Totally festive

It's official: I have way too much music.

I've come to this conclusion over the last few weeks, as I realized in putting together my 2005 mix that I had only a slight grasp of the year's music, thanks to the floods of songs that I get from friends. Slogging through my Never Played playlist took up the better part of my tune time this year, and while I had tons of nostalgic moments, I felt like I could have paid a little more attention to my new favorites.

"But Reid!" you say. "You still have all of December to cozy up with your 2005 music!" See, that's just it. I don't, because December is for Christmas music, when I can pull out those amazing songs that I feel funny listening to without wreaths and multi-colored plastic lights in view. So it's this time of year when I can listen to these songs over and over again; songs that are not just some of my favorite Christmas songs, but some of my favorite songs of all time.

Richard, take it away...

(all songs are in the jukebox--look right--as well as for download here)

Fairytale of New York, by The Pogues
Not really intented to be a Christmas song, but it still works so well as one that it's almost as hard to listen to in non-Christmas time as Frosty the Snowman. Okay, not really, but the scene is set perfectly and beautifully, mixing Christmas images of New York with heartbreak, alcoholism and broken dreams. It's rare that I hear the line, "Can't make it all alone, I built my dreams around you" without choking up.

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), by Darlene Love
The greatest Christmas song ever, getting the nod over Fairytale Of New York only because it was written expressly to be a holiday song. From the opening bells and "The snow's coming down" to the pleading call-and-responsed PLEASEes, this is one of the most perfect songs ever. Ever.

Last Christmas, by PAS/CAL
While Wham's version of this song is something I think most of us enjoy the nostalgia of, it's not really the greatest song in the world. It's fine, and catchy enough, but it's pretty disposable; one of those "make a song for the Christmas season" rush jobs.

But what doesn't become brilliant in the hands of PAS/CAL? It's still a catchy song, but they give it those twin qualities of every PAS/CAL song: genius arrangement and tons of enthusiasm. Their debut album has got to be the most anticipated debut in indiepop history. I can't wait.

The Christmas Song, by The Raveonettes
The cover art of this single calls the song a "new holiday classic" and I'll go along with that. I wonder if it's the fact that we only really listen to these songs when it's cold and Christmas-y, but it does seem like a lot of them are perfect musical description of the season. This one in particular sounds like cuddling up under a blanket with some hot drinks.

O Holy Night by Sufjan Stevens
2005 was The Year of Sufjan, and I'm as much of a believer as anyone else. I really liked both Michigan and Seven Swans, but it was Illinois that put the "-atic" back on the end of "fan" for me. But it was really this song that I grabbed off a music blog last year, that really blew me away, a good 7 months before Illinois came out. It's true that it incorporates that sometimes-wince-worthy part of Sufjan Stevens, where it sounds like a 4th grade music recital, but it also has all of the best parts of his arrangements: knowing just where to bring the drums in, knowing where the climax is, ending it perfectly.

Not long after I started loving this song last Christmas, I heard some opera singer do it and the raised "oh night divine" at the end didn't even come close to the feeling in this version. It's all I need.

O Little Town of Bethlehem, by Belle & Sebastian
One of the best (and only) revelations of the B&S biography This Is Just A Modern Rock Story is the chronicle of a band that was often mopey and fey (though brilliant in spite of it) to a confident band that could have fun and not take themselves so seriously. This song, from the Peel holiday party they played a few years ago, is a perfect picture of the new B&S. Impossible to listen to without smiling.

The Christians and the Pagans, by Dar Williams
Okay, first the bad: while this song pretends to be about interfaith understanding, it's pretty clearly setting up paganism as the true ideology, with Christianity being stiff, judgmental and spiritually lacking. "You find magic from your God and we find magic everywhere"?!

But beside the obvious bias, it's a hilarious, catchy, and touching song that's produced as this kind of music always should be produced: bare acoustic guitar and bass and little swatches of snare. And it's on this list not only because it's a great song, but because the little sister and I confessed to each other that we're never able to hear the line, "He thought about his brother, how they hadn't spoken in a year; he thought he'd call him up and say, 'It's Christmas and your daughter's here'," without tearing up a pretty good deal.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, by Sufjan Stevens
Oh, the hymns. They get me every time, and in the hands of Sufjan, they're even more amazing, with the banjo, the guitar, the soulful swing of the piano part, the added harmony voice at every verse and the a cappella ending. Between those qualities and the perfect moody Anglican melody...I'm a wreck.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, by Coldplay
Based on this recording and the session cover of a-ha's "Hunting High and Low", I think that Chris Martin's eventual solo album will be phenomenal if he keeps it as just piano and vocals, with maybe some other instrumentation here and there. He's got a great voice and picks some great piano phrasing, and it's a shame that Coldplay's records get so buried in effects and excessive instrumentation. Anyway...with aproximately 3 million versions of this song around, I think it's saying a lot that this is easily my favorite version of the ones I've heard.

Merry Christmas to those of you who are into that sort of thing.