Top 5 Christmas Songs (And the preferred versions....if I have them....)
#1. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland (from Meet Me in St. Louis).
Garland's trembling rendition to a family coming together against all odds during the holidays always punches me right in my gingberbreads. This version is my favourite also because it uses the line, "Until then we'll have to muddle through some how" instead of "Hang a shining star..." EMOTIONAL GRIT, PEOPLE. It's what's for (Christmas) dinner.
#2. The Little Drummer Boy - The Jackson 5
Besides the Jackson 5 being awesome by default, this version is one of the few in which a little boy actually sings the role of the Little Drummer Boy.
#3. Carol of the Bells
Epic. And that was before the Trans-Siberian Orchestra cranked it to 11.
#4. All I Want For Christmas
Is you!
#5. Baby, It's Cold Outside -Any version involving Zooey Deschanel
In the version off of the Elf soundtrack, the mellow jazz saunter of her duet with Leon Redbone makes you want to abandon the outside world, stay inside, turn up the ambiance and snuggle up with something hot and alcoholic. (Like a beverage or maybe your significant other. I don't know.)
The quicker tempo and the gender reversal in the She & Him version with M. Ward is a fun take. So there.
#6. Claire Fontaine - Hawksley Workman
Claire Fontaine isn't really a Christmas song, and it's off of a Christmas album that really isn't a Christmas album. "Almost A Full Moon" sounds like Hawksley wandering around his life during the month of December with an acoustic guitar and an accompanying band, narrating the yuletide activities he espies everywhere. (Sample lyric: "Put away the turkey to make sandwiches tomorrow!") However, somehow, he makes it quork. (Yes I just made that up right now.)
That being said, I love Claire Fontaine. Fun story, when I first heard the song, I DIDN'T know it was a brand of notebooks (like Moleskine) and I thought Hawksley was literally singing to his lover who was some quirky indie girl who made her own paper. Then, one day I was in class and the girl sitting next to me had a purple Claire Fontaine notebook and my brain exploded.
BONUS: This Gift by 98 Degrees & Never Knew the Meaning Of Christmas by N*Sync
My least favourite Christmas song, as I ranted to Rebekah on a cold Saturday night where we bundled up and got our march on to an establishment, is Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells is mediocre. Jingle Bells sounds like a baby got eggnog instead of milk and in a nutmeg induced fury, hammered out the same three notes on a piano until it was declared 'music' by everyone else at the party, who also happened to be swamped on Christmas cheer. A one horse open sleigh does NOT sound like fun, either you're going too slow and that's boring, or you pick up velocity, and the winter air cuts into you with a vengeance. HEY.
In other news, tomorrow is my last full day of classes for first semester. What. The. Hell.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
December 03, 2012
March 12, 2012
Zero Cool
I'm trying to not use the word awesome, because awesome is an abused and often misused word...that I use:
Would anyone be upset if I started using "zero cool"? I'm thinking, it's pretty freakin' rad.
The Running Song of the Week is: Montreal Calling by Mobile
The pre-chorus's punchy beat is REALLY good for setting a faster pace and shredding it right the hell up when the chorus finally comes into it's own.
| | alarming, astonishing, awe-inspiring, awful, beautiful, breathtaking, daunting, dreadful, exalted, fearful, fearsome, formidable, frantic, frightening, grand, hairy*, horrible, horrifying, imposing, impressive, intimidating, magnificent, majestic, mean, mind-blowing*, moving, nervous, overwhelming, real gone, shocking, something else, striking, stunning, stupefying, terrible, terrifying, wonderful, wondrous, zero cool |
Would anyone be upset if I started using "zero cool"? I'm thinking, it's pretty freakin' rad.
The Running Song of the Week is: Montreal Calling by Mobile
The pre-chorus's punchy beat is REALLY good for setting a faster pace and shredding it right the hell up when the chorus finally comes into it's own.
September 18, 2011
Gloomy Sunday
EDIT: I was in a psychotically dark place this morning when I wrote this. The past couple of days have been eventful to say the least. I'll explain more later, but I have to go sleep now. I work 13 hours tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to it one tiny bit. I've been having problems with my mentality-- lately when I've been agitated or upset it's like a whole different personality comes through. When that happens, writing it out happens to calm me down in a big way. I'm not deleting this post because it's slice of life, but I am trying to explain where I was coming from when it came into life.
Dear Self,
Today you're choosing responsibility to a job you have you to admit you are starting to hate, over something your heart wants, but also needs. You're choosing practical and logical over emotional. Who the fuck are you?
You'll get over it. You'll get over him. You'll quit eventually, but not tonight. And years from now you won't remember tonight, the tonight where you DIDN'T quit your job, put on that grey uniform and those pants you hate. But you might have remembered the tonight you went to the cold room filled with warm people to listen to music that would have been good for every bit of your soul. That might have put you back on solid ground, soothed that panicked attack of hysterics you went into this morning.
