Well, I ended up going to the bar for happy hour yesterday, rather than finishing my promised post on movies, so the two for one is going to come today.
Virginia has finally cooled down to the point of being downright cold. I left the house about 6pm yesterday and just a sweatshirt wasn't enough as I froze in my car until it warmed up. Maybe I need to move further south.
Movie #10: Miracle on 34th St.
When I was younger and people still used to watch movies on VHS, this was one of the go to Christmas movies.
Speaking of VHS, have you watched anything on VHS lately? It is insane how spoiled we have become with the quality of DVDs. I recently bought a movie on VHS from goodwill on the recommendation of a friend, and when I watched it I was almost livid that I had to watch something in such poor quality. Tracking? Can you believe you used to have to fight with a VCR to make sure the tape lined up correctly? Louis CK was right, technology has ruined us.
Anyway, it has been a few years since I sat down and watched Miracle on 34th St, so I won't sit here and mine plot details from Wikipedia to pass time. What I will do is tune in to it next time I notice it is on cable--and lets be honest, it will be somewhere between five and one thousand times in the next two weeks.
Movie #9: Jingle All the Way
Sinbad, Arnold, the late Phil Hartman all together in a movie about the insanity of shopping around the holidays. If there was one thing that Schwarzenegger was good at before his career change to politician, it was playing the dopey lead--Kindergarten Cop for example. As always, Phil Hartman knocks his performance out of the park, and Sinbad takes a vacation from not being funny to turn in a good performance. All in all a good choice for a lighthearted Christmas movie.
Movie #8: Elf
My first experience with the movie Elf was just two years ago. I was substitute teaching at a middle school on a three day assignment right before Christmas break. Of course this meant that I had to show one of three movies to four classes a day. Two of the classes chose Elf, which meant that not only did I watch the movie twice that week, but I watched the first half of it two times in a row, and the second half twice in a row.
Thankfully it is a very good movie, and watching it in such a disjointed and repetitive way is still enjoyable. There isn't a better actor on the planet than Will Farrel for the part of a giant elf. It doesn't hurt that I could watch Zooey Deschanel sit in a chair and stare at the camera with a bored look on her face for two hours, and I would probably pay to see it again.
Movie #7 Muppet Christmas Carol
It is a pretty safe bet that if you make a movie or television special that involves the Muppets, I will be head over heels for it. Sesame Street was the only television show I watched for the first few years of my life, and one of my earliest memories of cable TV as a kid was watching reruns of The Muppet Show on Cartoon Network. Hell, I even asked for a season of The Muppet Show for Christmas last year--season two, almost exclusively for the Steve Martin guest appearance.
Needless to say the Muppet's take on Dickens' Christmas Carol is an easy choice for this countdown. The hard thing was keeping this movie so far down the list, but things get pretty heated from here on out. More on that next week.
Today I promise to get up the last of the weekly posts (songs 25-21) that I have fallen behind on for the past few days. Until then, enjoy.
As I sat down to write this entry yesterday I got word that Urban Meyer had retired as head coach of Florida, and after searching for news on it and remembering just how much I didn't like Urban, I got sidetracked writing a post about him and other coaches I hate over at Maize n' Brew. Unfortunately I never came back here.
No matter though. The show must go on.
Song #30: Band Aid - Do They Know its Christmas
I'm going to be totally honest, watching this video again I am realizing it might be a little bit higher on the list than it should.
But then paying close attention to the video makes me realize just how many crappy 80's pop musicians got together to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. Look at this list of names:
Linda Ronstadt
Adam Clayton (U2)
Phil Collins (Genesis)
Bob Geldof (The Boomtown Rats)
Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet)
Chris Cross (Ultravox)
John Taylor (Duran Duran)
Paul Young
Tony Hadley
Glenn Gregory (Heaven 17)
Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran)
Simon Crowe
Marilyn
Keren Woodward (Bananarama)
Martin Kemp (Spandau Ballet)
Jody Watley (Shalamar)
Bono (U2)
Paul Weller (The Style Council, and previously The Jam)
James "J.T." Taylor (Kool & The Gang)
George Michael (Wham!)
