Merry Christmas

I know I usually have a hard on for anything and everything Phil Spector related, but as much as I enjoy Darlene Love's version of "Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home)", there's another version that I'll always prefer.

That's right, I'm talking about U2. Maybe Darlene Love can help you celebrate the birth of Christ AND the wall of sound (both equally influential to the world), but the U2 is the band I instantly think of when I hear this song. It's the version I grew up with and it rocks oh so well.

"Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home" by U2

Then of course, there's the pairing that's odder than any mash-up the internet could ever dream of.

"The Little Drummer Boy" by David Bowie & Bing Crosby

To step in another direction, I'd like to bring up the only christmas song I can think of that contains the word "faggot". I mean, what is Christmas without some alcoholism? Cue Shane MacGowan and his mushmouthed mess of a first verse. Kirsty MacColl balances out his sloppy mess and the result is LOVERLY.

"The Fairy Tale of New York" feat. Kirsty MacColl by the Pogues

Oh and on the subject of alcoholism,

"Baby, it's Cold Outside" by Dean Martin (my favorite rat packer)

And just so we don't lose any scene points here,

"Rock and Roll Santa" by Yo La Tengo

Wallowing

When you're in the mood for a good wallowing session, you need just the right music. Just in case any of you readers out there were planning on a life questioning depression kick, here's my quick list of

5 Great Songs for Wallowing, Despair, etc.

As is usually the case, these are in no real specific order.

5. "Wasted Days" by the Slackers

Take the repeated line "what have I done wrong" tossed in with some mournful hornfuls and you've got yourself a self-pity pie.


4. "Autumn Sweater" by Yo La Tengo

The organ melody here is key. If you take out the organ, there's a lot of really rocking percussion going on with nothing to counterbalance it. Ira Kaplan's bashful vocal delivery helps too.


3. "I'm Still Your Fag" by Broken Social Scene

Gentle quiet vocals, meandering instrumentals, spaced out drums. All the elements are there.


2. "Walking On A Wire" by the Get Up Kids

A lot of Get Up Kids songs rely on the lyrics to convey the emotion of the song. The lyrics relate to the mood here, but the slow winding guitar tells much more of a story than anything that's sung. This was the first get up kids song I ever heard and not one other song by them sounds anything like it, which to me is a shame.


1. "If You're Feeling Sinister" by Belle & Sebastian

The second song on this list that was my introduction to a band. This song is like "Autumn Sweater" in a sense; elements of the song are very upbeat, but the overall package is certainly not. When I saw this song played live, it was an upbeat show, and they delivered a dancy/rocking tune, more evidence of the power of delivery.


Now, I believe that wallowing is a good thing to do every now and again. It's a good way to get that built up sadness out of your system. But while it might be a fine place to visit, it's certainly no place to live. If you find yourself staying too long, maybe you need to remember that you don't have to be so sad.

not autumn yet

Yes Green Hornet, summer is ending. I will miss the summer. Here's a song to get some nostalgia pumping as you think back to the last three months:



A Summer Wasting - Belle and Sebastian


Let's not let the seasonal depression get us down too much. First off, summer is too fucking hot. Second, autumn has some cool things: football (both American and English) start, trees look cooler, and we get to see women wear summer clothes when it's too cold because they don't want to admit it's fall. So here's a song to listen to in the autumn.



Autumn Sweater - Yo La Tengo


And if you need something else to tell you summer can't really be too great, here it is:



Summer Jam - Craig David ft. The Artful Dodger