Last year, I decided to curate my own playlist of Christmas songs and since this is a time of year when generosity is vogue, I thought I would share my solstice soundtrack with you.
The title is inspired by a line from Tom Lehrer‘s mirthful ‘A Christmas Carol‘, a song written in 1959 that I discovered through Christopher Hitchens, who loved to quote lyrics from it during his crusade against the enforced merriment of commercial Christmas in America nearly half a century later. “Christmas time is here, by golly,” begins Lehrer, cheerfully. “Disapproval would be folly.” Hitchens’ engagements in the nonsense so-called “War on Christmas” are quite entertaining, as it happens, and very much worth your time.
I stole ‘Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis‘ by the inimitable Tom Waits from the non-traditional Christmas playlist Jenn and I put together a few years ago. Really, the playlist I’m sharing with you today exists because of Jenn, since she wielded a veto with extreme prejudice on songs she definitely did not want to pollute the collaborative production.
If not for that judicious Jenn veto, in fact, the non-traditional playlist might have featured Paul Gogarty’s 2020 song ‘Christmas, Keep your Distance’, released under the stage name His Sweet Surprise. Gogarty, you might recall, infamously – but “with all due respect” – used “unparliamentary language” in the 30th Dáil in December 2009. The song itself is catchy and inspired by Covid-19-mandated social-distancing, but it didn’t quite pass muster – sorry Mr Gogarty!
When building the new playlist, I consulted friends for song suggestions, hoping to find Christmas music I wasn’t familiar with and I got my wish. Paul Carroll introduced me to the gloriously gruesome ‘The Night Santa Went Crazy‘ by Weird Al Yankovic, Low‘s jingling, jarring ‘Just Like Christmas‘ and pointed me in the direction of Bob Dylan’s Christmas & New Year Theme Time Radio Hour, which is a treasure trove. Dylan’s festive broadcast is a wonderful companion on Christmas morning for anyone so inclined.
There is a Martin Scorsese thread in there too and I used a few tunes that will be familiar to fans of Goodfellas – ‘Frosty the Snowman‘ by The Ronettes and Darlene Love‘s ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)‘ should be enough to conjure images of the cheerful, open-armed Jimmy Conway at the Christmas party. Frank Kelly‘s exasperated ‘Christmas Countdown’ was a late addition after it came on RTÉ Radio One one Christmas, while Dustin the Turkey and his ode to the ‘Christmas Tree‘ was a no-brainer for a man who was raised by The Den in the 1990s. Spotify itself is full of Christmas playlists and I dipped into a few for inspiration as well.
You can listen to my Christmas song playlist down there or, if that doesn’t play, click here. If you enjoy it, please do pass it on!
Nothing is written 