Arts and Entertainment
Song of the Day 12/24: Bruce Cockburn, “Cry of a Tiny Babe”
Most retellings of the nativity understandably dwell on the spiritual aspects. Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn went in another direction. I wanted to put it into terms people can relate to now, because the story itself is so familiar, that its been reduced to traditional images that really work against our understanding of it as a […]
Song of the Day 12/23: John Prine, “Christmas in Prison”
In the five years I’ve been writing the Song of the Day feature, nobody has compiled more page views than John Prine. Prine loved Christmas – he told Rolling Stone once that he used to keep a Christmas tree up all year – but when he finally released a Christmas album in 1993, it was […]
Song of the Day 12/22: The Beach Boys, “Alone on Christmas Day”
You’re probably familiar with “Little Saint Nick,” the Beach Boys’ tune about Santa’s new hot rod. Alternate transporation for Santa was a popular theme back in the ’50s and ’60s, when various songs placed Kris Kringle in airplanes, helicopters, rocket ships, UFOs – anything but that so-19th-century sleigh. It debuted in 1963, then appeared on […]
Song of the Day 12/21: Mannheim Steamroller, “Good King Wenceslas”
Mannheim Steamroller sounds like the name of a Krautrock outfit, but it’s really mostly one guy, composer/producer Chip Davis, who would have a footnote in music history even without the Steamroller. He was the composer of the music for “Convoy,” the trucker anthem that swept the nation and helped kick off the CB radio craze […]
Song of the Day 12/20: Seymour Swine and the Squeelers, “Blue Christmas”
Elvis Presley made this cowboy Christmas song a classic, but I can’t listen to it without thinking of this porcine parody, which pretty much ruined Elvis’ version for me. Yes, I know it’s politically incorrect to laugh at stutterers. So does everybody else, and they’ve made this a popular if polarizing record anyway. The novelty […]
DL Open Thread Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023
The media is having a newsgasm because Colorado’s Supreme Court barred Trump from the ballot there, based on the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause. The appeal to SCOTUS will determine the issue, and you can find dozens of pundits who’ll tell you exactly what they’re going to do with the case. Few of them agree, but […]
Song of the Day 12/19: The Ronettes, “Sleigh Ride”
Here’s another piece of evidence supporting the theory that time makes songs Christmas classics: The LP “A Christmas Gift for You from Phillies Records” was a flop when it was released. It wasn’t until 1972, when it was rereleased by Apple Records (with the title’s prepositional phrase changed to “from Phil Spector”) that people realized […]
Song of the Day 12/18: Bing Crosby, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona Melancholy is almost a standard quality in Christmas music, but only one song was so sad that it got banned from the radio. And it’s one of the all-time classics, too. “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” a hit for Bing Crosby in 1943, is about a soldier stuck overseas writing […]
Song of the Day 12/17: Kiri Te Kanawa, “O Holy Night”
If you’re not a church-goer you might not realize that, as pious as this song sounds, most Christian denominations do not have it in their hymnals. The reason is as old as religion itself: Religious intolerance. “O Holy Night” is the English translation of the original French “Cantique de Nöel,” which despite its subject matter […]
Song of the Day 12/16: Paul McCartney, “Wonderful Christmastime”
If you’ve ever seen one of those listicles of the best and worst Christmas songs, you might have noticed an oddity – several of the songs appear on both lists. I’ve seen “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” the most popular song in Delaware according to this story, atop both lists, and “Feliz Navidad” […]
Song of the Day 12/15: The Roches, “Deck the Halls”
Guest post by Nathan Arizona WXPN voters couldn’t find even one song by the Roches to place on the station’s just-concluded listeners survey of the 885 best songs by women. But the harmonizing sisters are going to sing a couple of Christmas carols for you today anyway, through the time-traveling magic of YouTube. The Roches […]
Song of the Day 12/14: Buck Owens, “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy”
I think most people sour on the Christmas music played on the radio and at commercial establishments because the playlist is too short. It consists of five or six dozen songs familiar to almost everyone, most of them recorded by dozens of artists. They vary only in their arrangement and production – the songs themselves […]
Song of the Day 12/13: Brenda Lee, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
If you venture out in public much you’re probably sick of Christmas music by now, but it’s my policy to listen to only 12 days of Christmas music. I’m starting a day early this year because a record most people have heard their entire lives just made it to No. 1 on the Hot 100. […]
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