol, and Carol of the Bells in particular), the Christmas song I've listened to most this festive season is Christmas in Jail by The Youngsters.

We had a xmas music channel on this morning while we opened presents and a song came on that made me stop everything and listen, it was so awful -- Diana Ross' version of "My Favorite Things."

thank you Curt1s! s'nice!!

I put together a top ten for my blog. http://sickmouthy.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/my-top-ten-christmas-songs/

Bloody hell, has anyone still got that Can version of Silent Night?!

I have it on vinyl somewhere.

Has anyone got an MP3 of CAN doing Silent Night that they could send me, please? sick mouthy at gmail dot com. Eternal gratitude in return.

I'm like you Nick: halfway through January and I STILL don't feel Christmassy.

I'll send it to you this evening - my reply upthread was a bit pointless, sorry. Any punctuation in your gmail address?

Nope, just the dot before the com.

Thank you!

Bizarrely it was Rio Ferdinand who inspired me to seek out obscure Xmas songs again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPqH-U_Rhe4

Found a slightly remixed version of the Can version of Silent Night, here - http://bananamania.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/can-silent-night-t-keelers-extended-yuletime-treat/ - dude's has very simply and very appropriately doubled it in length, pretty much seamlessly. No more!

I started listening to some Christmas music. Just a few tunes every few days. I realize that more than anything, the feelings I get from the music is this cozy, nostalgia about the 70's and early 80's, more than any sort of real holiday feelings. I don't feel like decorating a tree or a house or going Christmas shopping, just listening to a few songs in a dimly lit room with the volume real low.

It does begin with memories of Lawrence Welk and Andy Williams Christmas specials, the annual cheese ball my mom would make (heavy on the dry sherry) but then quickly turns into this montage of toys, tv shows, hit songs, things I wore, friends I had, the way cars looked, the way people looked, it's all getting further and further away from those times.

I watched an I Love Lucy episode today, one that aired 10.06.1952, and it dawned on me... that was 60 years ago. Sixty years ago used to be 1918!!! EEK!

i listened to these today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RC34N1TfCQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgGvL09QSSQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J_2tKCwu7Q

We're well into Christmas over here! Have a few festive projects coming up (including my first ever DJing-in-public) and I want to prepare in time for once.

Every year I think I've just about heard everything, and every year I'm wrong. Some favourite recent discoveries:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIG9_HgubLA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3uXTPV_X5M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCsa2-WP-iA

Wonder what effect the upcoming Cee Lo Green Xmas record will have on the thread...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCY2JhrwxVs

arrrgh! "For YouTube embedded videos: Simply paste in the URL of the YouTube web page containing the video you wish to embed" why why why does this not work for *me*?

think you should take the "s" out of "https"

thanks anagram!

i think this is worth reposting for ease of reference, i can't believe no one's put it up yet!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCY2JhrwxVs

also this is pretty sick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e25McLH-I04

Right, recommend songs which mention Christmas in the lyrics, or which feel Christmassy, but which aren't quite "Christmas Songs", per se.

In the former category, I Am An Ape by David Byrne and St. Vincent mentions Christmas Day in the lyrics, but has seemingly nothign else to do with Xmas.

In the latter (and former), Jona Lewie (sic?) always says Stop The Cavalry isn't a Xmas song, even though it emntions Xmas in the refrain, and has a Xmassy feel.

None of these are really "about" Christmas:

Trinity - Santa Claus Comes Once a Year
Caetano Veloso - In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day
August Darnell - Christmas on Riverside Drive

never too early for this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODjDz_6SWik

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQ4ApY9YbYw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-i8S-1MzKI

https://soundcloud.com/localactionrecords/dj-q-all-i-want-for-xmas-is-q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtbkcVd0ODM

the Carly Rae version of Last Christmas is kind of a disappointment.

yes

how about a collaborative ilx christmas playlist without songs that will drive you insane when you hear them for the 15th time this year? MY OFFICE NEEDS ONE

no Slade!

1) Chris Rea - Driving Home for Christmas

i just put on soul christmas and the guaraldi peanuts stuff and that does me just fine

true, I put on Christmas in the Heart :-)

If you like Christmas music, I have a thing for you:

http://everynoise.com/xmas.html

There's a monitoring graph showing Christmas-music listening on Spotify by day by country, and links to daily-updating charts of emerging Christmas music by country, and giant playlists of the distinctive Christmas music people listened to last Christmas in particular countries and cities.

neat!

wow! Hey when I try to pull up last year's playlists by city/country, it doesn't go anywhere?

It's a damn shame that Tracey Thorn only appears on the Sweden list. Her Christmas album is great.

what's with the abnormally high rate for christmas music in the philippines?

am I alone in finding Freddie Mercury's dramatic style a bit... inappropriate in "Thank God It's Christmas"?

Nope...kind of feel the same way about the Prince Christmas tune too.

the Carly Rae version of Last Christmas is kind of a disappointment.

OMG it is not!

haha I was hoping she would turn it into a more upbeat synth-ed out ham.
I should clarify on Queen, I don't mind an over the top Christmas song (I love that Lady Gaga x-rated x-mas tune), but 'Thank God It's Christmas' is just a dud.

I have a playlist that I've ''''curated'''' and fashioned over the past years. It's bloody amazing. It's not only Christmas songs, soundtrack stuff, but also things that were xmas number ones or popular around Christmas time like Girls Aloud 'promise' or anything else I decide just sounds Christmassy. My OH added about 20 versions of 'last christmas' to it but I had to cull most of them.

