Even though I really have nothing else going on I found a way to totally ignore today's post until this afternoon. Time is a wastin' so let's get on with it.
Song #40: Ella Fitzgerald - Sleigh Ride
Some songs lend themselves well to covers, and in the genre of Christmas music this is amplified a thousand fold. While there are a number of clever original pieces, most of the Christmas music you will hear during the holiday season is a retread of something that came before. Songs that were written over half a decade ago and traditional Christmas carols all populate the Christmas airwaves in one form or another. Most of these versions fall into one of three camps: older crooners like Bing, Frank, Dean, and the like singing in front of a big band, overpowering female vocalists doing their best to convince everyone, "I really have an awesome voice, and you should be impressed by all this," and understated adult contemporary singers quietly singing over a hushed acoustic guitar or piano track. Some of this works, and some of it doesn't. It comes down to matching the singer with the song and somehow making that version stand out.
Ella Fitzgerald certainly has the pipes to fall under category number two, but she has the jazz background to easily hang with the boys club. In Sleigh Bells, she is trancendent, not overpowering the song for effect and allowing her voice to float along on the swing of the band behind her. When she sings "giddy up" she injects it with just enough jazz scat to keep it interesting. Credit is also due to arranger Frank De Vol for the tasteful infusion of a big band swing beat that replaces the "ring-a-ling ring-a-ling" of sleigh bells with the "ch-ch-cha-ch-ch-cha" of the high hat. In the end this version sounds like no other version of Sleigh Bells that you'll ever hear and that makes Ella's contribution a hard Christmas song to ignore--as well as one you don't want to forget.
Song #39: The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick
On the other side of the coin is the clever Christmas original, and if there was ever a band equipped to write and perform a song unlike anything you've ever heard before it is the Beach Boys and their distinctive southern California style.
Of course the Little Saint Nick that the song refers to isn't Santa at all, but his sleigh. That sleigh is Santa's pride and joy--as he spends all year working on it--and gets all the descriptors you would expect from the Beach Boys in an ode to a souped up ride: four speed stick, candy apple red, and "when Santa hits the gas, man, just watch her peel." Little Saint Nick is an original look at Christmas reflecting the cultural milieu in which the Beach Boys wrote it. It would be almost three years before the Beach Boys would redefine their sound and release their ambitious album Pet Sounds. However, in 1963 they were still carefree kids singing about girls, cars, and surfing. Little Saint Nick was, not surprisingly, released as a single between Be True to Your School and Fun, Fun, Fun. The Beach Boys had a knack for writing pop music, and they showed that gift on this Christmas hit.
Song #38: Jose Feliciano - Feliz Navidad
Could a song that wasn't sung half in Spanish get away with this much repetition? Probably not, but for American pop music audiences the repetative verses sung in spanish are novel enough to carry until that final bar out of which the chorus explodes, "I want to wish you a merry Christmas."
Of course the music helps carry this song as well. The verse slowly builds on the back of an acoustic guitar and a sprinkling of percussion, until strings kick in the second time and heighten the anticipation for the chorus sung on top of a fast snare drum and blasting horn section. The little horn licks and string parts help keep this song moving forward over the bouncing beat and the sum of the parts is an eminently likable song that just makes you want to tap your foot. In the end, isn't that what good pop music is all about?
Song #37: John Mellencamp - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
Before he ever unleashed the patriotic and achingly bad This Is Ouuuuuuuuur Country on the helpless ears of the American public, and turned a nation of football fans against him due to constant over exposure, John Mellencamp put out some pretty good Americana infused rock music. He exists in a strange place in the rock and roll lexicon. Folksy and distinctive yet with an underlying commercial appeal, he was too hokey and his songs too trite to ever even warrant a discussion of his place next to singer/songwriters like Dylan and Springsteen--not to mention his late entry into the business. Where Mellencamp released songs like Jack and Diane and Cherry Bomb as his ode to adolecence, Springsteen released albums like The Wild, The Innocent, and the E-Street Shuffle to which Mellencamp can only respond with a blank stare of humility.
But it is unfair to ask John Mellencamp to be that which he isn't. Think of him as the American Bryan Adams, or perhaps the middle America version of Bob Seger. Rock and rollers, all three of them, with traditional roots and the ability to really open up their voice and wail a few times an album in a way that Mick Jagger could have done in his sleep.
Putting aside my backhanded compliments, Mellencamp's version of I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is a good one. It is a simple rock and roll track showered by powerful backup singers and a honky tonk fiddle. While the definitive statement on this song was done years earlier in a wildly different style, Mellencamp and the band rock this one through and through.
Song #36: Carol of the Bells
This list was originally set out to be an exploration of pop Christmas music, with an avoidance of classical and more traditional versions of songs. The two focuses of Christmas music are different enough that comparing the two is more like apples to oranges. "Better to stay with the radio friendly Christmas music," I thought.
For this song I will make an exception. At the insistence of a fellow collaborator I listened to this song and was instantly reminded just how good it is. It doesn't hurt that it was also included in the movie Home Alone. Carol of bells is a powerful choir song that builds and builds in layers, giving you goosebumps until it gently fades away. While it isn't the sort of song you would hear on a pop Christmas station, it still stands the test of time as a beautiful and haunting holiday song, and a wonderful song to turn on when you get home from hours of immersion in the muzak of malls and department stores during the holiday season.
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