A Change at Christmas

Eventually, Glee will do a theme show.

Someone once accused me of hating Christmas music. Not true. What I hate is boring, overplayed, cheesy novelty songs, and sadly, this is almost exclusively what they play on those all-Christmas music stations this time of year, and that I cannot abide. As a general rule, when an artist comes out with a Christmas album, it's the same old tired crap, with nothing new to bring to the table (the B-52's new album is an exception to this, but it is borderline unlistenable). It's very difficult to write an original song and have it be at all good anyway, let alone when you don't get to choose the subject or theme. And as such, yes, I end up not caring for most Christmas music.

But certainly not all. What I have here, for you (Happy Christmas!) is a few songs that may or may not be timeless, but certainly songs that I keep coming back to year after year. Some are classics (thanks, Vince), some are remixes of classics to help keep things fresh, some are only tangentially related to the season at all, some emphasize the worst parts of the season. But they work for me.

Update: sorry, I don't know why Mediafire wasn't working. Go here for a zip file.

1. Johnny Mercer & Margaret Whiting - Baby, It's Cold Outside
2. The Weepies - All That I Want
3. Vince Guaraldi - Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
4. Joni Mitchell - River
5. Count Basie and His Orchestra - Good Morning Blues (The Real Tuesday Weld Clerkenwell Remix)
6. Dean Martin - Jingle Bells (Dan the Automator Remix)
7. The Kinks - Father Christmas
8. The Flaming Lips - A Change at Christmas (Say It Isn't So)
9. Neko Case - Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis
10. Scala & Kolacny Brothers - Last Christmas