2010- Bigg Robb "I Want a Big Woman for Christmas" southern soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7zWxgTUzvk

I have a playlist that I've ''''curated'''' and fashioned over the past years. It's bloody amazing.
can you post or link it?

preach, Big Robb

Any good jazz xmas albums out there apart from Vince Guaraldi (my fave)?

this is quite nice

http://eil.com/images/main/Ramsey+Lewis+Sound+Of+Christmas+479333.jpg

this too
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ccOv7TRyL.jpg

Loving this Lewis, thanks campreverb!

I have a thing for Chet Baker's quite maudlin Silent Nights album, it is way underrated imo.

Don't forget

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71wkh%2BQqxML._SL1200_.jpg

http://funky16corners.com/pictures/sschristmas.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Srk4HBY5R48/UM-FZHsirmI/AAAAAAAAAMY/BETfVwFiORk/s640/xmas.jpg

http://static1.squarespace.com/static/533c2608e4b0a32be0b5e65d/533db24de4b0f0bdc6e14819/543c3aa4e4b0f23a04309ca2/1413233325388/songpoemxmas_mini147.jpg

^^^ now playing

OK the last one and Zorn have piqued my interest in a way I didn't expect this thread!

the two American Song-Poem Christmas song I've heard live in a sweet grey area between outsider art and major label pulp, pretty cool

good stuff itt!

sinatra's "the christmas song" just came on the radio - it's amazing, what a voice

is there a good sinatra christmas album?

Grab any old Rhino Christmas compilation you see, and you will find something to love on it.

cool, thx! googling that led me to this decent overview http://hipchristmasmusic.com/lists/albums.php

Sharon Jones + Dap-Kings Christmas album is a bit disappointing tbh, though "Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects" is still a classic.

^^^ my son played me this as we were trimming the tree over the weekend. I liked the whole thing, but yeah I thought "Chimneys" was the standout. Even The Eagles haven't ruined "Please Come Home For Christmas" for me; Charles Brown original is my favorite holiday tune.

you might get a contact high listening to the Cassie Ramone.

Christmas With Chet Atkins has been my favorite for a while -- any suggestions for similar albums?

this is probably my country favorite:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dKmNarZNL.jpg

The Eagles get the words wrong, so screw 'em.

i am quite proud of my xmas spotify playlist, fwiw (despite the fact that it can't have XTC's "Countdown to Christmas Party Time" on it

The Dandy Warhols - Little Drummer Boy
Cristina - Things Fall Apart
Cocteau Twins - Frosty The Snowman
Low - Just Like Christmas
The Pogues - Fairytale Of New York
Saint Etienne - I Was Born on Christmas Day
TLC - Sleigh Ride
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
Run DMC - Christmas in Hollis
The Sonics - Santa Claus
The Raveonettes - Come On Santa
Fear - Fuck Christmas
The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
Lisi - My Silent Night
Kurtis Blow - Christmas Rappin'
Alan Vega - No More Christmas Blue
Sky Ferreira - Omanko
Carly Rae Jepsen - Last Christmas

excellent
although they do have the ronan keating version of fairytale of new york

My favorite Christmas album is this budget-label knockoff of The Tijuana Brass. I bought it as a gift for my dad with my allowance money when I was a kid, and it got played every year. I rebought a copy for myself in a thrift bin. Childhood memories...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZjQDK7Ysr8

you might get a contact high listening to the Cassie Ramone.

― campreverb, Monday, December 7, 2015 3:22 PM (52 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Playing this right now, pretty into it.

I tried listening to the Cassie Ramone record this morning and nothing really stuck out to me :( I was disappointed, I had high hopes!

Is there a standard version of "Jingle Bells" without any 'interpretation'? Maybe just sung by kids but not on a modern cloying kids album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM38kN4AOys

if you don't rock Dylan's Xmas album during the season you are dead to me

it's weird because it seems like a novelty record and one that you kind of like for the fun of it, but then you put it on and it's just GREAT

I love The Ventures proto-indie version of "Silver Bells"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJMBMIJJGok

I like the "I Feel Fine" intro to rudolf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTFw8CyMzz4

I'd kind of been afraid to check out the Dylan album, but based on the rec above I just checked it out.
Overall, pretty fun! Obviously he sounds a bit Tom Waits in places, which some may consider an asset-it certainly is on 'Must Be Santa'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOgBcA_oWuI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyk-Qu7sv1E

xps there's some good jingle bells covers done by dogs and cats on spotify iirc

so far, the break-out hit at our house this year is "The Christmas Tree Angel" by the Andrews Sisters

more Christmas jazz

http://cps-static.rovicorp.com/3/JPG_400/MI0002/784/MI0002784088.jpg

"What You Want For Christmas" by Quad City DJ's is officially the #1 Christmas song of all time

That Bley/Swallow one is awesome, but I've had more positive reaction from chamber music fans I've played it to than from jazz heads.

I just heard the xmas version of Want You to Want Me!! I had no idea it existed! It was ... weird

ok I had no idea that existed

so weird

"I'm begging you for Christmas"

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

it's dreadful ;_;

I didn't sell that Chet Baker christmas album properly when describing it as maudlin upthread, it is actually quite jaunty in places and I was overstating the amount of depresso variations on the album, which is only a few of the tracks really.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj90PQmVhPQ

I really like the version of Amazing Grace on the Chet Baker.
Every year it seems like there's one old Christmas record I'm super excited to find, only to discover it's a dud. Sadly this year it's the Gladys Night record.
On the other hand, holy crap that Dwight Yoakam Christmas record.

'Wonderful Christmas Time" is the best of the big pop hits.

