Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

Any Major Smooth Christmas Vol. 4

December 11th, 2025 4 comments

It has been six years since Volume 3 of the Any Major Smooth Christmas mix dropped (and 12 years since Vol. 2, and 15 years since Vol. 1), so we’re overdue some velvety vibes from the world of soul, with a touch of fusion — a bit of an alternative (or complementary issue) to this year’s first festive mix, Any Major Christmas Rock.

Since Vol. 3, only one new Christmas album featured here has been released, PJ Morton’s fine Christmas With PJ Morton set, which came out in 2020. It is a worthy addition to the canon of Christmas records.

His featured song is — EDIT: it turns out NOT — an original, but three traditional tracks here in particular get a great working over. The late, great Sharon Jones and her Dap-Kings give Silent Night a clever, slow-burn Rhythm & Blues vibe. And The O’Jays take the over-covered White Christmas and make it their soulful own. Ray Charles’ also redeems Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. I don’t know if Diana Ross improves Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmas Time, but it’s a game attempt.

Freddie Jackson offers us a little comic relief up early up, with a yuletide explosion of festive clichés, but when you have the Freddie groove going on, what do hackneyed phrases matter?

The set closes with Earth, Wind & Fire recycling September to ask if you remember December. They ask about remembering the 25^th night, so in their song: AFTERPARTY!

In the words of Vanessa Williams’ very lovely cover, have yourself a merry little Christmas!

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes ho-ho-home-made covers. PW in comments, where you can wish me a merry little Christmas.

1. Alexander O’Neal – This Christmas (1988)
2. Freddie Jackson – Under The Mistletoe (1994)
3. Boyz II Men – Let It Snow (1993)
4. Mary J. Blige feat. Angie Martinez – Christmas In The City (1997)
5. PJ Morton – Give Love On Christmas Day (2020)
6. Toni Braxton – Holiday Celebrate (2001)
7. Boney James – Sleigh Ride (1996)
8. Mariah Carey – Charlie Brown Christmas (2010)
9. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Silent Night (2015)
10. Ray Charles – Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1985)
11. The O’Jays – White Christmas (1991)
12. Whitney Houston – Do You Hear What I Hear (1987)
13. George Howard – The First Noel (1991)
14. Luther Vandross – Every Year, Every Christmas (1995)
15. SWV – The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) (1997)
16. Vanessa Williams – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (2004)
17. Spyro Gyra – I’ll Be Home For Christmas (1991)
18. Diana Ross – A Wonderful Christmastime (1994)
19. Earth, Wind & Fire – December (2014)

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Any Major Christmas Rock

November 25th, 2025 4 comments

Christmas is coming, so here’s the first of two festive mixes this year. This is, surprisingly, the first Xmas rock mix. Of course, all sorts of rock songs have featured on other mixes, especially the Any Major Christmas Pop (Vol. 1 | Vol. 2 | Vol. 3), on the Not For Mother mix, and on Any Nasty Christmas.

Perhaps one year I’ll collate the best of them in one mix.

This collection spans six decades, from Bob Seger’s 1966 garage funk-rock romp Sock It to Me Santa to Foo Fighters’ 2020 take on Chuck Berry’s Run Rudolph Run, and goes from the humourless to the camp, when the very earnest song by The Who is followed by Stryper playing the fools in the studio to surprisingly good effect. Plus, Silvio Dante channelling the Ramones with a cover of their Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight) .

But most importantly: some power chords under the Christmas tree. Rock on, Santa!

As always, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-kerranged covers. PW in comments, where you are invited to leave a nice message. All previous Christmas mixes should still be available.

1. Cheap Trick – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (2017)
2. Foo Fighters – Run Rudolph Run (2020)
3. Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul – Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want…) (2018)
4. Lynyrd Skynyrd – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (2000)
5. AC/DC – Mistress For Christmas (1990)
6. Canned Heat – Christmas Blues (1994)
7. Bob Seger & The Last Heard – Sock It To Me Santa (1966)
8. The Who – Christmas (1969)
9. Stryper – Winter Wonderland (1984)
10. Anti-Nowhere League – Let It Snow (2015)
11. The Smithereens – Santa, Bring My Baby Back To Me (2007)
12. Julian Casablancas – I Wish It Was Christmas Today (2009)
13. Green Day – Xmas Time Of The Year (2015)
14. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Christmas All Over Again (1992)
15. Fall Out Boy – Yule Shoot Your Eye Out (2003)
16. Collective Soul – Blue Christmas (1994)
17. Snow Patrol – When I Get Home For Christmas (2000)
18. Bon Jovi – I Wish Everyday Could Be Like Christmas (1992)
19. Elvin Bishop – The Little Drummer Boy (1992)
20. Chicago with Dolly Parton – Wonderful Christmas Time (2011)
21. Crash Test Dummies – White Christmas (2002)
22. Weezer – We Wish You A Merry Christmas (2008)

