As usual, here's a recap of all the songs I posted for this year. As mentioned previously, I tended to go for the obscure this time. See previous posts for the background on each selection. Divide & Kreate — Jingle Jane Divide & Kreate — Velvet Santa Dan Türell & Halfdan E – Jul Igen Stewart Stardust M.Fl. – Jul På Vesterbro Smith and Jones – Christmas [...]
I guess it's time to wrap it up for Christmas 2010. I thought I'd go out with a couple R&B/soul songs - one of my favorite varieties of Christmas tunes. Gatemouth Moore, backed by the Tiny Grimes Swingtet, offers a classic plea directed at santa Claus. The final lines are one of my favorite set of lyrics in any Christmas song. Moore was a blues shouter in the Forties. After a conversion in 1949, he spent the next 30 years as a preacher. The late, great Solomon Burke was also spiritually inclined. He preached [...]
It's about time I threw another couple mash-ups into the mix. From Christina Aguilera's 2000 album My Kind of Christmas , the track " Christmas Time " represents a particularly crass kind of expression of the Yuletide. It's hip, it's commercial, it pretends to celebrate an innocent time. It's not hugely sappy, employing minor chords and evoking carol singers, but it's still Xtina. Especially if you watch this TV performance , it makes you want to punch somebody, whilst screaming, " Bah, humbug!!! " But the group 65daysofstatic [...]
Continuing on in the pop vein of the last pair of songs, here are a couple of peppy Christmas songs from Redd Kross . In 1980, at the height of the L.A. punk scene, teenagers Jeff and Steve McDonald started the band Red Cross (spelling later changed to avoid legal trouble). They were as much influenced by junk pop culture of the Sixties and early Seventies as they were by punk music (e.g., the Brady Bunch). By the mid Nineties, from whence these recordings came ('97, to be precise), they had settled into a more [...]
If you've been paying attention, I hope I've made it clear that anyone claiming the existence of a " one true meaning of Christmas " is not supported by historical facts. If you like to celebrate Christmas as being primarily (or entirely) as celebration of the birth of Jesus, then good for you. Bookending Christmas & Easter as the foundation of Christianity – the birth and death of God's only begotten Son, the sacrifice for Mankind – is certainly sound theologically. But December 25? Sorry, that date has a very complex history. It belongs [...]
Some people don't like Christmas music. I think it's that they (rightly) don't like bad music. Some people don't like Christmas movies and TV specials. Same deal. There are way too many bad Christmas movies out there, commercially-driven pablum. Sure, there are the classics like Miracle on 34th Street (1947), A Christmas Story (1983) and Elf (2003) – all terrific. There are several worthy version of Dicken's A Christmas Carol . It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is also widely hailed. I've pointed [...]
Following up on yesterday's post, I'll continue in a traditionalist vein today. Oh, the 1950s! Awkward period of transition! In post-War America, it seems like the most interesting developments were on the edges, such as rock and jazz. Mainstream popular music was pretty bland. You must recall that what we think of as Fifties culture really runs from 1954-64. (See previous post here which includes links on the culture wars of the Fifties.) There is a weird blurring between classical and popular music in this period. What we call "classical" [...]
This year, I consciously have tried to post less familiar Christmas music, leaning more on originals. Disregarding the Hanukkah songs, there have been 7 songs of a traditional nature, versus 13 more modern songs. Today, however, I wanted to throw in some time-honored classics. Not only are they old hymns and carols, they are played on traditional instruments, all from very talented musicians. And the material is from a specific period of time. It was during the 19th century that most of the familiar elements of modern Christmas were created, including Christmas trees and [...]
If you're a newcomer to this blog, let me explain where I come from. It's called "The Pop View" because it's a view of the world through the lens of pop culture. Yes, I talk about specific movies and TV shows and I'll post MP3s, but if browse through the archives, you'll find me ruminating about "What does it all mean?" Popular culture is important because it both reflects and influences our culture (which is to say, our way of life). Everything – economics, clothing, politics, the environment, healthcare, education, [...]
In 1984, Wham! released "Last Christmas" as the flipside of the single "Everything She Wants" (which is, by the way, a pretty good song). I didn't pay much attention, having found "Young Guns (Go for It!)" to be silly, "Bad Boys" to be negligible and "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" to be one of life's greatest tortures. As the years passed, covers of "Last Christmas" kept showing up in my collection and the song finally grew on me. I still don't care for the original version by Wham! In fact, I would argue that the [...]
