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Carols The new Harry Connick Jr. Christmas album is not very good. It doesn't totally suck, but it's nowhere near as good as the first one. I mean, it's got a song on it called "The Happy Elf." How can you possibly like a song called "The Happy Elf"? You can't. You just can't. Actually, all of the original songs on this album are pretty bad. That wasn't the case with his first Christmas album. I am disappointed, and I am rarely disappointed by the purchase of Christmas music. Once upon a time I would listen to nothing but Christmas music from Thanksgiving to December 25th. I'm not quite that bad anymore, but I do still love it. I can't just listen to one of those 24 hour holiday music stations, though - I like what I like, and I want to pick and choose what I listen to. I think my favorite CD to listen to is a mix that I made in 2001. It definitely contains most of my favorite songs, and I thought I'd muse a little on some of them while I have a listen here at work. Happy Holiday by Peggy Lee. I love Peggy Lee, first of all. I have a small pile of Peggy Lee CDs. I also adore this song. There's something very offhandedly jolly about it. The Merriest by June Christy. No one has ever heard of this song but it's on the oh so fabulous Christmas Cocktails 2 CD. How can you not love a song that has to make everything rhyme with "merriest"? "May the day be the bowl of cherriest!" "To the strange and the ordinariest - me to you, the merriest!" "Make the day nothing can compariest!" This song cracks me up. Noel: Christmas Eve, 1913 by John Denver. This is on John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together. I love this song so much - Then sped my thoughts to olden times, to that first of Christmases/when shepherds who were watching heard music in the fields. And they sat there and they marveled, and they knew they could not tell/whether it were angels, or the bright stars were singing. I play this song over and over and over and it's the only recording I know of. And I softly listened as I stood upon the hill. There are other songs from this album on my mix - the Rowlf/J.D. version of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," for one - but this is my favorite. Everybody's Waiting For the Man With the Bag by Kay Starr. No one else had ever heard of this song until it was on the Ally McBeal Christmas CD. I've loved it for fifteen years. The Kay Starr version is the one to have (it's also on one of the Christmas Cocktails CDs), not the Vonda Shepherd version. Trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong? (Okay, but trust me on this one.) Greg thinks this song sounds like it's about a drug dealer. I think it's fun. And not about drugs. Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song) by two of my former show choir kids. I never heard this song until they brought it in and auditioned it as a duet. (I have since learned that it's on Amy Grant's Christmas CD.) We used to record the show choir holiday concerts so I have a really good copy of this one. It's performed by twin girls and both have beautiful voices. The main reason it's on here, though, is because Mandy (my choreographer this summer, and one of my favorite people) used to dance during this song, and watching her dance to this song never failed to make me cry. If I think about her dancing too much while listening, I still cry. Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses. Is there anyone alive who doesn't like this song? Keep Christmas With You All Through the Year from A Sesame Street Christmas. Look, I'm a big sap. I love Christmas. I love the way I feel at Christmas. In my heart I really believe the words of this song: Keep Christmas with you all through the year. When Christmas is over, you can keep it near. Think of this Christmas day when Christmas is far away... When Christmas is over, save some Christmas cheer. These precious moments, hold them very dear. I'll Be Home For Christmas by Victor Garber and White Christmas by Audra McDonald, both from the Broadway Cares: Home For the Holidays CD. Two beautiful arrangements. Two beautiful voices. Two beautiful people. What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? by Ella Fitzgerald. I love this song. I love just about everyone singing this song, but Ella is one of the best. This CD was playing when Greg asked me to marry him. There are a lot of carols I love that aren't on this mix. O Holy Night. The First Noel. Silent Night. I love my Veggie Tales Christmas CD. I love my Tony Bennett and my Nat King Cole and my Linda Eder and my many, many collections. I love singing along with them in the car and I love singing them in church and I love hearing them in my head. If beautiful music can't get me through December with some peace, I don't know what can. |
