Mixed Christmas

Because Kenneth makes the best mixed tapes ever, I have asked him to guest post:

At Christmas time, we usually just have music playing from the family room stereo so it can be heard all over the house.  Having all this Christmas music on doesn't mean that we can't get tired of some of it.  For example, one of the classics (in my opinion) is the Chipmunks Christmas.  Awsumb and I love it, but Wendy can't stand it.

It's easy to get sick of the best Christmas songs because all the stores barrage us with the same 10-20 songs, mostly of the secular variety.  Some of these songs are good ones...  but with the overwhelming volume of good Christmas music out there, it's surprising that we hear these same songs over and over.

Straight No Chaser nailed this problem in their song The Christmas Can-Can which takes a light-hearted jab at our Christmas shopping experience.  So this year, I made a "No Fruitcake, Please!" playlist, inspired by this track.  I wanted to make a list of great non-traditional Christmas songs or non-traditional performances of traditional songs. 

Here's this years list (all of these tracks are available on Zune, Rhapsody, or iTunes):

The Christmas Can-Can, Straight No Chaser.

Christmas Is Starting Now, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.  Ha!  Wendy liked this song a lot until she heard it came from a kid's show.  Seriously, though, do you watch Phineas and Ferb with your kids?  It is hilarious -- and I hope inspires kids to think big.  This is a great song from their great Christmas episode.

A Great Big Sled, The Killers.  This song is all about remembering magical life is through the eyes of a child.  Making snowmen, sledding, rolling down a hill, and imaging a flight on Santa's great big sled are all part of the magics.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,  Barenaked Ladies/Sarah McLachlan.  This is maybe the darkest traditional Christmas song there is, which is probably why BNL (a bunch of Jewish guys) perform it so often. This awesome track gets heavy rotation at my house every year. (For Halloween, their version of Disneyland's Grim Grinning Ghosts…)


(And Barenaked Ladies aren't really naked...  or ladies.)

The First Noel, Weezer.  If you pick up a Christmas album from your favorite artist, you often hear lots of secular "holiday" type songs, plus Santa and Rudolph.  This Weezer EP is the exception by being almost exclusively sacred tracks.  (Okay, they threw in a splash of figgy pudding...)  So, it's got the Weezer sound, but still sounds reasonably reverent.

River, Sarah McLachlan.  I think that once in a while we can all feel lonely at Christmas, even surrounded by our family. Many songs cover that ground ("Blue Christmas", etc.) but this song (originally by Joni Mitchell) is really sad and really pretty. Listening to it I imagine myself in the cold woods and I can see my breath rise through the empty branches of the trees.

You'll Never Find My Christmas, Bishop Allen.  Yeah, it's from the Target ad but you'll probably never hear it in their store! They have an entire cd of good holiday stuff on their website, including Guster, one of our favorite bands.  Follow this link to Target's site and you can download the whole album for free!  The tv ad with this song shows people looking around for presents… and this is a reasonable interpretation of this song, but I think it means something that they never say "you'll never find my Christmas gift". Because their "Christmas" is more than that...

(And Bishop Allen isn't a bishop.)

Merry Christmas Everybody, Oasis

The Christmas Song, The Raveonettes.  A modern-indie-surfer music take on "Let it Snow" or "Baby Its Cold Outside" with a little extra trance thrown in.

Boots, The Killers.  Didn't U2 already do a song with the word "Boots" in the title in the last five years?

(And The Killers aren't really U2, but they can sure sound like it sometimes.)

Away In A Manger, Sufjan Stevens.  Sufjan ("Soof-yan") Stevens is classified as "chamber pop" and when you hear it, that should make sense. It sounds like some hipster college kids grabbed random instruments at a museum and made some great music. This is from a four cd set and its full of really neat music. Away in the Manger is probably my absolute favorite Christmas song and this version is uniquely beautiful.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel, House Of Heroes.

Wish List, Neon Trees.  (Free download on iTunes.)

Peppermint Winter, Owl City.  Owl City is like a bizarro-world Death Cab for Cutie, take soundalike vocals and pair them with super bright lyrics (instead of reasonably down ones). Okay, you might not admit it, but you remember that "Fireflies" song...  What other group could make a lyric like "I slip on the sidewalk and fall on my face" sound so happy? Every track they record bounces like a cartoon bunny in springtime. You might think this is the official song for "Christmas in July", until they ask "What's December without Christmas Eve?"

Home For Christmas, Cavo.  This is not your mother's "Home for Christmas", but I think it carries the same feeling of longing to be with loved ones for the holidays.

Christmas Lights,  Coldplay

I Believe in You, Sinéad O'Connor.  The world is quickly becoming a world of unbelievers. As if faith is something you grow out of, like belief in Santa Claus. I was surprised to find out it was written by Bob Dylan and probably not intended as a Christmas song, but it fits, as the story of someone trying to share in a town that won't believe has always been very powerful to me.  It's maybe my favorite song for the season.

There you have it...  our Christmas list for 2010.  What do you think?  What are your favorite Christmas songs?  (I'm always looking to add new stuff to our holiday music collection.)

To read about more of Wendy's favorite Christmas Music go to The Sounds of Christmas