The one where you almost cried until you puked.
The one where you couldn't breath for a full minute and while you were suffocating, you knew it WASN'T about a band, it wasn't even about the boy and how he hurt you, you knew it was about more. Self, today you are the logical voice of reason, saying that money is more important. More important than freedom and love and art and spontaneity. That air conditioning is better than the cool breeze. That digital is better than film, Facebook is better than real human contact and dubstep is better than Bob Dylan.
That room where you would have sat with your best friend and the boy who saved your sanity a few nights ago and listened to real life art, and poetry, en Francais? It's going to be waiting for you. And your empty seat will be there and your empty hands will fill with useless items at work and you'll have the same question twenty times. A hundred times. Other people will ask you if they know you from somewhere and you realize that it's been happening more and more lately. It's not YOU they know, it's the fear and the ocean behind your eyes. They've all been there. Everyone goes there, and everyone comes back... but not tonight. Tonight you're going deeper down the rabbit hole.
Two weeks from now when you decide you've had it, you're going to wish you quit that goddamn job tonight, since you're quitting anyway, eventually. You even have another job don't care about to cover your ass. The rent you don't pay and the words you don't say are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. You have it dollar easy and yet you feel that life is taxing, hard.
Tonight is going to turn into tomorrow, then the next day, then the next. By then you'll be so far gone you might not know who you are anymore. You might not be your job, but your job is putting up a fight to keep you from being anyone else.
I'm saying it again, who the fuck are you?
Sincerely,
Me
Dear Self,
Today you're choosing responsibility to a job you have you to admit you are starting to hate, over something your heart wants, but also needs. You're choosing practical and logical over emotional. Who the fuck are you?
You'll get over it. You'll get over him. You'll quit eventually, but not tonight. And years from now you won't remember tonight, the tonight where you DIDN'T quit your job, put on that grey uniform and those pants you hate. But you might have remembered the tonight you went to the cold room filled with warm people to listen to music that would have been good for every bit of your soul. That might have put you back on solid ground, soothed that panicked attack of hysterics you went into this morning.
The one where you almost cried until you puked.
The one where you couldn't breath for a full minute and while you were suffocating, you knew it WASN'T about a band, it wasn't even about the boy and how he hurt you, you knew it was about more. Self, today you are the logical voice of reason, saying that money is more important. More important than freedom and love and art and spontaneity. That air conditioning is better than the cool breeze. That digital is better than film, Facebook is better than real human contact and dubstep is better than Bob Dylan.
That room where you would have sat with your best friend and the boy who saved your sanity a few nights ago and listened to real life art, and poetry, en Francais? It's going to be waiting for you. And your empty seat will be there and your empty hands will fill with useless items at work and you'll have the same question twenty times. A hundred times. Other people will ask you if they know you from somewhere and you realize that it's been happening more and more lately. It's not YOU they know, it's the fear and the ocean behind your eyes. They've all been there. Everyone goes there, and everyone comes back... but not tonight. Tonight you're going deeper down the rabbit hole.
Two weeks from now when you decide you've had it, you're going to wish you quit that goddamn job tonight, since you're quitting anyway, eventually. You even have another job don't care about to cover your ass. The rent you don't pay and the words you don't say are on the opposite ends of the spectrum. You have it dollar easy and yet you feel that life is taxing, hard.
Tonight is going to turn into tomorrow, then the next day, then the next. By then you'll be so far gone you might not know who you are anymore. You might not be your job, but your job is putting up a fight to keep you from being anyone else.
I'm saying it again, who the fuck are you?
Sincerely,
Me
February 14, 2011
Musical Monday: Cupid's Playlist
Valentine's Day started with a grilled cheese sandwich. It really think it was a perfect way to launch the day. I mean... I love cheese!
Today is also my older sister's birthday. Even though she's living far (FAR) away in New Zealand, she's going to be on my mind all day long. Maybe that's why I've never gotten upset about Cupid passing me by: it's a birthday, not a day for romance!
I feel this day should be filled with celebrating things and people who fill life up to the brim. (Sort of like Thanksgiving in the middle of February...) So while I'm patiently waiting for that next special someone to come around, I've got a big heart-on for the rest of who happens to be in my life. (Is this what growing up feels like?)
I think we have a mutual romance, don't you?
Today is also my older sister's birthday. Even though she's living far (FAR) away in New Zealand, she's going to be on my mind all day long. Maybe that's why I've never gotten upset about Cupid passing me by: it's a birthday, not a day for romance!
I feel this day should be filled with celebrating things and people who fill life up to the brim. (Sort of like Thanksgiving in the middle of February...) So while I'm patiently waiting for that next special someone to come around, I've got a big heart-on for the rest of who happens to be in my life. (Is this what growing up feels like?)