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Any Major Christmas Carols Vol. 2

December 16th, 2024 8 comments

Only a week or so to go! So here’s a second mix of traditional carols interpreted by artists of popular music. Some of them are reinterpretations, but I don’t think any of them are irreverent, so you can play this mix safely in the company of mother and the vicar.

They might look askance at what Lou Rawls is doing with O Come All Ye Faithful, but they must be enchanted by Mariah Carey’s magnificent version of O Holy Night, and by the time Sinatra croons It Came Upon A Midnight Clear, all will be right with the world.

As in Any Major Christmas Carols Vol. 1, this mix includes songs that come from the world of spirituals rather than traditional church hymns. The basic rule applies: If the song refers to the religious element of the feast of Christmas, it’s a Christmas carol.

When I posted the Any Major Christmas Pop Vol. 3 mix in late November, I meant to include a link to a song titled It’s Too Early To Celebrate Christmas by Tom X. Chao, a timely reminder that “when you start too early and become breathless, you invite madness into your soul”. Keep that one for next year, when you see the first Santas going up in October.

But now, with a week to go, get that Christmas vibe going! And don’t forget, Christmas doesn’t end when you’ve disposed of all the expensive wrapping paper in the bin, but is only the beginning of the Twelve Days of Christmas!

As always, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-dingdonged covers. PW in comments, where you are invited to leave a nice message.

With that, I wish you a peaceful and joyful Christmas.

1. Lou Rawls – Oh Come All Ye Faithful (2004)
2. Vanessa Williams feat. Brian McKnight – Joy To The World (2004)
3. Mariah Carey – O Holy Night (1994)
4. Mary Chapin Carpenter – Once In Royal David’s City (2008)
5. Dolly Parton – O Little Town Of Bethlehem (1990)
6. Emmylou Harris – Silent Night (1979)
7. Allison Crowe – Wassail Song (2014)
8. Ramsey Lewis – Hark The Herald Angels Sing (1993)
9. Harry Belafonte – The Son Of Mary (What Child Is This) (1958)
10. Frank Sinatra – It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (1957)
11. Ella Fitzgerald – Angels We Have Heard On High (1967)
12. Lonnie Donegan – Virgin Mary (1960)
13. Bobby Darin – Mary Where Is Your Baby (1960)
14. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Go Tell It On The Mountain (1970)
15. Al Jarreau – Carol Of The Bells (2008)
16. Roberta Flack – We Three Kings Of Orient Are (1997)
17. James Taylor – In The Bleak Midwinter (2006)
18. Michael McDonald – Wexford Carol (2009)
19. Sufjan Stevens – Away In A Manger (2005)
20. Alison Moyet – Coventry Carol (1987)
21. Bruce Cockburn – God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (1993)
22. Bob Dylan – The First Noel (2009)
23. The Irish Rovers – I Saw Three Ships (2011)

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Any Major Christmas Pop Vol. 3

November 26th, 2024 2 comments

Here’s a first: an Any Major Christmas mix posted in November. I tend to be quite strict that the Christmas vibes may not begin before the First of Advent. Of course, I have to prepare these playlists before that. This one I first started to compile in October, so I had to get into the spirit of the season even before Halloween, like a season-twisting retailer.

So, after Any Major Christmas Pop Vol. 1 and Any Major Christmas Pop Vol. 2, here’s Volume 3, ten years after the last one. It starts off with two covers performed by women of male 1970s Christmas pop classics. I won’t make any stupid claims that these are better than the originals — nothing can eclipse Wizzard and Slade — but they are good fun. Then we have Slade themselves, with a festive standard.

Another Christmas pop classic, Wham!’s Last Christmas, is covered straight in a live version by the Manic Street Preachers on the UK show TFI Friday in 1996, then Bruce Springsteen has some live fun with Merry Christmas Baby in 1986.

