songs & singles: a
This index lists the essential songs (not all the songs) contained on the albums reviewed in Hip Christmas, plus singles, album tracks, or one-hit wonders not otherwise included on those albums. Whenever possible, the artist's name is linked to my review of the best Christmas album (not necessarily the only or original album) on which to find the song.
Barring that, the names will be linked to a place where you may buy the song (usually Amazon). If there's no link, it means that, to my knowledge, the song is not available on CD or MP3. Of course, the list will expand as I write more reviews. And, nothing's perfect - especially me and my crazy list. Please send additions, corrections, criticisms, and suggestions via email.
- A Soalin' (Peter
Paul & Mary, 1962) [close]
The
popular folk trio adapted this
gentle, intricate tune from the traditional "Wassailing
Song," incorporating "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" as a countermelody. "A
Soalin'" tells the sad story of a hungry lad at Christmas, singing for food,
drink, or a little money - but if listener has none, "then God bless you." Extracted
from the group's 1963 album Moving, "A
Soalin'" charted briefly (#15 on the Billboard Christmas chart) and became
a staple of their live show. However, the original song has never appeared
on a Christmas album, and it has been anthologized in the U.S. only once - on
Peter Paul & Mary's boxed set, Carry
On (2004). The trio reprised their performance on both In
Concert (1964) and A
Holiday Celebration (1992). - Adeste Fideles (Roches, 1989)
- Admit That It's Christmas (You've Got To) (Zest Of Yore, 2003 and 2004)
- After Christmas (Jackie Mittoo, 1979)
- After New Year's Eve (Heartbeats, 1957)
- Ain't No Chimney In The Big House (Von Bondies, 2001)
- Ain't No Chimneys (In The Projects) (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, 2009)
- Ain't No Santa (Trick
Daddy, 2002) [close]
A resounding "Bah! Humbug!" if there ever was one, Trick Daddy's "Ain't
No Santa" makes
a case for Kris Kringle as the creation of a racist society to pacify oppressed,
ethnic minorities. Think what you will, but the Trickster's Christmas dreams
are bleak, indeed. He envisions a world dominated by racist cops, ineffectual
politicians, and clueless educators - and precious little opportunity for guys
like him. Forced into crime, he pleads "I hope God would forgive me after
I spent it on his children." Mr. Daddy concludes, "There damn sure
ain't no Santa Claus," adding in true gangsta style, "If you think
I'm gonna change, you can kiss my ass." "Ain't No Santa" is available
only on Trick Daddy's album Thug
Holiday which, despite appearances, is not a Christmas album. - Ain't Nothin' Like Christmas (Shelby Lynne, 2010)
- Alabaster (Andrew Bird, 2019)
- All Alone On Christmas (Darlene Love, 1992)
- All Hail Santa (Anti-Heroes, 1988)
- All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells (Punchline, 2008)
- All I Got For Christmas Was This Lousy Boy (Bunnygrunt, 2003)
- All I Ever Want (Under The Christmas Tree) (Cute Lepers, 2008)
- All I Really Want This Christmas (Little Jackie, 2009) [close]
The first surprising fact about Little Jackie is that she is not an actual person, but rather a Brooklyn-based duo composed of singer Imani Coppola and multi-instrumentalist Adam Pallin. Purportedly, the name derives from the 1989 Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam hit "Little Jackie Wants To Be A Star." Anyway, the second surprising fact - for me, at least - is the murky origins of "All I Really Want This Christmas," a charming, witty, funky, but dark song. I discovered it in 2011, when the pair released it in conjunction with their Plush Moon album Made4TV, with which the now-deleted digital single shared cover art. But, Little Jackie goes back at least as far as 2008, when they had some success (mostly overseas) with a single, "The World Should Revolve Around Me," from their debut album, The Stoop. And, it was in the wake of that success that Little Jackie released "All I Really Want This Christmas" directly to their fans in 2009 - probably through Bandcamp (which would make Little Jackie early adopters of the now-humongous platform), as well as YouTube.
