Lilla Cabot Perry: Early Morning, Winter (1928)
Good evening, Kibitzers, and happy Chanukah to those who celebrate!
There’s a big warmup going on here, as there is in much of the country as I understand it. While I’m not generally in favor of warm winters, I do appreciate that ice is melting off of the sidewalks and the bike/walking path in my neighborhood. By tomorrow or the next day, I’ll be no more likely than average to break any bones when I leave the house. I hate breaking bones and do not recommend it.
Since Christmas is fast approaching, this is my annual holiday music diary, the eleventh in a series that started in 2015. I’ll put the list of links to previous years at the end. This year, I apparently have no focus, much like most Americans at this point, so rather than identify one song or artist to discuss in any depth, I just rounded up all my immediate candidates for holiday song of the year and picked the top ten, below the fold.
Back in the days when I used to give a big Christmas-adjacent party, I played my gigantic holiday playlist as background music. Once, my brother leaned over and said, “Did this song get in here by accident?”
“Ah,” I said. “You think you’re hearing September by Earth, Wind & Fire! But like everyone else, Earth, Wind & Fire have a Christmas album, and this is their adaptation, December.”
Students at the distinguished Berklee College of Music (in Boston, but also apparently New York, Valencia, and Abu Dhabi nowadays) chose December for their holiday-greeting performance video. There’s a complete list of credits for performers under the video on the YouTube page. True to their reputation, they’re all really good! [3:14]
This band from London, Nashville Exile, loved John Prine's song Silent Night All Day Long, and they were able to arrange a duet with John’s brother, Billy Prine, by combining video shot in their respective locations. There’s about a 90-second spoken introduction by the bandleader. [5:36]
You may recall that, during most of David Letterman’s long tenure on late-night TV, on two different networks, one of his traditions was to have Darlene Love appear on the pre-Christmas show and sing Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Her first such appearance was in 1986, and she continued through 2014, the last year the show was on the air. (She subsequently performed the song on The View every year, but this year (breaking news) she is moving over to Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, where she’ll sing on Thursday night, December 18.)
In any event, some devoted person has assembled a very well-done “supercut” video, seamlessly combining clips from all the different years of the performance on Letterman. [4:05]
Back in April, we visited the YouTube series There, I Ruined It, in which musician Dustin Ballard imagines strange combinations of popular songs. His latest holiday offering is Creed singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. (You don’t need to be familiar with Creed to get it. It’ll help if you know they have a song called Higher that’s the basis for this Rudolph version.) [2:32]
As long as we’ve established a parody mashup section, there’s also new Christmas music from Bill McClintock and his McClintock Mashups channel, whom we met early in 2024. Here, Ozzy Osbourne and Hall & Oates team up for Mama, I'm Jingling My Bells. [3:20]
Norah Jones has a podcast called Norah Jones is Playing Along, where she interviews and duets with guest musicians. In a season 1 episode, her guest was Icelandic star Laufey. (If you are as old as I am: Laufey is a Grammy-winning pop artist who started out ten years ago as a 15-year-old cello soloist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.) From that podcast, this is Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. [4:01]
This song from Keb' Mo', Merry Merry Christmas, was released five years ago, but it’s a fun and joyful Christmas blues, and this official video depicts some very joyful abandon amongst the audience. [4:49]
Samara Joy is an incredibly talented young jazz vocalist. She comes from the musical McLendon family, going back to her grandparents who are prominent in the world of gospel. Her 2023 Christmas EP A Joyful Holiday features vocals from several of her family members; on The Christmas Song, she’s joined by her dad, Antonio “Tony” McLendon. [3:51]
Willie Nelson is 92 years old, and if he’s releasing a new Christmas record, I’m going to play it. This is Christmas Love Song. [3:09]
We cannot omit Chanukah, even though the sheer volume of Christmas music (in both senses) overwhelms the Chanukah music. The New York a cappella group Six13 is named for the 613 commandments of the Torah. Every year they do a Chanukah tribute based on a popular song or songs; I picked this Hamilton one from 2016 because this year’s was KPop Demon Hunters and I suspect Hamilton is more familiar to most KTK readers. Also: the intro by Barack Obama figured into my choice. [5:21]
I like to add Greg Lake’s I Believe in Father Christmas to these diaries when I can. It’s a favorite of mine, but also, I am trying to entice my friend nomandates to stop by and know that she is thought of fondly. [3:28]
By all means, share your songs, holiday or otherwise, in the comments!
Here’s the list of past diaries in this series:
- 2015 Pablo Casals: Song of the Birds
- 2016 Melissa Etheridge: O Night Divine
- 2017 Assorted songs about snow
- 2018 Eclipse 6: Hamildolph
- 2019 Songs by Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox
- 2020 Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krause: Wexford Carol
- 2021 Allan Sherman/Straight No Chaser/Boston Pops: 12 Days of Christmas
- 2022 John Fahey’s Christmas albums, plus, Hanukkah medley by Shir Soul
- 2023 Songs of Ukraine and elsewhere in northern/eastern Europe, plus, Frosty the Snowman by Leon Redbone and Dr. John, AND Bill McClintock’s AC/DC-Brenda Lee mashup Dirty Deeds Around the Christmas Tree
- 2024 Women’s a cappella ensemble Zambra, and Joe Porter Percussion; plus, Yo-Yo Ma at the re-opening of Notre-Dame de Paris.
