Christmas Mix 2009

I've been collecting Christmas music since I was a kid.  Long before the first Compact Disc had made its way into my house, there were "Ryan's Christmas Mix" cassette tapes laying around the tape deck which I had painstakingly dubbed from the Christmas albums my parents owned.  This started because most Christmas albums are 85% studio schlock versions of the same tired Christmas traditionals, and 15% inspired arrangements of said tired traditionals or original works.  That 15% was generally worth listening to, and the rest was not.  In the days before Napster changed it all, when you had to buy every track of a given album, this made for some excruciating Christmas music being played for the sake of one or two songs.  It's been many years since I've put together a Christmas Mix of the very best stuff (I even gave them out as gifts one year when I was very broke and the burning of CDs was still not something everyone was doing) so I thought this year I'd compile my Top 20 favorite Christmas tracks, of all time.  My tastes are pretty eclectic, so if you can't find something you like among these, you either hate music, or hate Christmas.  

The Top Twenty Christmas Songs

(In no particular order)

All I Want For Christmas is You by Foghat

This one has it all:  rhythm, guitar, piano, saxophone, and sexual innuendo.  Perhaps the most fun Christmas song I own.  Bet you can't listen to it just once.

The Christmas Song by The Raveonettes

This is a guilty pleasure song.  Excessive use of Fender telecaster  gets me every time.

Santa Can't Stay by Dwight Yoakam

This is the sweet'n'sour sauce of Christmas music.  Yoakam manages to cram a domestic disturbance and Christmas bells together in a way that makes both more resonate.  Like getting sucker-punched in the stomach but feeling better for it.

Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) by Death Cab for Cutie 

If you're going to sing a depressing Chistmas song, you might as well make it as gut-wrenchingly sad as possible, right?  Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard would make Rudolph think about cutting himself with this one.  

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band (LIVE)

This is a pretty famous Christmas song at this point, but the live version is, as far as I can tell, unavailable anywhere and I'm not sure it ever was, which is unfortunate because it's so much more excellent. 

We Five Kings by Jethro Tull

 This one gets included for being a fascinating composition and some bad-ass Jazz flutery.

Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano (LIVE)

 Those of you who are not fans of Feliz Navidad have never heard this live version.  It might be the best live recording of any song of any genre.

I Wish It Was Christmas Today by Julian Casablancas

This song was first performed as a Saturday Night Live skit and was meant to be nothing but silly.  Along comes Julian Casablancas--front man for the Strokes--and now you have an incredibly catchy Christmas song.  

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch by Rockapella

The Rockapella Christmas album is excellent in its entirety, but this particular track is a favorite of mine.  

Snoopy vs. The Red Baron Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen

 This oldie (1967) has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid.  Aerial combat, fictional beagles, and Germans, what's not to love?

Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You by SR-71

 As rock'n'roll Christmas songs go, this one is unmatched.

What Christmas Means to Me by Stevie Wonder

 This is the first Christmas song I play ever year.  It has one of those piano/bass line combinations that makes it hard not to move while listening to it.  

A New York Christmas by Rob Thomas

 This is another guilty pleasure song.  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for Rob Thomas' vocals.

Merry Christmas, Baby by The Beach Boys

Maybe it's the use of claps, maybe it's the piano, or maybe it's just the slightly ridiculous lyrics, but this one is often set to repeat.  

Silent Night by Wilson Phillips

Wilson Phillips may have had only 12 minutes of fame in the very early 90s for some questionable songs, but the harmonies of the offspring of Brian Wilson and The Momas & the Papas were built for this traditional song.

Sleigh Ride by Relient K

As noted previously on this blog, this is by far the best arrangement this classic has ever seen.  It's the kind of song that deserves a music video full of swing dancers.  

A Great Big Sled by The Killers

This is a recent addition to my collection and an instant favorite.  A lot of songs get hung up on the trappings of Christmas.  This one cuts to the core of it all.  

I Believe In Father Christmas by Emerson, Lake & Palmer

I'm not a big EL&P fan, but it's hard not to enjoy this somewhat overwrought expression of the adaptation Christmas goes through as we age.

Thank God it's Christmas by Queen

Without this epic ballad by the most famous Zoroastrian of all time, it's just not Christmas.  

Soul'd Lang Syne by Los Straitjackets

I'd never heard a version of Auld Lang Syne that I'd enjoyed until I heard this instrumental version by these masked surf rockers.