Midge Ure (Ultravox)
Martyn Ware (Heaven 17)
John Keeble (Spandau Ballet)
Gary Kemp (Spandau Ballet)
Roger Taylor (Duran Duran)
Sara Dallin (Bananarama)
Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama)
Sting (The Police)
Pete Briquette (The Boomtown Rats)
Francis Rossi (Status Quo)
Robert 'Kool' Bell (Kool & the Gang)
Dennis Thomas (Kool & the Gang)
Andy Taylor (Duran Duran)
Jon Moss (Culture Club, former member of Adam and the Ants)
Rick Parfitt (Status Quo)
Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)
Johnny Fingers (The Boomtown Rats)
David Bowie (who contributed via a recording that was mailed to Geldof and then dubbed onto the single)
Boy George (Culture Club)
Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
Paul McCartney (Wings and The Beatles, who contributed via a recording that was mailed to Geldof and then dubbed onto the single)
Stuart Adamson (Big Country)
Bruce Watson (Big Country)
Tony Butler (Big Country)
Mark Brzezicki (Big Country)
I have a few questions after reading that list. Why does it seem like 1/4 of the performers were from either Duran Duran, Bananarama, Kool & the Gang, and Culture Club? What the hell was Big Country? What made McCartney and Bowie say, "screw it, I'll just mail in my vocal track on tape?"
The song isn't bad, and it is for a good cause, but I would have to say I am more blown away by the recent video of 80's TV and movie stars singing Let It Be while superimposed over a beach scene than I am with this video, and that is saying something.
Next year I'll read my list a little bit closer.
Song #29: Gene Autry - Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
Now this is a Christmas song that takes me back. If there was any song that got you excited about the holiday season when you were young, it was Gene Autry singing Rudolph.
The old country crooner has a significant place in Christmas music history. Not only did he sing extremely popular versions of two influential Christmas hits--Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman--but he wrote and recorded another Christmas classic, Here Comes Santa Claus. Autry recorded all three of these songs between 1948 and 1950, and they continue to be holiday favorites to this day.
Song #28: Otis Redding - Merry Christmas, Baby
This isn't the last time that Otis Redding or this song will appear on the list, which should give you a good indication of just how highly esteemed both are in my mind.
Redding has been one of my favorite recording artists for a few years now, ever since the Christmas that I received a four disc box set of his work as a gift. When it comes to soul music you would have a hard time finding someone who did it better than Otis. The man could alternate his voice between a booming, powerful yell, and a soft, sweet serenade, sometimes within the same song. When you talk to people about musicians who died too young you will often hear the names Hendrix, Cobain, Morrison, and Joplin thrown around. For my money, I don't think there was any loss more tragic, and more devastating to popular music that when Redding died in a plane crash at just 27 years old. Months before he had finally broken into the mainstream with his blistering performance at the Monterey Pop festival, and he wasn't even alive long enough to witness the release of the biggest hit of his career, (Sitting On) The Dock of the Bay. While Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, and Cobain were all fueled in their music by drugs, booze, and in Cobain's case a distaste for mainstream music, Otis was driven by pure joy and soul, and when his plane went down on that cold December day, 43 years ago tomorrow, the world was robbed of perhaps one of the most promising young musicians it has ever known.
Redding's recording of Merry Christmas, Baby is him at his best, and as always the backing of Booker T & the M.G.'s is spot on. This track is an absolute essential for any lover of Christmas or Soul music.
Song #27: The Eagles - Please Come Home for Christmas
When Pat and I first decided to put this list together, we discussed only using one version of each song. That way we could find the best version of, say White Christmas or I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. Ultimately that idea fell through. While there is a large amount of overlap in recorded Christmas music, with many artists working from the same small bank of songs, there are a few songs which have been so well done by multiple artists that it was unfair to discount those versions in favor of mediocre original versions (think, Last Christmas).
This song is a perfect example. I would venture to guess that a lot of people would consider this a top-20 caliber song. I certainly did for many years. The Eagles knocked this one out of the park. The chimes in the beginning set the mood perfectly, and then the ballad slowly rolls in a swinging 6/8 time as Don Henley does some of the best emotive and heartfelt singing of his career. The short guitar solo in the middle isn't flashy, but perfectly fits the longing mood that hangs over the whole song.
Unfortunately the boys just can't hold up the the standard set by the artist higher on this list. That doesn't mean they should be punished, however, as this song is worthy of any Christmas music countdown list you could think to write.