None of which addresses why you should care about the song. And you should. Like a lot of Little Jackie's music, "All I Really Want This Christmas" conceals social criticism and jaundiced cynicism with pop sheen and an irresistible groove. Yes, it has a good beat and you can dance to it. But, do you want to? In less than three minutes, Imani Coppola name checks global warming, the swine flu, commercialism, loneliness, the Great Recession, and more. No wonder that all she really wants for Christmas is a sense of humor and a bottomless cocktail! - All I Wanna Do Is Shag For Christmas (BellRays, 2005)
- All I Want (Stephen Bishop, 1991)
- All I Want For Christmas (Ray Charles, 1985)
- All I Want For Christmas (Explosive Head, 2012)
- All I Want For Christmas (Macy Gray, 2015)
- All I Want For Christmas (Larks, 1951)
- All I Want For Christmas (John Waite, 1997)
- All I Want For Christmas Is A Beatle (Dora Bryan, 1963) [close]
- All I Want For Christmas Is A Go-Go Girl (Bey Ireland, 1966)
- All I Want For Christmas Is A Job (Soulphonics, 2011)
- All I Want For Christmas (Is A Little Bit Of Music) (Huey "Piano" Smith & The Clowns, 1962)
- All I Want For Christmas Is A Rest (Is It Only Another Day?) (Dropkick, 2022)
- All I Want For Christmas Is A Rock 'n' Roll Guitar (Stompers, 1980)
- All I Want For Christmas Is A Spice Girl (Paul Griggs, 1997)
- All I Want For Christmas Is Halloween (Happy Fangs, 2013)
- All I Want For Christmas Is Love (Julianne Hough & Jordan Fisher, 2019)
- All I Want For Christmas Is My Daddy (Buck Owens, 1968)
- All I Want For Christmas (Is My Girl) (New Edition, 1985)
- All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth)
- Carolyn Binkley (1965)
- Nat King Cole (1949)
- Dread Zeppelin (1990)
- Spike Jones & His City Slickers (1948)
- Danny Kaye & Patty Andrews (1949)
- All I Want For Christmas (Is World Peace) (Timbuk 3, 1987)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You (C. Quents, 1964)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You (The 88, 2009)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You (Foghat, 1981)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You (Carla Thomas, 1963 and 1966)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You
(Tony Bennett,
2004)
- originally issued as Christmas Love Song - All I Want For Christmas Is You
- Mariah Carey (1994)
- Belinda Carlisle & Emmanuel (2023)
- Charly Bliss (2019)
- Kobanes (2020)
- Barry Manilow (2023)
- Motels (2009)
- My Chemical Romance (2004)
- Nicotine (2003)
- Surfrajettes (2022)
- Mike Viola & The Candy Butchers (1999)
- Xmas Massacre (2008)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You
- Kelly Clarkson (2020)
- Lisa Layne (2004)
- Leann Rimes (2004)
- Vince Vance & The Valients (1989)
- All I Want For Christmas Is You (Joss Stone, 2007)
- All I Want For Christmas... (Shonen
Knife, 1999) [close]
Written
and recorded with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth, Shonen Knife's "All I Want
For Christmas" expresses the time-honored sentiment of making the holiday
season less materialistic, more loving. Moore's strange, sweet words prompted
singer Naoko Yamano to exclaim, "I felt his warm mind when I read the lyrics," though
she renders them nearly unintelligible with her heavy Japanese accent. "All
I Want For Christmas" has never appeared on a CD outside of Japan. Initially,
it was released in three radically different mixes on a specially-packaged CD
single. Later, the "normal" version was included on the Japanese
Shonen Knife compilation Millennium
Edition (2001). The band had previously released another holiday song, "Space
Christmas" (1991), later compiled on their CD, The
Birds And The B-Sides (1996). - All I Want For Ismas (Jacob Miller and Ray I, 1978)
- All I Want Is Truth (for Christmas) (The Mynabirds, 2010)
- All I Wanted Was A Skateboard (Super Deluxe, 1995)
- All My Christmases Came At Once (Bee Gees, 1968)
- All That I Want (The Weepies, 2004)
- All The Stockings (Jingle Punx, 2023)
- All Through the Night (Heart featuring Richard Marx, 2013)
- All Wrapped Up In You (Diplomats Of Solid Sound, 2018)
- All Year Long (Amber deLaurentis, 2010)
- Almost Christmas Day (The Automatics, 2007)
- Almost Christmas Time (Dwight Twilley, 2005)
- Almost Thanksgiving Day (Graham Parker, 2004)
- Almost Too Early For Christmas (Jimmy Fallon & Dolly Parton, 2022)
- Alone For Christmas (Sofia Talvik, 2023)
- Alone On Christmas Day (Phoenix featuring Bill Murray, 2015)
- Alone On New Year's Eve (Manhattans, 1966)
- Alone This Holiday (The Used, 2002)
- Already Miss Christmas (Paul Sikes, 2012)
- Always Christmas (Pete RG, 2013)
- Always Winter Never Christmas (XTC,
1991) [close]
This
home recording by Andy Partridge was originally released on a cassette, Window
Box given to attendees at the 1991 XTC Music & Friends Convention in
Barrie, Ontario. Later, the song was more widely released as a b-side on the CD single Ballad
Of Peter Pumpkinhead (1992). It's a finely drawn, melancholy little song, but XTC is best remembered for their 1983
single, "Thanks For Christmas" b/w "Countdown To Christmas Party
Time," released under the pseudonym Three Wise Men. The a-side is anthologized with some regularity, but both sides can be found on the XTC rarities album Rag & Bone
Buffet (1990).
