I’ve been picking a Christmas song a day to talk about here on the blog, and for the last couple days, I’ve woken up with Elton John’s “Step into Christmas” in my head. Seems like a sign…
A couple Easter eggs – or Christmas presents —
Another quick one today as I go through a holiday song a day until December 25. “Frosty the Snowman” never actually mentions Christmas – unless you go with the modified lyrics from the 1969 Rankin/Bass animated version. In that case, “I’ll be back again someday” becomes “I’ll be back on Christmas Day.” Take it away, Jimmy Durante and Jackie Vernon …
My favorite version of “Frosty the Snowman” is from Leon Redbone’s 1987 album, “Christmas Island.” It’s a duet with Dr. John and certainly the reason why Redbone played a stop-motion snowman himself in 2003’s “Elf” – although Leon the Snowman’s look is borrowed Burl Ives’ character, Sam, in Rankin/Bass’ “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
For a complete switch-up, yet still great, here’s Cocteau Twins in 1993 with their dreamy Scottish take on “Frosty.”
Today, a Christmas song for the atheists and agnostics from singer-songwriter Tim Minchin. Yep, a non-Christian who loves Christmas. For Tim, Christmas is still a time to gather with family and share the love. He just doesn’t care about the religious part. As the lyrics say, “It’s sentimental, I know, but I just really like it.”
As in a lot of Tim’s songs, it starts out flippant but will sneak up on you. That’s especially true for 2020, when so many of us can’t gather or have lost someone we love. Tim’s from Australia, so his holiday is already different from the northern hemisphere. December means the beach, not snow and scarves. Tim’s song is “White Wine in the Sun.” This version is from 2008.
Each year, Tim donates all November, December, and January proceeds from sales of the song to charity. For 2020, it’s Aspect, Australia’s largest national service provider for people on the autism spectrum.
Every day until December 25, I’m writing about holiday music in my personal collection – but that doesn’t always mean Christmas tunes. Hanukkah starts at sundown Thursday, so let’s dig out the 2005 record from The LeeVees, “Hanukkah Rocks.”
Like The Ramones, every band member’s last name is LeeVee, but not really. Adam LeeVee is Adam Gardner from Guster and David LeeVee is Dave Schneider of The Zambonis, a band that writes and performs only songs about ice hockey. The tunes on “Hanukkah Rocks” are more about the cultural aspects of The Festival of Lights than the purely religious – “Latke Clan,” “Gelt Melts,” “At the Timeshare,” “Nun, Gimmel, Heh, Shin…” Here’s the video for “How Do You Spell Channukkahh?”
Does a song have to mention Christmas at all to be a Christmas song? I bet this cover tune puts you in the holiday frame of mind even though the original was a hit in the summer of 1969.
Annie Lennox and Al Green teamed up to cover Jackie DeShannon’s “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” for the “Scrooged” soundtrack in 1988. The cast sang the song at movie’s end and transitioned to Lennox and Green as the credits rolled.
Green had left pop music in 1980 after falling off a stage and taking it as a sign from God that he should turn exclusively to gospel music. Producer Jimmy Iovine was the musical supervisor for “Scrooged.” He asked Green to record the song, Green asked if Annie Lennox would sing with him, and it became Green’s first Top 10 pop hit since 1974. It’s also Lennox’s highest charting song outside of Eurythmics, although her bandmate, David Stewart, did produce the track.
Here’s the original from Jackie DeShannon. Odd bit of trivia – Jackie wrote “Bette Davis Eyes,” the 1981 hit for Kim Carnes.
And let’s wrap up with an all-star version I found in doing my research. From a 1979 UNICEF charity concert in Assembly Hall at the United Nations – here’s John Denver, Donna Summer, Barry Gibb, Olivia Newton-John, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, and ABBA. I also see Henry Fonda, Henry Winkler, Gilda Radner, David Frost, Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, and I’m sure I missed a few…