Christmas Music -
Is a big part of the holiday...And some of it (Charles Brown's silky smokymalt croon on "Merry Christmas, Baby") is just an integral part of the holiday, for me. And some of it is cool, but very strange (think Bing Crosby and David Bowie's duet on 'Little Drummer Boy' - which you can find, btw, on a different livejournal. I know her not, so we won't hot link to her blog. But search LJ for tigerfaerie. Lots of cool Christmas music there. :8)- ).
So anyway, some of it (Christmas music, that is) is just.... very, very strange.
And THAT'S the stuff I like. Quirky.
So, without further ado:
Everybody knows Tom Lehrer, yeah? Well, if not his 'Christmas Carol' is a good introduction. Wry satiric look at the holidays.
Here's Joseph Spence, a Bahamian acoustic guitarist and ... I'm not sure WHAT-the-Hell kind of vocal stylist. HIs guitar work is wonderful. Really tasteful. His vocals on this track 'Sandy Craws' sound sort've like Scrooge McDuck about a day and a half into an epic three-day bender. It's out there, but worth it.
Speakin' of a three-day bender, Fay McKay gets pretty close by the end of the 12 Daze of Christmas. Each day her true love brings a new drink. Somewhere around the 6th day (...my true love gave to me 6 Cuba Libré's...), she's whacked.
Kay Martin (and Her Bodyguards) was a lounge act in the 50's, very fun, very risque in a Bette Midler manner.
Tracks like "Hang Your Balls On the Christmas Tree', 'Santa, Let's Have A Ball,' and Santa's Doing the Horizontal Twist give you an idea of what her show was like. Sorry I missed it.
If you like that, here's a link to the zipfile of 1957's
I Know What He Wants For Christmas (but I don't know how to wrap it). Pretty big file, tho. (46MBytes) Be warned.
Okay, stepping up to .. the new millenia:
Here are a couple Trans-Siberian Orchestra albums. All three of these are big-ass files; 'bout 100 MBytes ea. Check amazon for samples to see if you like 'em before you download it.
The first is 1996's Christmas Eve and Other Stories A sample from this is on the 'Carol of the Popfiend' post, earlier.
TSO's 1998 release The Christmas Attic.
TSO's 2004 release The Lost Chrsitmas Eve.
Also... since we're on the subject of Holidays and alcohol... well, what else is there but Christmas Karaoke?
Here are three files of off-key Holiday Cheer (and track list following). All cdg files included.
Christmas Karaoke Pt. 1
01 - Auld Lang Syne
02 - Ave Maria
03 - Away In A Manger
04 - Do They Know It's Christmas (Band-Aid)
-- okay.... I don't really hate all karoke, okay? You heard it here first. But God, THIS one sux.
05 - White Christmas (Bing Crosby)
06 - Jingle Bell ROCK (Bobby Helms)
07 - Grandpa Got Run Over By A John Deere (Cletis Judd)
08 Deck the Halls
09 - Do You Hear WHat I Hear? (Gremlins!!)
10 - Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer (Elmo&Patsy)
11 - Blue Christmas (Elvis Presley)
12 - If Every Day Was Like Christmas (Elvis Presley)
13 - Ave Maria (Schubert)
14 - Frosty the Snowman
15 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Gene Autry)
Christmas karaoke Pt. 2
01- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
02- Hark the Herlad Angels Sing
03- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
04- Here Comes Santa Claus
05- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
06- I'll Be Home For Christmas
07 - It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas
08- JIngle Bells
09- Feliz Navidad (José Feliciano)
10- Joy to the World
11- Let it the Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
12- Little Drummer Boy
13-The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) - Nat King Cole
14- O COme All Ye Faithful
Christmas Karaoke Pt 3
01- O Holy Night
02- O Little Town of Bethlehem
03- Winter Wonderland (Perry Como)
04- Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
05- Silent Night
06- Silver Bells
07- The Chipmunk Song (Chipmunks w/David Seville)
08-The First Noel
09- Snoopy vs. the Red Baron (The Royal Guardsmen)
10- Snoopy' Christmas (the Royal Guardsmen)
11- Twelve Days of Christmas
12- We Three Kings
13- We Wish You A Merry Christmas
14- What Child Is This
15- White Christmas
Love ya...... Enjoy
So anyway, some of it (Christmas music, that is) is just.... very, very strange.
