{"id":20776,"date":"2018-12-17T06:26:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-17T11:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=20776"},"modified":"2019-12-02T06:45:54","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T11:45:54","slug":"a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2018-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2018-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"A <strike>Quirky<\/strike> Eclectic Christmas Mix (2018 Ed.)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GykTOYj5AUs\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p class=\"smalltext\"><em>[Video: Steve Martin, Edie Brickell, and the Steep Canyon Rangers, &#8220;The Strangest Christmas Yet.&#8221; You can pop open a transcript of the lyrics <a title=\"Lyrics: 'The Strangest Christmas Yet'\">here<\/a>.]<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"float: right; width: 200px; padding: 1em; margin-left: 1em; font-size: 85%; border: 3px double brown;\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 1em;\"><em>Want to visit the pages for earlier playlists, which include videos, other songs, and some background material not in the &#8220;official&#8221; current list? Here y&#8217;go:<\/em><\/p>\n<table style=\"margin: 0; padding: 0; font-size: 85%; border: 0;\">\n<tbody style=\"border: 0;\">\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-music-playlist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2008<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-music-playlist-2009-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2009<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2010-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2010<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2011-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2011<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2012-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2012<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2013-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2013<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2014-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2014<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2015-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2015<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2016-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2016<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2017-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2017<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0;\">&nbsp;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<span class=\"su-dropcap su-dropcap-style-light\" style=\"font-size:2em\">P<\/span>er usual in these annual posts, first I&#8217;ll give you some notes about using the playlist. And only then will I beleaguer you (or not) with random thoughts which it triggers at this end&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>As always beginning in 2008, I&#8217;ve added ten new songs; the list therefore now includes 110 songs (well, the first just a scrap of dialogue). Total <em>time<\/em> required to listen to the whole thing, start-to-finish: now just shy of six hours. This means that &#8212; unless you&#8217;re interested in only this year&#8217;s ten &#8212; the best way to play the whole things is in random order, as background so to speak. Here&#8217;s the magic button to do that: click on it, and the mix pops open in a separate little window, and will start to play automatically (if you&#8217;re not happy with the order, close the pop-up window and click the button again):<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 500px;\">[popout font_family_1=&#8221;verdana&#8221; font_family_2=&#8221;lucida&#8221; width=&#8221;500px&#8221;<br \/>\ntracks=&#8221;Dialogue from &#8216;A Charlie Brown Christmas&#8217;@00_dialoguefromacharliebrownchristmas.mp3,<br \/>\nHodie Christus Natus Est@01_hodiechristusnatusest_anonymous4.mp3,<br \/>\nThree Spanish Villancicos\/Dadme Albricias@02_threespanishvillancicos_dadme_albricias_waverlyconsort.mp3,<br \/>\nHome for the Holidays@03_homefortheholidays_perrycomo.mp3,<br \/>\nJoy to the World@04_joytotheworld_mannheimsteamroller.