I'm not one for pushing Xmas over the November border, in fact I rarely start shopping until Dec 22. However the combination of media prattling on about the consumerism of Christmas and ers' recent holiday toonage post got me thinking about my own love of holiday toonage.
Yes, I admit it, I LOVE the Xmas Music. I sing along in stores. I use to join in on the group carol sing every morning in high school (when PC still was a political party). I tune into the Xmas radio station all of December and I dance around to it baking cookies and singing at the top of my lungs.
So when I read Kate's post about her favourite holiday tune, I realized I've always wanted to compile a playlist filled with my favourites.
I'd start with:
- Good King Wenchlessness (sp!)
- Santa Baby (Eartha Kit not Madonna)
- Beuford's getting nothing for Xmas cuz Beuford's been nothing but bad (modified after Beuford the dog killed & ate the Xmas turkey)
- Kermit's One More Sleep 'til Xmas
- Dreidle-dreidle-dreidle
- Let It Snow
- It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
- Winter Wonderland
- The Holly & The Ivy
- Please Come Home for Xmas
- I'll Have a Blue Xmas Without You
- I'm Only Getting Half Of What I Oughta 'Cause My Birthday Comes on Christmas
- and my new favourite: A Christmas Without Weed - Shawn Colvin
Of course, one tune that will never, ever, ever, be on my playlist is the one about the kid
who tries to buy shoes for his dying mom. You know the one, it starts
out as just a sappy country tune but it progresses to something that
will wrench tears from the hardest of hearts. And not in a good way.
That song is like crack for Christmas addicts. Thank goodness I'll never be one of those. Now, where did I put my Frosty-The-Snow-Sweater?
Help me build the definitive Holiday Toonage List -- tell me your favourite Xmas/Holiday tunes.
Posted by: Amanda | November 24, 2006 at 12:15 PM
My ab-fav is The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams. A couple lesbian pagans go visit relatives. Truly definitive of the Christmas spirit, and I'm not being sarcastic. Will look for a link later when I have a minute......
Posted by: margotinto | November 24, 2006 at 12:17 PM
Amanda - Kermit's One More Sleep 'til Xmas is from the same movie "Light the lap not the rat. Light the lamp, not the rat!"
margotinto - waiting for that link. Sounds great.
Posted by: Lex | November 24, 2006 at 02:22 PM
The Christmas Waltz -- Frank Sinatra
Merry Christmas Baby -- Lou Rawls
White Christmas and Mele Kalikimaka -- Bing Crosby
Cool Yule -- Louis Armstrong
Let It Snow! -- Ella Fitzgerald
The Man with the Bag -- Kay Starr
As you can see, I dig the old school schtuff. What is it about Christmas songs? I don't even celebrate Christmas but I can't resist the ol' crooners -- maybe it's because they go so well with those merry martinis.
Posted by: rogue | November 24, 2006 at 08:10 PM
aargh! The Christmas Shoes song! One year at work, we tuned into the station that played all Christmas songs all the time for the month of December. Just over halfway through, I had to change the station cuz of that doggone shoe song! Then they made a bloody movie out of it! I like most Christmas music but that song is just wretched!
Posted by: melissa | November 24, 2006 at 08:34 PM
K, I can't find a link to the song specifically, so here's some of the lyrics:
The food was great, the tree plugged in, the meal went by without a hitch,
Then Timmy turned to Amber and said "Is it true that you're a witch?"
Her aunt jumped up and said "The pies are burning!" and she hit the kitchen,
But it was Jane who spoke, she said "It's true your cousin's not a Christian,
But we love trees, we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we share,
And you find magic in your God, and we find magic everywhere."
So the Christians and the Pagans sat together at the table,
Find faith and common ground the best that they were able.
Where does magic come from, I think magic in the learning,
Cuz now when Christians sit with Pagans, only pumpkin pies are burning.
Posted by: margotinto | November 25, 2006 at 12:12 PM
[this is good] Okay, I gotta say, that sounds like the best Xmas song EVER!
Posted by: Lex | November 25, 2006 at 01:24 PM
It's a pre chain reaction, I just posted my first hoiday theme comment then come to your blog and there is a Holiday theme idea, spooky. I too usually wait until December to even mention Christmas.After I get over the shock I will try to post something else.
Posted by: stampgeek | November 25, 2006 at 04:02 PM
I agree with Lex, I want to hear that song, margotinto!!
[warning ... ravings from music geek to follow ... ]
I'm a Christmas music nerd, by which I mean that I've sung in choirs since I was little and without a little choral music, the season just doesn't schmeck, if you know what I mean.
Really fine arrangements, beautifully executed, of Silent Night, Lo, How A Rose, and In the Bleak Midwinter, will leave me glassy-eyed every time. A few years ago, my choir did a jazz version of Cool Yule, which someone mentioned a few posts ago. That was fun.
I've uploaded the following to a collection I've started. Jabula Jesu is a catchy little number with both English and Zulu lyrics. Way too much fun to sing if you get it right ... a nightmare if you blow it. The version I found online is performed by a community choir in Pennsylvannia and I think they can be very proud of themselves. I especially like how they didn't let the crying baby in the audience distract them. Nicely done! " ... wake up in the moonlight singing! ... heaven is a-waiting for you ... "
O Magnum Mysterium is one of those serious "for choral nutbars only" pieces. I love it but I think it probably has a limited fan base. Beautiful "crunchy" discordant harmonies that resolve like buttah.
Al Shlo Sha, sung in Hebrew, is a setting of a popular maxim from Jewish morality laws, translated to mean: "The
world is sustained by three things, by truth, by justice, and by peace." OK - not "Christmas", strictly speaking ... this is a version sung by a children's choir.
Ave Maria (Franz Biebl arrangement) is a "modern" setting of the traditional latin words. Again, strictly speaking, I don't think this is a Christmas piece. It just has that feel to it. Listening to this piece can totally stop me in my tracks. It is so damn beautiful.
Still, Still Still is a German carol written in the same style as Silent Night but less well known in North America. The English version I have uploaded is very nice, but it isn't my favourite. Mannheim Steamroller did a wonderful version of this that I will try to find. Of all my Christmas children, this one has to be near the top ... but as with children, it hardly seems fair to try to name a favourite, does it?
Thanks for asking / inspiring, Lex ... :-)
Posted by: Venus | November 25, 2006 at 05:13 PM
I have to add The Pogues' Fairytale of New York. Such a romantic, I am.
Also, The Wassail Song, because our choirmaster had us perform it in grade 6. Actually that one's not so much a favourite as one that gets stuck in my head at unpredictable times and will. not. leave. Thanks, Mr. Edison: that tune will torment my consciousness in perpetuity.
Posted by: tankyouverymuch | November 28, 2006 at 09:01 AM