And THAT'S the stuff I like. Quirky.
So, without further ado:
Everybody knows Tom Lehrer, yeah? Well, if not his 'Christmas Carol' is a good introduction. Wry satiric look at the holidays.
Here's Joseph Spence, a Bahamian acoustic guitarist and ... I'm not sure WHAT-the-Hell kind of vocal stylist. HIs guitar work is wonderful. Really tasteful. His vocals on this track 'Sandy Craws' sound sort've like Scrooge McDuck about a day and a half into an epic three-day bender. It's out there, but worth it.
Speakin' of a three-day bender, Fay McKay gets pretty close by the end of the 12 Daze of Christmas. Each day her true love brings a new drink. Somewhere around the 6th day (...my true love gave to me 6 Cuba Libré's...), she's whacked.
Kay Martin (and Her Bodyguards) was a lounge act in the 50's, very fun, very risque in a Bette Midler manner.
Tracks like "Hang Your Balls On the Christmas Tree', 'Santa, Let's Have A Ball,' and Santa's Doing the Horizontal Twist give you an idea of what her show was like. Sorry I missed it.
If you like that, here's a link to the zipfile of 1957's
I Know What He Wants For Christmas (but I don't know how to wrap it). Pretty big file, tho. (46MBytes) Be warned.
Okay, stepping up to .. the new millenia:
Here are a couple Trans-Siberian Orchestra albums. All three of these are big-ass files; 'bout 100 MBytes ea. Check amazon for samples to see if you like 'em before you download it.
The first is 1996's Christmas Eve and Other Stories A sample from this is on the 'Carol of the Popfiend' post, earlier.
TSO's 1998 release The Christmas Attic.
TSO's 2004 release The Lost Chrsitmas Eve.
Also... since we're on the subject of Holidays and alcohol... well, what else is there but Christmas Karaoke?
Here are three files of off-key Holiday Cheer (and track list following). All cdg files included.
Christmas Karaoke Pt. 1
01 - Auld Lang Syne
02 - Ave Maria
03 - Away In A Manger
04 - Do They Know It's Christmas (Band-Aid)
-- okay.... I don't really hate all karoke, okay? You heard it here first. But God, THIS one sux.
05 - White Christmas (Bing Crosby)
06 - Jingle Bell ROCK (Bobby Helms)
07 - Grandpa Got Run Over By A John Deere (Cletis Judd)
08 Deck the Halls
09 - Do You Hear WHat I Hear? (Gremlins!!)
10 - Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer (Elmo&Patsy)
11 - Blue Christmas (Elvis Presley)
12 - If Every Day Was Like Christmas (Elvis Presley)
13 - Ave Maria (Schubert)
14 - Frosty the Snowman
15 - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Gene Autry)
Christmas karaoke Pt. 2
01- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
02- Hark the Herlad Angels Sing
03- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
04- Here Comes Santa Claus
05- I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
06- I'll Be Home For Christmas
07 - It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas
08- JIngle Bells
09- Feliz Navidad (José Feliciano)
10- Joy to the World
11- Let it the Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
12- Little Drummer Boy
13-The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) - Nat King Cole
14- O COme All Ye Faithful
Christmas Karaoke Pt 3
01- O Holy Night
02- O Little Town of Bethlehem
03- Winter Wonderland (Perry Como)
04- Santa Claus Is Coming to Town
05- Silent Night
06- Silver Bells
07- The Chipmunk Song (Chipmunks w/David Seville)
08-The First Noel
09- Snoopy vs. the Red Baron (The Royal Guardsmen)
10- Snoopy' Christmas (the Royal Guardsmen)
11- Twelve Days of Christmas
12- We Three Kings
13- We Wish You A Merry Christmas
14- What Child Is This
15- White Christmas
Love ya...... Enjoy