tunes

I don't celebrate this holiday, but I do like some of the music we get to hear this time of year. Of course, some of it, I hate. I never need to hear another note of Winter Wonderland, White Christmas or Little Drummer Boy again, no matter who is singing. Other songs are fun and slightly less over played.

Here are my picks for a Christmas Music CD, with songwriting and performance credit, where they're different.

River - Joni Mitchell
2000 Miles - The Pretenders
Washington Square - Chris Isaak
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (Blane/Martin) - Aimee Mann
[that gets the sad songs out of the way]
Blue Christmas (Hayes/Johnson) - Elvis Presley
Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree (John Marks) - Brenda Lee
Run Run Rudolph (Chuck Berry) - Keith Richards
Merry Christmas I Don't Want To Fight Tonight - The Ramones
Merry Christmas Baby (Chuck Berry) - Bruce Springsteen
O Tannenbaum (trad.) - They Might Be Giants
(It's Gonna Be A) Punk Rock Christmas - The Ravers
Rock And Roll Christmas - George Thorogood & The Destroyers
Christmas Day - Squeeze
Father Christmas - The Kinks
Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Christmas Wrapping (Chris Butler) - The Waitresses

Yes, I'm aware that The Arrogant Worms, The Barenaked Ladies, Bryan Adams and many other Canadians (including Bob and Doug McKenzie) have recorded Christmas music. But my taste in music is not very patriotic.

Here's an excellent listing of Christmas albums and tunes, organized by era and type of music.

Your favorites?

In case you missed it, Happy Holidays!

Comments

  1. Peter Nellhaus25 December 2005 at 06:01

    Greetings from rainy Miami Beach. I don't celebrate Christmas either, but I do like Laura Nyro's song "Christmas in My Soul".

    ReplyDelete
  2. laura k25 December 2005 at 06:20

    Hi Peter! It's raining here too. Laura Nyro - excellent choice. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. laura k26 December 2005 at 05:43

    James: Wow, that is some serious bad timing and bad luck on Christmas. Indeed, the words "bad luck" are hardly adequate.

    Somehow I'm not surprised you choose Weird Al and the Worms for your Christmas music. ;-)

    M@: I'll see if I can hear the Skydiggers online. Sounds cool. Hope you're enjoying New York!

    ReplyDelete
  4. andrea26 December 2005 at 08:12

    My favourite interpretations are jazz-flavoured, so to be marginally patriotic (regionalist in my case), Diana Krall's new Christmas album is great. The best thing is that Jingle Bells is the first song so I can skip right over that worn-out travesty... Funny you mentioned 'River', as I never considered it a Christams song until I listened to the album 'Blue', by chance, on Christmas Eve. And 'Blue Christmas' will always be a favourite...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Crabbi26 December 2005 at 08:54

    The Waitresses song is my all-time favorite. It's not Christmas for me until I hear it. I love, love, love it! That, and Feliz Navidad. Oh, and Santa Baby -- Eartha Kitt, not the ghastly Madonna version.

    I like your choices, too :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. laura k26 December 2005 at 08:59

    The Waitresses is my favorite too!! I love that song.

    And oo, Eartha Kitt, excellent.

    ReplyDelete

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