However, the holiday season is inextricably linked to snow, and todays edition of the countdown has a couple entries that deal specifically with the weather. Let's get to it and see if we can't make me miss the days of six inches of snow and shoveling the driveway.
Song #35: Aaron Neville - Let It Snow
Somehow snow is a comforting thing to have around the holidays--as long as you aren't driving, shopping, working, or really doing anything but looking at it from behind a window pane. I imagine that this is a very regional point of view, and I have yet to hear the thoughts of any southerners who may or may not value snow as a holiday tradition. While I am grateful for the mild weather now, I know part of me will be happy to see a blanket of white when I get home for Christmas.
It's this kind of connection between weather and Christmas that powers some of the most iconic songs of the holiday season. Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, and of course Let It Snow all fall into this category. Songs about our love of shitty weather during the holidays.
Although there is more to Let It Snow than just masochism (if you have shopped a couple days before Christmas in a blinding snowstorm you'll know what I'm talking about). There is something about the harsh conditions outside that adds to the atmosphere of the holidays indoors. A family gathered around the kitchen table eating dinner while wind whips snow against the windows and doors, a warm night on the couch as the snow buries everything outside, it all serves to bring you closer together under one roof. The warmth of the holidays and family is sometimes amplified by the closeness of everyone inside and the foreboding blanket of snow outside.
Neville's version of Let It Snow leans a little bit smooth jazz, but it does so in a warm and inviting way. And anytime you can work an organ into a song you are going to score points with me. Honorable mention for this song would be Wynton Marsalis' version. It is fast paced and chaotic. A perfect counterpoint to the warmth of Neville's version.
Song #34: Cheech and Chong - Santa Claus and his Old Lady
(Admittedly I have linked to some strange videos for this list, but this might be the weirdest collection of pictures yet.)
Nothing says Christmas like a couple stoner burnouts singing off key and recounting a very non-traditional view of the patron saint of Christmas. I honestly can't say much about this song that you won't get from just listening to it. This has always been a favorite of mine, and absolutely hilarious.
Cheech and Chong have absolutely impeccable comic timing and chemistry together, and the backing music is spot on. If you haven't already, I suggest you listen. You won't regret it.
Song #33: Sammy Davis Jr. - Christmastime All Over the World
One of my favorite things about Christmas music is that there are always gems out there that are yet to be discovered. I've written about this before, with such a short window to actually listen to Christmas music, you limit yourself in your ability to really dig deep and find new songs. That leads to a few truly great discoveries each holiday season--if you are looking.
Christmastime All Over the World is just one of those discovers for your humble blogger. I had downloaded a couple of Christmas compilations two or three years ago, but never gotten around to fully listening to all of them. This year while I was home for Thanksgiving I turned on the computer and went through my iTunes to fill in any gaps on this countdown. On a whim I turned on this Sammy Davis Jr. hit, and I couldn't be happier about it.
I am admittedly not well versed in anything Sammy Davis Jr. had done. The only reason I could even pick the man out of a lineup is the fact that there weren't many brothers rolling with the Rat Pack back in the day. However, this song is rapidly climbing my list of favorite Christmas tunes. Sammy's voice is a perfect fit over this bouncing melody, and the children's choir is a wonderful touch.
Here is hoping that next year I find something just as sweet to listen to.
Song #32: Louis Armstrong and Velma Middleton - Baby, It's Cold Outside
Is this a Christmas song?
Do I care?
The answer is "yes, kind of" and "hell no". Regardless it is one of my favorite songs to listen to during the holiday season. The interplay between Armstrong and Middleton is absolutely perfect. There might not be a better person to sing the male part than Louis Armstrong, who absolutely kills it. He is simultaneously sweet and funny, and his timing is uproariously funny. Middleton plays the female part straight and milks it for all it is worth. It is a real pleasure to hear two performers who are comfortable enough in a duet that the interplay seems effortless, and these two are great together.
Song #31: Ertha Kit - Santa Baby
Some songs become so entwined with a certain ideal or mood so much so that artists feel compelled to cover them regardless of whether it is a good idea. In some cases this isn't a big deal. Anybody can sing a version of Jingle Bell Rock or Winter Wonderland and have it be decent. However, the mood or ideal that makes a song so unique or powerful can often preclude it from being easy to adapt.
Santa Baby is one of those songs. It is a song that is about decadence and desire, wanting the world delivered to you under the tree: yachts, jewelry, houses, cars, and the like. The original version, sung by Ertha Kit, milks this desire and longing for all it's worth. It's soft and understated, seductive without being overly sexualized. Kit's hushed vocals are almost childish in their sweetness, but that only heightens the mood of the song: shes a woman, and she has needs. It isn't a song about seduction but a song that seduces, and it isn't overtly cutesy or childish but subtly enough to not overpower the general mood.
However, the mood of the song gets inevitably shifted in subsequent covers. Madonna pushes the tempo of the song and pushes the vocals to a cutesy tone that ultimately undercuts the very sense of adult longing that makes the song so powerful in the original version. Madonna hears the childish tone of the first and distorts and overpowers it by singing the song like a child. Taylor Swift divorces the song of any of it's original sultry tone. Although she is essentially a kid, she sings it too sweet and without any seductive undertones. Again the song loses its power (the generic country backing track doesn't help).
Kit struck a delicate balance with this song, and it is not an easy one to get to. Unfortunately, this song seems to be one of the most popular songs for young female singers to cover. Rarely does anyone do it well, and never has anyone hit the right balance of sweet and sensual that Kit did as the original singer of this song.
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