Merry Christmas
This time of year can be both the best or worst of times, the cold, extended family, drunken s(on|no)gs at Christmas parties… these things can be either awful or totally amazing! We’ve made a playlist to reflect both. It’s a strange thing; many clichés, many that were recorded just to make some Christmas cash, but also some real beauty, devotion and celebration. Here’s our list, including a few extras at the bottom, that for some unfathomable reason aren’t on Spotify, Apple Music and the like yet. A few real gems to (re)discover!
HO HO HO….
We’re kicking off with some rock ‘n’ roll, and The Ramones sugar coated nothing with the release of ‘Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight)’ on their album ‘Brain Drain’ in 1989, a beauty about forgiveness and Christmas. Worth noting the influence of Phil Spector on this too, in particular his wall of ‘snow’ technique, as his production seems to pop up a lot in our choices.
Taking it back a decade or few, Chuck Berry’s ‘Run Rudolf Run’ is a rock ’n’ roll tune of a different kind, and shares more than a few musical similarities with his seminal ‘Johnny B. Goode’. If you get a guitar for Christmas, it’s the ideal song to learn first.
Then to enter the territory of the Christmas greats, and continue the thread of Phil Spector’s undeniable genius and influence, Darlene Love’s ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ is, for us, the best Christmas song, though not the best song ever… that’s later in the list. If her delivery sounds like she’s a desperate woman in a scorching hot studio in Los Angeles with a mad man threatening her with a gun, it’s because that’s, probably, how it was recorded (see 5 Artists Reportedly Held At Gunpoint by Phil Spector). ‘The Muppets Christmas Carol’ occupies similar classic Christmas song territory, and every year the festive season is marked by a date to the Prince Charles Cinema to eat mince pies, drink mulled wine and sing along.
Although it might not be quite as strong as the original ‘Muppets Show’ album, which with ‘Halfway Down The Stairs’ or Gonzo eating a tyre to ‘Flight Of The Bumblebee’ is like a lost Zappa classic, the Christmas show has some insanely good festive cheer on it, ‘Scrooge’ in particular. The music should be good as it was written by Miles Goodman and Paul Williams who count ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’ and ‘Bugsy Malone’ in their discographies.
We’re also hoping that Marika Hackman’s new Christmas EP ‘Wonderland’, in particular ‘Driving Under Stars’, is going to become just as part of the season’s furniture. Not just alongside indie favourites like Low or The Magnetic Fields but also the likes of Darlene Love and Joni Mitchell.
The latter of which, Marika covered at her Christmas show in St John on Bethnal Green last week, and the original version of ‘River’ couldn’t be left out of this list.
‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ by Sparklehorse is another favourite, the movie from which it takes its title regularly saves lives this time of the year. Although this artist is hard to listen to without the context of his tragic demise, the farce in the everyday and lightness of touch of this song should brighten things for you. And it’s important to not avoid that side of Christmas.
Low’s Christmas contribution, that’s been referenced already, is legendary and ‘Take The Long Way Round’ is one of the originals that seems to be underplayed from it, exploring the Christmas story from the perspective of the three wise men, and their trip to avoid the plotting of King Herod.
To continue songs based on the Biblical account, Marika Hackman’s version of ‘O Come O Come Emmanuel’ is the definitive one right… RIGHT? And ‘Jesus Christ’ by Big Star, we’d have no Christmas without Jesus Christ, and we’d have much less joy in our lives without the idea of Big Star. Their influence grows and grows, and this song, like the rest of their cannon is sublime.
The next few songs are classics, like comfort blankets for the soul, except Flaming Lips ‘Once Beyond Hopelessness’ from the film ‘Christmas on Mars’, which is more for anyone coping with the family dinners with micro-dosing. ‘Christmas Island’ by Bob Dylan is from his Christmas album, and it’s not half bad… the original by The Andrews Sisters is worth digging out too, a wartime Christmas classic. We gave it to Marika Hackman whilst she was working on ‘Wonderland’ as inspiration, we’re pretty certain she never listened to it. #Regifting.
Then going back to even before the war, ‘The Little Boy That Santa Clause Forgot’ was written in 1937 and we’ve added Vera Lynn’s version to the list. It’s perhaps the saddest on the list, and pertinent for these war hungry times, and even soundtracked the opening sequence of Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’.
Moving many miles away, 2000 to be precise, The Pretenders you will know, but it doesn’t make ‘2000 Miles’ any less brilliant. And, just before that, there is Hippo Campus’ cover version of ‘Last Snowstorm Of The Year’ from the already featured Christmas release by Low, that features Low’s Alan Sparhawk on guitar and co-producing. With such indie Christmas experience on board it makes a strong case for something to be listening to every year from now.
Bright Eyes and Mogwai bring the tone back to the sadder end of the spectrum, the miserablelists we’ll call them. ‘Christmas Steps’ might be fully instrumental and about a place in Bristol, but this is a great excuse to play one of the greatest bands of all time.
To honour our promise from earlier on, the best song ever is by The Pogues — ‘The Fairy Tale Of New York’. It’s got it all. It’s baffling how such a unique and difficult song has found such universal appeal and reach, and a statement for how pure quality and difference will always find a way to peoples hearts and minds. It’s always on at the parties, but when did you last listen to it? Really listen? The perfect duet, with such a delivery…. If only for this heartbreaking exchange of how life wears down the most hopeful people.
I could have been someone
Well, so could anyone
You took my dreams
From me when I first found youI kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Can’t make it all aloneI’ve built my dreams around you
We couldn’t leave you there, so to close is the theme music to Home Alone 2, from happier days, before Kevin grew up to be the main character in the Saw franchise.
And for those of you that have read this far, here is an encore of sorts, starting with a lairy drinking tune — ‘The Wassailing Song’ by Blur.
This is the first of our new Transgressive Stories features, there will be a new one every four weeks with a few songs based on some sort of theme 🤔. Expect unashamed and eclectic choices, The Muppets or Frank Sinatra can sit right next to Mogwai and Sparklehorse and that’s great. Follow our Medium profile and add the playlists to your library on Spotify and Apple Music to be notified when new ones are published.
See you next month 👋