Then there is a cover of one of the loveliest Christmas pop songs which isn’t a classic. Here Tracy Thorn, the exquisite singer of Everything But The Girl, covers Ron Sexsmith’s Maybe This Christmas, which featured on Vol. 2.

And amid all the Xmas fluff, Hot Chocolate get righteous on us, with a serious funk groove.

In 1977, David Bowie, fresh from recording his Heroes album, appeared on Bing Crosby’s Christmas TV special, singing two different songs at the same time to create Christmas pop magic. While Bing pom-pom-pom-poms Little Drummer Boy, Bowie croons the lovely Peace On Earth, a song composed especially for the show. It was recorded on September 11, but by the time the special aired, Crosby was dead. Bing died on October 14 — the very day on which Heroes was released.

The mix ends with Shane MacGowan, author of an unavoidable Christmas classic, singing lyrics which, after all the frivolity that came before, may bring a Christmas tear to your eyes. It was recorded in 1996, but the lyric’s reference to it being Christmastime in Palestine and in Beirut are very timely this year.

It’s fair to say that this mix includes some artists who normally wouldn’t feature much in this corner of the web. But it’s Christmas, and Any Major Lord of Misrule declares a general amnesty!

Fans of Any Major Christmas mixes will be pleased to learn that there will be another one coming next month, and that all past mixes are up again.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, includes home-gingerbreadmanned covers, and the above in a PDF document. PW in comments.

1. Kylie Minogue – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday (2015)
2. Girls Aloud – Merry Xmas Everybody (2005)
3. Slade – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (1985)
4. Darts – White Christmas (1980)
5. Bing Crosby & David Bowie – Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy (1977)
6. John Legend – Silver Bells (2018)
7. Leona Lewis – One More Sleep (2013)
8. Wilson Phillips – Warm Lovin’ Christmastime (2010)
9. Glee – We Need A Little Christmas (2010)
10. Manic Street Preachers – Last Christmas (live) (1996)
11. Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band – Merry Christmas Baby (live) (1986)
12. Daryl Hall & John Oates – Jingle Bell Rock (1985)
13. Bob Segarini – It’s Christmas (1979)
14. Kid Creole & The Coconuts – Christmas On Riverside Drive (1982)
15. Hot Chocolate – Brand New Christmas (1980)
16. PJ Morton – The Christmas Song (2020)
17. Kacey Musgraves & Leon Bridges – Present Without A Bow (2016)
18. Tracy Thorn – Maybe This Christmas (2012)
19. Colbie Caillat – Mistletoe (2007)
20. The Raveonettes – The Christmas Song (2004)
21. The Smithereens – Waking Up On Christmas Morning (2007)
22. Bob Dylan – Here Comes Santa Claus (2009)
23. The Moody Blues – On This Christmas Day (2003)
24. Shane MacGowan & The Popes – Christmas Lullaby (1996)

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Any Major Nasty X-Mas

December 21st, 2023 10 comments

The more sherlockian of regular readers may have deduced that I rather like Christmas, as the volume of Christmas mixes I have compiled over the years might suggest.

But there will be those who do not share that affection for festive bonhomie, as well as those who like to lace the sweetness of the season with a shot of bitterness.

For them, here is a mix of anti-Christmas songs, to go with the Not For Mother mix which I posted some years ago. While most of the songs here take a dim view of Xmas — the season, not necessarily the religious significance — a couple of tracks here may express disappointment with it rather than total resentment. Others may wish that they had the festive spirit but lament its absence, or bemoan the hypocrisy that tends to accompany the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

But none of these songs are fit for aural consumption by mother around the Christmas tree, and few are likely to be performed amid fake snow by Michael Bublé on a TV special — though if he ever does perform the song by The Damned, I shall love him forever.

For those who like their Christmases a bit more merry, the whole lot of previous mixes are up again (see the list below).

And with that, I wish you a merry and peaceful Christmas that is lacking in any nastiness.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-humbugged covers and the above in PDF format. PW on comments.

