Best Christmas songs

Over the past few years I've been putting together my favorite versions of Christmas and winter holiday songs as well as new works. There's a lot of holiday music out there! Below is my 2009 version of this work in perpetual progress, in no particular order. I'd love to hear your favorites.

Must be Santa Claus - Bob Dylan. This just came out and I love it! So far I've heard three music critics use it as an example of how awful Dylan's Christmas album is. Yes, it's cheesy, silly and ridiculous - I have no problem with that. (See "Thank god it's Christmas" below if you need further proof!)
I've got my love to keep me warm - The Ink Spots
Oh holy night - Tracy Chapman
The Christmas song - Nat King Cole. This version is the only Christmas song I know of that has only one definitive version - I mean no other version even comes close. Having said that, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Shelby Lynne also do a very nice version.
The Christmas Song - The Ravonettes (Though it shares the name with the Mel Torme written song mentioned above, it's completely different).
It doesn't often snow at Christmas - The Pet Shop Boys. This is one of my absolute favorite modern Christmas songs.
You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch - Albert Hague
Silent Night - Johnny Cash, The Temptations, Willie Nelson. The Simon & Garfunkel 7 o'clock news version is very moving, but I usually don't include it in my holiday collections - too somber.
White Christmas - The Darlene Love version the only one I know of that beats out Bing Crosby.
Happy X-mas (war is over) - John Lennon. There are other interesting versions out there (The Polyphonic Spree comes to mind), but none I need to hear every year. I can't get enough of the original.
Christmas (Baby please come home) - Darlene Love. The Death Cab for Cutie version is great, too.
Christmas must be tonight. - The Band
Shake hands with Santa Claus- Louis Prima
Pretty paper - Willie Nelson
Donna & Blitzen - Badly Drawn Boy
Thank god it's Christmas - Queen
Merry Xmas Everybody - Slade
Little Drummer Boy - I absolutely love the David Bowie & Bing Crosby version. Other good versions: The Dandy Warhols, Johnny Cash and Neil Young.
Let it snow! - I like a lot of versions of this including Luscious Jackson, Dean Martin, and Ella Fitzgerald. Great song!
A change at Christmas - The Flaming Lips
That Old Christmas Moon - Leon Redbone
Christmastime - Aimee Mann
Christmastime- Smashing Pumpkins (completely different song from Aimee's)
Merry Christmas, baby - Otis Redding version is #1 for me. Other good ones: Lou Rawls, BB King, and James Brown.
Pine Cones and Holly Berries - The Osmonds
Purple Snowflakes - Marvin Gaye
Feliz Navidad - El Vez
Jingle Bells- The Electric Prunes and Lena Horne's versions are my faves. And yes, Prunes, Christmas is the "most psychedelic time of the year"!
All I want for Christmas - Maria Carey. What can I say - she turns out an awesome version of this song.
Rudy - The Be Good Tanyas
Feels like Christmas - Al Green
2,000 miles - The Pretenders
It doesn't have to be that way - Jim Croce
Cool Yule- Louis Armstrong
Joy to the world - Sufjan Stevens
Christmas won't be the same this year - The Jackson Five
Fairytale of New York - The Pogues
White winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes. Not really a holiday song, but a great song and every time I hear it I think of the season and being outside this time of year - close enough for me.
My evergreen - The Squirel Nut Zippers
Winter Weather - Peggy Lee, Fats Waller and Squirel Nut Zippers are among my favorite versions.
Carol of the bells - The Bird and The Bee
Santa baby - Eartha Kitt, Macy Gray, and Vanessa Williams.
Light One Candle - Peter, Paul & Mary
Put the lights on the Tree - Sufjan Stevens
Santa Clause is coming to town - I'm not sure which is my favorite version, but I like the takes by The Jackson Five, The Crystals, & Bruce's live version (even though it's really over played this time of year).
I've longed for Christmas - Los Lonely Boys
Jingle Bell Rock - Brenda Lee is still the definitive version for me.
Spotlight on Christmas - Rufus Wainwright. A great melody and an interesting lyrical take on the holidays and liberalism in general.
Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC
Father Christmas - The Kinks
Love came down at Christmas - Shawn Colvin
Have yourself a merry little Christmas - Another of my favorite traditional Chrsitmas songs. I love the versions by James Taylor, The Isley Brothers, Perry Como, Aimee Mann, and Carly Simon.
Merry Chrsitmas, baby (I don't want to fight) - The Ramones
A Christmas to remember - Amy Grant.
Frosty the snowman - Gene Autry, Fiona Apple versions.
Santa Claus go straight to the ghetto - Belle & Sabastian
What are you doing new year's eve?- Diana Krall
Presents for Christmas - Solomon Burke
The Gift of Giving - Bill Withers
Come on Christmas - Dwight Yoakam
Here It Is Christmas - Old 97s
All My Bells Are Ringing - Lenka
Home for the holidays - The Carpenters
Chrsitmas wrapping - The Waitresses
I'll be home for Christmas - Perry Como, Glen Campbell, and Sarah McLachlan.