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Holly and the Ivy@05_thehollyandtheivy_georgewinston.mp3,<br \/>\nO Holy Night@06_oholynight_celticwoman.mp3,<br \/>\n12 Days of Christmas@07_12daysofchristmas_denvermuppets.mp3,<br \/>\nNutty Jingle Bells@08_nuttyjinglebells_alhirt.mp3,<br \/>\nDeck the Halls@09_deckthehalls_theroches.mp3,<br \/>\nMary&#8217;s Boy Child@11_marysboychild_charlottechurch.mp3,<br \/>\nRiver@12_river_peyrouxlang.mp3,<br \/>\nVariations on the Kanon by Pachelbel@13_variationsonthekanonbypachelbel_georgewinston.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Toy Trumpet@14_thetoytrumpet_fiedler.mp3,<br \/>\nSanta Baby@15_santababy_earthakitt.mp3,<br \/>\nRudolph the Rednosed Reindeer@16_rudolphtherednosedreindeer_mannheimsteamroller.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Wexford Carol@17_thewexfordcarol_celticwoman.mp3,<br \/>\nJingle Bells@18_jinglebells_briansetzerorchestra.mp3,<br \/>\nI Saw Mommy Kissing Sanda Claus@19_isawmommykissingsantaclaus_jimmyboyd.mp3,<br \/>\nSilent Night@20_silentnight_cumberlandgapreunion.mp3,<br \/>\nCold Dark Night@21_colddarknight_samphillips.mp3,<br \/>\nBlue Christmas@22_bluechristmas_elvispresley.mp3,<br \/>\nGod Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen@23_godrestyemerrygentlemen_loreenamckennitt.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Chipmunk Song@24_thechipmunksong_thechipmunks.mp3,<br \/>\nHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas@25_haveyourselfamerrylittlechristmas_franksinatra.mp3,<br \/>\nIt Came Upon a Midnight Clear@26_itcameuponamidnightclear_londonphilharmonicorchestra.mp3,<br \/>\nWinter Creek@27_wintercreek_tonyelman.mp3,<br \/>\nToy Packaging@28_toypackaging_saragroves.mp3,<br \/>\nMary&#8217;s Boy Child@29_marysboychild_harrybelafonte.mp3,<br \/>\nRing Christmas Bells@30_ringchristmasbells_rayconniffsingers.mp3,<br \/>\nDig That Crazy Santa Claus@31_digthatcrazysantaclaus_ralphmarterie.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Christmas Song@32_thechristmassong_natkingcole.mp3,<br \/>\nIt Really Is (A Wonderful Life)@33_itreallyis_indigogirls.mp3,<br \/>\nSanta Claus Is Comin&#8217; to Town@34_santaclausiscomintotown_johnnymercer.mp3,<br \/>\nBaby It&#8217;s Cold Outside@35_babyitscoldoutside_deanmartin.mp3,<br \/>\nSleigh Ride@36_sleighride_ferranteandteicher.mp3,<br \/>\nShakana Santa Shake It@37_shakanasantashakeit_bodolliswildmagnolias.mp3,<br \/>\nSilver Bells@38_silverbells_neildiamond.mp3,<br \/>\nBranle de l&#8217;Officiel@39_branledelofficiel_tavernerconsort.mp3,<br \/>\nCarol of the Bells@40_carolofthebells_georgewinston.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Nutcracker: Overture@41_nutcrackeroverture_tilsonthomas_philharmonia.mp3,<br \/>\nO Tannenbaum@42_otannenbaum_vinceguaralditrio.mp3,<br \/>\nChristmas on the Moon@43_christmasonthemoon_troyhess.mp3,<br \/>\nI Wonder as I Wander@44_iwonderasiwander_barbrastreisand.mp3,<br \/>\nJingle Bells@45_jinglebells_franksinatra.mp3,<br \/>\nAve Maria@46_avemaria_alhirt.mp3,<br \/>\nChristmas Gumbo@47_christmasgumbo_artneville.mp3,<br \/>\nFrosty the Snowman@48_frostythesnowman_ellafitzgerald.mp3,<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll Be Home for Christmas@49_illbehomeforchristmas_deanmartin.mp3,<br \/>\nStille Nacht Heilige Nacht@50_stillenachtheiligenacht_choirofkingscollege.mp3,<br \/>\nChristmas Is Coming@51_christmasiscoming_knightsong.mp3,<br \/>\nPat-a-Pan@52_patapan_mannheimsteamroller.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Little Drummer Boy@53_thelittledrummerboy_viennaboyschoir.mp3,<br \/>\nHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas@54_haveyourselfamerrylittlechristmas_toriamos.mp3,<br \/>\nThe First Noel@55_thefirstnoel_cumberlandgapreunion.mp3,<br \/>\nToy Symphony I: Allegro@56_toysymphonyiallegro_isoloistidizagrebantoniojanigro.mp3,<br \/>\nVenid Fieles Todos@57_venidfielestodos_liubamariahevia.mp3,<br \/>\nWhite Christmas@58_whitechristmas_corporalblossom.mp3,<br \/>\nO Holy Night@59_oholynight_perrycomo.mp3,<br \/>\nO\u00edche Chi\u00fain@60_oichechiuin_enya.mp3,<br \/>\nSome Children See Him@61_somechildrenseehim_georgewinston.mp3,<br \/>\nBaby It&#8217;s Cold Outside@62_babyitscoldoutside_sheandhim.mp3,<br \/>\nWinter Wonderland@63_winterwonderland_bingcrosby.mp3,<br \/>\nNuttin&#8217; for Christmas@64_nuttinforchristmas_barrygordon.mp3,<br \/>\nGo Tell It on the Mountain@65_gotellitonthemountain_mahaliajackson.mp3,<br \/>\nJingle Bell Rock@66_jinglebellrock_bobbyhelms.