Holiday mixed tape.

[Jimmy]

I’m working on an article/mix for a local magazine I freelance for. I generally can’t get into Christmas music, but a few of my favorites:

Low – Little Drummer Boy
Juliana Hatfield – Make It Home
Bright Eyes – Blue Christmas
Jimmy Eat World - Christmas Card
Local H – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Radiohead - Winter Wonderland
Liz Phair – Winter Wonderland
Sufjan Stevens – Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
Dance Hall Crashers – I Did It For The Toys
Ryan Adams - Hey Parker, It's Christmas
Rilo Kiley - Xmas Cake

Add to my list?

I really don’t care how silly, unhip, or embarrassing they may be.

[Jeremiah Shine]

I read your post and started thinking of Christmas music:. Johnny Mathis, and some clay-mation sing alongs come to mind. Bing Crosby is always good...Believe it or not,, Yanni on the Clarinet! (Crowd pleasers)

[Jeb Banner]

here's a great track from the MFT archive by The Winechuggers
Face Down At Christmas Again
Also, The Mysteries Of Life have some good winter tunes under the album Misc Recordings 1996
http://www.musicalfamilytree.org/band/mysteries_of_life
I'm sure there's more if I thought about it some more

[Loralie]

How sentimental! Here are some from a CD I made:

The Flaming Lips - A Change At Christmas (Say It Isn't So)
Rufus Wainwright - What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?
Ray Charles & Betty Carter - Baby, It's Cold Outside
Death Cab For Cutie - Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Nat King Cole and The Starlighters - All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)
Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick
Louis Armstrong with Benny Carter and His Orchestra - Christmas Night in Harlem
Ella Fitzgerald - Sleigh Ride
A Girl Called Eddy - The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot
Rufus Wainwright - Spotlight On Christmas
Bing Crosby - Let It Snow
Charles Brown - Please Come Home For Christmas
B.B. King - Christmas Celebration
Dean Martin - I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

[Ian Brewer]

You can't leave this one off your list. Best Christmas song ever!

The Kinks "Father Christmas"

[Loralie]

Has immediately been added to my list!

[Jbarge]

The Beatles Christmas Fan Club Recordins
A Christmas Gift For You produced by Phil Spector
Merry Christmas, Baby (I Don't Want to Fight) The Ramones
Little Drummer Boy Bing Crosby
White Christmas Dean Martin (Irving Berlin said he did it better than Bing)
Santa Got Drunk the John Barge Society
Merry Christtmas, Baby Elvis Presley
Little Saint Nick the Beach Boys
Run, Rudolph, Run Keith Richards
Of the above, the best by far is the Phil Spector album.

[Jimmy]

Thanks for the suggestions so far, everyone!

That Kinks song is my new favorite jam.

[Jeb Banner]

Yeah, that Kinks tune is awesome, I'm totally ashamed to say I only remember it from childhood and don't even have the album, looks like it's time for me to buy the 80s and 90s Kinks albums!

[Sean O'Neil]

Low: Just Like Christmas
Descendents: Christmas Vacation
Galaxie 500: Listen, the Snow is Falling
Death Cab: The New Year
Palace: Christmastime in the Mountains
Husker Du: Flexible Flyer
Neil Young: Winterlong
O Holy Night: traditional

Some of these are more seasonal than Christmasy.

[Jimmy]

Thanks, Sean. A lot of my picks are kind of just seasonal too. Thanks for the suggestion. I don't know that Neil Young song for some reason. Maybe I'm just strange, but even "Sugar Mountain" sort of reminds me of the winter. Even though he's singing about a fair. Haha.

[Jbarge]

If you're going seasonal, I will toss out "Happy Hardcore New Year" by the Walking Ruins.

[Sean O'Neil]

Jimmy:

You can find Young's "Winterlong" on Decade, his epic compilation from 1977. I don't believe it's on any other record. Sugar Mountain, which is also on there, reminds me of autumn, like right now, for some reason. Though, I have a feeling it's a summer song. Weird how that works. Some summer songs make me think of winter. Like Husker Du's "Celebrated Summer," has the lyrics:

"Then the sun disintegrates between a wall of clouds
I summer where I winter at, and no one is allowed there

Do you remember when the first snowfall fell
When summer barely had a snowball's chance in Hell?"