Is Christmas music for me.
Posted on 11/27/2009 4:29:59 PM PST by SamAdams76
I have been listening to and collecting Christmas music for over 30 years now. During this time, I have collected well over 3,000 songs. I consider practically every song in my collection to be of high quality and in the spirit of the Christmas season.
My point is that there is a huge library out there of excellent Christmas music. My question is, why is so much of what we hear on the radio, at the shopping malls, and even in the movies, so horribly lame?
Already there are many radio stations (including two on Sirius satellite radio) playing Christas music around the clock through December 25th. Yet despite having weeks and weeks to play all the Christmas music that is out there, they insist upon playing over and over the same couple hundred or so Christmas songs.
Even that wouldn't be so intolerable if they at least played the couple hundred of the BEST Christmas song. But instead, we are hearing a couple hundred of the very WORST Christmas songs.
I had a long drive today and was caught without my iPod so I was forced to listen to what Christmas music was on the radio. It was basically a steady diet of horribly uninspired singers (i.e. Michael Buble, Barry Manilow, Beyonce, Carrie Underwood, Josh Groban, Backstreet Boys, Mariah Carey, Madonna, etc.) playing endless variations the most inspid, Christmas songs out there (Sleigh Ride, Silver Bells, Happy Xmas, Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, Do They Know It's Christmas?, Let It Snow, etc.).
By the time I got home, I wanted to turn the calendar forward to Dec 26 and get this season over with! Fortunately, I was able to delve into my vast collection of REAL Christmas music and get back into the spirit again.
I even picked up a few new Christmas albums that came out for the first time this year that you will likely NEVER hear on the radio. One of them was "Christmas In The Heart" by Bob Dylan that has been made fun of by virtually every record critic out there. But despite what the "too-cool-for-school" critics have to say (the same people I might add who think President Obama is a swell idea), this is a breathtaking Christmas album by one of the greatest singer/songwriters of our time.
Now before I go on, allow me to get the inevitable "Bob Dylan gargles with razor blades and smokes five cartons of Camels a day" comment out of the way. Yes, it is true, Bob Dylan does not have a "smooth and polished" studio-friendly voice like Whitney Houston or Neil Diamond but so what? Bob's gritty takes on such Christmas classics as "Do You Hear What I Hear," "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" and even the playful "Must Be Santa" are all heartfelt, genuine and these renditions absolutely blow the pop stars of today out of the water. You can guarantee that Bob Dylan's astonishing Christmas album will become a part of my permanent Christmas collection for many years to come, even though you are unlikely to hear so much as one track on the radio.
I would like to list some of the 3,000+ tracks in my Christmas collection here but I have no idea where to even start. So in no effort to start with the best, I will hit shuffle on my iPod and post the first 25 songs that come up. This should give you an indication as to just how vast and diverse my Christmas collection is. I encourage fellow fans of Christmas music to post some of their collection so that I can compare and maybe find some new tracks to add to mine, as I'm certainly not finding any new music on the radio!
Here are the first 25 Christmas songs that came up on my iPod in shuffle mode:
Aimee Mann - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Gabriel's Message - Sting
Lo How A Rose E'er Blooming - Mannheim Steamroller
When Southern Bells Ring - The Judybats
Tennessee Christmas - Amy Grant
Come On Christmas - Dwight Yoakam
Donna & Blitzen - Badly Drawn Boy
Terra Firma - Delirium
Light Of The Stable - Emmylou Harris
Joy Is Within Reach - Adrienne Pierce
Winter's Night - Nox Arcana
Pearly Dew Drops Drops - Cocteau Twins
O Come All Ye Faithful - Bing Crosby
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day - Jars Of Clay
Lachrimae Antiquae - London Symphony (w/Chip Davis)
Winter's Carol - Tori Amos
Make It Home - Juliana Hatfield
Christmas In The Jungle - Derrik Roberts
Winter Wonderland - Reverend Horton Heat
I Believe In Father Christmas - Greg Lake
The Christmas Song - Angel
December Will Be Magic Again - Kate Bush
O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Crash Test Dummies
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
Good King Wencelaus - Melanie
And about 3,218 more gems that you will probably never hear on the radio or in your shopping mall, which is a real tragedy....
Thanks!
Your last sentence is very true. Another example of the tail wagging the dog. A few atheists who are hell-bent on taking the joy out of Christmas for everybody else. While I have known for years that the typical Christmas playlist on radio stations have been sanitized so as not to "offend" the few cranks out there, it appears that they are also on a mission to make Christmas music seem sappy and lame.
Another ten songs at random from my iPod Shuffle...let's take our Christmas music back:
O Holy Night - Dustin Kensrue
Merry Christmas Brother - Gordon Gano
Christmas Must Be Tonight - Joan Osborne
O Come O Come Emmanuel - Sufjan Stevens
Just Like Christmas - Ingo Star Cruiser
Christmas Is Coming - George Winston
100,000 Fireflies - The Magnetic Fields
Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers - The Crystals
Pas De Deux: Variation I (Tarantella) - Kirov Opera
Bells Ring - Nazzy Star
Loved the Christmas album “Three Ships” by Jon Anderson back in the ‘80s. It hasn’t been available for years.
Also like the Christmas album by Asleep At The Wheel.
Can’t stand “Silent Night”. It would be tolerable if people didn’t do a slow slide up the third on “heavenly peeeeee-eeeeeace”.