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Twelve Days of Christmas@67_thetwelvedaysofchristmas_rayconniff.mp3,<br \/>\nJingle Bells?@68_jinglebells_barbrastreisand.mp3,<br \/>\nLight of the Stable@69_lightofthestable_emmylouharris.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Nutcracker: Final Waltz@70_thenutcrackerfinalwaltz_bostonpops.mp3,<br \/>\nI Saw Three Ships@71_isawthreeships_mannheimsteamroller.mp3,<br \/>\nPatapan@72_patapan_julieandrews.mp3,<br \/>\nFairytale of New York@73_fairytaleofnewyork_pogues.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Twelve Gifts of Christmas@74_twelvegiftsofchristmas_allansherman.mp3,<br \/>\nGood King Wenceslas@75_goodkingwenceslas_loreenamckennitt.mp3,<br \/>\nRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer@76_rudolphtherednosedreindeer_perrycomo.mp3,<br \/>\nRockin&#8217; Around the Christmas Tree@77_rockinaroundthechristmastree_brendalee.mp3,<br \/>\nLet It Snow@78_letitsnow_lenahorne.mp3,<br \/>\nJesu Joy of Man&#8217;s Desiring@79_jesujoyofmansdesiring_chloeagnew.mp3,<br \/>\nSilent Night@80_silentnight_sleepingatlast.mp3,<br \/>\nHark the Herald Angels Sing@81_harktheheraldangelssing_mannheimsteamroller.mp3,<br \/>\nHome for the Holidays@82_homefortheholidays_robertgoulet.mp3,<br \/>\nChristmas Day in the Morning@83_christmasdayinthemorning_padraiginniuallachain.mp3,<br \/>\nMistletoe and Holly@84_mistletoeandholly_franksinatra.mp3,<br \/>\nChristmas Day Is Come@85_christmasdayiscome_caitrionaoleary.mp3,<br \/>\nOh Christmas Tree@86_ohchristmastree_bobbycliftonoechestra.mp3,<br \/>\nWizards in Winter@87_wizardsinwinter_transsiberianorchestra.mp3,<br \/>\nMeli Kalikimaka@88_melikalikimaka_bingcrosby.mp3,<br \/>\nIt Came Upon a Midnight Clear@89_itcameuponamidnightclear_kelsiesaison.mp3,<br \/>\nSilent Night@90_silentnight_celticwoman.mp3,<br \/>\nSanta Claus Is Coming to Town@91_santaclausiscomingtotown_bostonpops.mp3,<br \/>\nLet It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!@92_letitsnow_deanmartin.mp3,<br \/>\nDo You Hear What I Hear?@93_doyouhearwhatihear_roches.mp3,<br \/>\nSleigh Ride@94_sleighride_ronettes.mp3,<br \/>\nChildren Go Where I Send Thee@95_childrengowhereisendthee_nicklowe.mp3,<br \/>\nGagliarda@96_gagliarda_mannheimsteamroller.mp3,<br \/>\nI&#8217;ll Be Home for Christmas@97_illbehomeforchristma_dianakrall.mp3,<br \/>\nMerry Christmas Baby@98_merrychristmasbaby_charlesbrown.mp3,<br \/>\nRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer@99_rudolphtherednosedreindeer_hotclubofsanfrancisco.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Light of Christmas Morn@100_thelightofchristmasmorn_celticwoman.mp3,<br \/>\n(Everybody&#8217;s Waitin&#8217; For) The Man With the Bag@ramh_xmas\/1801_everybodyswaitinmanwiththebag_kaystarr.mp3,<br \/>\nQu\u00e9 Verdes Son@ramh_xmas\/1802_queverdesson_losstraitjackets.mp3,<br \/>\nSilver Bells@ramh_xmas\/1803_silverbells_tonybennett.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Wexford Carol@ramh_xmas\/1804_wexfordcarol_tootsweet.mp3,<br \/>\nUgly Sweater Blues@ramh_xmas\/1805_uglysweaterblues_jdmcpherson.mp3,<br \/>\nAve Maria@ramh_xmas\/1806_avemaria_celticwoman.mp3,<br \/>\nHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas@ramh_xmas\/1807_haveyourselfamerrylittlechristmas_serenaryder.mp3,<br \/>\nThe Day It Snows on Christmas@ramh_xmas\/1808_thedayitsnowsonchristmas_allentoussaint.mp3,<br \/>\nMary&#8217;s Little Boy Child@ramh_xmas\/1809_maryslittleboychild_andreprevin.mp3,<br \/>\nStill Still Still@ramh_xmas\/1810_stillstillstill_mannheimsteamroller.mp3&#8243; captions=&#8221;Peter Robbins et al.;Anonymous 4;Waverly Consort;Perry Como;Mannheim Steamroller;George Winston;Celtic Woman;John Denver and the Muppets;Al Hirt;The Roches;Charlotte Church;Madeleine Peyroux\/k.d. lang;George Winston;Arthur Fiedler + The Boston Pops;Eartha Kitt;Mannheim Steamroller;Celtic Woman;The Brian Setzer Orchestra;Jimmy Boyd;Cumberland Gap Reunion;Sam Phillips;Elvis Presley;Loreena McKennitt;The Chipmunks;Frank Sinatra;London Philharmonic Orchestra;Tony Elman;Sara Groves;Harry Belafonte;Ray Conniff Singers;Ralph Marterie and His Band;Nat King Cole;The Indigo Girls;Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers;Dean Martin;Ferrante and Teicher;Bo Dollis + Wild Magnolias;Neil Diamond;Taverner Consort,Choir,+ Players (Andrew Parrott,conductor);George Winston;Michael Tilson-Thomas + Philharmonia Orchestra;Vince Guaraldi Trio;Troy Hess;Barbra Streisand;Frank Sinatra;Al Hirt;Art Neville;Ella Fitzgerald;Dean Martin;Choir of King&#8217;s College,Cambridge;Knightsong;Mannheim Steamroller;Vienna Boys&#8217; Choir;Tori Amos;Cumberland Gap Reunion;I Soloisti di Zagreb + Antonio Janigro;Liuba Mar\u00eda Hevia;Corporal Blossom;Perry Como;Enya;George Winston;She + Him;Bing Crosby;Barry Gordon;Mahalia Jackson;Bobby Helms;Ray Conniff Singers;Barbra Streisand;Emmylou Harris;Arthur Fiedler + The Boston Pops;Mannheim Steamroller;Julie Andrews;The Pogues (feat. Kirsty McColl);Allan Sherman;Loreena McKennitt;Perry Como;Brenda Lee;Lena Horne;Chloe Agnew;Sleeping at Last;Mannheim Steamroller;Robert Goulet;P\u00e1draig\u00edn N\u00ed Uallach\u00e1in;Frank Sinatra;Caitr\u00edona O&#8217;Leary and Rhiannon Giddens;Bobby Clifton Orchestra &#8211; Int&#8217;l Children&#8217;s Choir &#8211; Whitney Keys;Trans-Siberian Orchestra;Bing Crosby + The Andrews Sisters;Kelsie Saison;Celtic Woman;Arthur Fiedler + The Boston Pops;Dean Martin;The Roches;The Ronettes;Nick Lowe;Mannheim Steamroller;Diana Krall;Charles Brown;Hot Club of San Francisco;Celtic Woman;Kay Starr; Los Straitjackets; Tony Bennet; Toot Sweet; JD McPherson; Celtic Woman; Serena Ryder; Allen Toussaint; Andr\u00e9 Previn; Mannheim Steamroller&#8221; text=&#8221;Pop Out to Shuffle!&#8221; shuffle=&#8221;y&#8221; autoplay=&#8221;y&#8221; pos=&#8221;rel-C&#8221;]<\/div>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 1em;\">Alternatives, if you don&#8217;t want the randomized sequence:<\/p>\n<p><strong>A plain old chronologically-accurate playlist<\/strong> &#8212; no pop-up and no random sequence, just start to finish (although you <em>can<\/em> open it in a pop-out window by clicking (duh) the little &#8220;Popout&#8221; button at the top left):<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid brown; width: 75%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8230;and <strong>here are the ten 2018 selections only<\/strong>. As with the complete list, this player just runs through the songs in sequential order, with no shuffle mode:<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 1px solid brown; width: 75%; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\n\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"highlight\">In any case, or even if you don&#8217;t want to listen at all, you might want to glance at <a class=\"lyrics\" title=\"RAMH Christmas Songlist\" onclick=\"javascript:wopenScroll('https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/lyrics\/popoutsonglist.html', 'new', 525, 600); return false;\">the complete current list of song titles and performers<\/a>. (Note: this is just a listing; you cannot play music from it.)<\/p>\n<span class=\"su-dropcap su-dropcap-style-light\" style=\"font-size:2em\">N<\/span>ow &#8212; not that you&#8217;re actively wondering &#8212; why the &#8220;recommended&#8221; method of listening (pop-out and shuffle, using the special link so labeled above), rather than listen to the songs in order? Well, as I said, this is the eleventh year for which I&#8217;ve done a Christmas-music post. Two specific implications of this fact (cribbed, almost verbatim, from last year&#8217;s post):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In that time, I&#8217;ve started exhausting the back catalogue of music I remember from days gone by, and have begun to rely on suggestions from other sites, on songs newly discovered from artists or albums I&#8217;m not familiar with, and so on. So you&#8217;ll find that the selections over time have shifted from the old standbys, to the somewhat <em>more<\/em> <del>quirky<\/del> eclectic end of the spectrum. For my taste, this will eventually make each year&#8217;s list too uniformly unfamiliar&#8230; and whatever else might be true about the holiday, I value the familiar!<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;ve also developed a practice of trying to balance each year&#8217;s music among songs of different types. For instance, I&#8217;ve taken to juggling the more recent selections to include both old and new artists\/performances; performances by men and women; instrumentals and vocals; &#8220;edgy&#8221; and\/or energetic vs. quieter and\/or contemplative renditions; shorter vs. longer songs; and so on. Mixing up the complete list via shuffle mode will distribute these properties much more evenly over time.