Christmas Music -- the good stuff
I was reading Dooce's latest hilarious post about Christmas music, and of course she has 18 million comments and doesn't care about my opinions anyway since she knows not the Cornelius musical taste, but I do have a few suggestions to share if you are thinking about adding some Christmas music to your repertoire.
First, there is Christine Lavin & the Mistletones' The Runaway Christmas Tree. NO ONE should be without the Tacobel Canon. There are several other great gems there, but Christine Lavin is one of my favorite singer/songwriters.
I love Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong,too. The fact that she covered one of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot songs figures heavily into this, and then there was Joni Mitchell's River. Love those Canadians! But really, Sarah could sing the phone book, and I would be enraptured.
Aimee Mann is not normally the kind of singer you picture singing Christmas music because she's so serious and artistic and non-sentimental, but One More Drifter in the Snow is also really wonderful. Her voice is just right for You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch. If you are not familiar with Aimee Mann, check out this one for the holidays, and then try her latest album, @#%&*! Smilers, after that.
These are some of my picks of the modern era. How do you "tune in" to the holiday season?
And Happy Eid to all my Muslim friends!
Labels: music
posted by "Ms. Cornelius" @ 12:01 AM
6 Comments:
I like the Barenaked Ladies Christmas album, Barenaked for the Holidays. It also includes some Hannukah songs that, frankly, I enjoy as much (more?) than the Christmas tunes.
Oh, and they do a wonderful version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman/We Three Kings" with Sarah McLachlan. Bonus!!
It is not Christmas without the following:
Bing Crosby and David Bowie's "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth"
The Pogues "Fairy Tale in NY"
The Waitresses "Christmas Wrapping"
and, of course,
Vince Guaraldi Trio "Christmastime Is Here"
My Bitter Half reminded me about this one:
Dave Matthews Band "Christmas Song"
and I guess I'm partial to the soundtrack to A Nightmare Before Christmas.
You KNOW that I have the Waitresses on my iPod, 80s freak that I am.
I'm going to post an actual iMix of individual songs later.
What about Dean Martin singing "Baby, It's Cold Outside?"
My absolute favorite holiday album is Voices of Winter by Priscilla Herdman (and Herdman/Hills/Mangsen.) Gorgeous.
I love the BNL "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" -- It's one of my favorite hymns anyway.
I've heard very few Christmas songs on the radio so far. Like, oddly few -- and I tend to run up and down my pre-sets constantly while I drive. I did catch one new one by Cold Play that was so bad it hurt my head, though.
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