The Kinks – Father Christmas (1977)
Bah Humbug: Department store Santa gets mugged
Dogmatics – X’mas Time (It Sure Doesn’t Feel Like It) (1984)
Bah Humbug: “It sure don’t feel like Christmastime”
The Killers – Don’t Shoot Me Santa (2007)
Bah Humbug: Killer doesn’t want Santa to shoot him.
The Long Blondes – Christmas Is Cancelled (2004)
Bah Humbug: Deadbeat cheat comes back, but Christmas is cancelled this year
Kate Nash – I Hate You This Christmas (2013)
Bah Humbug: Puked on her dress, caught her boyfriend cheating
Fay Lovsky – Christmas Was A Friend Of Mine (1981)
Bah Humbug: No Christmas can compete with the nostalgia of Christmas
Dropkick Murphys – The Season’s Upon Us (2012)
Bah Humbug: Nephew once gave the singer a gift-wrapped box full of shit
The Chieftains feat Elvis Costello – St. Stephen’s Day Murders (1991)
Bah Humbug: That Christmas spirit drowned in spirits
The Twang – Fairytale Of New York (2019)
Bah Humbug: Happy Christmas your ass, I pray God it’s our last – to a Mariachi sound
Everly Brothers – Christmas Eve Can Kill You (1972)
Bah Humbug: Nobody stops for the lost and lonely at Christmas
Homer & Jethro – Santa’s Movin’ On (1968)
Bah Humbug: Santa, a sad ole man, has a run of bad luck
Brenda Lee – Christmas Will Be Just Another Lonely Day (1964)
Bah Humbug: No happy Christmas when you’ve just been dumped
Jimmy Witherspoon – How I Hate To See Xmas Come Around (1948)
Bah Humbug: Santa only brought Jimmy the blues
Miles Davis feat. Bob Dorough – Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern) (1962)
Bah Humbug: “All the waste, all the sham, all the haste, and plain old bad taste”
Tom Waits – Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis (1978)
Bah Humbug: Request to borrow money in a Christmas card
The Fall – Xmas With Simon (1991)
Bah Humbug: “Pity the people in the desert… Pity the people who had too much dessert”
Pet Shop Boys – It Doesn’t Often Snow At Christmas (1997)
Bah Humbug: “Christmas is not all it’s cracked up to be”
Little Charlie & The Nightcats – It’s Christmas Time Again (2003)
Bah Humbug: “Spend, spend, spend!”
Sensational Alex Harvey Band – There’s No Lights On The Christmas Tree… (1972)
Bah Humbug: An execution puts out the Christmas tree lights
The Damned – There Ain’t No Sanity Clause (1980)
Bah Humbug: Not really anti Xmas, but putting candy canes up each other’s butts?
Christopher Lee – Jingle Hell (2013)
Bah Humbug: Veteran actor says it’s a pain to ride in a one horse open sleigh
Eric Idle – Fuck Christmas (2014)
Bah Humbug: Well, what it says on the box

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Any Major 1960s Christmas Vol. 2

December 12th, 2023 3 comments

The 1960s might have been the zenith of Christmas records, certainly in sheer quantity. Quality is a matter of taste, of course. And when it comes to Christmas music, good taste is really secondary to the spirit these songs can create.

With my 1970s German background, it is essential for me to get me a yuletide fix of Heintje’s Christmas album. I would not play the records of the Dutch child star under any other circumstances, even when I deep-dive into the shadiest nostalgia of late 1960s/early ‘70s schlager fare, as I might do when nobody can see me. But at Christmas, I cheerfully lift my Heintje blacklist, and damn well love it. You may recall that the lad featured last year on Any Major Polygot Christmas, crooning in Dutch.

Of course, in the avalanche of Xmas dross in the 1960s, there were many gems. Some feature on this second volume of Any Major 1960s Christmas (Volume 1 is here). The Phil Spector Christmas album, of course, is a stone-cold classic; two songs from it feature here. One features Fanita James, who died recently, as a third of Bob B Soxx And Blue Jeans. I expect she also did backing vocals on fellow Blossoms member Darlene Love’s wonderful Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).

Another singer who was still with us last Christmas is Tony Bennett, who chips in with a great big band version of Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town.

I have run The Flirtations’ superlative Christmas Time Is Here Again before, but it certainly bears repetition. Their appearance is preceded by a grooving instrumental version of Silver Bells by Booker T. & The MG’s. The mix also closes with a groovy wordless interpretation of Silent Night by jazz organist Jimmy Smith, who did a whole album of that sort of thing in 1965 (as did Booker T).

There are still three more mixes coming this month: another Christmas compilation (one for the “Bah Humbug” crowd), a new Songbook, and the annual Any Major Dance mix for you to party like it’s 1083 on New Year’s Eve.

By the way, after the death of Zippy, I have re-upped all past Christmas mixes, which was quite a project. If there is one I missed, let me know in the comments.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-baubled covers. PW in comments.

