Another Form of Relief

I was going to lay this thing to a well deserved rest after the Pogues 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.

MP3 Snow Patrol - 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 Low 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 Save Ferris - 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 The Waitresses’ 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.

MP3 Stars - 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.

So we reached the end of our advent calender, and was there any other song that would be appropriate to wrap it all up? The only problem though is that I’m not entirely sure how to write about it, so I’ll keep this brief. I also imagine that pretty much everyone reading this will be familiar with it, and if you’re not, just skip my bullshit and head straight to the download. Nearly everything I read about it goes on about how it’s so great because it’s exactly the opposite of what a mainstream Christmas song is. The only problem in that is that it’s now just as mainstream as the “classics” it rebels against. This of course is no bad thing, but surely that in itself turns it into one of the Christmas staples. It’s also probably the only Christmas song where the use of “slut” and “faggot” are seen as acceptable.

MP3 The Pogues - Fairytale of New York (expired)

So as we come to the end of our little advent calender, we’re going to close things up with a couple of more mainstream festive songs, just so we don’t get out on an indie dreary low. As I said at the start of this thing, I’m going to finish this up tomorrow with the best (read: my favourite) festive song, although it shouldn’t be hard to figure out what it is, particularly as a ton of other blogs have already posted it.

Today though we have a seasonal offering from The Waitresses. I couldn’t tell you very much about The Waitresses besides what I just skimmed off AllMusic before writing this thing up. Even though they only existed for two years between 1981 and 1983, they seem to be held in rather high regard. I only have this song to go on unfortunately, and attempts to hear some more have been fruitless. As such, if anyone would like to slip a song or two of theirs (particularly ‘I Know What Boys Like’) into my inbox, it would be greatly appreciated.

I used to really hate this song. Not because I had any good reason to or anything. Rather that it was a Christmas playlist staple of Invicta FM, my local bland as hell radio station that I heard far too much of as a kid. I mean seriously, go look at their playlist if you don’t believe me. Then imagine something far worse as the playlist these days is a hell of a lot better than the shit they used to play back in the 90s.

Where was I? Oh yes, this song. I used to hate it pretty much solely because they played it regularly, and to me, everything on that station had to be awful. It’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve started to appreciate it. Setting aside the awful pun of a title, it’s a far better song than it appears to be on the outside. While initially seeming like another miserable Christmas song about a woman who is cutting herself from everyone on Christmas Day, it actually turns into something rather more cheerful. The whole thing is nicely self aware, and the little asides and delivery push it firmly above the usual kind of festive drivel.

Let’s just ignore the fact it was covered by The Spice Girls.

MP3 The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping (expired)

Yes, I’m posting day 22 on December 23, but unlike the previous times where I was late with these, this time I have a good reason. The hosting where the mp3s are parked went kaput last night, meaning I couldn’t put any new songs up onto it, and rather than wait for it to come back up, I went to bed instead. Which once again means that you get a double dosing of Christmas joy (or melancholy) today.

Most people probably only know Harvey Danger from their song ‘Flagpole Sitta’, which was something of a modest indie hit several years ago. Rather than go down the “one hit wonder” route that would have been so easy for them, the band have instead carved out a nice little disography in the time since. Nothing spectacular, but nothing bad either. They gained a little attention last year when they released their new album ‘Little By Little’ onto the internet in mp3 form for free. This turned out to be a cunning way to get the word out about their music, and subsequent deals with KillRockStars and Barsuk Records have followed.

The song here is particularly relevant to me as I do have to work on Christmas myself. Well, I don’t have to, but I choose to as I don’t mind doing it and it brings in a nice bit of extra money. That isn’t the view that the narrator of the song takes though. He seems quite miserable in the fact that while everywhere else is closed, his place of employment (a cinema) is open. Now I could go off on a whole thing about how weird it is for cinemas to be open on Christmas Day, but that’s an entirely different post.

MP3 Harvey Danger - Sometimes You Have To Work On Christmas (expired)

So this may be the least festive Christmas song I actually post on this thing. I’m a casual Flaming Lips listener: a few singles and I’m good. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to listen to an entire album in one sitting. Like a lot of bands I don’t usually like though, I tend to appreciate their Christmas offerings. Except this song is all about animals and possibly some kind of psychological sociology rather than Christmas. That said, it’s called ‘Christmas At The Zoo’ and the events of the song take place on Christmas Eve, so I’m going to go with it. There’s not a great deal more I can really say about the song, other than an obligatory comment about how the band were probably high when they came up with it, but that would just be cheap.