I think we have a mutual romance, don't you?I love my life. It has it's ups and downs but so do roller coasters, and I like those too.
I love my friends, my family, my cat. I love my work, I love antique stores and old vinyl and new technology. I love to laugh, dance and sing. I am very much in love with a LOT of things.
So to honour the occasion, I put together a playlist of some of my favourite love songs. They range from your typical melody about love, to unrequited and everything in between.
I love my friends, my family, my cat. I love my work, I love antique stores and old vinyl and new technology. I love to laugh, dance and sing. I am very much in love with a LOT of things.
So to honour the occasion, I put together a playlist of some of my favourite love songs. They range from your typical melody about love, to unrequited and everything in between.
Cupid's Playlist
1. Somebody to Love - Queen
Because everybody wants somebody. I love Queen, and anything to do with Freddie Mercury turns me into a giddy crooner who has the urge to hit impossible high notes.
2. I Believe In a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
Speaking of people hitting high pitched notes-- The Darkness take it to a whole. Nuvva. Level.
3. Your Song - Elton John
This song is another classic that I think should play at everyone's wedding ever, just because it's simple and gorgeous. And if I can't convince you, I'll make sure it's at least playing at mine.
4.We Will Still Need A Song - Hawksley Workman
Everything Hawksley touches has a life of it's own, and this song is no different. You won't find another like it, and it's the only love song I know that starts off with a glorious f-bomb.
5. Make You Feel My Love - Adele (covering Bob Dylan)
If you haven't heard Adele, you need to! She has the amazing diction and subtlety that you need to cover something that was done by Bobby D himself. Simply gorgeous...
6. Grace Kelly - Mika
This song is more addictive than your average dose of methadone, Mika is adorable, and he has a voice to boot. Unrequited love and the things we do for it...Sigh.
7. All is Love - Karen O and the Kids
I like this one because it's a playful, innocent love. The kids have for their parents, or the kind I have for Telly.
8. It Ain't Me, Babe - Johnny Cash and June Carter
This song is amazing because it's all about what love isn't. "You say you're lookin' for someone who's never weak, but always strong. To protect you and defend you whether you are right or wrong, but it ain't me babe."
9. Lullaby (Goodnight, my Angel) - Billy Joel
The first time you hear this, it's almost emotionally crippling. Is it a love song? A lullaby? A tune of mourning? Billy Joel's voice weaves a story of devotion and separation that gets me EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
10. Firework by Katy Perry
A love song about learning to embrace yourself. I think self respect is just as important as any other kind of love you can have...And this song is all about celebrating who you are. Plus, it's a blast to belt out in the shower, driving in the car, anywhere, everywhere.
Now that you know my picks for some great V-Day tunes, what are some of yours?
Because everybody wants somebody. I love Queen, and anything to do with Freddie Mercury turns me into a giddy crooner who has the urge to hit impossible high notes.
2. I Believe In a Thing Called Love - The Darkness
Speaking of people hitting high pitched notes-- The Darkness take it to a whole. Nuvva. Level.
3. Your Song - Elton John
This song is another classic that I think should play at everyone's wedding ever, just because it's simple and gorgeous. And if I can't convince you, I'll make sure it's at least playing at mine.
4.We Will Still Need A Song - Hawksley Workman
Everything Hawksley touches has a life of it's own, and this song is no different. You won't find another like it, and it's the only love song I know that starts off with a glorious f-bomb.
5. Make You Feel My Love - Adele (covering Bob Dylan)
If you haven't heard Adele, you need to! She has the amazing diction and subtlety that you need to cover something that was done by Bobby D himself. Simply gorgeous...
6. Grace Kelly - Mika
This song is more addictive than your average dose of methadone, Mika is adorable, and he has a voice to boot. Unrequited love and the things we do for it...Sigh.
7. All is Love - Karen O and the Kids
I like this one because it's a playful, innocent love. The kids have for their parents, or the kind I have for Telly.
8. It Ain't Me, Babe - Johnny Cash and June Carter
This song is amazing because it's all about what love isn't. "You say you're lookin' for someone who's never weak, but always strong. To protect you and defend you whether you are right or wrong, but it ain't me babe."
9. Lullaby (Goodnight, my Angel) - Billy Joel
The first time you hear this, it's almost emotionally crippling. Is it a love song? A lullaby? A tune of mourning? Billy Joel's voice weaves a story of devotion and separation that gets me EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
10. Firework by Katy Perry
A love song about learning to embrace yourself. I think self respect is just as important as any other kind of love you can have...And this song is all about celebrating who you are. Plus, it's a blast to belt out in the shower, driving in the car, anywhere, everywhere.
Now that you know my picks for some great V-Day tunes, what are some of yours?
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