Remove Bookmark from this Thread

Important musical syncretism: http://merrykrishnas.bandcamp.com/album/we-wish-you-a-merry-krishna

this is excellent (via Dan):
http://red3blog.tumblr.com/post/135098280942/formeldeharv-i-put-all-i-want-for-christmas-is

yes indeed

This is still my favourite version of AIWFCIY though: https://soundcloud.com/bigloverecords/nite-jewel-all-i-want-for

I have a playlist that I've ''''curated'''' and fashioned over the past years. It's bloody amazing.
can you post or link it?

― campreverb, Saturday, 5 December 2015 21:05 (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

here ya go (NB some are not at all christmassy, but are now because they've been on this playlist for a few years, iyswim)

HOME ALONE SOUNDTRACK JOHN WILLIAMS
Call the Shots Girls Aloud
All I Want For Christmas Is You Mariah Carey
Wrap It Up Super Furry Animals
15 Minutes Johnny Boy
Almost Unreal Roxette
christmas reindeer The Knife
Last Christmas Scala & Kolacny Brothers
Fairytale of New York The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl
Stay Another Day East 17
Shoes Reparata & The Delrons
Floodlit World Ultrasound
Frosty the Snowman Cocteau Twins
Somewhere in My Memory John Williams
December Will Be Magic Again Kate Bush
I Wanna Be a King of Orient Aah Elastica
Help I'm Alive - Acoustic Metric
Walking In The Air Robin Allender
Maple Leaves Jens Lekman
I Don't Intend To Spend Christmas Without You Saint Etienne
O Holy Night John Williams & Chorus
The Christmas Song - Weezer
Heartbeats (Originally Performed By The Knife) Scala & Kolacny Brothers
Gaudete Steeleye Span
It's A Sin (Pet Shop Boys Cover) JJ72
Santa's On His Way The Pipettes
All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey Cover) Heike Has The Giggles
I'll Still Be Loving You Kylie Minogue
Things Fall Apart Cristina
Wuthering Heights (Kate Bush Cover) The Sweptaways
You Only Live Twice Bjork
Into The Clouds The Sound Of Arrows
The Promise Girls Aloud
Christmas music - Home Alone Soundtrack
It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas Pet Shop Boys
Christmas Is Cancelled The Long Blondes
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Slow Club
All I Wonderful Christmas Is You Summer Camp
As The World Falls Down Girl In A Coma
Holding On For You Liberty X
Happy New Year Abba

ugh excuse lack of formatting

After listening to some of the recs here I feel my former opinion of "Solely Spector and Guaraldi" is the Xmas equivalent of "I love jazz! I own Kind of Blue."

Love that whole St Etienne Christmas record. Great list!

Xpost :
Speaking of which, where is the love for Bob Dorough's "Blue Xmas" feat. Miles Davis?

Rosie Thomas - Why Can't It Be Christmastime All Year

One of the great unrereleased Christmas albums is Hortense Ellis and Trinity's African Christmas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iRUitMxJPY

that settles the question whether they know it's christmas time at all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiC2LHL_eZ4
I try to post this every Dec 21st

TS: Songs that mention Christmas but aren't really Christmassy (e.g. The Fall's John Quays, Tom Wait's Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis), vs. Songs that sound Christmassy but make no mention of it (e.g. lots of Brian Wilson)

My favorite Christmas/Hanukkah song of all time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV9tJ-YTnTQ

Hey I made a playlist of my 111 favourite Christmas songs that are on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/seandalai/playlist/1c1STHtL9vh4ZDHgvwYNoc

Okay, "Jingle Bells" by Celia Cruz and La Sonora Matancera is great.

So in other words, recommending seandalai's playlist to the rest of you.

there is something downright disturbing about this union:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpY7rRBH2q0

My Xmas mix / spotify playlist for 2015. Turned out much more earnest and heartfelt than mine usually do. Must be the mood I'm in this year. But persevere and you'll get to Quad City DJs.

https://open.spotify.com/user/worrellj14/playlist/4AGJjiq2jhxdKtQjwLzFpS

Lisa Mychols's Christmas album is a pretty good Beach Boys/Spectorpop pastiche, with The Wondermints as her backing band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm0KDcdk6nU

Mercaptan's cover of Franklin Bruno's "Invisible Mistletoe" has a nice lo-fi Swedish reggae feel, & the New Zealand Christmas-y folk song Te Harinui has a p.sweet surf version done by Waikato band The Hollow Grinders.

Festive video - Hasselhoff Experiment's late-90s bogan classic "What's The Deal With The Man In Red?":
www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqTXF_0YUEc

I made a Spotify Playlist entitled Christmas Songs That Don't Suck.
I avoided covers of traditional songs for the most part.
If anyone plays it, I hope you like it.

https://open.spotify.com/user/nyc_native/playlist/11F05Gtve6aUtyRlczdA1v

TS: Songs that mention Christmas but aren't really Christmassy (e.g. The Fall's John Quays, Tom Wait's Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis), vs. Songs that sound Christmassy but make no mention of it (e.g. lots of Brian Wilson)

― Dr X O'Skeleton, Tuesday, 22 December 2015 12:03 (3 days ago)

Randomly listening to the Abel Tasmans, and it turns out "Michael Fay" belongs to the former. For the latter, Steely Dan's "Charlie Freak" sure has a lot of bells in a Dickens-y fashion ...

