Skip to main content

My Christmas Playlist

It’s that time of year again where everywhere you go there’s Christmas music playing. I don’t mind, mostly, but some of it is infinitely overplayed. A few years ago I made my own playlist of Christmas favourites and I love listening to it every year from December 1 to 25. I have tried inserting other songs but I’ve become too accustomed to this set by now and can’t think what other songs would work. Maybe it’s time for a volume two….

The following is my perfect Christmas playlist in the order they appear.

  1. “I Wish it was Christmas Today” by Julian Casablancas – I open with this slick rock production of a jokey song that was part of a Saturday Night Live skit in 2000 featuring Jimmy Fallon and Horatio Sanz. I like it because it’s fun, not serious at all, yet this version is a big production. It’s got a lot of positive energy, always makes me smile and it just rocks. And who doesn’t wish it was Christmas today?
  2. “Christmas Wrapping” by The Waitresses – I love the beat and the bar-room simplicity of the rock and roll track over which a story of unrequited love finally resolving on Christmas Eve is told in an almost conversational tone. Fun, fun song about missed opportunities ending on a happy note. What better Christmas present than love?
  3. “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney – Another fluffy, fun song that playfully evokes good cheer for the holiday season. It always conjures images of people in Santa hats having a good time as the snow comes down against a backdrop of Christmas Eve.
  4. “Last Christmas” by Wham – I understand how cheesy this one is, but this is as close to schmaltz as I get. It’s a fun-sounding song but it’s actually about a break-up, so there’s a bizarre melancholy undertone to the glitteringly-80’s pop hit. It’s also hard not to listen to, for some reason.
  5. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love – Possibly my favourite Christmas-rock song. I love the swing and the sound, big and brash, full of the emotion of someone pining for nothing more than their loved one at Christmastime.  
  6. “Little Dealer Boy” by Willie Nelson and Stephen Colbert – Always brings a smile to my face. I like the weird riff on Bing Crosby and David Bowie’s Little Drummer Boy, with a story about sharing.
  7. “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues featuring Kristy McColl – Maybe it’s the Irish in me, but this song is irresistible. I love how it starts slow and then gets going big-time. It’s got a story with an immigrant angle about dreams, love and disillusionment against the backdrop of New York, giving personal choices a fatalistic slant in the greater scheme of things. It’s got swing, it’s got melancholy and I really love it.
  8. “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono – This is my all-time favourite Christmas song. It always gives me shivers if not outright tears, especially when they bring in the strains of Silent Night for the final chorus. But what I really respond to is the simple message of love and inclusion and the challenge to be a better person, living without fear. All the world’s possibilities are contained within each of us and anything can be achieved if you really want it, but what are you willing to do? The opening refrain of this song (“So this is Christmas, and what have you done?”) is a yearly check-in.
  9. “Silent Night” by Sinead O’Connor – I discovered this version of the timeless classic by pure chance on the radio one night years ago and it struck nerve with its simplicity, just a voice over a heavy synth playing ambiently. Breathtaking in its solemnity, I can’t help but turn inward and feel soothed for a few minutes whenever I hear it.
  10. “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” by Nat King Cole – Plays us out on a positive note of warmth and cheer. This is one brings it back to Earth with a beautifully rendered word-picture of Christmastime played with warm strings and the inimitable voice of Nat King Cole. This one always feels like it should play over a montage at the end of some multi-layered Christmas movie where the story ends with everyone reunited in time for Christmas Eve and all is well.

On that note, being a movie buff: fade to black.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Film Review: Blade Runner 2049

Denis Villeneuve has succeeded in creating that rarest of films: a very late sequel that respects and improves upon the original. Blade Runner 2049 expands the canvas of the first film with new locations and characters, all of whom feel authentic and true to the tone and themes of 1982’s Blade Runner . I thought it was magnificent in terms of setting and imagery and it packed an unexpected emotional punch which was absent in the first movie. I wanted to see it twice before I wrote my review and I am confident in saying it is superior to the original film while remaining tonally and esthetically consistent. I loved it. Foremost, I loved the story – complex without being hard to follow and never violating any continuity laid down by its predecessor. There were plot twists I could see coming but then the revelation would have more dimension than I was expecting. There were also genuine surprises in a couple of scenes. The cast is wonderful, with everyone well-suited to their roles (...
Post a Comment
Read more

Oscars

For the first time that I can remember, I have seen all but one of the nominees for the Oscars, which were held last week. At the time, I had seen all of them except for The Post and The Shape of Water , which I finally saw after it won best picture. My thoughts on it and the rest of the nominees: The Shape of Water is essentially Splash re-imagined with the Creature from the Black Lagoon instead of a mermaid, but nowhere near as good. I was impressed by the creature design, certainly, but the rest of the movie felt frustratingly underdone. It was a very typical Guillermo del Toro film, in that sense: I think he’s a gifted visualist, but his stories and characters leave a lot to be desired. Get Out is actually my third favourite movie of 2018, behind mother! and Blade Runner 2049 , so if I had been an Academy voter, this is the one I personally would have chosen for best picture. It’s very smart, very funny and very poignant without being preachy. It’s really brilliant,...
Post a Comment
Read more

IPO Statement

This weekly blog is intended (like most people’s) to be a space where I can talk about the things I’m interested in. I’ll be using it to post critical reviews of movies, books and whatever else I might want to unload my mind about. In general, I’m going to keep things as positive as I can because there’s already enough negativity out there and I would rather spend time focusing on the things I like rather than the things that upset me. I am a rational anarchist. I believe nobody has any right to tell anyone else what to do, but that the limits of anarchy make it unworkable in groups larger than a hundred or so individuals. I think with this many people around, impersonal rules are an unfortunate necessity, but I will only respect the ones that seem fair, in my mind. There is no excuse for injustice or abuse of power and as people and populations change, so must the rules that govern us, meaning they should always be challenged or at least suspected. Art and culture are my pass...
Post a Comment
Read more