- Am I Too Old For Christmas? (The Ashes, 2012)
- Amazing Grace
- Chet Baker & Christopher Mason (1986)
- Ruthie Foster (2014)
- And Anyway It's Christmas (!!!, 2013)
- And The Salvation Army Band Plays (Helen Love & Ricardo Autobahn, 2012)
- And To All A Good Night (Five Chinese Brothers, 1997)
- Angel And The Little Blue Bell (Brenda Lee, 1964)
- Angel Eyes (Emmylou Harris, 1979)
- Angel On The Tree (Allen & The Lads, 1965)
- Angel, Won't You Call Me? (The Decemberists, 2003)
- Angels (Tiffany, 2020)
- Angels Christmas (Wild Honey, 1973)
- Angels From The Realms Of Glory (Roger McGuinn, 2021)
- Angels We Have Heard On High
- Decibels (2004)
- Roches (1990)
- Rondelles
(1999) [close]
Beginning
as a lo-fi, DIY, riot grrl sensation, Albuquerque's Rondelles have polished
their act almost into the realm of power pop - and they're better off for it.
The band's
no-frills take on the traditional "Angels" is more the latter than
the former, however, featuring perhaps the most rudimentary guitar solo in
the history of the known universe. Included on Shined
Nickels and Loose Change (2001), an odds-n-sods collection, the track originated
on a CD included with the 'zine Cool Beans (issue
#11).
- Annual Animal Christmas Ball (The Belmonts, 1988)
- Another Beatles Christmas Record (Beatles, 1964)
- Another Christmas (Fuzzy Navels, 2007)
- Another Christmas (MxPx, 2016)
- Another Christmas (Yobs, 1979)
- Another Christmas At Home (Eux Autres, 2006)
- Another Christmas Beer (Fear, 2000)
- Another Christmas Song (Jethro Tull, 1984)
- Another Christmas Song (Remington Super 60, 2017)
- Another Christmas with My Baby (The Grapes & Friends, 2023)
- Another Lonely Christmas (Prince,
1984) Top 100 Song [close]
Released
as the non-LP b-side of "I Would Die 4 U," a Top 10 single from the film Purple
Rain (1984), "Another Lonely Christmas" is a melodramatic ballad cut from the same cloth as the rest of that fabulous soundtrack - generally acknowledged as Prince's artistic zenith. Highlighted by the Purple One's deathless threat
to "drink banana daiquiris till I go blind," "Another Lonely Christmas" reached #5 on the Billboard
Christmas charts the same year.