Alternative Spotify Playlist title: "Fuck Grandma and the Reindeer Too"

Tracks on the playlist that are not mentioned in the thread above include:

King Diamond - No Presents For Christmas
AC/DC - Mistress For Christmas
Spinal Tap - Christmas With The Devil
GWAR - Stripper Christmas Summer Weekend
Tom Waits - Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis
The Vandals - Oi To The World (though someone mentioned the No Doubt version)
The Sonics - Don't Believe In Christmas
Eazy-E - Merry Muthafuckin' Xmas
Julian Casablancas - Christmas Treat (technically a cover)
The Fall - (We Wish You) A Protein Christmas
Dragonette - Merry Xmas (Says Your Text Message)
Hanoi Rocks - Dead By Xmas
The Dirtbombs - My Last Christmas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mER2fGuSqF8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk-QghlI97Y

The Moomins single I shared on the other Christmas songs thread is now on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/0Vga3sw6B4C14Y6sydCdkH

Search: 'Christmas Wrapping'
Destroy: 'Wonderful Christmastime'

search: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0NoalRsk5w

destroy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxomWFi3qZc

the entire St. Etienne Christmas record is worth seeking out. Not on Spotify unfortunately:
https://www.discogs.com/Saint-Etienne-A-Glimpse-Of-Stocking/release/2567730

this is my fav xmas album rn and it IS on spotify:

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/05/movies/holiday-albums-american-song-poem-christmas-daddy-santa-really-six-foot-four.html

see also: both Rosie O'Donnell xmas albums, the RuPaul xmas album from like 1998, the Big Freedia xmas EP

yeah the song poem album is all-time

Excuse me, but where is Wizzard!?

^^^

I am so fucking sick of 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' that there isn't even an accurate term for it. I like it, and I like the Slade track too, but I'm sick to death of it. It's always been played to death every Christmas, but I used to hear the Slade track far more. Now it seems to be the Wizzard track I hear more.

Also, what's that Elton John one that sounds completely indistinguishable from his usual material, sounds totally non-Christmassy, isn't very good and sounds like it written during a Coke break?

"Step Into Christmas?"

Yeah, destroy that one too.

destroy: anybody who sings christmas songs as if they're VERY DRAMATIC modern pop ballads. christmas carols, by and large, neither require nor benefit from extensive melisma.

destroy: "hallelujah" as a christmas song especially THIS YEAR

search: The Living Sisters - Harmony is Real: Songs for a Happy Holiday

A recent go-to along w/ the low Christmas album

Also destroy: 'Mistletoe and Wine'

why get so hung up on destroying things when you could be searching!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UK7N47bQMdQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps6sHgbqQSQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxpAlLzZpP0

Lhasa de Sela - Peces en el rio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmipW6tWP9s

Love that it's a Christmas song that sounds like Klezmer.

Did anything notable come out this year? I haven't been paying attention so much.

For Klezmer Christmas also check out the Klezmonauts' Oy To The World

there's a really nice christmas record i enjoy by bulgarian voices angelite. i think it's out official now but i first got it as a bootleg radio broadcast.

thank you seandalai checking it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ4kptfxlHo

Leslie Odom Jr's xmas album is SO good

simple arrangements & very pleasing nostalgic, old-school style, and his voice is gorgeous

Xmas 2016 Spotify playlist. Lots of new, but a fair bit of old too. Featuring Sun Ra, Kacey, Kylie, Count Basie, ABC, Loretta, Ariana, Low and Moomins.
https://open.spotify.com/user/worrellj14/playlist/4AJf5XYj6kAgDXa6sytAtf

Nice piece by Richard Williams on David Sigerson's 'It's a big country' https://thebluemoment.com/2016/12/23/a-christmas-no-1/

Um, Davitt. Damn autocorrect.

Merry shoegaze everyone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79rS-sl9tSg

Official Christmas anthem of the seandalai household

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwMuHy8t_Vk

Destroy: that dreadful Pentatonix cover of "Hallelujah" that my local holiday station has in aggressively high rotation.

Is that a Christmas song?

It is now.

uggggh i heard that the other night on the way home from work. noped right out after like 10 seconds. Bleuch.

yeah and how is it even a holiday song. piss off

You rang?
xpost

lol

that Gregory Porter appearance on Marr earlier is still troubling my thoughts. He always had a touch of "Pebble Mill at One Bill Withers" about him, but his christmas album of Nat King Cole covers is absolute wank.

in good christmas music news, i got a copy of Daryl Hall & John Oates’ Home for Christmas album <3

i blame alexandra burke (really simon cowell) for "hallelujah" now being a holiday song

i made this last year and it features among others XTC, Alexander O Neal, Dragonette, Ariana Grande and The Marx Brothers

https://www.mixcloud.com/damienjohnstone/

shld we poll an americana christmas?

i love old 79's here it is christmas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm0xHpqjvq4

There's really very little past the 1960's that's not terrible. I think my entire idea of what Christmas should sound like is cemented as either Nat King Cole or the Vince Guaraldi Trio, and everything else is a terrible scourage designed to soundtrack your shopping.

I find your lack of regard for post-'60s xmas music ver 'scouraging.

yeah that’s a nonsense position

Agreed. Most of the 50s and 60s Christmas music was intended to soundtrack your consumerism, too.

Super Christmas music fan here. Infinity did you catch the new Bloodshot comp this year? https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/13-days-xmas
I might amend Yesca's point to say that there are very few Christmas albums worth hearing after the 60s. Not really sure why that is, perhaps the labels had more power back then and could order a Phil Spector or Kenny Burrell to make one.