Song #26: Burl Ives - Holly Jolly Christmas
Here is another song that reminds me of my childhood. Most remember Burl Ives best from his voicing of Sam the Snowman in the classic television special Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (which we will come back to later in the countdown, I can assure you). The song was originally written for the special, and was much later released as a single, but it has still managed to become a Christmas music staple. Ives, a folk singer and actor, was the perfect person to pull off such a happy song, and he made one helluva model for a stop-motion snowman as well.
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Check back later in the afternoon for today's movie entry.
Today's entry will be coming tomorrow. I got caught up writing a post for Maize n' Brew and didn't find the time for the next installment over here. Look for the next five songs, and the next movie post tomorrow.
Last week I got an instant message telling me to turn on ABC*. I quickly did it because the Miami/Cleveland game was boring me to sleep. What I found was the first of today's entries was playing. It just doesn't feel like Christmas until those holiday specials take over the network TV stations.
*(may not have been the right channel, but it's my story so deal with it)
Special #7: Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Most specials function as stories, ways to tell classic tales--for example, those about Scrooge or Rudolph-- or newer original stories. Santa Claus is Coming to Town puts storytelling aside as it focuses on a larger goal: filling in the back story of Santa Claus. Everybody and his brother knows how Scrooge came to find the Christmas spirit and how Rudolph saved the day. What most don't know is anything about the origins of Santa Claus. He exists simply as one of the unexplained myths that surrounds Christmas. We know that the modern day Santa Claus is based on a historical figure "Saint Nicolas", but the rest of the story has been imaginatively filled in over the years to include flying reindeer, chimneys, and elves on the north pole. While there is value in tracing Santa Claus' historical roots as a folk figure, little kids don't care. Why should they? The fantasy and mythology behind Christmas is supposed to be about the impossible and the magical.
This is where Santa Claus comes in. Our narrator, a postman voiced by Fred Astaire, recounts how the legend of Santa Claus that we all--well, not all, but you know what I mean--learn as children. Young Nicolas is left in the woods, adopted by a family of elves, and then saves a small town that has lost the spirit of giving and--gasp--has outlawed presents. Some of the explanations seem forced and laughable, but the spirit behind Santa Claus is pure. Fred Astaire's postman sums up the spirit of (secular) Christmas pretty well at the end. Christmas is a time about thinking of others, spreading joy, and making life a little easier on everyone. Next time you spend two minutes cursing under your breath while standing in the Best Buy checkout line behind 150 people, try to keep that in mind. It is a lesson we can all get behind, even if we don't believe in Santa.
Special #6: Mickey's Christmas Carol
There isn't much that can be said about Walt Disney's wonderful take on A Christmas Carol. Scrooge McDuck is the perfect Disney embodiment of old Ebeneezer himself, and the inclusion of so many great Disney characters from other movies really takes you back. The story is of course well told and concise (the whole thing is a scant 24 minutes long) while doing great justice to Dicken's original.
I can do nothing now but implore you to watch it again for yourself, courtesy of YouTube.
If the room doesn't get a little dusty when Scrooge visits the Cratchits' house at the end, you may have a heart just as cold as the Grinch.
Special #5: Frosty the Snowman
Since I am running late on getting this posted I won't go into too much detail on Frosty, but rest assured it remains one of my favorite Christmas specials of all time. Another short one (25 minutes) it is definitely worth the time to watch on YouTube.
Back with another 5 songs tomorrow. I'll even try to post the list at a decent time.
The weather has finally begun to turn down in Virginia. The weekend saw temperatures plummet to the 40's during the day, and Saturday night we got our first bit of snow--which quickly melted. While this doesn't do much to foster the holiday spirit around these parts, I prefer the milder weather to whatever is happening in Michigan right now. Snow or no, I like being able to go outside in just a sweatshirt in December.
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.
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.
This will be a short post as I started it well later than I should have and don't have much to say about the first five entries of the list.
Movie #15 - Gremlins
Not a Christmas movie you say? Why does Randall buy Gizmo in the first place? The answer is Christmas, and that is enough to get it on this list.
Movie #14 - The Santa Clause
Terrible tagline, just terrible.
What the hell happened to Tim Allen? During the Home Improvement years of the nineties it seemed like you couldn't turn around without hearing that stupid grunt coming from somewhere. In 1994 Allen starred in The Santa Clause and launched a movie career that would largely fizzle out to a series of flops and ill advised sequels by the end of the decade (and movie "career" might be a bit generous as it includes Jungle 2 Jungle and Galaxy Quest as part of hit golden age). Between the holiday hit and the wildly popular Toy Story soon after, it seemed like the sky was the limit for Allen. I would list his poor movie choices of the past ten years as an illustration of how far he has fallen, but you probably wouldn't know any of them.