1. Booker T. & The MG’s – Silver Bells (1967)
2. The Flirtations – Christmas Time Is Here Again (1968)
3. Darlene Love – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) (1963)
4. Aretha Franklin – Winter Wonderland (1964)
5. Tony Bennett – Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (1968)
6. Burl Ives – A Holly Jolly Christmas (1965)
7. Sammy Davis Jr. – Christmas Time All Over The World (1965)
8. Dean Martin – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! (1966)
9. Julius La Rosa – We Need A Little Christmas (1966)
10. The Ventures – Frosty The Snowman (1965)
11. The Beach Boys – Christmas Day (1964)
12. Glen Campbell – I’ll Be Home For Christmas (1968)
13. Marty Robbins – Christmas Time Is Here Again (1967)
14. Elvis Presley – If Every Day Was Like Christmas (1966)
15. Danny Thomas – The First Christmas (1967)
16. Bobby Goldsboro – A Christmas Wish (1968)
17. Andy Williams – The Christmas Song (1963)
18. Adam Faith – Lonely Pup (In A Christmas Shop) (1960)
19. Marlene Dietrich – Candles Glowing (1967)
20. Patti LaBelle & The Bluebells – Blue Christmas (1963)
21. Bob B Soxx And Blue Jeans – Here Comes Santa Claus (1963)
22. The Supremes – My Christmas Tree (1965)
23. Stevie Wonder – One Little Christmas Tree (1967)
24. The Uniques – Please Come Home For Christmas (1966)
25. Solomon Burke – Presents For Christmas (1966)
26. The Staple Singers – The Last Month Of The Year (1962)
27. Baby Washington – White Christmas (1966)
28. James Brown – Let’s Make Christmas Mean Something This Year (1966)
29. Jimmy Smith – Silent Night (1964)

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More Christmas Mixes
Any Major Christmas Favourites
Any Major 1980s Christmas
Any Major 1970s Christmas
Any Major 1960s Christmas Vol. 1
Any Major 1950s Christmas
Any Major 1940s Christmas
Christmas Mix, Not For Mother
Any Major X-Mas Mix
Any Major Christmas Pop Vol. 1
Any Major Christmas Pop Vol. 2
Any Major Santa Claus Vol. 1
The Originals: Christmas Edition
Any Major Christmas Carols (in pop)
Any Major Christmas Bells
Any Major Smooth Christmas Vol. 1
Any Major Smooth Christmas Vol. 2
Any Major Smooth Christmas Vol. 3
Any Major Christmas Soul Vol. 1
Any Major Christmas Soul Vol. 2
Any Major Christmas Soul Vol. 3
Any Major Doo Wop Christmas
Any Major Rhythm & Blues Christmas
Any Major X-Mas Blues
Any Major Country Christmas Vol. 1
Any Major Country Christmas Vol. 2
Any Major Acoustic Christmas
Christmas In Black & White Vol. 1
Christmas In Black & White Vol. 2
Christmas In Black & White Vol. 3
Any Major Christmas ABC
Any Major Gals’ Christmas
Any Major Polygot Christmas
Any Major New Year’s
Song Swarm: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

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Any Major Polygot Christmas

December 12th, 2022 3 comments

This year there’ll be only one Any Major Christmas mix, simply because this one took so much time to put together — a compilation of Christmas pop standards covered in different languages: French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Finnish, Icelandic, Greek, Czech, Hungarian, Korean… and one dialect, Kölsch, which is spoken in the German city of Cologne.

Apologies if your language didn’t make it. I hope you will enjoy hearing the Christmas songs we know in different languages anyway. Of course, I cannot vouch for it that the artists performing these songs have any kind of cool factor in their country, because most of them I know nothing about.

I do know that Heintje does not meet the definition of cool in Germany or the Netherlands. The Dutch-born boy singer was a superstar in Germany in the late 1960s and early ’70s, as the model-grandson singer of sentimental songs and as an actor in those compellingly bad German Schlager “comedies” (Schatzi haut den Pauker auf die Schnauze). In the 1970s, practically every West German family had Heintje’s first Christmas album rom 1968. The present track was released in 1971, just before poor Heintje’s voice broke. As Hein Simon, he tried to revive his career, but nobody wanted a grown-up Heintje.

Two acts here are superstar-famous, though one of them didn’t know her fame-filled future yet when the featured track was recorded. Céline Dion was a 13-year-old singer in Québec when she recorded her Christmas album, on which the producer must have had a yen for reggae.

