I was going to lay this thing to a well deserved rest after song, but I’ve found a few more novelties over the past month that I want to share, and I don’t really feel like sitting on them for another year. I swear this will be the final post that contains any festive music this side of next December though. Between this place and all of the other blogs going into festive overload, if you’re anything like me, you’re probably getting a little sick of all of the Christmas songs by now. I only really want to give these three a mention because they are all connected to songs featured earlier on in our advent.

Snow PatrolMP3 – Just Like Christmas (expired)
This will be the third version of ‘Just Like Christmas’ that I’ve posted on this thing, following the original by on day 3 and a cover by Aberdeen City on day 18. This cover by Snow Patrol is a pretty direct, if a tad stripped down, version of the original song. Which is fine as it’s the kind of thing that Snow Patrol pull off brilliantly. There’s actually a lot of talent in that band, and Lightbody’s voice is pretty damn impressive. It’s a shame they feel the need to go down the boring as hell big anthem kind of route with their albums.

MP3 – Christmas Wrapping (expired)
I don’t know much about Save Ferris and everything I’ve read about them in the last hour or so has pretty much laid into them for one reason or another. I have no idea if that’s justified or not, but this ‘cover’ of ’ song that I posted yesterday is pretty damn good. I use the term ‘cover’ as while it imitates the original almost perfectly musically and vocally, the song has been completely remade with entirely different words, chorus and the odd knowing line aside. The whole thing has been turned into a tale of a Jew trying to cope with how overbearing Christmas is and wanting to hibernate in the two months between November and January. It’s not perfect and some of the lines are a little clunky, but it’s a pretty amusing diversion.

StarsMP3 – Fairytale of New York (expired)
I’m a big fan of Stars, and that hasn’t wained very much in the year since I’ve found them. Sure, there’s nothing groundbreakingly original about what they do, but they make some darn catchy pop songs. Anyway, this cover was the b-side to the UK single release of ‘Your Ex-Lover Is Dead’, which handily was released around Christmas last year. Whenever I hear a different versions of this song, they always takes a hell of lot of getting used to, and usually I won’t warm to them at all. This one was much the same, but I’ve grown to rather like it in the past year. It’s still not a patch on The Pogues version, and it’s lacking the energy that it really needs, but it’s still rather good.

So yes, no more Christmas songs for at least another 340 days. Which is probably for the best as the backlog of bands I want to rave about has grown pretty big over the past month. I’ve still got a few time of year approrpriate posts coming up though. All being well, December 26 through December 30 should see me counting down my favourite 49 songs of the year. Why 49? I don’t know either. Then on December 31 we’ll have a nice little selection of new year related songs, followed by a return to normality. Woo.