Below is my mix for 2017:
Do You Hear What I Hear? Spiraling
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Chris Isaak (Live With Stevie Nicks & Friends)
Break Up Holiday Dude York
White Christmas Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
FaLaLaLaLove Ya Nikki Lane
They Shined Up Rudolph's Nose Johnny Horton
I Don't Intend to spend Christmas Without You Margo Guryan
Noel Christmas Sugar & Tiger
Peppermint Delight Firebreather
Shake Hands With Santa Claus Louis Prima
Gonna Wrap My Heart In Ribbons Hank Thompson
Look Around You (It's Christmas Time) Bobby Goldsboro
Felices Pascuas Eydie Gorme
Underneath the Christmas Tree Bill Lloyd
By the Fireside Ellen and the Escapades
Christmas Day Detroit Junior
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Slow Club
Fairytale of New York Rostam
Yule Tide Me Over The Minus 5
Here Comes Santa Claus Ramsey Lewis
How to Make Gravy All Our Exes Live In Texas
It Was Jesus Johnny Cash
Christmas Wrapping The Waitresses
Soulful Christmas James Brown
This Christmas Night Kaskade feat. Dia Frampton

can someone help me

there's this drive-thru light show in town where you tune your radio to a certain station and the lights sync up with the music

I know pretty much all the songs but there's one I don't know, it's like this bombastic Vangelis-style sequencer instrumental. in the last 15 seconds or so some vocals come in on the fade. it's bothering me b/c I should know what this is, but I don't.

could be Mannheim Steamroller?

Been enjoying The Soulful Strings album "The Magic of Christmas"

yes! "Good King Wenceslas" its called. god that was bothering me. had no idea Mannheim sounded like that.

Infinity did you catch the new Bloodshot comp this year? https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/13-days-xmas
I might amend Yesca's point to say that there are very few Christmas albums worth hearing after the 60s. Not really sure why that is, perhaps the labels had more power back then and could order a Phil Spector or Kenny Burrell to make one.

― campreverb, Wednesday, December 20, 2017 7:29 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i have not but cheers for the rec

sounds p cool

will have a listen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1yZah5l6S0

The last few cycles, I've been all about John Williams' song from the sequel, which I prefer to the much more by-the-numbers song the first movie had:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Buv2eOXZ8

can't forget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iClHpepBY1I

Jingle cats videos will come in handy when were stoned sunday night

I might amend Yesca's point to say that there are very few Christmas albums worth hearing after the 60s.

Off the top of my head these are excellent single-artist albums from the 70s and later:

Klezmonauts - Oy to the World
John Zorn - A Dreamers Christmas
Hortens Ellis and Trinity - African Christmas
The Mistletoe Disco Band - Christmas
Willie Colon - Asalto Navideño

And that's before we get to canonical compilations like the Ze Christmas album/Christmas Rap/Funky Christmas. The joy of Christmas music isn't really in albums though.

Cyndi Lauper's Merry Christmas...Have a Nice Life is delightful.

it’s the greatest!!

Love this one today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H_-ia2M2M4

yeah it's definitely a singles affair. that St Etienne christmas album is an exception, it's so great.
https://saintetienne.greedbag.com/buy/a-glimpse-of-stocking-vinyl-lp/

^although that was a compilation of fan club singles with a few new songs added!

Good (not by various artists) Christmas albums since 1970 that haven't already been mentioned:

Bobby Sherman - Christmas Album
Jackson 5 - Christmas Album
Red Simpson - Truckers' Christmas
Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton - Once Upon A Christmas
Hilary Duff - Santa Clause Lane
Götz Alsmann und die WDR Big Band - Winterwunderwelt

*Claus

Red Simpson - Truckers' Christmas

classic for sure!

My Christmas (and New Year) 2017 Spotify playlist. As ever, nods to the new recordings for this year, mixed in with old-but-new-to-me favourites and a few classics. Featuring: Leadbelly, Mariah, Prince, Gwen Stefani, Cheap Trick, Deerful, First Aid Kit, Patti Page, Ariel Pink, Girl Ray, Loona, Lawrence Welk and more. Happy holidays everyone.

https://open.spotify.com/user/worrellj14/playlist/6VVjGF3BTT9dGqQuvzEZNW

earl nash's "floyd not floyd" thread had me on a steve miller kick. here's steve on the king biscuit flower hour doing god rest ye merry gentlemen -> fly like an eagle. (i tend to like christmas songs best when they're just interpolated into non-christmasy songs. like there's a song on "the electric lucifer" that's like that.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKS29ZP2_SI

Heard Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" in a public setting (restaurant) for the first time ever last week. Probably a commonplace occurrence in Britain--not here.

Repost of the 2015 Christmas concert w Gaby Moreno's soulful, shivery, yet no-frills delivery, mostly with a guitar or two (generally electric), a drum, mostly in Spanish, but you'll recognize the tunes (Gina Chavez and her uke or mando show up too):
https://www.npr.org/sections/altlatino/2015/12/04/458352429/festivo-alt-latino-gaby-moreno-in-concert

Actually I don't recognize all the tunes, but all good.

In 3 a.m. sleeplessness the other night I started mashing up Jefferson Airplane lyrics with "Sleigh Ride."

Horror grips us as we WATCH-- you die
All we can do is echo your ANG-- uished cry
It'll nearly be like a picture print
By Currier and Ives
These wonderful things are the things
We remember all through our lives

S: ...The Pretenders - "2000 Miles"...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, December 1, 2003 4:41 AM (fourteen years ago)

It's a weird Xmas/not-Xmas song but the way her phrasing is laid out upon the waltz is amazing and gorgeous. I love Chrissie.

search: The Living Sisters - Harmony is Real: Songs for a Happy Holiday

heard that for the first time this week. "christmas in california" is fantastic.

Just discovered this one this year. It's a new year's song rather than Christmas, but it's lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WsVBAc3Hc4

it'd be cool if we can get a compilation of more christmas related songs this year

Infinity did you catch the new Bloodshot comp this year? https://www.bloodshotrecords.com/album/13-days-xmas
I might amend Yesca's point to say that there are very few Christmas albums worth hearing after the 60s. Not really sure why that is, perhaps the labels had more power back then and could order a Phil Spector or Kenny Burrell to make one.