<\/li>\n<li>Finally, I like the idea &#8212; even if just imagined &#8212; that you can visit <em>RAMH<\/em>, pop out the playlist, close your other browser windows, and just set the thing going via remote speakers or headphones while you pursue other holiday matters: hanging decorations, cooking, partying&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And now&#8230; on to the wool-gathering!<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<span class=\"su-dropcap su-dropcap-style-light\" style=\"font-size:2em\">E<\/span>very year, just assembling a slate of potential candidates for this mix involves dozens of small but excruciating decisions. Not only do I scroll through a by now enormous* list of winter-holiday music already available to me in some form. And then, then comes the hard part: narrowing the slate of possibles to ten. And one ultimate test, listenability, almost always brings me to the year&#8217;s final cut.<\/p>\n<p>One man&#8217;s listenability is another man&#8217;s Muzak, of course, and yet another man&#8217;s noise &#8212; none of which so much as glances at the tastes of the other 50% of the populace. But after I myself have listened to the candidates more than a couple times, some of them almost start screaming at me: <em>I&#8217;m a clever song, but who would <\/em>ever<em> want to hear me repeated twice in the same hour?!?<\/em> And some tunes which I chose just for their Offbeat Quotient are just a bit too&#8230; <em>out there<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Yet all of this melodramatic angst must be weighed against the inescapable pleasures of finding new artists, whole new <em>songs<\/em>, which jingle my Christmas bells in delightful ways.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full\" style=\"width: 30%;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/images\/christmaskisses_serenaryder.jpg?ssl=1\" alt=\"Image: 'Christmas Kisses,' by Serena Ryder (album cover)\"><span class=\"su-dropcap su-dropcap-style-light\" style=\"font-size:2em\">T<\/span>his year, for instance, I happened upon the Canadian songbird Serena Ryder &#8212; a name which I&#8217;d previously not so much as even <em>read<\/em> before, although she&#8217;s been successful for over ten years. Wikipedia&#8217;s opening paragraph about her says, among other things: &#8220;An accomplished songwriter and musician, she also possesses a five-octave vocal range and is considered a mezzo-soprano. Her timbre has been described as slightly nasal with a raspy lower register.&#8221; That alone would have interested me. But then here she came in 2018 with a whole album of Christmas music, <em>Christmas Kisses<\/em> ; the style of its cover photo (shown at right) resembles that of a dozen similar albums by less interesting voices and artists in the Christmas-cocktail-music vein. A delightful surprise. Her appearance on this year&#8217;s list won&#8217;t be the last.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full\" style=\"width: 30%;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/images\/christmassongbook_losstraitjackets.jpg?ssl=1\" alt=\"Image: 'Complete Christmas Songbook,' by Los Straitjackets (album cover)\">On the <del>quirky<\/del> eclectic side of the balance sheet, this year I offer you: Los Straitjackets. Like Ryder, they&#8217;re far from newcomers, dating back in their case to the 1990s. (For a time, they were a recurring fixture during Christmas season on the old Conan O&#8217;Brien late-night talk show.) As for their contribution to this year&#8217;s list, &#8220;<em>Qu\u00e9 Verdes Son<\/em>&#8221; is nominally merely the Spanish version of &#8220;<em>O Tannenbaum<\/em>\/Christmas Tree&#8221;; but in Los Straitjackets&#8217; hands it becomes a subtly swinging surf-guitar tune; if it had been recorded in, say, 1963, this performance might have fit comfortably somewhere in my old <a title=\"RAMH: posts tagge 'Melodia Pegadiza'\" href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/category\/03_runningaftermyhat\/midweek-music-break\/melodia-pegadiza\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Melod\u00eda Pegadiza<\/em> <\/a>series of posts. As with Serena Ryder, I&#8217;m confident that this won&#8217;t be their only <em>RAMH<\/em> appearance.