Oh how I love this song. Love For Christmas by The Gems is #16 in my 25 Days of Christmas Songs. The Gems was a Chicago-based group from the early 1960s and featured a very young Minnie Riperton. Minnie went on to have a number one hit with Lovin' You in 1974. The Gems were on the Chess Records label, started by a couple of Polish immigrant brothers with the last name of Chess. Go figure. Love For [...]
The second song on Request Sunday for The 25 Days of Christmas Songs (which brings me up to Day 14. One more day to make up) is Colorado Christmas from my friend Susan Marcianti Hill. The song was recorded by country music behemoth The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who formed in 1966 in the home of country music - Long Beach, CA. Colorado Christmas, written by Steve Goodman - wait - a country band from Long Beach, CA recorded [...]
It's request Sunday for the 25 Days of Christmas Songs and first up is Put A Little Love In Your Heart from my friend Ray Wagner. Originally recorded by Jackie DeShannon in 1968, Put A Little Love In Your Heart was covered by Annie Lennox and Al Green (a couple of hack singers) for the 1988 holiday film SCROOGED. It's a pretty great cover. Buy the song on iTunes here. Buy it at Amazon here. And if you're [...]
Rounding out the first dozen of 25 Days of Christmas Songs is The Christmas Song by the Danish band The Raveonettes. This is such a great song. I don't have much to say about this song other than it's lovely and should be on your playlist. Get it at iTunes here. Get it at Amazon right below.
Let's face it, Christmas is a time for bittersweet songs. For every kiss stolen under the mistletoe, there's grief from the memory of family and friends no longer with us. Christmas in the Room, the #10 song in my 25 Days of Christmas Songs, captures the bittersweetness of the holidays and life. But the song by Sufjan Stevens (He has a brother named Marzuki. What up with those names?) hits on what's really important: being together. No gifts. [...]
"It's all cold down along the beach, the wind's whipping down the boardwalk...Hey band! You guys know what time of year it is? Christmas time!" Thus begins Bruce Springsteen's iconic version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, recorded on this day 38-years ago at C. W. Post College in Greenvale, NY. One of the earliest performances of the song by Springsteen was Dec 23, 1973 at Rova Farms Function Center in beautiful Jackson, NJ. Midway through the song a brawl [...]
Christmas Without You by Onerepublic is my 8th song in my 25 Days of Christmas Songs list. Released in 2011, Christmas Without You was the band's first venture into holiday music and I think they knocked it out of the park. I think the first time they performed it live was in November 2011 at the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Washington, DC. Also on the bill that night: Kermit the Frog. Buy the song on iTunes [...]
Elvis' If I Get Home For Christmas, from the 1971 album Elvis Sings The Wonderful World of Christmas is my 7th song in my 25 Days of Christmas songs list. Although not as popular as his first Christmas album, the aptly named Elvis' Christmas Album, The Wonderful World of Christmas did go Platinum in 1999. Heck, I'd take a platinum selling album any day. If I Get Home For Christmas was written by Tony Macaulay, who also wrote the [...]
Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) by The Ramones is #4 in my 25 Days of Christmas Songs list. Sure, Burl Ives has his place in any Christmas song playlist but a Christmas playlist is not complete without a punk band on it. Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) was released in 1989 on the Brain Drain album, although I think the song may have been a B-Side release in 1987. Joey Ramone reworked [...]
While a lot of popular Christmas songs are about presents, family, and various snow-related activities, Fairytale of New York by the Pogues is about an alcoholic sleeping off a binge in a drunk tank. And how about these lyrics to warm your cockles: You're a bum You're a punk You're an old slut on junk Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed You Scumbag, you Maggot You cheap lousy faggot Happy christmas your ass I [...]