{"id":27727,"date":"2024-12-16T10:43:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T15:43:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=27727"},"modified":"2024-12-16T10:43:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T15:43:28","slug":"a-quirky-er-no-an-eclectic-christmas-mix-2024-ed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/a-quirky-er-no-an-eclectic-christmas-mix-2024-ed\/","title":{"rendered":"A\u00a0Quirky, er, No: an\u00a0*Eclectic* Christmas Mix (2024 Ed.)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Qs8-Iiogbl0?si=FHpI9RvletoYy9Y2\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"smalltext\"><em>[Video: Billie Eilish, Kate McKinnon, and Ego Nwodim recount &#8212; in cabaret-jazz style &#8212; their&#8230; <\/em>unusual<em> experiences with Santa.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"float: right; width: 200px; padding: 1em; margin-left: 1em; font-size: 85%; border: 3px double brown;\" data-afsc-id=\"1903\">\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 1em;\" data-afsc-id=\"1904\"><em data-afsc-id=\"1905\">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%; line-height: 1.25em; border: 0;\" data-afsc-id=\"1906\">\n<tbody style=\"border: 0;\" data-afsc-id=\"1907\">\n<tr data-afsc-id=\"1908\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1909\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-music-playlist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1910\">2008<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1911\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-music-playlist-2009-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1912\">2009<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr data-afsc-id=\"1913\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1914\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2010\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2010-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1915\">2010<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1916\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2011-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1917\">2011<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr data-afsc-id=\"1918\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1919\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2012\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2012-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1920\">2012<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1921\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2013-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1922\">2013<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr data-afsc-id=\"1923\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1924\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2014\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2014-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1925\">2014<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1926\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2015-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1927\">2015<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr data-afsc-id=\"1928\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1929\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2016-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1930\">2016<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1931\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2017-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1932\">2017<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr data-afsc-id=\"1933\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1934\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2018-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1935\">2018<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1936\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2019-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1937\">2019<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr data-afsc-id=\"1938\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1939\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2020-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1940\">2020<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1941\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2021ish-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1942\">2021<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr data-afsc-id=\"1943\">\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1944\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2022\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2022-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1945\">2022<\/a><\/td>\n<td style=\"text-align: center; border: 0; height: 20px; padding-top: 1px; padding-bottom: 1px;\" data-afsc-id=\"1946\"><a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/a-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix-2023-ed\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-afsc-id=\"1945\">2023<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">Welcome to this year&#8217;s installment of a favorite long-running series! As in the past, I&#8217;ve added to an existing Christmas playlist ten more tracks which I&#8217;m remembering fondly (usually from childhood) or have recently found&#8230; <em>interesting<\/em>, for one reason or another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;ve been around here in past years, you may recall that in 2023 I switched to Spotify as my music player of choice, and I&#8217;ll continue with that this year. This carries the same advantages and disadvantages as it did then. Particularly annoying: an embedded Spotify playlist doesn&#8217;t offer a &#8220;shuffle&#8221; option to randomize the sequence of songs&#8230; (Come <em>on<\/em>, Spotify &#8212; get with the program!) Of course, you don&#8217;t need RAMH to listen to such a playlist&#8230; But you <em>will<\/em> need at least a free Spotify account. If you&#8217;ve got that much, you can listen to this year&#8217;s selections via either of these links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/554A8oP2MTnJl7RTMupHrI?si=94accdaf66094440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Just the ten new songs<\/a> (2024 only)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/4aInnWz4Wi6Hjbq8wr74Q7?si=x2WG59_5RMG_GetPXnUU0w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The complete list<\/a>, AKA &#8220;Running After Santa&#8217;s Hat,&#8221; (2008-2024)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"highlight\">In past years, I could at least direct you to the old-style playlists which didn&#8217;t require Spotify at all. Apparently, though, last week&#8217;s crash, lockup, and recovery managed to nuke all the playlists themselves (although the posts in which they used to be embedded are still up &#8212; see the list of years in that box above and to the right, if you&#8217;re curious). And yes, I am mouthing emojis and dingbats to have just discovered that&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, here are the two embedded playlists, which don&#8217;t require a Spotify account at all &#8212; but if you have none, it <em>will interrupt your listening with occasional ads<\/em> and <em>nagging to create an account<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2024 only:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: RAMH Christmas: 2024\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/554A8oP2MTnJl7RTMupHrI?si=767153d626144c6e&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2008-2024:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Running After Santa&amp;apos;s Hat: 2008-???