Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 12/21: Maddy Prior, “Ding Dong! Merrily on High”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona There are two Christmas songs with what seem like almost endless strings of “o’s” in the word “gloria” – “33 syllables in just one breath,” one expert determined. One of these songs you’re surely familiar with, the other maybe not so much. The chestnut “Angels We Have Heard on High” […]
Song of the Day 12/20: Cast in Bronze, “Carol of the Bells”
If the “Carol of the Bells” doesn’t sound like a Christmas carol, it might be because it wasn’t at first. It was a Ukrainian New Year’s song back when Ukrainians celebrated the New Year in April. When the country adopted the Gregorian calendar, with New Year’s Day in January, the tune switched seasons. Maybe because […]
Song of the Day 12/19: Gene Autry, “Here Comes Santa Claus”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona A perennially popular Christmas song was born when a crowd of parade-goers in 1946 shouted “here comes Santa Claus” as the Grand Marshal approached on horseback in cowboy regalia. They were clamoring for the nearby Santa impersonator, but Gene Autry, atop Champion, heard the shouting and knew what he needed […]
Song of the Day 12/18: Wham!, “Last Christmas”
The good news is that Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You” might be slipping as the world’s most popular holiday song. The not-so-good news: It’s being supplanted by George Michael’s “Last Christmas.” So people are trading retro-Spector for ’80s synth-pop. Billboard has a chart called the Global 200 that tracks streaming plays […]
Song of the Day 12/17: Frank Sinatra, “Mistletoe and Holly”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona This is the time of year for songs that celebrate poison. Mistletoe and holly: Don’t eat them. Frank Sinatra seemed a little venomous now and then, so maybe it’s fitting that he first sang – and even co-wrote – “Mistletoe and Holly,” which has become a Christmas classic. But he […]
Song of the Day 12/16: Vince Vance & the Valiants, “All I Want for Christmas Is You”
Wait, wait, don’t go! This isn’t what you think it is! It’s not the Mariah Carey hit, the one that plays in stores so often that retail workers voted it their most hated Christmas song. This is an entirely different piece of music! Yes, it’s got the same title, and the same basic premise, listing […]
Song of the Day 12/15: The Ray Coniff Singers, “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona You don’t find many Christmas songs with St. Nicholas in them. Santa Claus took over in the 19th century with a big boost from Clement Moore’s poem “The Night Before Christmas” and the illustrations of Thomas Nast. Their Santas were kind of elfin, not exactly like ours. The poem described […]
Song of the Day 12/14: Stevie Wonder, “Someday at Christmas”
Today we kick off Song of the Day’s 12 Days of Christmas Music with a song I’m hearing more this year than I have in a long time, and with good reason. “Someday at Christmas” was written by Motown staff writers Ron Miller and Bryan Wells, who were responsible for some of Wonder’s earlier hits, […]
Song of the Day 12/13: Lenny Kravitz, “Fly Away”
Lenny Kravitz was viewed as a promising young talent when he debuted in the late ’80s, but by 1998 he was written off as someone who could emulate his multiple influences but couldn’t make anything new or distinctive out of them. Though his albums were selling and he was hob-nobbing with the glitterati, his last […]
Song of the Day 12/12: Talking Heads, “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”
The WXPN 885 cover songs countdown ended last evening, and there were no surprises among the top finishers: Jimi Hendrix covering “All Along the Watchtower” was No. 1, Johnny Cash doing “Hurt” No. 2 and Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” No. 3, all of which were easy to predict. There were plenty of surprises further down the […]
Song of the Day 12/11: The Mavericks, “Here Comes the Rain”
Raul Malo, founder and lead singer of the Mavericks, died of cancer Monday at 60, silencing one of the best voices of his generation. Malo, the son of Cuban immigrants, formed the group in Miami, but they were signed as a country band and relocated to Nashville. Their sound, which owed as much to rock […]
Song of the Day 12/9: Vince Guaraldi Trio, “Cast Your Fate to the Wind”
Donald Trump’s War on Wind – a particularly stupid fixation given AI’s soaring demand for electricity – suffered a setback yesterday. A federal judge ruled his abrupt cancellation of all wind power projects was “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law.” As if that would ever stop him. I’m sure his amateur-grade lawyers will take […]
Song of the Day 12/8: Gloria Gaynor, “Fida Known”
Trump played MC for the Kennedy Center Honors last night, and managed to get through the evening while keeping the cringe to a minimum. But it’s Trump, so he couldn’t go without making a few vile remarks. After praising the persistence he said marked the careers of the honorees in his introduction, Trump added, “I […]
Recent Comments