Several years ago, I laid out the four categories of Christmas songs . But let's face it, most Christmas songs you think of as Christmas songs because that's just the way we view them. In 1857, James Pierpont published the song "One Horse Open Sleigh," then reissued it in 1859 under the name "Jingle Bells." It was actually written as a Thanksgiving song. "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music somehow became a Christmas song because of its references to doorbells & sleigh bells and snowflakes that stay [...]
Over the weekend, I posted a couple songs taken from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite . Via Twitter, someone reminded me of the Nutcracker by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, released in 1945. It was arranged by Joe "Country" Washburne, with special lyrics and effects by Foster Carling, featuring Susan Scott and a mixed chorus. You can find those lyrics here . it was originally released on 78 RPM records, spread out over six sides. On YouTube, someone has thoughtfully uploaded video of these records playing, just as you would have heard [...]
It's the fifth night of Hanukkah and it only seems right to post another couple songs for the Festival of Lights. How's that oil holding out? Washington, DC's retro alt-country outfit Honky Tonk Confidential contributes what may be the first country-western Hanukkah song. The lyrics hit all the highlights of the festivities (at least, as I understand them). The, we jump to the other side of the country for a tune from Velouria , who hail from LA's SIlverlake district. They started off in the mid 90s, as part of a wave of [...]
There are many Christmas traditions we practice in America. For some, the season always includes attending a performance of The Nutcracker (or perhaps appearing in a production). First produced in 1892, The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet; score composed by Tchaikovsky; story taken from E.T.A. Hoffmann's "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King." In addition to the full ballet, Tchaikovsky created a 20-minute suite from the score, which has become pretty familiar music for most people. You may not know you know it, but listen to these two songs and I'm sure you'll [...]
"Carol of the Bells" is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. In particular, I like it because it has an interesting pedigree, as I covered here : ...it was composed in the Ukraine and first performed in 1916. In 1936, lyrics were added for a performance by Arturo Toscanini on the radio, with other lyrics used on other occasions. In the Seventies, the music was used as background in annual commercials for André sparkling wine. I've heard maybe a hundred renditions, and even the lesser ones don't really suck. You [...]
In 1994, when Mariah Carey released "All I Want for Christmas is You," I don't remember it being on my radar. In those days, I was tuning her out anyway, not being a big fan of her style of singing. But over time, its popularity has grown and other people have done their own versions. And I finally came to recognize the greatness of this song. For example, the performance of the song at a school talent program is a highlight of the Christmas movie Love Actually . Mariah Carey has [...]
Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah, and I usually include that in my holiday offerings. As I once quipped, "…Hanukkah songs (a.k.a. Chanukah, Hannukah, Hanukah, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Hanuka, Channukah, Hanukka, Hanaka, Haneka, Hanika and Khanukkah — so don't worry, you can't spell it wrong)." Adam Gardner of Guster and Dave Schneider of the Zambonis teamed up to write indie pop-rock Hanukkah songs. As the LeeVees , they released the album Hanukkah Rocks (a version as a 4-song EP is also [...]
A little switch-up tonight: not Christmas music, but Christmas comedy. I've been a fan of British comedy since the Seventies, watching shows like Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Goonies . Later, I also loved Alas Smith and Jones , starring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. Maybe you know Smith from The Princess Bride . I quite liked Morons from Outer Space . On their 1986 album Scratch & Sniff , Smith and Jones ramble on about various aspects of Christmas, including a diversion to the humble beginnings [...]
[This post is a repeat from last year. I don't usually do that, but I loved these two songs and the whole background to the way Christmas is celebrated in Denmark .] I'm always fascinated by how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world, since Americans seem to forget that the holiday started in Europe and they have their own spin on it. Thanks to Hans (a friend-of-a-friend), here's a little background on Christmas in Denmark: "In Denmark, like many other things, Christmas is steeped in long standing [...]
Longtime readers will recall that every year I post MP3s of Christmas music (or you can look at this post from 2005 for background). I've been collecting such works since the early Eighties; I always feel like I don't have enough, even though I have quite a bit. I have my prejudices. I tend to prefer unusual arrangements of Christmas classics and/or original songs. Over the past 25 years or so, it seems like the practice of releasing holiday songs has become more popular, but people tend to just do cover versions of the same old [...]
The Pop View
Sleigh Bells - Demons (Official Music Video)
The Rains of Castamere by The National
A-Trak & Dillon Francis - "Money Makin'" (Official Video)
DIIV "How Long Have You Known?" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Nas - Daughters
Bison - Quill
Neutral Milk Hotel- Aeroplane Over the Sea
Shinichi Osawa – Big Beach Mix 2012