Movie #13 - Scrooged
One of the downsides to compiling a list of this sort with other people is that occasionally you run across something that you have no knowledge of. This is one of those times. If I saw Scrooged as a child, I certainly don't remember it.
However, I have a standing rule that anything Bill Murray does gets the benefit of the doubt, and between him in the lead role and the lovely Karen Allen as his love interest, I have nothing but faith that this #13 ranking is deserved, sight unseen.
Movie #12 - Love Actually
Rowan Atkinson is OK in my book.
What does it say about me that I haven't seen Bill Murray's Christmas movie, but I have seen arguably the biggest holiday themed chick flick of all time? Don't answer that. Not only have I seen Love Actually, but I actually remember enjoying the movie. If you couldn't bring yourself to at least feel some emotion, then I just don't know what will melt your icy heart.
The only bad thing I can find to say about Love Actually is that it seems to me that it is the stylistic origin of progressively worse movies like He's Not That in to You and later Valentines Day.
Movie #11 - Bad Santa
This very well could be the role that Billy Bob Thornton was. A disgruntled mall Santa Claus involved in a crime plot to knock over department stores during the holidays, who is teamed up with a filthy mouthed midget and is trying to pull one over on John Ritter and Bernie Mac as the store manager and head of security? Add in the fact that I have always had a thing for Lauren Graham and the Coen Brothers are involved and you have a perfect recipe for a hilariously dark Christmas movie.
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Five more songs to come tomorrow, then back on Monday for another week of the countdown.
The flurry of comments on Facebook this morning tell me that it is snowing back in Michigan. It is currently just under 70 degrees here in Virginia. For a lifelong Michigander it is tough to muster Christmas spirit in what is essentially June beach weather, but I will do my best.
The reason that these lists didn't start going up until this week is that I adhere to the rule that it is unacceptable to listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving and after New Years Day. While I will occasionally bend this rule for a song in June, I usually do my best to stick to it. This year I listened to more Christmas music than ever in November in an effort to prepare this list. Mostly it was snippets of songs that I hadn't heard in a while.
Thankfully, now that it is past Thankgiving I am free to listen to all the Christmas music that I want to, and I did just that today. I hear a lot of complaints about Christmas music from people, but I have never understood them. If you don't like Christmas music, you are probably just listening to the wrong stuff.
Let's get back to more of the right stuff.
Song #45: Clarence Carter - Back Door Santa
The Blues are vastly underrepresented in popular music--at least in this humble blogger's opinion. For a genre that is so rich in history and so diverse in its modern incarnations, it is incredible to me that it is simply ignored by most. This extends to Christmas music as well, a genre that is really a collection of a wide range of styles--from Nat King Cole to Trans-Siberian Orchestra to Mariah Carey--all united by a few common themes. Christmas music, being a largely commercial enterprise that is confined to one short period each year, can be a tough one to delve into. Chances are your standard Christmas radio station will play 95% of the same popular tunes that you have heard every year for the past couple decades, slowly working in a few more bland adult contemporary covers of traditional songs. Is it any wonder some people hate Christmas music? I might too if I was forced to listen to the same garbage all the time.
The pop heavy landscape of the Christmas music culture doesn't make it easy to find new and more obscure takes on Christmas favorites, but occasionally you'll luck out, as was the case with me and the song Back Door Santa by Clarence Carter. A couple months back I started catching up on the first few seasons of How I Met Your Mother. I had heard good reviews of the show and was looking for something lighthearted after finishing three seasons of Breaking Bad. During the Christmas episode in the second season, one of the main characters helps a UPS delivery man delivery presents on Christmas Eve, with this song playing in the background.
A simple 12-bar blues song about a man bringing "joy" to all the women of the neighborhood using the back door not the chimney, this song is a great example of what can happen when great musicians take inspiration from the myriad of Christmas traditions and stories and make them their own.
Song #44: Bing Crosby and David Bowie - Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy
What an interesting paring of musicians. The old traditionalist himself, Bing Crosby and the king of glam rock, David Bowie. The Christmas spirit certainly works in magical ways.
