Buzz posted about his favorite Christmas music today, so I figured I’d jump on that bandwagon. Last night I ripped my Christmas CDs to iTunes, and added them into a playlist with my newest addition, Barenaked for the Holidays.
A few of my favorites:
- 2000 Miles - The Pretenders (memories of the days of long distance love)
- Bizarre Christmas Incident - Ben Folds (funny, silly, bad words…)
- Father Christmas - The Kinks (“Father Christmas, give us some money…”)
- Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano (“Feliz Naviblablah” - PeeWee Herman)
- Gabriel’s Message - Sting (just a really pretty song)
- Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy (because it used to crack up my Gram and it reminds me of her.)
- I Believe in Father Christmas - Greg Lake (“They said there’d be peace on earth…” *sigh*)
- Jingle Bells - Barenaked Ladies (includes Batman smells verse!)
- Merry Christmas Baby - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (on The Conan O’Brian Show)
- Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy - Bing Crosby with David Bowie (I remember watching this on the BC Christmas Special when it first aired!)
- Santa Claus And His Old Lady - Cheech & Chong (“he had some magic dust, man!”)
- Santa Claus Is Coming to Town - Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (“Everybody out there been good or what?”)
- Thank God It’s Christmas - Queen (Freddy Mercury over the top!)
- The Christmas Song - Nat King Cole (I agree with Buzz on this one- no one else can do this song justice.)
- The Chipmonk Song - The Chipmonks “ALVIN!”
- Welcome Christmas - from How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Who else can recite the entire show?)
- Winter Wonderland - Eurythmics (Annie Lennox, perfect.)
- Wonderful Christmastime - Barenaked Ladies (with a Happy Birthday Jesus verse!)
- December - George Winston (the entire album)
So, any recommendations? What are your favorites, what should I check out?
It’s not technically a Christmas song, but Harry Connick’s “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” has tempted me to leave my husband for Harry many a time! Actually, just about anything on his “When My Heart Finds Christmas” album works for me, except “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers.”
And I’ve heard Mel Torme do a pretty serviceable job on “The Christmas Song.” Then again, he wrote it.
I’m with you on Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy. That’s been a fav of mine since I saw it on Bing’s TV special as well. (What ever happened to the good ol’ Christmas special? Does anyone ever do them anymore?)
Other favs are just about anything from Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. Can’t decorate the Christmas tree with out it playing in the background. I’m a sucker for Bing; his White Christmas album has some great ones on it (Jingle Bells and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (both with the Andrews Sisters) and I’ll Be Home for Christmas.) Guess I’m a sucker for traditional stuff.