The other superstar closes this set: In 1980 Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA recorded an album of Christmas songs in Swedish with her little daughter Linda, whose father was (and still is) Björn Ulvaeus. The album, released in 1981, featured no other ABBA members, but some of the usual studio gang were playing on it.

Next week I’ll help you out with a last-minute Christmas present for family or friends over 80: a mix of hits from 1947 (seeing as it’s 75 years ago). I think people under 80 will enjoy it, too.

I think all Any Major Christmas mixes are currently up. If you need one that isn’t, post your request in the comments.

As always, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and features joyeux-noëled covers. PW in comments.

1. Guy Cloutier – Voici le Père Noël (Here Comes Santa Claus, French) (1964)
2. Gerhard Wendland – Weißer Winderwald (Winter Wonderland, German) (1954)
3. Aldo Donà – Bianco Natale (White Christmas, Italian) (1948)
4. Michèle Richard – Joyeux Noël (The Christmas Song, French) (1966)
5. Fernand Gignac – C’est Noël (Silver Bells, French) (1961)
6. Gals & Pals – Jingeling-tingeling (Sleigh Ride, Swedish) (1963)
7. Castel et Casti – Monsieur la Neige (Frosty The Snowman, French) (1958)
8. Celly Campello – Jingle Bell Rock (Portuguese) (1960)
9. Cho Young Nam – Blue Christmas (Korean) (1971)
10. Vera Špinarová – Až za modrou horou (Merry X-Mas [War Is Over], Czech) (1974)
11. Katy Garbi – Ώρα Χριστουγέννων (I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Greek) (1998)
12. Szandi – Rock a karácsonyfa körül (Rock Around The Christmas Tree, Hungarian) (1993)
13. Willeke Alberti – Ik wil niet alleen zijn met Kerst (Lonely This Christmas, Dutch) (1991)
14. Nada Urbánková – Dlouhá zima (It’s Gonna Be A Cold Cold Christmas, Czech) (1982)
15. Lasse Lindbom Band – Om jag bara fick en elgitarr till jul (I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, Swedish) (1979)
16. Erna Gunnarsdóttir – Enn Jólin (Last Christmas, Icelandic) (1986)
17. Menneisyyden Vangit – Hyvää Joulua Kaikille (Merry Xmas Everybody, Finnish) (2005)
18. Zoe Kluss – El Mejor Regalo Eres Tú (All I Want For Christmas, Spanish) (2017)
19. Köster & Hocker – Weihnachtsmärche us Kölle (Fairytale Of New York, Kölsch) (2017)
20. Mariachi Divas de Cindy Shea – Santa Baby (Spanish) (2007)
21. Götz Alsmann – Der Weihnachtsmann (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, German) (2006)
22. Jaci Velasquez – Hoy que es Navidad (…Merry Little Christmas, Spanish) (2001)
23. Céline Dion – J’ai Vu Maman Embrasser Le Père Noël (I Saw Mommy…, French) (1981)
24. Eiríkur Hauksson – Jólaþankar (I Believe In Father Christmas, Icelandic) (1986)
25. Heintje – Der kleine Trommler (The Little Drummer Boy, German) (1971)
26. Agnetha & Linda – Bjallerklang (Jingle Bells, Swedish) (1981)

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Any Major New Year’s

December 24th, 2021 2 comments

How has your 2021 been? Mine? A mixed bag: the pandemic has screwed me over financially (the Rainy Day Fund? Gone), and my health is trying to tell me that I’m getting older. But I’m still loved and I’m still loving. Be that as it may, 2021 can very much piss off, and take that pandemic with it.

So, as we may look forward to a better new year, with the hope it won’t be our last, here’s a mix of New Year’s Eve songs, a week before we do our Auld Lang Synes.

I have managed to compile it without the help of U2, but a couple of obvious tracks have to feature (hello ABBA). Still, I expect that this collection contains some pleasant surprises (one of them being three songs with the same title being sequenced to follow one another, quite unintentionally).

And that’s what I’m hoping for in 2022: pleasant surprises for all of us, and an end to the nightmare of the past two years.

In that spirit, I wish you a good slide into the new year, as the Germans say.

And do pop in on Tursday for the annual year-end disco mix — or post-disco, if we want to pick nits, since it covers songs to boogie on down to from 1981.

As ever, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R and includes home-countdowned covers. PW in comments.

