[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…?]
Want to visit the pages for earlier playlists, which include videos, other songs, and some background material not in the “official” current list? Here y’go:
| 2008 | 2009 |
| 2010 | 2011 |
| 2012 | 2013 |
| 2014 | 2015 |
| 2016 | 2017 |
| 2018 | 2019 |
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…