Best political and protest songs of all time

I don't know if it's because I'm going through political withdrawl - it's November and I'm living in an area with out a significant election this year - or all the talk about health care. Whatever the reason, I've been thinking about political songs a lot lately. So, here are my favorite political or protest songs of all time. They're in order, but I'm sure every time I look at this list I'll want to re-arrange them. BTW, if you're curious about the critera I used for my list, look at my previous post "What makes a great political song?"

1. Ohio - Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

2. Cortez the killer - Neil Young

3. What's going on - Marvin Gaye

4. Sam Stone - John Prine

5. Imagine - John Lennon

6. Alice's Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie

7. Shipbuilding - Elvis Costello
8. Fight the Power - Public Enemy

9. Strange Fruit - Billy Holiday

10. Bungalow Bill - The Beatles

11. Kill the poor - The Dead Kennedys

12. Get up! Stand up! - Bob Marley

13. This land is your land - Woody Guthrie

14. Everybody knows - Leonard Cohen

15. Dear god - XTC

16. What's so funny about peace, love and understanding - Nick Lowe

17. Know your rights - The Clash

18. Alabama, God damn! - Nina Simone

19. Southern Man - Neil Young

20. American Rouse - MC5

21. Black steel in the hour of chaos - Public Enemy

22. Sunday, Bloody Sunday - U2

23. People have the power - Patti Smith

24. A change is gonna come - Sam Cooke

25. Maggie's farm - Bob Dylan

26. The man in black - Johnny Cash

27. Not a pretty girl - Ani Difranco

28. Revolution - The Beatles

29. Anarchy in the U.K. - Sex pistols

30. Untitled song for Latin America - Minutemen

31. Alabama - Neil Young

32. You haven't done nothing - Stevie Wonder

33. When the President talks to God - Bright Eyes

34. London Calling - The Clash

35. War pigs - Black Sabbath

36. The guns of Brixton - The Clash

37. Radio, radio - Elvis Costello

38. Peace Train - Cat Stevens

39. Sky pilot - The Animals

40. Won't get fooled again - The Who
41. Fortunate son - CCR

42. The Fish Cheer - Country Joe & The Fish
43. Union made - Woody Guthrie
44. Working Class Hero - John Lennon

45. And the band played Waltzing Matilda - The Pogues

46. Taking care of business - El Vez

47. Stop the violence - Bogie Down Productions

48. Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other - Willie Nelson
49. Telegraph Road - Dire Straits

50. Society's Child - Janis Ian
51. Trouble every day - Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention

52. California, Uber Alles - D.K.
53. Waiting for the great leap forward - Billy Bragg
54. The message - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

55. Homosapien - The Pansy Division
56. Universal Solider - Buffy Saint Marie
57. For What It's Worth - Buffalo Springfield
58. Military Wives - The Decemberists

59. Rockin in the free world - Neil Young

60. 1913 Massacre - Woody Guthrie

61. Give Peace a chance - The Beatles

62. Subdivision - Ani Difranco

63. God save the queen - The Sex Pistols

64. I shot the sherrif - Bob Marley

65. Army Dreamers - Kate Bush

66. The Hurricane - Bob Dylan

67. War - Edwin Starr

68. I ain't marching anymore - Phil Ochs
69. Gimme Shelter - the Rolling Stones
70. Ball of Confusion - The Temptations

71. Sound of da police - KRS One
72. Cheerleaders - Minutemen
73. Across the wire - Calexico

74. Clampdown - The Clash

75. Born in the U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen
76. Rebel Girl - Bikini Kill

77. I Wanna Conquer the World - Bad Religion

78. Us and them - Pink Floyd

79. Beds are burning - Midnight Oil

80. Is it too late? - World party

81. Redemption Song - Bob Marley

82. Killing in the name of - Rage Against the Machine

83. Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello

84. Never cross a picket line - Billy Bragg

85. I love a man in uniform - Gang of Four

86. They paved paradise - Join Mitchell

87. The queen is dead - The Smiths

88. Tin Soldiers - Stiff Little Fingers

89. God on my side - World Party

90. Only Women Bleed - Alice Cooper
91. No god - The Germs

92. Forgive them, Father - Lauryn Hill

93. Notice of eviction - Saul Williams

94. I have forgiven Jesus - Morrisey

95. Youth against fascism - Sonic Youth

96. No Man can find the war - Tim Buckley

97. Talkin' bout a revolution - Tracy Chapman

98. Leagalize it - Peter Tosh
99. Revolution - Mother Earth
100. The Mercy Seat - Nick Cave

What makes a great politcal or protest song?

