I am not a religious man, at least not in the traditional sense. So my playlists around this time of year look a little different than in past lives; and #1 doesn’t fit the mold of winter holiday song. To hell with it, though. There are people who call Die Hard a Christmas movie, so… And #2 does what it can to break down a traditional song into something far better than the original. My top five holiday songs (in rank order) bring joy. And I’m positive my little nieces and nephew across town will say the same thing. And that’s all that really matters. What are your top 5 holiday/Christmas songs? Leave them in the comments below.
- “untitled at Union Square Station” – Too Many Zooz
- “Greensleeves (live at The Village Vanguard 1961)” – John Coltrane Quartet
- “Santa’s Beard” – The Beach Boys [ask me someday what my alternate lyrics are to this song]
- “Sleigh Ride” (instrumental only) – Leroy Anderson performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra
- “Need a Little Christmas” – Percy Faith & His Orchestra and Chorus
Honorable mention: “Christmas Eve Can Kill You” – The Everly Brothers. I mean, it’s all in the title. Kat mentions it in chapter 3 of The Emergent as she starts to relate Alma’s particularly harrowing holiday:
“Yet I could relate to Alma’s desire to flee the sinking feeling she always had throughout most of December. We somehow became infused with the same sense that something fantastic was supposed to happen. But the alternately high-spirited and depressing tunes of the season led us to conclude that the hope in the season was all an illusion. Over the years of sad Christmases, we had grown used to the feeling. But that particular Christmas, by the time Alma reached her grandparents’ mountain home, Hosanna and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “Christmas Eve Can Kill You” were just too much. So she did something I would never have done: she ran into the woods. Before she knew it, night was coming.”
nick holmberg 