Shouldn't Have Given Him A Gun For Christmas

The last gasp of a zombie at the End of The Year.

Here's a sampling sampler of my Holidays playlist. All the Christmas (yeah, I said CHRISTMAS, Bill O'Reilly, you don't own the term, and zombies can celebrate Christmas too) songs on my hard drive; I am telling you it is 215 songs, nearly twelve hours. And as my final gift-infliction on your, here is a list, and my inane commentary on each as I see fit.


1. Home for The Holidays, the dbs. One of the great lost bands of the 80's. Unbelievable cross of power pop and alt-country by Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey (who wrote one of my favorite songs of all time, "I Am The Cosmos") Great song that combines the feeling of coming home to your family, with the yearning of trying to get there.

[ooops, turns out I screwed that one up. Chris BELL, of Big Star, wrote "I Am The Cosmos". Still one of my favorites.]

2. Merry Christmas (I don't want to fight tonight), The Smithereens. Powerpop legends covering a Ramones song. See where I am going with this? I love the original, and this is, while maybe missing Joey's bronx drawl, benefiting from some well-placed bells.

3. Skyline Jig, The Chieftains. From the Bells of Dublin, one of the best holiday albums of ALL TIME. No debate on this will be tolerated.

4. I Have A Little Dreidel, Barenaked Ladies. Canuck Jewish Holiday rambunctiousness. What's not to like?

5. Little Drummer Boy, Miracle Legion. I saw these guys open for Alex Chilton once. They impressed me so much, I had to go and see them headline the following night. It was at a club that closed down shortly after they hosted GG Allin. not a heartwarming story, perhaps, but as Another Kiwi said at Riddled:

You can feel the feelings
And accept some comfort.

And that is what I love about people who play music for a living.

6.Sleigh Ride, Mojo Nixon and the Toadliquors. Horny Holidays is probably the second most played holiday album at the Home of Zombeez. It sound like you miked a drunken holiday singalong, which was taken over by your obnoxious zombie friend who sang louder than everybody else, and made up for forgotten lyrics as well as singing in tune, with enthusiasm and drunken improvising.

• 6A. Run Run Rudoplph, Mojo Nixon and the Toadliquors. See Above. By the liner notes, this was recorded in Lake Geneva, and between beer and whisky, lubricated by Jagermeister. And weed. and sounds it.
• It sounds like a holiday party, and is there something wrong with that?

7. Good King Wenceslas, Mary McCaslin. From a Rounder records sampler.

When I was a small, pre-zombie, my family would always look forward to the Christmas eve service at our liberal little church. It was light on preaching, and the high point was when they would turn the lights off in the church, and we all would sing carols like this while holding candles.

It was beautiful; there is nothing like a cathedral illuminated solely by candles held by the audience, while filled with communal song. It had little to do with organized religion, and everything to do with spirituality and community.

8. One Little Christmas Tree, Sister Hazel. New stuff this year, although cool people like Von have known about it for some time.

9. Silent Night, Molly Johnson & Norman Orenstein. Modern, guitar and bluesy voiced version that leaves the classic intent intact.

10. O, Holy Night, Divine Weeks. See above, #9 and #7; recycle those comments. The best songs are able to be re-imagined without losing the things that make them great.

11. Christmas At The Triple X Ranch, Riders In The Sky. Another from the Rounder records album, this is one of the best country christmas songs out there, it's like the western American version of teh Chieftains album. I canNOT resist it, especially the "Me-RRY christmas, buckaroos and buckarettes" at the end.

12. Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy; Bing and David. One of the most improbable, and most successful, cross-pollination duets ever, and I will not allow disagreement on this either. Made all the more wonderful because it was done live, not through digital combination, and that Bowie wore a matching sweater.

When I listen, it makes me feel like there is hope for collaboration and meeting of generations through common language like music, love, art.

And then I wake up and see people like John Boehner and John McCain and Joe Lieberman running our world, and I realize that the seventies were long ago.

13. River - Roberty Downey Jr. Yes, he does a straight up version of the Joni Mitchell song. It works, and regardless of the Brat Pack/folkie baggage, I will tell you it works and that is all I need from a song.

14. Bring A Torch, Jeanette Isabella, Carnival Art. LA punk/art rock re imagining of a traditional song, and O do I love it. Everytime I hear this song in some traditional environment, now, I hear this guitar-based thrashy version. I especially love the sloppy, half-beat delayed drumming during the vocal breaks. AND they finish with the vox from the Whoville song in The Grinch. Brilliantly, sloppily, punkily festive.

15. Thanks For Christmas, Blue Girl and Neddie Jingo. One of my favorite holiday songs, done by some of my favorite imaginary digital friends. I can't convey how great it is to hear the songs by these folks come up, and think "Hey, I kinda know these guys!"

But beyond that, Andy Partridge has written many perfect pop songs, and in this case, he wrote a perfect pop Christmas song. Festive, and heartwarming, and sweet without being cloying or annoying. BG and NJ have perfectly captured the soul of this song, using basic studio equipment and the internet. They captured the heart of the song, and I would like to imagine that Andy Partridge has somehow come across the version, and I believe he smiles when he hears it....

Thanks to Blue Girl and Neddie Jingo for their gifts of music, and thanks to all of you for commenting, and I may or may not be back during the second decade of this century.


....o, and one for KWB; "Christmas Time IS Here" (by Glue Birl and Jeddie Ningo) came up just as I was finishing this post. Once again:

You can feel the feelings
And accept some comfort.

Merry Christmas, friends.

POSTSCRIPT

Christmas Is Coming, the Payolas. A lovely yearning song by punks. It belies the opinion that punk music had no musicality or ability. The Payolas delivered, in three chords and three verses, a visceral sing-along holiday song that includes desolation, hope, desire, and hope. ANOTHER of my favorites. 3 Minutes is more than enough to make for a purely perfect power pop song.

I am gong to spend the rest of the holiday season listening to all of these songs.