The song showed up on a Warner Brothers vinyl promotional album called Yulesville (1988) but has never been included on a commercially-released Christmas record. Prince, however, included it on his own 3-CD retrospective, The
Hits/The B-Sides (1993). An extended version of "Another Lonely Christmas," by the way, was released on the 12-inch vinyl single of "I Would Die 4 U" and has never been reissued anywhere.... - Another Lonely Christmas (Belton Richard, circa 1970)
- Another Perfect Christmas (Keith LuBrant, 2002)
- Another Rock And Roll Christmas (Gary Glitter, 1984)
- Another Song About Christmas (MXPX, 2008)
- Another Year (Leo Sayer, 1974)
- Anytown USA (Stratocruiser, 2011)
- Are You Coming Home For Christmas? (Webb Brothers, 2014)
- Are You Coming Over For Christmas? (Belle & Sebastian, 2007)
- Are You Lonely Tonight, Mrs. Claus? (Dan Wilson, 2010)
- Are You Ready For Christmas? (Luther n' BBB's, 1987)
- At Christmas Time (WJLP, 2014)
- At The Christmas Ball (Bessie Smith, 1925)
- Aulde Lang Syne
- Baghdaddios (1998)
- Black On White Affair (1970)
- Cucumbers (2000)
- Dollyrots (2023)
- Force MD's (1984)
- Girlschool (2010)
- Infant Kings (1997)
- Mary Karlzen (2003)
- Guy Lombardo & His
Royal Canadians (1939) [close]
Hip? Not even close. Guy Lombardo's "Auld Lang Syne" doesn't swing so much as somnabulate. And, if you listen to the words, the song isn't about New Year's or Christmas or anything related to the holiday season. But, how do I not include this venerable old tune, a favorite at midnight on December 31st seemingly since the beginning of time? Guy Lombardo, in fact, was instrumental in associating "Auld Lang Syne" with the holidays since he began playing it on his popular New Year's Eve radio broadcasts as far back as 1929.
Lombardo recorded "Auld Lang Syne" many times, the first happening in 1939 during his brief stint at RCA Victor; see The Most Fabulous Christmas Ever! (1999) or Swingin' Christmas Party (2002). He waxed it again in 1947 as a single for Decca Records b/w "Home On The Range," and this version is included on Enjoy Yourself: The Hits of Guy Lombardo (1996). A new version was included on his 1961 Decca LP, New Year's Eve With Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians; this rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" is just a minute long, and it also appears on Oglio's The Coolest Christmas (1994). A 1956 Capitol Records version showed up on Guy Lombardo In Hi-Fi (1961) and again on Sing The Songs Of Christmas (1967) - though I suspect that the latter was yet another recording. The Capitol master is often featured compilations like Merry Christmas Baby (1991) and Ultra-Lounge Christmas Cocktails (1996).
The thing is, these recordings are all based on very similar arrangements, and the discs that contain them are often poorly annotated - if at all. The RCA and Capitol versions even nearly identical in length (a little over two minutes). You can tell them apart mainly by the recording quality: the older RCA version is transferred from 78-rpm records, whereas the new Capitol version is taken from tape. The 1947 Decca master, however, runs about two-and-a-half minutes and is the only version to feature vocals. All of which is my way of saying, the history of Guy Lombardo's greatest hit is rather murky, so take my discography with a grain of salt (and a glass of champagne). Readers?
Amazingly, though Lombardo tallied over 200 Billboard hits from 1927 through 1954, none of his (at least) four recordings of "Auld Lang Syne" ever made the charts. Several other artists have done so, however, including Frank Stanley (1907), the Peerless Quartet (1921), Bobby Darin (as "Christmas Auld Lang Syne," 1960), and - yikes! - Kenny G (1999). But, for a really hip version, seek out Bobby Rey's rocking "Corrido de Auld Lang Syne" (1959, featured on Rhino's Mambo Santa Mambo).
Guy Lombardo died in 1977. His minute-long rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" features his own hearty greeting, and a better epitaph has never been written. "Happy New Year, everybody," the old Canuck intones, "a very happy New Year!" - Vaughn Monroe (1949)
- MXPX (2009)
- Martin Sexton (2005)
- Sit n' Spin (1994)
- Yobs (1980)
- Auld Lang Syne/You'll Never Walk Alone (Slade, 1985)
- Ave Maria
- Chris Cornell with Eleven (1997)
- Nina
Hagen (1989) [close]
Called "the
Mother of Punk," semi-operatic princess Nina Hagen has conducted a career
quite unlike any other, resembling none except - and this is a stretch - a
Teutonic Grace Jones. Hagen's dignified, heavily-synthesized, rock rendition
of Schubert's "Ave
Maria" (sung in the original German) is fairly typical of her artistic
approach, engendering - as Ira
Robbins puts it - "a total lack of self-consciousness in both delivery
and subject matter." The song was released only in Europe as a track
from her eponymous
1989 album and as a b-side on the CD
single of "Michail, Michail (Gorbachev Rap)."
- Neal Schon (2017)
- Sugarboom (1994)
- Away In A Manger
- Lacy J. Dalton (1990)
- John Fahey (1982)
- Plankeye (1998)
- Sixteen Deluxe (1995)
- The Springfields (1962)
- Paul Westerberg (2009)