A Quirky Eclectic Christmas Mix (2020 Ed.)

[Video: “Sleigh Ride,” from the ten-year-old YouTube series called “Post-Modern Jukebox.” (Tip o’the hat to the erstwhile blogger and longtime RAMH friend known as Froog for reminding me of the collection.) PMJ’s videos feature a rotating stable (!) of contemporary performers rendering classics or contemporary pop music in retro musical styles, often in a form of musical irony — hence the “post-modern” of the title, I guess. As in many (most? all?) of the videos, PMJ’s creator, Scott Bradlee, features here on the keyboard. Unlike — as far as I know — any of the others, this one places at the centerpiece not a vocalist or instrumentalist, but a dancer. I don’t think I’d ever considered tapdancing as a type of percussion instrument but, y’know, maybe…?]

Greetings, and welcome to the latest of Running After My Hat‘s annual Christmas fests, such as they are. Of course, since this is 2020, it’s only natural that this would be the thirteenth such iteration — but let’s dwell no further, for now, on the prospect of things going wrong. To the music, then!

As always beginning in 2008, I’ve added to the heap ten songs previously not included; the playlist therefore now includes 130 songs (the first is just a scrap of dialogue). Total time required to listen to the whole thing, start-to-finish, is now up to around seven hours of music. This means that — unless you’re interested in only this year’s ten — the best way to play the whole thing is in random order, as background so to speak. Then you can just close this browser window, and go about your holiday business.

So, first, here’s the complete playlist, presented in random order. Note: you can open it in a pop-out window by clicking (duh) the little “Popout” button at the top left (that’s the way to go, in my opinion) and if you don’t like this random order, just reload the page:  

…or, if you’re in a hurry, here are the ten 2020 selections only. Unlike the complete list, this player just runs through the songs in sequential order:

In either case, or even if you don’t want to listen at all, you might want to glance at the complete current list of song titles and performers. (Note: the window that opens when you click that link is just a listing; you cannot play music from it.)

Want to know why I recommend the random order? Check the 2018 post; it lays out my reasoning in probably excruciating detail.

And that’s it for the music per se. Below, some further ruminations…

Declaring 2020 the Year of Interesting Experiences is like proclaiming the wetness of water. Does anyone in the audience seriously dispute that this year has — to put it mildly — come unmoored from familiarity? and done so more or less unpleasantly?

At least — least — selecting my annual ten-song Christmas playlist slate has felt less frenetic this year. (Whispering: retirement, y’know.) Yes, less frenetic — but better? as good, even? That remains to be seen.

Aside from just the amount of time on my hands, the relative “simplicity” of this year’s selection process comes from a personal project I’ve long wanted to pursue: a database, for my own use, of RAMH music. For the time being, this just includes the performances (i.e., songs as recorded by specific performers) already on past Christmas playlists here. It’s a small enough sample to be manageable, while still giving me an idea of aggregate statistics… and thus helping make this year’s choices easier.

Some of those preliminary findings:

• Across the 12 prior playlists, one artist has had more entries than any other: Mannheim Steamroller, with eight appearances — including a song in each of the past five years. So, I figured, while I’m probably not done with the Steamroller, it’s safe to eliminate them from consideration for this year.
• Most popular song: “Silent Night” (also known by some other slight variations in the title), on five annual lists… including last year. Again, easy enough to give it a rest in 2020.
• A favorite “this time of year” song for me is Joni Mitchell’s “River.” It’s not quite a downer of a song, but the emphasis is definitely on something like regret and/or poignancy… which wouldn’t feel at all out of place in 2020. So I checked the database and found exactly ONE appearance, waaaay back in 2009 — and it wasn’t even Mitchell’s own performance. (*gasp*) So, including that “River” was an easy decision here.
• Other (to me) weird gaps appeared. For instance, “Jingle Bells” has shown up four times (including idiosyncratic versions by Al Hirt and Barbra Streisand)… but not since 2012. So maybe, I thought, I should give that some consideration? (Ultimately: nope, shut out again!)

As I looked through the complete stack of music available for this year, I did remember that “Kidnap the Sandy Claws” (from the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack) had almost made the cut several times in the past. But it kept getting bumped at the last minute; one might almost think I’d known 2020 was coming. I mean, let’s face it — the lyrics really are cleverly viciously cynical, right? Almost… spiky. So here it is.

The segment of the film including the song, though, did get replaced atop this year’s post, thanks to the Post-Modern Jukebox gem featured above. I’ll include the “Kidnap…” clip in a comment below.

Finally, about the last song this year…

The closing-out spot on every year’s ten additions is always a selfish choice — the one whose spirit I want to take with me into the next year, for one reason or another. (Notably, “Silent Night” has held position #10 more than any other.) I really had no idea what to use this year. But as I groped around in my options, I came across an album which despite its title — A Revels Christmas in Wales — does not consist entirely of Christmas music. “Sing We Now,” on this year’s list, is not only NOT the same as “Sing We Now of Christmas”; it also IS one of those not-exactly-Christmas numbers. But by virtue of its tune, it definitely qualifies as Welsh: the melody is that of “Hyfrydol” (Welsh; translation: “cheerful”).

(You can find a recording of “Hyfrydol” itself in a comment I posted back in 2012. As for “Sing We Now of Christmas, see #3 in this year’s playlist: “Noël Nouvelet!” — the original French title — performed by Loreena McKennitt.)

“Sing We Now,” say the album’s liner notes, “is given new words by Susan Cooper to celebrate the return of light and warmth after a long winter.” I’d never heard of Ms. Cooper; it turns out that she is British-born and -raised, but now lives in the US, and is known primarily as an award-winning and bestselling author of children’s books.

Here’s her Web site, and here’s an interesting article about her in a local Massachusetts newspaper, from 2015. Needless to say, finding a Wikipedia entry about her required almost no energy at all. As for the Revels organization behind the album and other seasonal celebrations, Christmas and otherwise, see their own site. (This year their annual Christmas Revels — the 50th! — is of course going virtual.)

The lyrics to “Sing We Now”:

1. Hooded now with icy darkness, all the earth lies deep in snow,
   Light and life are held in bondage as the winds of winter blow;
   Yet endure this dark dominion, with no moment of despair,
   And a thread of song shall whisper through the cold, unconquered air.
   
2. One bird sings to break the silence, softly calling, sweet and high;
   Bringing hope that day will follow, all across the wintry sky.
   Glimmering on the fair horizon comes the promise of the dawn,
   Soon to warm the frosty mountains, as the daylight is reborn.
   
3. Sing we now to greet the morning, radiant in the bright sunrise;
   Sing to turn the year to springtime as the rule of winter dies.
   May our world so turn tomorrow, driving fear and want away,
   Facing toward the sun forever, joyful in the long bright day.

Yes: that is definitely a song whose spirit I want to ride into 2021. I hope you’ll find it so, too — and experience the next year to match!