Every now and again I'll post some of the basic criteria i use when selecting songs for TPCM - and my Christmas listening enjoyment in general.
Today's Yule of the Game:
This is a Christmas party. Let's keep the dying to a minimum please.
Holiday songs featuring dead or dying loved ones don't generally give me that special warm and fuzzy holiday feeling. The last thing I want to hear while the egg nog's being served is The Christmas Shoes or Another Lonely Christmas. Yes, I know death is a fact of life - even during the holidays - but so is a nasty case of the plops and i have no interest in listening to songs about that either*.
I'm not saying that all songs that bring death to the holidays are necessarily bad songs - just that I'm not putting them on the Hi-fi during the tree trimming party.
There are some exceptions no doubt and obviously some hymns and carols dealing with Christ's life will touch upon his death and resurrection. Are there any mortality related tunes that you feel deserve a chance to be part of TPCM?
* I do, however, reserve the right to include the occasional fart based Christmas song - as long as it's done with good taste.
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2 comments:
May I humbly suggest:
Christmas At Ground Zero - Weird Al Yankovick
A party song about nuclear annihilation.
The Christmas Ship - Lee Murdock
Based on a true story. In 1912 a ship delivering Christmas trees to Chicago is lost in a storm on Lake Michigan killing 17.
A Johnny Ace Christmas - Squirrel Nut Zippers
Based on a true story. In 1954, between sets at a Christmas Day performance in Houston, TX, R&B performer Johnny Ace shot himself.
Saint Francis Fire - Idgy Vaughn
Based on a true story. In 1899 at St. Francis Solanus School in Quincy, Illinois, 12 schoolgirls participating in a Christmas pageant are killed when their paper angel's wings catch fire.
1913 Massacre - Woody Guthrie (also recorded by his son Arlo Guthrie)
Based on a true story. In 1913 at a Christmas Eve party in Calumet, Michigan attended by striking copper miners, hired union-busters yell "Fire" and then block the exits. 74 people including 59 children die in the ensuing panic.
The Coventry Carol - Joan Baez with Peter "P.D.Q. Bach" Schickele
Based on the "slaughter of the innocents" in the Christmas story in the gospel of Matthew, this comes from the Pageant of the Guild of the Shearmen and Tailors for the Coventry Mystery Plays and dates back to the 15th Century. Herod the Great, angry that the magi have not returned to him to tell him where the messiah is, orders all male babies under the age of two to be slaughtered. Jesus makes his getaway, but this song is told from the perspective of three mothers in Bethlehem who are trying to sing their babies to sleep to keep them undetected while Herod's guards are going door-to-door looking for them.
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day - Bing Crosby
Based on the poem "Christmas Bells" by H. W. Longfellow written on Christmas Day, 1864 in response to one of the bloodiest years of the Civil War. "And in despair I bowed my head. 'There is no peace on Earth,' I said."
7 O'Clock News/Silent Night - Simon and Garfunkel
In counterpoint to the peaceful carol Silent Night, a newscaster reads actual news stories from August of 1966, including the escalation of the Viet Nam war and the indictment of Richard Speck who murdered 9 student nurses.
Empty Chair at the Christmas Table - Bob Wills
First Christmas after the death of a parent/spouse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2cF4glBsa4&feature=related
25th December - Everything But The Girl
First Christmas after the death of a parent.
Christmas Morning Blues - Victoria Spivey
A Georgia woman receives news from the state on Christmas day that her man will be executed before New Year's day.
All but the Squirrel Nut Zippers and Bob Wills are available on I-tunes.
Thanks for the terrific and informative post!
I guess I'll probably have to make a couple of exceptions if a version of The Coventry Carol or I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day end up on the short list.
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