1. Eagles – Funky New Year (1978)
2. Charles Brown – Bringing In A Brand New Year (1964)
3. The Cameos – New Year’s Eve (1957)
4. The Coolbreezers – Hello Mr. New Year (1958)
5. Jo-Ann Campbell – Happy New Year Baby (1958)
6. The Zombies – This Will Be Our Year (1968)
7. Dan Fogelberg – Same Old Lang Syne (1981)
8. Barry Manilow – It’s Just Another New Year’s Eve (1977)
9. ABBA – Happy New Year (1980)
10. Carole King – New Year’s Day (2011)
11. Mary Chapin Carpenter – New Year’s Day (2012)
12. Taylor Swift – New Year’s Day (2017)
13. Tom Waits – New Year’s Eve (2011)
14. Harry Connick Jr. feat. George Jones – Nothin’ New For New Year (2003)
15. Lightnin’ Hopkins – Happy New Year (1953)
16. Mary Harris – Happy New Year Blues (1935)
17. Vera Lynn – The Happiest New Year Of All (1946)
18. Mae West – My New Year’s Resolutions (1966)
19. The Heartbeats – After New Year’s Eve (1957)
20. Otis Redding & Carla Thomas – New Year’s Resolution (1967)
21. Nancy Wilson – What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve? (1965)
22. Paddy Roberts – Merry X-Mas You Suckers (And A Happy New Year) (1962)
23. Franklin MacCormack – My New Year’s Wish For You (1948)

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Any Major Santa Claus

December 16th, 2021 4 comments

A few years ago I put up a mix of traditional Christmas carols as sung by pop artists. In those songs, obviously, the birth of Jesus was at the centre. But for many people, the person at the centre of Christmas is Santa Claus, so here’s a mix of songs about the old reindeer-exploiting face of rampant commercialism. As far as I can tell, none of these songs have featured in previous Any Major Christmas mixes (at least I tried my best to make it so).

Santa Claus, as most people know, is based on the Christian 4^th-century Saint Nicholas of Myrna, who was a bishop in Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey. Which means that in the US, UK and Western Europe, there are people who’d prefer to deny the original Santa entry into their country. The Santa of this mix, of course, has special access everywhere, including chimneys, in which he might get stuck from time to time, as Ella Fitzgerald explains.

We also know from The Sensational Little Shana Lynette, as the 10-year-old Kansas kid was billed in 1983, that Santa was in danger of falling victim to international terrorism at the hands of the dastardly Soviets, or “Mr Russian”, as Shana politely says in her Cold War propaganda song. I suspect that agent Father Frost, who had replaced Santa Claus in the festive celebrations in the USSR, would have loved to get a shot at his capitalist rival.

Similar Zeitgeist silliness found expression in other seasonal songs. In 1957, Bobby Helms had “Captain Santa Claus” and his reindeers going on space patrol in a track that served as the b-side to his X-Mas hit, Jingle Bell Rock. And George Jones, still to grow into his sonorous voice and macho persona, involves Santa in the twist craze of the early 1960s.

Santa is at times something of a sex symbol, in ways most overweight and white-haired men of a certain age are not. We had Eartha Kitt trying to seduce the old feller in Santa Baby on the Any Major Gals’ Christmas mix last week. Here we up the ante by having Mae West apply her seductive wiles to ole Nick. And since West was 73 when she issued her version in 1966, it is rather more age-appropriate than that by Kitt, who was 26 when she tried to get Santa and his sack into the sack. Not that one should judge inter-generational sexual attraction between consenting adults, of course.

Most famously, Santa Claus was kissing Mommy underneath the mistletoe. Of course — and here I issue a spoiler alert for the uninitiated — it wasn’t really Santa whose tongue was roaming in Mom’s mouth (and here I wish to introduce you to the great German concept of “Kopfkino”). I’m particularly pleased that on this mix we have John Prine sing this song, giving proof to the fact that Prine could make even the most dreadful songs sound entertaining.

An even more unlikely candidate for the performance of trivial X-Mas songs is Bob Dylan, yet here he is singing Here Comes Santa Claus (which is not a Santa sex songs. Neither is Back Door Santa, nor Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney). The original performer of that song — which featured on Any Major Christmas Originals — was Gene Autry. The “Singing Cowboy” is also represented on this mix, with When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter, the b-side to the original release of Here Comes Santa Claus.