\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/4aInnWz4Wi6Hjbq8wr74Q7?si=76qJnuX7RSCSrvkCIpPMdA&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"highlight\"><em>As ever, if all you really want to know is what tracks\/performers were added each year, you can follow <a class=\"lyrics\" title=\"RAMH Christmas Songlist\" onclick=\"javascript:wopenScroll('https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/lyrics\/popoutsonglist.html', 'new', 525, 600); return false;\">this link<\/a>. Note that I was unable to add new tracks in December 2021 and 2022, while we were on <a href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/category\/everyday-life\/retirement\/road-trip-2021\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">our cross-country road trip<\/a> during those years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">This year&#8217;s ten additions include two slightly, uh, offbeat? tracks: they&#8217;re both vocals (okay&#8230;) &#8212; but not in English. I&#8217;ve done this sort of thing before but not recently, I think, and the tunes are different enough to warrant bringing them aboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First, there&#8217;s &#8220;Il Est N\u00e9 \/ Ca Berger&#8221;<\/strong> (track <a rel=\"tag\" class=\"hashtag u-tag u-category\" href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/tag\/3\/\">#3<\/a> in the 2024 list), performed by The Chieftains, with Anna and Kate McGarrigle&#8217;s ethereal voices. I recognized the opening of the tune immediately, but not its <em>name<\/em>. And of course &#8212; shamefacedly monolingual here &#8212; I couldn&#8217;t make out the words. But the track is apparently a mashup of two separate French songs: &#8220;Ile Est N\u00e9&#8221; (&#8220;He Is Born&#8221;) and &#8220;Ca <em>[actually <\/em>\u00c7a<em>, with the inflected capital <\/em>C<em>]<\/em> Berger.&#8221; As far as I can tell, mostly from <a href=\"https:\/\/sci.lang.narkive.com\/bEsR1bHB\/french-ca-berger\">this page with the full lyrics<\/a>, the complete title of the latter is: &#8220;<em>\u00c7a, Bergers, Assemblons-Nous<\/em>&#8221; &#8212; that is to say, &#8220;Come, Shepherds, Let Us Gather.&#8221; So that&#8217;s that track, then: a solidly traditional Christmas carol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, and at the other end of the sacred-to-secular spectrum, is <strong>track <a rel=\"tag\" class=\"hashtag u-tag u-category\" href=\"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/tag\/9\/\">#9<\/a>: an old favorite, &#8220;Santa Baby,&#8221; in <em>Spanish<\/em><\/strong>. (The title itself is sung in English.) I confess: while I love the rendition, what actually drew me to the track at first was the name of the artist: the multiple Grammy-winning <em>Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea<\/em>. (You can read more about the group at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mariachidivas.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">their own site<\/a>, and of course also at <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mariachi_Divas_de_Cindy_Shea\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Wikipedia<\/a>.) I regret only that the performance, charming though it is, has none of the, y&#8217;know, stereotypically <em>mariachi<\/em> feel I thought I might find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">That wraps up the 2024 edition of this series. I apologize for the inconveniences which last week&#8217;s crash may cause for anyone, but promise I&#8217;ll try to correct the problem for future Decembers (however many I&#8217;ve got left!). Have a wonderful few weeks, everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>__________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Footnote:<\/strong> Sharp-eyed observers will notice that this post&#8217;s title departs from a tradition established 16 years ago&#8230; to wit, the word &#8220;quirky&#8221; is not struck through, like this: <span style=\"font-family: Lato; font-weight: bold;\"><s>Quirky<\/s><\/span>. For some mysterious reason, the gods of WordPress (the blogging software behind this and thousands of other sites) have removed the ability to style individual title words differently. I first noticed this a couple of months ago, when I could no longer italicize individual words &#8212; hence, my trying to retain both (a) the doubt and confusion surrounding the original word <em>quirky<\/em> (is it a criticism of something to say it&#8217;s &#8220;quirky&#8221;???), and (b) the emphasis, <em>sans<\/em> italics, on the more &#8220;polite&#8221; synonym: <em>eclectic<\/em>&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Video: Billie Eilish, Kate McKinnon, and Ego Nwodim recount &#8212; in cabaret-jazz style &#8212; their&#8230; unusual experiences with Santa.] 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 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27753,"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":null,"activitypub_content_visibility":null,"activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federate","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The 2024 edition: now up to almost 150 tracks (nearly eight hours total)","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3694,74],"tags":[27,845,846,2131,5835,5836,5837,5839,6030],"class_list":{"0":"post-27727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-quirky-eclectic-christmas-mix","8":"category-music","9":"tag-christmas","10":"tag-christmas-music","11":"tag-playlists","12":"tag-eclectic-christmas-music","13":"tag-roddy-doyle","14":"tag-spotify","15":"tag-left-in-the-dust-of-technology","16":"tag-5839","17":"tag-6030","18":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Screenshot-from-2024-12-16-10-39-15.png?fit=920%2C532&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kZSG-7dd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27727","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=27727"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27754,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27727\/revisions\/27754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}