Songs 45 - 41

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.

TV Specials 10 - 8

Of the three countdowns we planned to do, the TV special countdown was the smallest in scale and hardest to put together.  All of these TV specials were cornerstones of my holiday viewing schedule, but in the case of some of the specials on the list it has been 10 to 15 years since I have seen them.  All that is a roundabout way of saying that this will be a relatively fuzzy walk down memory lane with the help of lots of Youtube videos and maybe a little Wikipedia as a refresher.

TV Special #10:  A Claymation Christmas (1987)


This just so happens to be one of the holiday specials that I remember the least, save for a few memorable parts.  How could anyone forget about the California Rasins?

"Don't sweat, it's Christmas eve.  Next reindeer's due any minute."



What singing raisins have to do with Christmas is beyond me (outside the possibility of the powerful Grape PAC orchestrating the use of grape related products in TV for increased advertising, I can't even connect this to the commercialization of the holiday), but this clip has some staying power.  Is it the anthropomorphic rasins or the sweet sound of the Temptations?  Who knows, but if this song wasn't already a cornerstone of the TV specials list, it would probably make the top 50 song list.

Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas is a guide to traditional Christmas carols hosted by a pair of dinosaurs, Herb and Rex (again, what do dinosaurs have to do with Christmas?).  The hit on such classics as We Three Kings, Carol of the Bells, and Angels We have Heard on High, all the while struggling with the word "Wassail" until the final scene:



Every December you can find the Rudolph, Peanuts, or Garfield Christmas specials on TV somewhere, but it has been years since I saw Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas on television.  Revisiting it years later (Youtube parts 1, 2, and 3) I can safely say that the holidays are a little better after a round of claymation Christmas carols.

TV Special #9: The Year Without Santa Claus (1974)


The Year Without Santa Claus centers around Santa's decision to take a year off of Christmas, which sets off a chain of events that lands two of his most trusted elves in a southern town and baby reindeer Vixen in the pound (because he was mistaken for a dog).  As most specials go this one has its share of drama and uplift at the end.  However, what most Christmas specials don't have is the Snow Miser, Heat Miser song:



You would be hard pressed to find a better song in any Christmas special out there.  The song is straight big band jazz and one of the coolest things--hottest for the Heat Miser--out there.  These old specials sure did pack a punch in the music department.

TV Special #8: Christmas Eve on Sesame St. (1978)


One of my first memories of any Christmas specials is of this one.  I can remember my parents making a VHS tape of the special for me one year, and then watching it throughout my childhood.  Unfortunately, this is another one of the Christmas specials that I haven't seen in many years.

For the last few years I tried to put my finger on just where I remembered the cast of Sesame St. ice skating to Feliz Navidad, and it was only near the end of compiling this list that I found the answer:



The opening sequence is great.  First a little girl teaches Big Bird to ice skate, followed by one of my favorite scenes of the movie, Burt, Ernie, The Count, and Cookie Monster fooling around on the ice, culminating in a game of "snap the whip" that ends by hurling Oscar the Grouch out of the rink, down a couple flights of stairs and through a wall.  Big Bird comes to comfort Oscar, but is confronted by Oscar's argument that Santa can't fit down a chimney to deliver presents.

What follows are a number of Christmas scenes involving different characters on Sesame St.  Burt and Ernie's plot involves a retelling of the old story Gift of the Magi, Cookie Monster tries to let Santa know what he wants for Christmas, and Oscar professes his disgust for Christmas.

In the end, Big Bird hides out on a rooftop waiting for Santa, but sleeps through the visit.  He goes down to Gordon and Susan's apartment to warm up, only to find that Santa did indeed come and there was nothing to worry about after all.

Introduction and Songs 50 - 46

This is a little holiday project cooked up by a myself and a friend to pass the time and debate some of our favorite Christmas music, movies, and TV specials.  We have spent the last month fleshing out a list of the top 50 Christmas songs, top 15 Christmas movies, and the top 10 TV specials.


New posts will be up each weekday from now until December 24th.


Enjoy.


