#11 Son of A Carpenter
A Christmas Playlist
I write to you from Bethlehem, a small town in the White Mountains of Northern New Hampshire. While there have been flurries this fall and early winter, apparently the first snow to stick was the 2.5” we received last night while we ate peppermint pretzel ice cream on an outdoor patio. I’m here as one of the first residents at the new and expanded Artist Residency at Directangle Press run by my friend Josh Dannin with my friend Hannah P Mode. I recognize it has been several months since I’ve sent out my last playlist. This week at Josh’s studio was what I looked forward to through what was one of the most hectic, successful, but also difficult Falls of my life. One of the many things I let pass by was this project — so much for it being monthly. You’ll get to hear more about this in the next week or so when I finish up my 2022 Year In Review playlist.
However, like a Christmas miracle, inspiration struck on a commuter train after a red eye to Boston, along with the help of some crowdsourcing, to compile this playlist ahead of you. What follows is a fairly left of center Christmas playlist comprised mostly of originals and unique arrangements of Christmas classics, admittedly from an indie/folk/alternative point of view. It has a few moments that the party arrives, but is generally low key and admittedly somber in nature. It will work in your headphones walking along water on your own, or in the background of a family friendly gathering. The playlist is absent of almost any mention of Santa Clause, as well as the broad cannon of parody, whimsical, rock, punk, and hip hop renditions and the much less expansive Hanukkah songs (shout out to Puppy For Hanukkah), which all have their place, just not on my playlist for my feelings around Christmas this season.
List here on Spotify | Here on Youtube Music
Matt Pond Pa - Holiday Road
Frank Sinatra - The Christmas Waltz
Khruangbin - Christmas Time Is Here
The Band - Christmas Must Be Tonight
The Smashing Pumpkins - Christmastime
Andrew Gold - The Bells of St Victor
Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers - A Christmas To Remember
John Denver & The Muppets - Christmas is Coming
Lord Kitchener - Christmas Greetings
Los Bitchos - Los Chrismos
Wham! - Last Christmas
Low - Just Like Christmas
Sufjan Stevens - Once In Royal David’s City
Carla Thomas - Gee Whiz It’s Christmas
Hey Rosetta! - Carry Me Home
Esso Trinidad Steel Band - Winter Wonderland
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Christmas All Over Again
The 1975 - Wintering
Otis Redding - Merry Christmas Baby
Michael Buble & Shania Twain - White Christmas
Bing Crosby, Peggy Lee, Danny Kane - Snow
Sufjan Stevens - Christmas In The Room
Dave Matthews - Christmas Song
Praytell - Something Bright, Something Shiny
Joni Mitchel - River
Sleeping At Last - O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Tracy Chapman - O Holy Night
David Bazan - Away In a Manger
James Taylor - Go Tell It On The Mountain
John Denver & The Muppets - A Baby Just Like You
The Pogues & Kristy MacColl - Fairytale of New York
Ghost Of Christmas Present - It Feels Like Christmas
Kishi Bashi - It’s Christmas, But Its Not White Here In Our Town
Marika Hackman - Driving Under Stars
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
Los Straightjackets - Feliz Navidad
Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime
Tom Waits - New Year’s Eve
I love Christmas and I love Christmas music. Or rather, I love a lot of Christmas music. I, however, also HATE so much Christmas music, namely any of the ultra sweet pop music mostly about gifts and santa and written almost entirely for placement in advertisements. (it strikes me as fitting how much this mirrors my personal feelings about being a Christian and how I want to shake a significant amount of American Christians for not dissimilar reasons) What I appreciate most about Christmas music is its complexity. There are a number of Christmas songs I enjoy purely for nostalgia reasons, sure, but Christmas seems to be a season in which we are able to uniquely express and explore the range of complicated emotions we have around the Christmas season.
The holiday season, at least in the western world, is steeped in the traditions of family and religion. For six weeks we are compelled to spread cheer, spend time with loved ones, be generous in our actions and offerings, and rekindle our relationships to faith (or, atleast make an appearance). For many of us, some or all of this can be difficult and painful, exhausting and entirely performative. It’s truly my favorite time of year, however I admit it's grown harder through the years, as I think much of life does. It’s grown lonelier as friends with kids have new traditions and demands of their time. It serves as an annual reminder of the loved ones who are no longer with us and those who it's difficult to be around. A ubiquitous holiday rooted in the theological foundation of Christianity while also fueling the largest commercial period of the fiscal year causes those of us in the faith to wrestle with how intertwined our faith has become to capitalism in the West, stirs up feelings of abuse and abandonment by many who have left the faith, while isolating the significant population who practice others faiths or none at all.
While much of the Christmas canon includes the syrupy snow cones of “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Santa Baby”, the oldest Christmas hymns are sung slow in minor chords, like “O Come O Come Emmanuel”. Amongst the Rudolphs of the world, some of the greatest mid-century contributions to the holiday standards come from White Christmas, featuring the titular song about pining for earlier times via written correspondence, suggesting the author would be spending the holidays alone. Newer Christmas staples like Wham’s “Last Christmas” and Joni Mitchell’s “River” depict failed love and how lonely the season can feel. Many of the most contemporary original Christmas songs reflect our increasingly dispersed society with songs like Hey Rosetta’s “Carry Me Home”, the 1975’s “Wintering”, and Marika Hackman’s “Driving Under Stars” all tell the tales of attempting to get home to loved ones. Praytell’s “Something Bright, Something Shiny” and Sufjan Stevens’ “Christmas In The Room” relay a feeling of insignificance and a desire for something more.
Of course it’s not all blue. While I believe Christmas music gives us permission to be sad around the season, it has the capacity to inspire hope & joy. I appreciate songs like The Band’s “Christmas Must Be Tonight” and Dave Matthews’ “Christmas Song” which clearly address the birth of Jesus and origin of Christmas very matter of factly. John Denver’s “A Baby Just Like You” is a song written for his newborn son, the same Zachary of which my name happens to be inspired by (my mom was a big John Denver fan). Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers’ “A Christmas To Remember”, The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”, and The Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping” all tell stories of finding holiday love when they least expect it; as Los Bitchos say “It’s Christmas time! Sexy Time!”.
Happy Holidays wherever you are and whoever you are with.