MP3 The Flaming Lips - Christmas At The Zoo (expired)

Unlike the Ben Folds Christmas song I featured on day 8, this one actually sounds like it was recorded when Ben hadn’t been smoking the funny cigarettes. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you to decide.

This song was actually recorded for The Grinch soundtrack, so if you listen with that in mind, the whole thing becomes pretty self-explanatory. It’s all about being driven insane on Christmas Eve by the people outside singing Christmas songs over and over. Which thankfully, people don’t really tend to do. God, that would be irritating if they did. Anyway, you can also substitute the narrator of the song for any miserable git that dislikes Christmas (like myself), and it works just as well.

MP3 Ben Folds - Lonely Christmas Eve (expired)

Following up from the downright bizarre Eels Christmas song that I posted back on day 9 on this little adventure, we have a far more accessible and fun festive song from them.

Certainly one of the more upbeat songs I’ve posted in this collection, and probably one of the more optimistic too, ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas’ is exactly what the title says it is: a reassuring tale of how things are only going better and how important friendship is. It’s all pretty direct, even musically where it just tends to rock out (and add a little sleigh bell), with very little of the usual Eels weirdness (”baby Jesus, born to rock” line aside), which may deter some fans, but it certainly works for me.

As the days go by, the more that we need friends
and the harder they are to find
If I could have a friend like you in my life
then I guess I’d be doing just fine

MP3 The Eels - Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas (expired)

It was all the way back on day 3 that I first posted ‘Just Like Christmas’, the classic Low Christmas song. Today we have a cover of that very song. I wasn’t intending on including, largely because I only discovered it a few days ago, but I think it’s pretty interesting, so I’m going with it.

Unfortunately, I don’t know a great deal about Aberdeen City. I’ve downloaded a few of their songs in the past and they’ve never really clicked with me, so I’ve never listened to them properly. The only thing I can really tell you about the band is that they aren’t actually from Aberdeen, but rather the US. Which makes the name of the band rather odd, but there you go. As for this cover, it’s pretty by the numbers, although the production is a little rough around the edges. It keeps the feel of the original though, even getting away with a relocating of the song from Sandinavia to the US.

MP3 Aberdeen City - Just Like Christmas (expired)

This is the A-side to the Fountains of Wayne song that I posted on day 7 of this little project, and it’s a far happier song than it’s counterpart. Christmas songs don’t come much simpler than this. The narrator wants an alien for Christmas, and that’s about the entirity of the song. There’s something wonderfully simple about the whole thing, yet somehow it never crosses into the absurd. Which, if we’re honest, a song about wanting an alien for Christmas sung by four grown men is a line it should really cross.

MP3 Fountains of Wayne - I Want An Alien For Christmas (expired)

First of all, I’m fully aware that I’ve slipped a day behind again. Yesterday was rather busy, between seeing a shitty film about dragons and then going for a festive pizza, so I just didn’t get the time to write anything. Lucky for you though, that means you get two festive songs today. Secondly, this is the first time I’ve repeated an artist, and I’ll warn you now that it won’t be the last. I simply don’t have enough Christmas songs that I actually like to fill it out with entirely different artists and songs.

I don’t suppose I need to tell you that this is another miserable Christmas song. I really have to been trying to post some more cheerful ones up here, but I simply don’t seem to have any. Which either says indie artists don’t tend to make happy Christmas music, or that my tastes lean toward the depressing. Or a combination of the two. Maybe I’ll post some cheerful non-Christmas songs as a way of balancing with this lot or something. Anyway, with regards to this song, it’s Rivers complaining about being all alone at Christmas. I don’t think there’s a great deal more I can say about a Christmas song that centres on the line of “here I sit waiting beside the tree all by myself”. Oh Rivers, always so glum.

MP3 Weezer - The Christmas Song (expired)

I’m actually reaching the point where I’ll be glad when this advent thing is over. I’ve got a whole list of artists I want to write about, a bunch of other posts I should be writing and I haven’t even written about our first promoted gig, which I really should get around to given it was coming up on two weeks ago. It is all coming, I’m just not really sure when.