― campreverb, Wednesday, December 20, 2017 7:29 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i guess i never replied to this but i liked these two tracks:

all our exes live in texas - how to make gravy
the yawpers - christmas in oblivion

The new John Legend xmas album is quite good

is it...

legendary?

YES IN FACT IT IS

St Etienne's Christmas album is only 10 GBP right now, which is a steal considering the cd would cost you 5 times that much on the 2nd hand market. Get one for you and a friend, with only 2000 pressed, i'm surprised they've lasted this long. https://saintetienne.greedbag.com/buy/a-glimpse-of-stocking-vinyl-lp/

Search tool: http://everynoise.com/xmas_around_the_world.cgi

I just did a CTRL+F and couldn't find mention of Frightened Rabbit's It's Christmas So We'll Stop. It's beautiful.

https://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/album/stars

this is wiaiwya's new (and second) xmas lp. features amelia's new band, darren hayman, bill from allo darlin, that kind of crowd. out on friday.

https://wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/album/christmastime-approximately

^ the previous one

I made it through all of Shatner Claus. I'd say about half of it works.

An in-progress playlist of my faves: https://open.spotify.com/user/cryptosicko/playlist/1DTUcvNiveCVZlV8uau5f2?si=M4DYU6FXQk-FE2YytnQVjQ

Fuzzy's "Christmas" and Aimee Mann & Michael Penn's "Christmastime" are annoyingly absent from Spotify.

mentioned itt already but needs to be posted anyway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCY2JhrwxVs

Hip Christmas pointed out Rickie Lee Jones has some downloads on her site:
https://rickieleejones.com/christmas.html

just found out Shoes did a christmas tune. classic Shoes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BE-iPVFUXU&fbclid=IwAR0getUcGdnrsWGf-VFnyskt9ldU-COP36R2IEKlOuXYmCBdVr4_qF3DLrQ

How have we gone a quarter century without a solid addition to the canon. How.

Is there a consensus on the worst Christmas song? 'Christmas Shoes'?

Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer

How have we gone a quarter century without a solid addition to the canon. How.

Because we realized that it's so much easier to just record covers of old songs than anything new. Or in Penatonix's case, covers of songs that have nothing to do with Christmas, but pass them off as Christmas songs.

I've only listened to last christmas by wham! twice this year so far which is a disappointment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk6TD1PX22c

Julie on her second tour reminiscing
Three Decembers in New York City
Selling fir trees
Pack a truck with 90 fir trees
Pack 'em tight

Julie on her second tour reminiscing
The cassette of Daydream Nation worn out
The Bernadette Peters autograph on my cast
The CBGB t-shirt I'm wearing

The drive down from St. John
Was almost always easy
The drive back
On Christmas Day was not

Happy BreXitMAS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Xgktqp-Zw

xposts

Mariah’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” is surely part of the canon at this point and that was, what, 24 years ago?

I presume Old Lunch meant since Mariah

A Rhode Island favorite. "No Frosty!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ekgDJou6G0

Yes, I meant since Mariah. There have been several additions to the xmas movie canon in that time, get with it musical artists.

My favourite post-Mariah Xmas tracks (none of which I ever see ever becoming canonical):

Dar Williams, "The Christians and the Pagans" (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_KiHRHwaAs

Fuzzy, "Christmas" (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9gDz1VFyf0

Aimee Mann & Michael Penn, "Christmastime" (1996)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSkr6fr01M0

The Magnetic Fields, "Everything is One Big Christmas Tree" (2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PCeOrg2Tyc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4iWO73zPL4

I have a playlist that I've ''''curated'''' and fashioned over the past years. It's bloody amazing. It's not only Christmas songs, soundtrack stuff, but also things that were xmas number ones or popular around Christmas time like Girls Aloud 'promise' or anything else I decide just sounds Christmassy. My OH added about 20 versions of 'last christmas' to it but I had to cull most of them.

― kinder, Saturday, December 5, 2015 5:39 PM (three years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I never posted my playlist mainly because it's not a Spotify one but I'm on the lookout for lesser-known, GOOD, festive songs. It does have lots of the Home Alone soundtrack interspersed

Some quality songs that sound like holiday songs but are not necessarily, I don't think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjU-IQh8Txo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd1tNDpcbOs

And also 'Fjords of Winter' by Ladybug Transistor, which is apparently the only song in existence that isn't on YouTube but which is featured in this video at least:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml9H1INzqFc

I would love to see your playlist!

donny hathaway, "this christmas"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q5O6WnBF6g

I will never ever grow tired of this.
david axelrod and lou rawls in their prime.

some of my favorites from dr. demento's xmas shows ca. '87-88:

bob rivers, "wreck the malls"
yogi yorgesson, "i yust go nuts at christmas"
cheech & chong, "santa claus and his old lady"
bob & doug mckenzie, "the 12 days of christmas"

that whole Lou Rawls album, my god.
I suppose think it's lazy to say there has been nothing great since Carey. Low's "Just Like Christmas" is pretty much canon at this point, and there's great stuff every year, note the Khruangbin above.

