And So This is Christmas

Written by Jim S.

Well, it’s that time of year again, good will to all men and women and all that. I’ve done Christmas posts before here and here. Last time we graced the post with a picture of the lovely LA-based singer/songwriter Rehya Stevens. And so this time we’ll … do the same! She’s our good luck Christmas angel.

They have all kinds of awards in show biz that we mere mortals have never heard of. Apparently there is one called the Hollywood Music In Media Awards and Rehya won for last year’s Christmas album Celebrate for a song called “Jingle Jangle.” This year’s lively tune is “‘Tis The Season'” and it definitely got old Ebeneezer here into the whole sleigh-riding, chestnut-roasting mood. Rehya advises that this fun tune along with “Jingle Jangle” is featured in the Disney flick Noelle. Which is not nothin’.

Rehya’s site

Spotify link

Last year – or maybe it was the year before that – I got scolded by the Brits who said “Where’s Greg Lake’s ‘I Believe In Father Christmas?’ My response of course – besides what about YOUR blog – was the following – never heard of it. Father Christmas is what they call Santa Claus so it never really took off on this side of the pond.

Regular readers doubtless know that Lake was a founding member of two great prog bands, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. He also had a nice solo career and in addition to having one of the best voices in rock, also played bass, guitar and harmonica. I did a little digging and found a neat YouTube (only) version of this tune with Lake playing in a church joined by the one and only Ian Anderson.

Spotify link

I thought the Pretenders were a great band and even saw them open once for the Stones. We think of Chrissie Hynde as being this tough chick and she doubtless is. But she shows her tender side here in “2000 Miles:”

In these frozen and silent nights
Sometimes in a dream you appear
Outside under the purple sky
Diamonds in the snow sparkle
Our hearts were singing
It felt like Christmas time

Two thousand miles
Is very far through the snow
I’ll think of you
Wherever you go

Spotify link

I think it was our Canadian friend, fellow blogger, film buff and (I think) part-time dinner theater director CB who recommended Otis Redding’s version of “Merry Christmas Baby” to me. Now everybody and his cousin has a version of this Otis is one of the few that can make it sound so sweetly suggestive:

Spotify link

I’ll wrap up this brief foray into Yuletide tunes with, first, Bette Midler’s version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” from her fine album Cool Yule.

Spotify link

From 1963 to 1969, the Beatles sent Christmas tunes out to their fan club. Cheesy but fun. And so in that spirit, as we did last year, our final tune is John Lennon with the Harlem Community Choir, “Happy XMAS (War is Over).”

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

Spotify link

 

25 thoughts on “And So This is Christmas”

  2. The Christmas album is a strange one. Very much something I thought was kept for acts that were ‘done’. And for the Michael Bubles of the world. Then acts I like released them… gah.

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    1. Are you kidding? Those fucking things pull in some pretty good money. Check out Boppin’s comments on the “My Favorite Christmas Songs” post. Lemmy! Twisted Sister! You should fucking well do one.

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      1. Totally serious. I know they sell, which is why I just connected them to folks that were on the decline. (Mostly) creatively redundant and certain to shift units. Occasionally an original that isn’t so good.

        Though I acknowledge that there are exceptions, but I tend to meet news of Christmas albums with a groan.

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        1. Personally I groan whenever Christmas itself comes around. I celebrate it as ritual but I wouldn’t mind if it was every other year. That said, I do enjoy a wee bit of Christmas music, but for increasingly fewer days each time.

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        2. That seems fair. I’d like Christmas to be like the World Cup or whatever – once every four years.

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    1. Is that the Red Baron one? It was a big deal here once but it seems to have largely disappeared from the holiday airwaves, to the extent that I listen to them. And yes, I can live happily without ever hearing it again thank you very much. Of course, if I run out of Christmas songs next year that may well wind up in there.

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        2. I forgot about that one. Beautiful! Nothing like the Captain feeling his blues roots thanks to the Wolf. You think Tom Waits listened to Beefheart? You the best Doc.

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        3. I’ve never seen Waits and Beefheart together in a picture. Twin sons of different Mothers? Same person? That, I think, is the crux of the biscuit.

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        5. You must have done something right. My son just discovered a few more of old vinyls and pulled Allmans at Fillmore East. We’ll see what happens.

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        6. Thing is I didn’t push it but they must all have soaked up what I listen to plus Earl gets a kick out of the tapes of Frank pissing off the censor police.
          My guys are all over the Allmans. Surprise surprise.

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  5. totally agree with your comments re: Chrissie Hynde and Pretenders song – always loved that one.

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