Twelve Days Later . . . the Honourable Mentions

This was a challenging undertaking ... narrowing down contemporary Christmas carols to a mere 12 choices. Some were obvious - Band Aid, John Lennon, Bob & Doug. Others, not so much. So, on this Christmas Day (and in no particular order), I salute those who didn't make that first chop:

This Christmas - Diana Ross ... for my Robbie ♥

Christmas Is The Time To Say I Love You - Billy Squier (1981) ... Julia totally and immediately nixed this choice. I love it. Something about a bunch of people all singing the same thing at the same time and swaying in unison, I guess.

Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms (1957) ... In the movie Mean Girls, singer Janis Ian remarks, 'Everyone in the English speaking world knows that song.' Indeed!

2000 Miles - The Pretenders (1983) ... Please. Chrissie Hynde? Please! (While most people believe 2,000 miles to be the distance between two lovers missing each other over the holidays, it is actually meant for James Honeyman-Scott, the group's original guitar player, who died of heart failure induced by cocaine intolerance in 1982.)

Wonderful Christmas Time - Paul McCartney (1979) ... McCartney recorded the song entirely on his own during the sessions for his solo project McCartney II. Although the members of Wings are not on the recording, they appear in the video.

Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley (1968) ... Elvis turned this 1948 country music staple into a rock-and-roll holiday classic by recording it in his signature style in 1957.

Thank God It's Christmas - Queen (1984) ... No promotional video was ever made of this track, written by Brian May and Roger Taylor, which hampered its use on TV music channels. For this reason, it's a lesser known Christmas single but it's still my favorite Christmas message from (the) Queen. *smirk*

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee (1958) ... She was 14 when she recorded this. 14. 14!!!

Father Christmas - The Kinks (1977) ... And it failed to make the charts.   :(

Rock and Roll Christmas - George Thorogood & the Destroyers ... Try and not bop to this one. I dare you!

Run Rudolph Run - Chuck Berry (1958) ... Sometimes known as Run Run Rudolph.

White Christmas - Billy Idol (2007) ... A strangely sexy video ...

Someday at Christmas - Stevie Wonder (1967) ... A pure voice singing about a pure sentiment. It doesn't get any better than Stevie.

The Chanukah Song - Adam Sandler (1994), The Chanukah Song 2 (1999), The Chanukah Song 3 (2002) ... A series of hilarious songs written and performed by Adam Sandler. All of them center on the theme of Jewish children feeling alienated during the Christmas season and the listing of Jewish celebrities, both real and fictional.

Christmastime is Here - Vince Guardini (1965) ... Is there a person alive who doesn't remember this tune from their childhood? Released on A Charlie Brown Christmas as a soundtrack to the TV special of the same name, it's one of the most popular Christmas albums of all time.

Feliz Navidad - Jose Feliciano (1970) ... One of the most downloaded and aired Christmas songs in the US and Canada and one of the 25 most played and recorded Christmas songs around the world.

I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - John Mellencamp (1987) ... 13-yr old Jimmy Boyd's original 1952 version was condemned by the Roman Catholic church in Boston because the songs mixed kissing with Christmas. SHEESH!!!

Christmas is All Around - Billy Mack (2003) ... Bill Nighy' cover of The Troggs' song Love Is All Around for the movie Love Actually. Hilarious video which borrows heavily from Robert Palmer's Addicted To Love.

Merry Christmas Darling - The Carpenters (1970) ... Richard Carpenter (one of the song's two composers) himself calls the original recording one of his sister's best.

Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight) - The Ramones (1989) ... Joey Ramone composed and dedicated this one to his girlfriend.

Oh Come All Ye Faithful - Twisted Sister (2006) ... One of the bestest kick-ass rock Christmas songs of all time.

Mary's Boy Child - Boney M (1978) ... Written in 1956 and originally recorded by Harry Belafonte.

On the twelfth day of Christmas . . .

I know I started off this series by saying I'd be featuring songs that CHOM would play. For this last posting, I'm deviating from the plan. Firstly, this is my blog and I get to veer off track whenever I feel like it and lastly, I'm a woman and my very gender gives me carte blanche to change my mind in mid-sentence, mid-step or mid-life.

I had an extremely happy childhood. Christmastime found me indulging in festivities twice - once on the 25th of December and then again two weeks later on January 7th. Not twice the prezzies, mind you, but twice the holiday feeling. Christmas Eve evokes two powerful memories ... our tree, a turquoise blue/green silvery ghastly monstrosity which at the same time was and will always be the most beautiful Christmas tree I'll ever see and the sound of Christmas carols being played on the stereo in the living room. We heard them all: Bing, The Chipmunks, Judy, Dean, Perry, Ella ... but nothing means Christmas Eve to me more than one of the most powerful Christmas carols sung by one of the most powerful voices ever ... enjoy .. (it's) the night before Christmas ...

