Song of the Day 12/25: Pet Shop Boys, “It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas”
People who hope for a white Christmas must be those fortunate souls who spend the day in their own homes. Personlly, I can remember too many Christmas Day drives to…
Song of the Day 12/24: Frankie Carle and His Orchestra, “Little Jack Frost Get Lost”
My car thermometer registered 5 degrees this morning, so it's a good day for this revived swing-era tune that makes Christmas playlists every year despite making no mention of the…
Song of the Day 12/23: Cyrus Chestnut, “Linus and Lucy”
Vince Guaraldi's soundtrack album for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is only No. 10 on the list of best-selling holiday albums but -- with no disrespect to Elvis Presley, who holds…
Song of the Day 12/22: The Moonglows, “Hey Santa Claus”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona It’s no art film, but “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation" is one of the movies I look forward to most each holiday season. To me it’s…
Song of the Day 12/21: Jordan Mailata w/ Lady Alma, “Merry Christmas Baby”
When Philadelphia Eagles Jason Kelce, Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata recorded their holiday LP "A Philly Special Christmas," producers hoped to raise $30,000 for charity. They miscalculated: Sales have been…
Song of the Day 12/20: Frank Loesser and Lynn Garland, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”
Four years ago the Me Too movement boosted this old holiday chestnut to No. 1 on the Most Offensive Christmas Songs list. Personally I don't see how anything could be…
Song of the Day 12/19: Chris Rea, “Driving Home for Christmas”
One source of Christmas music overload: Too much repetition. Even the best songs start to chafe when you're hearing them for the hundredth time this month, no matter how different…
Song of the Day 12/18: Small Town Titans, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
Small Town Titans are a power trio from that rock hotbed of York, Pa., whose members met at Lebanon Valley College in 2011. In 2018 they released this filthy version…
Song of the Day 12/17: Slade, “Merry Christmas Everybody”
As Noddy Holder asks in the second verse, does your granny always tell ya that the old songs are the best? If she's British, this 1973 single by Slade, who…
Song of the Day 12/16: The Quinto Sisters, “A Holly Jolly Christmas”
I'll wait a moment for El Somnambulo to leave the room. This is, I believe, his least favorite Christmas song, and I doubt that hearing its first recorded version is…
Song of the Day 12/15: Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”
One reason we get sick of holiday music is that retail stores pump out slick, often treacly pop versions of songs we've all heard a thousand times. The problem isn't…
Song of the Day 12/14: Johnny Marks, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
Johnny Marks is responsible for more of the Christmas music you hear than any other composer. He'd be in the running if all he had written was "Rockin' Around the…
Song of the Day 12/13: The Monkees, “A Little Bit Me, a Little Bit You”
Neil Diamond didn't write many of the Monkees' hits -- Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart were producer Don Kirshner's go-to tunesmiths -- but their second single, "I'm a Believer," became…