What makes a great political or protest song? The best definition of leadership is whether or not people follow, and the same is a good standard for judging political songs as well. If it moves people, or otherwise has an impact, it's a a success. The 60s protest songs truly helped end the war and Neil young's "Cortez the Killer" was banned for years in Spain (making it an underground hit).
But I want to concentrate on the music a bit more. Here's my criteria: 1. It must be a good song in and of its self. If you change the lyrics to "ode to a peanut butter sandwich" it would still sound good. 2. The lyrics have to be clever and bring an interesting take to the issue. There were a ton of very boring "Bush sucks" or "Bush is dangerous" or "Bush is an idiot" songs during the W years. Have a take, please. 3. The best political songs paint a picture or tell a story and 4. add a personal touch. The best songs add a personal element that pull you in on an emotional level. When Neil Young sings "What if you knew her and found her dead on the ground" about the Kent State Massacre in "Ohio" you truly feel like you're there. In fact, Neil is one of the greatest political/protest song writers ever because most of his songs in this genre use brilliant narratives that really hit home.
I make a slight distinction between "political" and "protest" songs. A "protest" song does all the things a "political" song does, but has the additional quality of being physically moving. They make you want to stand up and sing, and march and act!. Like Country Joe's "It's one, two, three, what are we fighting for?" or the Clash's "These are your rights!" Imagine being one of a couple thousand people singing aloud "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant" or trying to stay in your seat as Bob Marley sings, "Get up! Stand up! Stand up for your rights!" "Strange fruit" is an incredible political song, while "This land is your land" is one of the best protest songs ever (though it seems to have lost it's teeth over the years).

Blown away!

What's the best concert you've ever seen? It's one of the most fun questions music fans can ask each other and it's a toughie. I've got mine narrowed down to 3 or 4, but if you forced me to choose it would probably be the Talking Heads circa "Speaking in Tongues."
One rarely gets a chance to revisit a "best ever" moment of anything in life, but Thursday night I did just that. I attended a screening of "Stop Making Sense" (a fundraiser for Sound Opinions and WBEZ) at the Navy Pier imax theater. It was incredible.
I've got to admit I've got a prejudice against concert films and even live albums I think it's pretty rare that the concert experience can be captured even remotely. For the most part, I prefer seeing music live to listening to it recorded, but I'd much rather listen to the studio version of almost anything than any live recording. Thursday night was a massive exception!
I had seen the film when it first came out and on video since. I've always said it's the best concert video ever. But in my book, that ain't saying much! I enjoyed it for the visual aspects of the film - shot perfectly, it captured the energy, fun, deconstruction-reconstruction-deconstruction again artistic vision, showmanship and unity of those Heads shows - but the music was flat. Bottom line: like the Grand Canyon and Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burgers - you have to be there to experience it.
But now after seeing and hearing it as it was intended (when it was filmed in 1983, the technology existed to record directly to digital, but there was no where to play it back that way for audiences) I was blown away. It was the most incredible "recorded live" experience I've ever had. I had to move to the back of the theater and dance through the last 2/3 of the show after my seat would no longer contain me... not a pretty sight, but any one who saw me would have had to turn around and look, so it's on them.
It really transported me to that fun, tight, party of a concert that so moved me over 20 years ago. And it sounded perfect! Amazing. I never thought a concert film could do that.

So.... what's your favorite concert? Your favorite live recordings or films?
Thanks to Colleen for all but forcing me to go.

Danger Mouse

I am a big fan of the White Album. It is my favorite Beatles album and one of my all-time favorite albums anyway. I am also a fan of hiphop. When I heard Danger Mouse' Grey Album (a remix of Jay-Z's Black Album with samples of the Beatles' White Album) I was thrilled. What a great album! I know Beatle fans who hate it, but I don't. I love it. Of course it could not be released, another example of the needless restriction on creativity that the copyright law has become.