Silent Night - Mahalia Jackson

On the eleventh day of Christmas . . .

Coming home from a fun filled evening spent with Robbie, I was mentally writing this posting. I'd chosen the day's song and as fate would have it, CHOM even played it, calling it the most awkward coupling ever. I agree wholeheartedly. I mean, how could throwing together an androgynous glam rocker with a child beating traditional crooner be anything but awkward?!? Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself ... while you're at it, try and decide who's wearing more eye makeup!

But, I'm a Canuck and as such, I'm duty bound to include at least one homegrown sampling on this playlist. And what better offering than one whose title encompasses the whole spirit of this latest blogging venture of mine?

12 Days of Christmas - Bob & Doug McKenzie

Bob (Rick Moranis) and Doug (Dave Thomas) McKenzie are a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted 'The Great White North', an SCTV sketch. Quickly becoming a pop culture phenomenon on both sides of the border, the characters were later revived for an animated series, Bob & Doug. The sketch also prompted an album in 1982, The Great White North, which included the brothers' improvised version of The Twelve Days of Christmas. While hugely popular in the US, the album was also #1 in Canada for six weeks.

On the tenth day of Christmas . . .

I never hear this without getting goosebumps. I had the chance to go see them in concert a few years back but got sick the day before. I now wish I'd gone anyhow ...

Christmas Eve/Sarajevo - Trans-Siberian Orchestra

Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24, an instrumental medley of Carol of the Bells and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, was first released by Savatage in 1995. Re-released in 1996 by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (a side project of several Savatage menmbers) on their debut album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories, the piece describes a lone cello player playing a forgotten Christmas carol in war-torn Sarajevo.

The song is played twice during every live performance - once as part of the Christmas Eve and Other Stories portion of the show and again as a finale. Together with Wizards in Winter and Christmas Canon, it is regarded as TSO's most recognizable recordings. Due to its use of the melody, the song is often misnamed Carol of the Bells. This leads to it being mistakenly linked to either Metallica or Mannheim Steamroller, who have released renditions of both God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Carol of the Bells.

On the ninth day of Christmas . . .

Keep your candy canes and sugar plums ... I got my own Christmas candy. Jon Bon Jovi ... mmmmmmm!

I Wish Every Day Could Be Like Christmas - Bon Jovi

B-side (in the US) to the single Keep The Faith.

On the eighth day of Christmas . . .

A haunting un-Christmas Christmas song. Yeah ... Deck The Halls, this ain't!

I Believe in Father Christmas - Greg Lake

I Believe in Father Christmas is a song by Greg Lake (best known as a member of King Crimson and Emerson Lake and Palmer) and Lake's only kit as a solo artist. While considered a Christmas song, this wasn't Lake's intention; he claims to have written the song in protest at the commercialization of Christmas.

Recorded in 1974 and released in 1975, the song became the #2 Christmas hit on the UK charts. A second recording was done by the full ELP trio, with a more stripped down arrangement, and was included on the 1977 Works Volume II. Recorded a third time in 1993 for the ELP box set The Return of the Manticore, Lake himself revisited it again for the 2002 compilation A Classic Rock Christmas. 

The song's video, shot mainly in the Sinai desert and Qumran in the West Bank, also contained shots of the Vietnam War, leading to complaints from some people that it should not be shown with more lighthearted Christmas songs. The instrumental riff between verses is borrowed from Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite (the Troika portion), written for the 1934 Soviet film, Poruchik Kizhe.

On the seventh day of Christmas . . .

This one is for Julia. My beautiful Julia, my cohort, my navigator, my sounding board, my helper, my shopping buddy, my joy, my worry, my babygirl. She faithfully reads my blog everyday and when I ran my musical choices past her, she lit up at this song and told me it was one of her favorites. Being it's The Eagles, it also one of mine. And Julia? You did me real proud today ... I love you, my poupounette.

Please Come Home For Christmas - The Eagles

Please Come Home For Christmas, sometimes referred to as Bells Will Be Ringing, was released in 1960 and sung by the American blues singer and pianist Charles Brown. Brown wrote the song with Gene Redd, a New York producer who went on to guide the career of Kool and the Gang. Hitting Billboard's Hot 100 chart in December 1961, it peaked at #76. Appearing on the Christmas Singles chart for nine seasons, it hit #1 in 1972. The Eagles covered and released the song as a single in 1978. Their version peaked at #18 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts and was originally released as a vinyl 7" single; the nineties saw a re-release of a CD-single.