--


Song # 50: Tom Waits - Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis





I acknowledge that Tom Waits isn't for everyone, but once you get through the scratchy, and somewhat flat rendition of Silent Night you come to one of Waits better expositional set of lyrics, a Christmas card from a hooker to the father of her unborn child before Christmas.  It is easy to forget now-a-days that Christmas cards carried much more weight in the past than they do in an age of constant connection through phone and internet.  When Waits' hooker sends a Christmas card to a former lover (client?) its a deeply touching and personal account of the hardships that the past year has brought, and quite possibly the only contact she will have with him until next Christmas--or at least until after Valentine's day.  Waits narrates through the past year of this poor womans life, from getting married to a trombone player and cleaning herself up to memories of the hair grease her former lover used to use (breaking into Little Anthony and the Imperials).


Waits has the luxury of being talented and offbeat enough that a Christmas song based on a hooker's correspondence with a former lover is not only accepted as par for the course, but sweet and funny despite the sketchy subject matter.  Waits rolls through a year's worth of pain and suffering with alternating heartbreak and humor before the letter takes an abrupt turn when the narrator admits that she was lying throughout the letter, and she needs money for a lawyer.


It is ann unexpected, yet humorous turn before he launches into a final verse of Silent Night.  Tom Waits wouldn't have it any other way.


Song #49: Charles Brown - Santa's Blues


From one non-traditional Christmas song to another.  In a Christmas music landscape dominated by pop music renditions of traditional songs and way too much adult contemporary, it is nice to take a break and listen to some sweet blues infused Christmas music.


Brown's Santa's Blues is a swinging full band blues piece with just enough lyrics to set up a series of great bluesy solos from the band.  Brown sings two simple little blues verses lamenting the fact that the narrator has been good all year yet his woman still left him, and his one desire is for Santa to send her back to him.  What follows is a series of beautiful solos from a tenor sax, guitar, and piano that really move over the swinging beat of the drums and bass.


The song clocks in at just over three minutes, but that is plenty of respite from a genre that focuses more on pop-music sheen than good ol' soul music.


Song #48: Wham! - Last Christmas





In 1000 years when an futuristic civilization wants to know what the 80's were like during the holiday season, they would be hard pressed to find a more stereotypical representation than the four and a half minute music video for Wham!'s Last Christmas.  This video might be the definitive statement on 80's hair styles and ugly sweaters.


A large group of friends take a cable car up to a mountain retreat for a Christmas celebration.  George Michael is the main focus of the video, and spends his time (other than pretending he isn't gay) longing for the woman he spent the last Christmas with--who is now with another man.  I can tell he is infatuated with her because of the number of heartbroken glances he shoots her as she helps decorate the house, sits next to her new beau during dinner, and also because he sits just beyond a fence looking forlorn as the rest of the gang has a snowball fight.  Apparently music video directors in the 80's wanted to make real sure the audience understood what was going on.  Luckily the video was lo tech enough to be spared some poor animation such as Michael's heart beating out of his chest as his love walked past.

If George Michael were still making music videos today I would like to think he could give Kanye a run for his money in the ridiculously decadent short film department.


Song #47: U2 - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)





This isn't the best version of Phil Spector's 1963 Christmas hit (more on that later, I assure you), but it is U2 at their Christmas best.  The band does a good job rocking out to Spector's original arrangement and laying down enough backing vocals to give Bono a chance to do what he does best:  take his vocal performance as close to "over the top" as possible.


Despite the unfortunate hat that Bono wears in the video, U2 does the song justice.  Ultimately this performance falls short of the gold standard for this song, but there were few people better at getting the most out of a simple pop song than Phil Spector.


Song #46: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Christmas All Over Again




Unfortunately this song will be the solitary shout out to the best Christmas movie sequel of all time, Home Alone 2 (nudging out  Die Hard 2 and The Santa Claus 2 in the category of the only three Christmas movie sequels I could think of.  If you don't consider Die Hard a Christmas movie, you are crazy).

This is the song that Kevin listens to as he gets on the wrong plane and ends up in New York.  Tom Petty and the gang provide a nice original rocker that I could see myself getting lost in also.

"It's Chrisssssssstmassssssss all ovvvvvverrrrrrrr again."

That seems like as good a place as any to conclude this first day of the countdown.  Stop by in the coming weeks for more music, movies, and TV specials.