<\/p>\n<span class=\"su-dropcap su-dropcap-style-light\" style=\"font-size:2em\">O<\/span>ne more complication got thrown into the, er, mix this year: not exactly a technical complication, although it&#8217;s tech-related&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>This summer, Amazon announced an upcoming change to the terms of their agreement with paid subscribers to their Music Storage service. Ever since they&#8217;d instituted the paid service, you could use it to organize and listen to your entire musical collection (up to 250,000 songs!); you just uploaded the (MP3) music you&#8217;d gotten from other sources, whether downloaded from music publishers&#8217; and artists&#8217; sites, ripped from CDs or LPs, whatever. Given the realities, the deal probably couldn&#8217;t have lasted &#8212; and this, per their announcement, was the cutoff year. Starting in September, the only music I could store on their service was music which I&#8217;d <em>purchased from Amazon<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px; padding-right: 30px; font-size: 90%; line-height: 1.25em;\"><em>They offered to mitigate the blow a little: <\/em>if you specifically requested<em>, you&#8217;d be allowed to keep on their service any of the music you&#8217;d already uploaded as of the deadline. If you didn&#8217;t ask, though, they&#8217;d <\/em>delete<em> any &#8220;alien&#8221; music. You bet&nbsp;I opted in, but I couldn&#8217;t help wondering how many long-term users received a genuine shock the next time they tried to use their old familiar playlists&#8230; And even for me (and again, probably for many others), this was a nuisance this year. I&#8217;d never depended on Amazon 100% when it came time to organize the culled lists, let alone post them here. But it sure helped to have, y&#8217;know, everything ultimately in one place &#8212; regardless of its source. I&#8217;d found both Serena Ryder and Los Straitjackets elsewhere &#8212; closer to their own pockets, as it were &#8212; but now I had to buy from Amazon to include them in my master list. The artists would still get a cut, of course, just a smaller one: a cut of the cut, so to speak. Argh. Just&#8230; <\/em><span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">argh<\/span><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<span class=\"su-dropcap su-dropcap-style-light\" style=\"font-size:2em\">G<\/span>rinchy practices of the digital-music business aside, I had fun assembling this year&#8217;s list, as I do every year. I hope you&#8217;re continuing to enjoy it, too &#8212; and I hope (as always) the last couple weeks of 2018 prove to be the two weeks you need them to be!**<\/p>\n<p>__________________<\/p>\n<p>* &#8220;enormous&#8221;: now over a thousand songs, which &#8212; if played end-to-end &#8212; would take two-and-a-half <em>days<\/em>. That&#8217;s a whole lotta elevator music!<\/p>\n<p>** Totally inoffensive cross-cultural seasonal greeting \u00a9 2018 by John E. Simpson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Video: Steve Martin, Edie Brickell, and the Steep Canyon Rangers, &#8220;The Strangest Christmas Yet.&#8221; You can pop open a transcript of the lyrics here.] Want to visit the pages for earlier playlists, which include videos, other songs, and some background material not in the &#8220;official&#8221; current list? Here y&#8217;go: 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","h5ap_radio_sources":[],"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The current selections: now totaling nearly six hours' music: 'A Quirky Eclectic Christmas Mix (2018 Ed.)'","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[74],"tags":[27,845,846,1855,2131,4844,4845,4846],"class_list":{"0":"post-20776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music","7":"tag-christmas","8":"tag-christmas-music","9":"tag-playlists","10":"tag-amazon","11":"tag-eclectic-christmas-music","12":"tag-serena-ryder","13":"tag-los-straitjackets","14":"tag-melodia-pegadiza","15":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-5p6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20776"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21943,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20776\/revisions\/21943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}