Christmas Playlist 2010

I’ve been very carefully building a Christmas playlist for the past few years. I only add one song a year, and I only listen to the songs on the list between Thanksgiving and the Epiphany. There are now ten songs on the list.

1. “The Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues
2. “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
3. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland
4. “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon
5. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby
6. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Dean Martin
7. (New) “The Christmas Song” by Nat “King” Cole
8. “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan
9. “Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy” by David Bowie & Bing Crosby
10. “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade

Previously

Christmas Playlist 2009

I’ve been very carefully building a Christmas playlist for the past few years. I only add one song a year, and I only listen to the songs on the list between Thanksgiving and the Epiphany. There are now nine songs on the list.

1. “The Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues
2. “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
3. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland
4. “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon
5. (New) “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby
6. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” by Dean Martin
7. “Baby It’s Cold Outside” by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan
8. “Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy” by David Bowie & Bing Crosby
9. “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade

My mom has Bing Crosby’s Christmas album on vinyl. As a kid I used to love playing records, and she has a great collection of Christmas albums. It’s hard to pick, and I already have a Bing Crosby tune on the list, but if anyone is allowed to appear twice on a Christmas playlist, it’s Bing Crosby.

Previously

The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings

I refer to this from time-to-time when people complain about Christmas starting earlier each year. In fact, it’s been going on for at least 80 years. Just as SNL has never been as funny as it used to be, Christmas shopping season has always started earlier than it used to.

From the FDR library, The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings.

Christmas Playlist 2008

I’ve been very carefully building a Christmas playlist for the past few years. I only add one song a year, and I only listen to the songs on the list between Thanksgiving and the Epiphany. There are now eight songs on the list.

1. The Fairytale of New York by The Pogues
2. Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
3. New: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Judy Garland
4. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by Dean Martin
5. Baby It’s Cold Outside by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan
6. Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy by David Bowie & Bing Crosby
7. Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade
8. New: Happy Xmas (War is Over) by John Lennon

Bending my “only one new song a year” rule slightly, I’m substituting Judy Garland for Blink-182, and adding John Lennon. I like Blink-182’s I Won’t Be Home for Christmas, but I felt like the list needed more classic songs on it and that the punk song was moving too much to being a list of alternative Christmas songs, rather than just really good Christmas songs that I like, which is my goal. I chose Judy Garland instead of Frank Sinatra for Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas because I prefer the slightly bleaker lyrics which fit in better with the first two songs. (Both versions are good though.)

I’ve moved the order of a few songs around to give it a better flow. The first few songs are darker, and the lists gets lighter as it goes, ending with children cheering at the finale of Happy Xmas. Let It Snow! is the most saccharine of the lot, especially compared to Hallelujah, but I think it works in the middle of the list, and it makes a nice narrative to follow that with Baby It’s Cold Outside.

A final note: I’m always happy to take suggestions for next year’s list.

The history of a popular holiday song | Music News | Music | Entertainment Weekly

The history of a popular holiday song

About the history of and differences between Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra’s versions of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.

Christmas Playlist 2007

I’ve been very carefully building a Christmas playlist for the past few years. I only add one song a year, and I only listen to the songs on the list between Thanksgiving and the Epiphany. There are now seven songs on the list.

1. The Fairytale of New York by The Pogues
2. Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley
3. I Won’t Be Home for Christmas by Blink-182
4. New: Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade
5. Baby It’s Cold Outside by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan
6. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! by Dean Martin
7. Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy by David Bowie & Bing Crosby

Thanksgiving and Christmas Shopping

People tend to act like each year’s Christmas shopping season is the Worst One Yet, with America eternally in danger of dropping off a cliff into Total Commercialism. It’s an easy news story to write I guess. Pretend that this year it’s really bad and ignore that you wrote the same thing last year, but in fact it’s always been the case that Thanksgiving signaled the start of the Christmas shopping season, and stores have always tried to move that date up earlier in the year. From the FDR Presidential Library’s website, The Year We Had Two Thanksgivings:

At the beginning of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency, Thanksgiving was not a fixed holiday; it was up to the President to issue a Thanksgiving Proclamation to announce what date the holiday would fall on. However, Thanksgiving was always the last Thursday in November because that was the day President Abraham Lincoln observed the holiday when he declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. Franklin Roosevelt continued that tradition, but he soon found that tradition was difficult to keep in extreme circumstances such as the Great Depression. His first Thanksgiving in office, 1933, fell on November 30th, the last day of the month, because November had five Thursdays that year. Since statistics showed that most people did not do their Christmas shopping until after Thanksgiving, business leaders feared they would lose money, especially during the Depression, because there were only 24 shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. They asked Franklin Roosevelt to make Thanksgiving one week earlier. President Roosevelt ignored those concerns in 1933, but when Thanksgiving once again threatened to fall on the last day of November in 1939, FDR reconsidered the request and moved the date of Thanksgiving up one week. Thanksgiving 1939 would be held, President Roosevelt proclaimed, on November 23rd and not November 30th.

More stuff, including scans of primary sources, in the link.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Full movie, on Google Video.

Christmas Playlist 2006

I’ve been very carefully building a Christmas playlist for the past few years. I only add one song a year, and I only listen to the songs on the list between Thanksgiving and the Epiphany. There are now six songs on the list.

1. The Pogues: “The Fairy Tale of New York”. Sometimes I listen to the No Use for a Name Cover, but this original is just so damn good.
2. Jeff Buckley: “Hallelujah”. Not actually a Christmas song, but there’s something cold and lonely about the tune that feels to me like it would play perfectly over a sad story about being alone on Christmas.
3. Blink-182: “I Won’t Be Home for Christmas”. A slight contrast from the previous track.
4. Bing Crosby and David Bowie: “Peace On Earth/The Little Drummer Boy”. Whoever had the idea of putting these two together for this duet should get a trophy.
5. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan: “Baby It’s Cold Outside”. There are a few versions of this song out there. This one’s my favorite. I love how the song’s just a desperate attempt by a guy to get a girl to sleep over, and how she’s just trying to be a tease.
6. Dean Martin: “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Show!”. This year’s addition. I’ve always liked this tune, and I like the swing kick this version has.

Flickr's excellent Xmas easter egg

Flickr’s excellent Xmas easter egg

Mission in Snowdriftland

Mission in Snowdriftland

Interactive advent calendar from Nintendo.

My Charlie Brown Christmas

My Charlie Brown Christmas

Voiced by the cast of Scrubs.