I *did* post my playlist after all!
Christmas Songs - S&D!!!!

thank you for these Old Lunch et al! Love the Cymbals one.
That Fuzzy one is going on the list

ah yes, love that cheech & chong track!
i also love the barking dogs version of jingle bells from Dr Demento, cracks me up every time

Chris Molanphy's latest fits in with all this

https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/the-annual-contest-to-score-the-u-k-christmas-no-1.html

FTR, I wasn't asserting that we've gone a quarter century with no good/great xmas music, just that nothing since Mariah has become a regular xmas rotation staple that you regularly hear on the radio or out shopping or whatevs. As someone else noted, anything 'new' I hear in those contexts is almost always a cover and rarely sticks around beyond the moment it was released. I'd even settle for a novelty single at this point. Where is the Jingle Cats of the 21st Century, I ask you?

my personal favourite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrVI9rgF3sY

https://authorsrecording.bandcamp.com/album/yuletide-bangerz

My Christmas 2018 Spotify playlist; the usual approach taken:
https://open.spotify.com/user/worrellj14/playlist/34MKnVSxVRZC7iuIZsHBkR?si=vcMwerW-S4mNIgsvTE_coQ

Check out also the latest Project Moonbase playlist, 'Santa Claus's Tomb':
https://open.spotify.com/user/projectmoonbase/playlist/0A4VrRUKNqMDtf1OEWU5ML?si=9TZTZIWnQrupSydGCI8mPg

Happy holidays, everyone.

Only slightly updated since last year, but still all my fav Christmas songs (that are on Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/user/seandalai/playlist/1c1STHtL9vh4ZDHgvwYNoc?si=hQyqRucDQCe6GIENNCp2rg

Atlas Sound - Artificial Snow :*(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuBrMnQ0XmU

BLISSmas

https://soundcloud.com/bigloverecords/nite-jewel-all-i-want-for
https://soundcloud.com/mike-simonetti/pale-blue-just-like-christmas-1
https://banjoorfreakout.bandcamp.com/track/merry-christmas-baby

My 2019 Spotify playlist. As ever, a mix of new or new to me, plus a few old favourites.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/472GsKvoB9YiBmaRTJttB2?si=uqithpceRcq21X_003kEIA

Also made a playlist (partly inspired by ilxor threads):

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1m444tcGkY42aZ2y8Fadmm

More winter than Xmas.

If there was ever a year to listen to John Prine's "Christmas in Prison" on repeat, it's this one.

The searchlight in the big yard swings round with the gun
And spotlights the snowflakes like dust in the sun
It's Christmas in prison, there'll be music tonight
I'll prob'ly get homesick
I love you
Goodnight

Really feeling “Christmas Island” this year - Ernest Tubb & Leon Redbone versions.

Heard something interesting off the radio today, a special on Nat King Cole: he recorded "The Christmas Song" three times with three different arrangements, and you can tell the earliest one because he incorrectly pluralizes "reindeers."

This seems quite Christmas-y to me ...

https://hamrahlidchoir.bandcamp.com/album/come-and-be-joyful

An actual xmas banger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTiWbbFFhGg
Johnny O. Bazz ‎– Xmas Eve

extremely festive!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbeG1XrZPJs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFnGtRWa7Yk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMIa7A0boKo

this worked perfectly as my Xmas song Last Christmas, and will no doubt do so again this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCZVL_8D048
Master KG ft. Nomcebo Zikode • Jerusalema

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL6NnhCUpNM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xpcrBioETw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfbQCmafsQg

Johnny O. Bazz ‎– Xmas Eve

― kites aren't fun (NickB), Monday, 14 December 2020 20:58 (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is great! Had never heard it before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVgRsWBb2l4

just heard the bad religion christmas album from 2013. I’m sure the novelty will wear thin fast but in my current fragile state its synthesis of superficially opposed nostalgias seems to reconcile some sort of deep seated turmoil in my psyche and it moves me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB2l6UESSyo

Here’s a new one

We are pleased to announce The Long Blondes 'Christmas Is Cancelled' will be released just in time for Christmas by @BlowUpRecords #thelongblondes #Christmas2020 #newmusic @NME @BBC6Music @marcrileydj @steve_lamacq@matteveritt https://t.co/Sn2mRKLuzA

— Blow Up Records (@BlowUpRecords) December 16, 2020

had slept on this: https://santasabbath.bandcamp.com/album/children-of-the-sleigh

Listening to the Soulful Strings recommended way upthread, this is great! Hits the perfect spot for me between jazz and kitschy easy listening.

i am going to get my hands on this, it sounds perfect

Annual post of my favourite-Christmas-songs playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1c1STHtL9vh4ZDHgvwYNoc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVYXGoH_peg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjPm0o04lGE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry7PcYtKPhA

Discovered a Johnny Horton christmas song & it is a goddamn treat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZVHlRYhbCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHRINgBk3YA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHQRKxJyHvQ

mary margret o hara - silent night

always pull this e.p. up, this time of year, happy xmas, everyone

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE3185A180A218F2D

count your blessings - a selection of seasonal songs with ace vocalists including mary margret o hara

S: James Brown - “let’s make Christmas mean something this year”

I have that album! beat to shit with some skips on side 1 but it's hard to find

I've just put out a mix / compilation of very old Xmas recordings

https://centuriesofsound.com/2020/12/21/centuries-of-sound-presents-deep-magic-christmas-recordings-1902-1924/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbL9Vsobx8I

not xmas per se, but extremely seasonal and guaranteed to lift the spirits of all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdJ0FcjMGD8
Samthing Soweto ft. Mzansi Youth Choir • The Danko! Medley

Here's a playlist of new xmas songs from this year that I enjoyed. Only 4 out of 47 are "Last Christmas" covers.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6g0NuGUoyTyqXmIHnKM2D6?si=U-v86VgdQry3pWs7zY8Gpg

My all-time favorite Xmas song. Cary Grant's "Here's to You" - the smooth "a votre santé", the sincere "shalom, sha - lom!", the rushed "kung hee fat choy" - is the gift that has kept on giving to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGPKnVHL1yY

Here's my heavy 2020 list-https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6s88CJdMQ9Wbudqe5DcY5i
Belated discovery of the year-I'd been aware of the Arbor Records Christmas comps (https://www.npr.org/2016/12/20/506152779/songs-we-love-the-classic-brown-christmas-sweaters) but had never really dug in before. Man was I missing out. Great original Christmas albums are pretty rare, but this one sure made 2020 a little more tolerable.
https://theclassicbrown.bandcamp.com/

I've been enjoying The Angry Snowmans this year. Christmas punk parodies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ji9K3sz56A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkdWAuqXvaQ

They even did a Nomeansno parody this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6YjlTMg-Vk

Only so many gifts can be slung with eight deer, one sleigh, on one run.