We are now in the last two days of the liturgical year. The Christian year begins anew on Advent Sunday, which this year falls on 29 November. Advent ("Parousia" in Greek) is a four-week period of penitence in which we contemplate both the Advent of the Lord (i.e. the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem) and His Second Advent (the Second Coming, when this world will end). This period is supposed to be one of penance and prayer, not excess and celebration; unfortunately, the secular Christmas holiday season almost exactly matches Advent on the calendar, leaving many people tired, broke, and wondering what all the fuss is about come 25 December.
Observing Advent instead of the secular "holiday season" is a great way to revive the sacred and special feeling that this time of year is supposed to bring. You can start at Catholic.com's Advent 2009 site, which has the prayers, the Gospel readings, and the traditional observances for each day listed for you. (Note: you don't have to be Catholic to observe Advent.)
As for music: if you want inspiring, beautiful music for Advent and Christmas, locate a traditional Catholic parish in your area and drop in for a visit. (You'll want the High Mass on Sunday morning.) A traditional Catholic mass is prayed musically, by singing the prayers — and what music it is! Sacred music by the greatest composers along with traditional hymns and prayers can all be heard for free just by visiting a mass. And if you're not Catholic, that's okay -- no one will proselytize you when you visit, nor will anyone expect you to genuflect, know when to sit or stand, etc. Just come on in, take a seat, and let the candles, incense, sounds, and beauty of traditional Christian seasonal observance enfold you. You won't regret it!
Is Christmas music for me.
It’s only because they go about blowing up innocents and killing everyone that disagrees with them ... IOW - I don’t shop at Best Buy anyway .....
Who here remembers the song, “Christmas Gift”?
Mission accepted! I loved that song too but it never made it into my collection as it is somewhat of a rarity. If I remember correctly, it was a "hidden track" on one of her albums but maybe I can find it as an MP3 somewhere. I do have the Melissa Etheridge version of that song and while she does a decent job with it, there is a certain cringe factor having something on my iPod by Melissa Etheridge. If I can find the Pat Benatar version, I'll be happy to dump Melissa into the recycle bin.
Ten more of my songs (at random from "shuffle mode")...
Gagliarda - Mannheim Steamroller
Spotlight On Christmas - Rufus Wainwright
Winter Wonderland - Aretha Franklin
Christmastime is Here - Diana Krall
First of May - Bee Gees
Poets + Angels - Ottmar Liebert
Breath Of Heaven - Donna Summer
In The Bleak Midwinter - Crash Test Dummies
Pat A Pan - Mannheim Steamroller
The First Noel - Billy Pilgrim
Their rendition of Stille Nacht (Silent Night) is still the most beautiful cover version of that song I've ever heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpeKTGbqABo
The most beautiful rendition of O Holy Night I’ve ever heard.
♪♪♪|♪.♬
sle-eep in Heav-en-ly peace
instead of
♩♬|♩♬♩
sle-ep in Heav-en-ly peace
Arrrgh! Drives me fricking nuts.
http://www.jonanderson3ships.com/
Comes with a Christmas card autographed by Anderson.
“...sloppy sentimentalities of lounge lizards and drunks in bars, who want to pretend that Christmas means something to them.”
Nicely put and very true. And then there are also the lounge lizards who know Christmas simply is not for them.
Sparks - Thank God It’s Not Christmas (1974)
What do I hear, what do I hear?
Chit-chat, and clinking glass
Cheap talk, a lady’s laugh
After hours
What do I see, what do I see?
Some sunken hideaway
Where people go to play
After hours
There I’ll spend the night
Meeting fancy things
At bistros and old haunts
Trying very hard to sin
...
Chorus:
Thank God it’s not Christmas
When there is only you
And nothing else to do
Thank God it’s not Christmas
Where there’s just you to do
The rest is closed to public view
...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UbkDzp5LuY
Namie Amuro - White Light
(Particularly nice on the full screen)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKoM-3TFBEo
Please don't tell me that Chip Davis and the gang are not conservatives! I never really looked into their politics but kind of assumed they were on our side being that they were from Nebraska and Rush was such a big fan of them.
At any rate, their first three albums are among the greatest Christmas recordings of all time. I never get tired of hearing them. However, their more recent albums have been major disappointments to me, especially last year's "Christmasville" which was utter junk and totally unrecognizable from their earlier output. In fact that is one of only two Christmas albums I ever had to junk after buying them - the other one being the soundtrack to the horrible Jim Carrey version of "Grinch that Stole Christmas."
Ten more songs at random from my collection...
Mary Had A Baby - Bruce Cockburn
Winter Wonderland - Phantom Planet
What Child Is This? - Balderas & Osborne
True Believers - Melanie
Country Christmas - Loretta Lynn
Star Of Bethlehem - Angels & Airwaves
Last Christmas - Jimmy Eat World
Skating On The River - Lily Frost
Frosty The Snowman - Jimmy Durante
A Change At Christmastime - The Flaming Lips
No Burl Ives?
That's because the song was written to be sung by a boy's choir. As such, very few singers can make it sound good singing alone.
Small wonder why I like the instrumental cover version from Mannheim Steamroller's first Christmas album. 
Do you know the name of the artist?
If you like a capella music, check out http://www.singers.com/christmas/
You can download sample tracks to play in the RealAudio Player.
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