What this duo lacks in any logical connection, it more than makes up for with one amazing version of Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy. Bowie wanders over to a neighbors house hoping to use the piano, in what is a contrived plot setup to put him in the same room as Bing. The two speak about their love Christmas time and the classics, then start into Little Drummer Boy. After a quick chorus of Little Drummer Boy, Bowie breaks into the achingly beautiful Peace on Earth while Crosby continues an understated harmony of "pa rum pa pum pum" underneath the glam rocker's surprisingly tender voice. The two singer's compliment each other wonderfully in what is a great arrangement written specifically for the two of them, and we are all better off with this song in the December rotation.
Song #43: Gayla Peevey - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Christmas tends to draw out some strange musical contributions that gain mass appeal in the sheer novelty of the idea. Songs like Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer (which you will not see on this countdown out of principle) are at the same time both lyrically strange and infuriatingly addicting. I would venture to guess that just the mention of the title has sparked a repeating chorus in your head right now.
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is one of these catchy but hard to forget novelty songs. Written in 1953 and performed by ten year old Gayla Peevey--who Wikipedia describes as a "regional child star" in the Oklahoma City area--this song is a staple of bubbly Christmas radio jockeys everywhere. Children, being the commercialized focus of Christmas, get much more leeway when it comes to nasally and annoying vocal tracks over trite or nonsensical lyrics--although Willow Smith is doing her damnedest to break down the barrier and carry these traits to the other eleven months of the year.
In this song little Gayla has her heart dead set on getting a Hippopotamus for Christmas. She offers up no concrete explanation as to why--although being pop music there is a certain amount of disbelief to suspend anyway--but seems to have thought through some of the logistical issues already (bring it in the front door and not the chimney, no worries of attacks as hippos are herbivores). While not the best product of the tried and true equation "cute kid + Christmas stereotype + lighthearted backing track = cash cow", I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is catchy enough to get stuck in your head, and just good enough soyou don't mind (for a little while, anyway).
Song #42: The Royal Guardsmen - Snoopy's Christmas
On Christmas Eve 1914, German and British soldiers on the western front put aside their differences for a short time to celebrate the holiday that was sacred to both sides. This order did not come from the commanders, but was instead initiated by the men in the trenches. In some cases gifts of beer and tobacco were exchanged and games of football were played. Commanders did their best the next three Christmases to limit any overtures of peace for the day, but the spirit of Christmas had already proven to be a powerful force even in the face of the terribly destructive First World War.
In the early 60's, the Royal Guardsmen followed up their novelty hit Snoopy vs. The Red Baron--based on the Charles Schultz comic strips that showed Snoopy's dreamlife of being a fighter pilot--with Snoopy's Christmas, a tale of a aerial dogfight that took place on Christmas Eve between Snoopy and the Red Baron. The two skilled pilots fight bitterly until the Red Baron has Snoopy in his gunsights, but in the spirit of the Christmas Truce of 1914, the two pilots called off hostilities midway through the fight and went their separate ways.
The song is classic oldies arrangement with a touch of Christmas (sleigh bells jingling over the chorus, the constant pitter patter of a Little Drummer Boy-esque roll of the snare drum, and a quick interlude of Hark the Herald at the songs climax). The Royal Guardsmen's song, written in 1967, stands the test of time and is easily one of the more enjoyable rock and roll Christmas songs out there.
Song #41: Barry Gordon - Nuttin' For Christmas
If Gayla Peevey's hit outlines one of the prominent running jokes of Christmas--a child's outsized expectations for their gift--then Barry Gordon tale of a young menace getting his serving of coal for the year's misdeeds is the perfect counterweight.
Gordon recounts a whole laundry list of mischievous doings from the past year that range from tormenting teachers and classmates to low-tech counterfeiting (penny slug? somebody call the Treasury Department). While Gordon accepts his punishment, he seems overly concerned not with the morality of his pranks, but rather the fact that he got caught because of a "snitch", a great example set for the youth of America--don't get caught.
Nuttin' For Christmas is another one of those songs that tends to linger in your head for a while. Gordon's vocal inflection is deliberate and casts an air of annoyance at the whole situation, while Art Mooney & His Orchestra create the perfect mood for the tale of the hijinks of a seven year old. All in all this is another one of those songs that make you smile the first time you hear it during the Christmas season, but slowly wear you down by the time you are rushing to finish shopping two days before Christmas.