Oh, I posted this in another thread but I guess this is the one that is popping

Thom Gill has a gift for us all:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CJEXDhqgtcw/?igshid=1po3b1tjo8nt7

For me it's the Eurythmics' version of "Winter Wonderland" as one of the most iconic Christmas songs.

I remember it being huge as a kid on the radio, in department stores (seemed like everyone had that "A Very Special Christmas" album), so I was shocked to see how low its play counts were in the digital world these days. None of the multiple decade-old uploads on Youtube have yet to crack a million; it has about 3.5 million plays on Spotify (roughly the same as some of the tracks on the Sufjan Stevens Christmas album). Apparently only made the Billboard Holiday chart at #41 in 2011 and not since then... Both the Phil Spector/Darlene Love & Tony Bennett versions have charted from airplay and streaming in more recent years.

I never forget to come back to the Mountain Goats' rendition of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5I7y4xvPoU

Through the years we all will be together...

In the grave. That's where we'll all actually be together is in the grave.

...if the fates allow

I bought the Soulful Strings’ ‘Magical Christmas’ album (recommended itt) & it is delightful. Love!

^yep, one of the very best

Here is my Spotify Christmas playlist for this year. The usual mix of new and not so new. At 45 songs, it’s a bit longer than usual. There seem to be a LOT more new seasonal recordings this year compared with the norm. Also, there were quite a few finds from the People’s Pop polls on Twitter (just finished) that I had to squeeze in.

Link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4054OsQgPWQejHoBtxJsOa?si=JwfloeTsSLWWjSXItV2MzQ

Mi Burrito Sabanero - originally from Venezuela - is very popular in latinamerican countries and has the plus of being a christmas song that you can dance to.

Get to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B36074Q1G7U

Also if you’d rather dance to it “banda” style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKNQudGnLuo

Thanks, that one's new to me! I haven't really dug into Spanish-language Christmas apart from all the Fania Christmas albums and some Celia Cruz.

I see Calexico cover Mi Burrito Sabanero on their new Christmas album/I see Calexico have a new Christmas album/it's kind of boring

Speaking of Spanish language Christmas, just came to say ¡Feliz Vanidad!

Or even ¡Felisa me muero!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jueRg0H1_Jo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KvWwJ6sh5s

this is the one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncgtgDE253s

The Specials - a message to you rudy

are you confusing that with Do Nothing? (check the jumpers)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhGDdXg1o-Q

hmm....different context same name. it's Rudy 24/7, especially on christmas.

I heard this lovely little song on this year's holiday episode of Sound Opinions. The artist is Allan Hull, who was in 70s folk-rock band called Lindisfarne that I'd never heard of, though this song was from a posthumous 1996 solo album (Hull died in '95).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOSQEMmWh9E

S: François-Auguste Gevaert harmonisation of "Les anges dans nos campagnes"/"Angels We Have Heard on High"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hGYcz5oSFQ

There are a couple of the Starbucks Christmas comps that get a lot of play in our house this time of year. Some of the more enjoyable tracks:

Louis Armstrong with Benny Carter and his Orchestra - Christmas Night in Harlem
The Roches - Good King Wenceslas
Cyndi Lauper & Norah Jones - Home for the Holidays

Christmas songs are terrible dreck for the most part.
I did make a Spotify Playlist of Christmas Songs that Don't Suck that highlights the exceptions.

<iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/11F05Gtve6aUtyRlczdA1v?utm_source=generator&theme=0"; width="100%" height="380" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture"></iframe>

Yikes, thank didn't work!

This should: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/11F05Gtve6aUtyRlczdA1v?si=a46f84052874454c

Nice one two punch at the beginning!

Smithsonian Folkways playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0YG4eIRIiZRrzhMA0fZq6j?si=03ba7c4aad6a49b0&nd=1

:D

Does anyone have a link to, I guess, a “blues/jazz” playlist… like what I would hear growing up on the radio in Washington DC? The kind of thing when you hear five great versions of “Merry Christmas Baby” in the course of a few hours, interspersed with jazz Xmas tunes, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Ry_YaXss4

Big Christmas in chimney and in rest of house

This sounded good tonight:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0012rgj

Late Junction-y - Claire M Singer, Laura Cannell, Nils Frahm etc ...

Smithsonian Folkways playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0YG4eIRIiZRrzhMA0fZq6j?si=03ba7c4aad6a49b0&nd=1🕸

My Xmas 2021 playlist. Very late this year (too busy ensuring we could all get together this year, Covid-free, to give this much attention). So, rather hastily thrown together last night, then road tested at lunchtime, then tweaked a bit. I think it passes muster now.

Usual mix of old and brand new, with the emphasis on songs/versions that are new to me. Season's greetings to all ILXers.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1bKrVlYDJERlJzNWoRvNF3?si=0445d2bf46bf4045