Friday Music Day

FMD — Christmas songs we like

17 Comments

The airing of grievances can be found elsewhere so we can use FMD to list the Christmas songs we actually like.  I'm sure many will choose The Pogues Fairytale of New York, which is a fine selection but may I suggest checking out the Low Christmas Album.  Some classics, some new chestnuts.  Very cool and chill.

17 thoughts on “FMD — Christmas songs we like”

  1. 1. Brand New Day (Take 3) -- Van Morrison -- Moondance
    2. Not Too Amused -- Sebadoh -- Bakesale
    3. So Long, Marianne -- Leonard Cohen -- The Essential Leonard Cohen
    4. I'll Make It Clear -- Teenage Fanclub -- Grand Prix
    5. Fangless -- Sleater-Kinney -- No Cities To Love
    6. Where Have All The Flowers Gone -- Peter, Paul & Mary -- The Very Best Of Peter Paul And Mary
    7. A Salty Salute -- Guided By Voices -- Live At The Wheelchair Races
    8. Lola -- The Kinks -- The Kink Kronikles
    9. The State I Am In -- Belle & Sebastian -- Tigermilk
    10. Lost Someone -- James Brown -- Live At The Apollo

    Christmas Bonus
    a. Speed Trials -- Elliott Smith -- Either/Or
    b. False Skorpion -- Pavement -- Wowee Zowee
    c. Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam -- Nirvana -- MTV Unplugged In New York
    d. Murder (Or a Heart Attack) -- Old 97's -- Alive and Wired

  3. Josh Groban's "O Holy Night" still does it for me. I like the theology of the song, and that particular performance is as big and beautiful as the lyrics demand.

  4. Tracy Thorn (of Everything but the Girl), "Joy". Should be new (secular) standard.

    When someone very dear
    Calls you with the words "Everything's all clear"
    That's what you want to hear
    But you know it might be different in the new year

    Her take on "Have Yourself" (from the same album) beats Judy Garland's original IMO. (Which is the only other Christmas song I can think of that has the same feeling as "Joy".)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1v0YqM7vEA

    1. I like that take on "Have Yourself". Appropriately sparse, and keeps the original lyrics. Thanks for the share.

      1. I never paid attention to the song until "Meet Me in St. Louis" was on PBS one December in our pre-Netflix yet cable-free years.
        My casual listens before then had really taken the song superficially. (It's kindof the "Born in the USA" of Christmas songs, isn't it?)

        1. Except, of course, that the awful, dire, horrible thing they have to muddle through is that she's 16, her Dad got a promotion, and now she has to leave her boyfriend behind.

          1. Yeah, it's hopeful words she doesn't believe sung to herself ironically.
            Kindof like "Joy" above, which is about more adult fears and concerns (death and disease among others), but also more truly hopeful.

    2. I'm also with Free on Low.
      Also newly added to my pre-Christmas-Day Christmas Mix:
      Bonnie "Prince" Billy's two-part cover of "John the Baptist", first the E. C. Ball version, then the John & Beverly Martyn version. I just now realized that it was a double-cover, rather than someone else's two-parter.

  8. I decided I'd listen to the Current today until I got sick of the Xmas stuff . . . I think I made it 2.5 songs. Fortunately, the classical station is helping me to feel considerably less grinch-ish.

  9. my favorite is probably Crumpet the Elf singing "Away in a Manger" in the style of Billie Holiday.

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