Now Danger Mouse has released an album, consisting a a photo book of 50 photo's by David Lynch (!) and a ...blank CDR. It has to do with copyrights, again, and some issue he has with his contract with EMI....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/arts/music/11danger.html

The Bailout

"The Bailout" is a piece for a Saxophone quartet and live sound manipulation using the LiSa and JunXion software, developed by STEIM in Amsterdam. The piece is written by me and Ties Mellema and it is inspired by the history of the auto industry in Detroit and the "auto bailout" by the US government. It will première March 20th in a concert that I am doing with the Amstel Quartet in the Detroit Institute of Arts.

When the saxophones play a loud note, they start one of the sound files I have collected; text fragments from opponents and advocates of the bailout plan such as Rush Limbaugh, Bush, Obama and Rick Wagener, the CEO of GM, and excerpts from old movies describing Detroit and its Auto industry during the twenties and sixties. In this way the instruments "talk" and "discuss" with each other. I am manipulating sounds using the Wiimote and the Korg Kaoss Pad (as midi controller).

http://www.dia.org/
http://www.amstelquartet.nl/
http://www.ivobol.nl/

Animal Collective

My friend Jon records really interesting Cd's for me. I don't like all of them, for example I had to get used to "Sung Tongs" from Animal Collective. It was too psychotic for me, really weird urban mushroom folk music, although I was attracted to it in some strange sense. Last year he gave me the solo album "Person Pitch" by AC band member Panda Bear. I absolutely love it, Brian Wilson-like hypnotic drony golden pop music with beautiful loops and a fair deal of healthy weirdness. I like the rawness of the album, the material is not 100% developed but that has its charm. This made me ready for "Merriweather Post Pavilion" the new AC album which I bought on Itunes last week. The songs are much more developed and worked out compared with Panda Bear's album. It has a distinctive sixties feel although the music is also contemporary, a bit like Beatles and Brian Wilson with samplers instead of guitars. The songs are melancholic but make me happy too, darkness with a golden shiny line, it is still weird but accessible.

I had a similair experience with Stereolab, another band that Jon introduced me too. I was very irritated with the repetitiveness but at a certain moment it hit me and I started loving it. Funny how some music is great from the beginning and other stuff has to grow on you.

Animal Collective

Best band names

Usually the best bands have the lamest names. that's not always the case, though. Here are some of my all time favorite band names - and most are bands I like a lot. What are your favorites?

Ladyfuzz

Throbbing Gristle

The Violent Femmes

The Butthole Surfers

The Velvet Underground

The Breeders

Touched by a Janitor

The meat puppets

Dead Kennedys

Sex Pistols

Drowning, Not Waving

Beastie Boys
Revolting cocks

Superchunk
The Darkness

The Hope Bombs

The Nipple Erectors

And my favorite names for back-up singers and bands: The Pips, The Scorchers, The Bad Seeds, The Homewreckers

 

 

Hip-Hop in China

New York Times Clip about Underground Hip-Hop in CHina

http://www.myspace.com/rhymebot

The Open Rights Group

This is about Europe...but the same discussion has been going on in the States..very important!! Hope this is not too much off topic Jim...

U2 & Negativland

Last night I saw U2 playing for Obama. Next to me on the couch was a friend who is a big fan. For me U2 was also pretty important when I was a teenager. My first 12" was "Sunday Bloody Sunday". Although I have always been slightly irritated by Bono's Jesus wannabee behavior their music did mean a lot to me, especially the Joshua Tree album. Recently someone was telling me how U2 is now supporting arts in Ireland. There is also a darker side to U2 when it comes to art (this is old news, but hey, this is a blog, not the New York Times). Island Records tried to sue the hell out of Negativeland when they made their U2 track. Here is one of the Negativeland members with their story:

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/LB/0511/Negativland_5.mp3


It should be said mabey to be fair that it was Island and not U2 itself who did the sueing, but hey, they could have stopped it if they really wanted to. Negativeland are now my heroes, not Bono and his mates.

RIP: a remix manifesto

"RIP: a remix manifesto" is a very interesting film from Brett Gaylor, hope I can see it soon:

http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=9oar9glUCL0

It is a documentary about Girl Talk, a "Mash up" artist (not a DJ) and about the changing copyright situation. The film itself is mash up; made out of contributions of many different people. Mash up, remix, sample, cut, copy and paste: its all fair game as far as I am concerned. Creativity cannot be limited by the ridiculous pressures, regulations and lobby's from the music industry mafia, who is not interested in music, art or beauty but in only in money. There was no problem when everyone had to buy their LP collection again on CD...the music industry should adapt or die.