As ever, this mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, includes home-ho-ho-hoed covers, and the above text in an illustrated PDF. PW in comments, and links to previous Christmas mixes below.

Next week I’ll post a mix of New Year’s songs, and before New Year’s Eve the traditional disco mix. If I don’t see you before Christmas, let me wish you a very merry, peaceful and healthy Christmas!

1. The Weather Girls – Dear Santa (Bring Me A Man This Christmas) (1983)
2. Bob Dylan – Here Comes Santa Claus (2009)
3. John Prine – I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (1993)
4. The Beach Boys – Little Saint Nick (1964)
5. Elvis Presley – Santa Claus Is Back In Town (1957)
6. Bob Seger & The Last Heard – Sock It To Me Santa (1966)
7. James Brown – Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto (1968)
8. Louis Jordan – Santa Claus, Santa Claus (1968)
9. Lou Rawls – Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (1967)
10. Mae West – Santa Baby (1966)
11. Ella Fitzgerald – Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney (1950)
12. Nat ‘King’ Cole – The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot (1953)
13. The Mills Brothers – You Don’t Have To Be A Santa Claus (1955)
14. Fats Domino – I Told Santa Claus (1993)
15. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – Is Zat You Santa Claus (2004)
16. Albert King – Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’ (1974)
17. The Holmes Brothers – Back Door Santa (2003)
18. Sufjan Stevens – Get Behind Me, Santa! (2006)
19. Sia – My Old Santa Claus (2018)
20. Dwight Yoakam – Santa Can’t Stay (2015)
21. Homer & Jethro – Santa’s Movin’ On (1956)
22. Jim Reeves – Señor Santa Claus (1963)
23. Gene Autry – When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter (1950)
24. George Jones & The Jones Boys – My Mom And Santa Claus (Twistin’ Santa Claus) (1962)
25. Bobby Helms – Captain Santa Claus (And His Reindeer Space Patrol) (1957)
26. The Di Mara Sisters – Santa’s Italian Wife (1971)
27. Shana Lynette – Mister Russian, Please Don’t Shoot Down Santa’s Sleigh (1983)

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Any Major Gals’ Christmas

December 9th, 2021 9 comments

Today, as I write, I’ve felt unusually Christmassy — thanks to this mix! As the title subtly hints at, this collection comprises Christmas songs sung by women. And if that concept strikes you as a bit sexist (and I’m not sure why it should), let me reassure you that next year I’ll have a mix of songs only by guys.

The festive sense I’ve felt kicked in right from the beginning, with Kylie Minogue’s richly retro version of It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year. And while I might not be a dedicated follower of Christina Aguilera’s catalogue — I’m mostly indifferent to it — I find her interpretation of Donny Hathaway’s lovely This Christmas quite outstanding.

This collection covers various eras and styles. The youngest recording here is from 2015; the oldest is Eartha Kitt’s Santa Baby from 1954. There’s the lighthearted stuff — Ella Fitzgerald’s Santa Claus Is Coming To Town is great fun; Etta James’ bluesy Merry Christmas Baby is sexy stuff — and some is traditional and reflective. Of the latter, Emmylou Harris’ Light Of The Stable is particularly beautiful.

Almost all of these artists are well-known; only Margie Joseph exists on the margins of popular music. Except for fans of 1970s soul, who’ll readily acclaim her as one of the great singers of her generation. She also featured on the second volume of the Albums of The Year: 1971, which went up a few weeks ago.

I had several contenders for inclusion of women who performed The Christmas Song, and I nearly chose the gorgeous rendition by Anita Baker. In the event, there was no way past Natalie Cole, the daughter of the man who first recorded the song and made it something of a signature tune. Her version is, of course, very lovely, too.

There will be another Christmas mix next week. Check out the previous Christmas mixes in the list below (or the whole lot here). As far as I can see, all links are working. If you need anything re-upped, let me know in the comments.

As ever, the mix is timed to fit on a standard CD-R, and includes home-kringled covers. PW in comments.

1. Kylie Minogue – It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
2. Christina Aguilera – This Christmas
3. Wilson Phillips – Warm Lovin’ Christmastime
4. Mariah Carey – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
5. Carole King – Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday
6. Nancy Sinatra – We Need A Little Christmas
7. Natalie Cole – The Christmas Song
8. Doris Day – I’ll Be Home For Christmas
9. Julie London – I’d Like You For Christmas
10. Keely Smith – Blue Christmas
11. Darlene Love – Winter Wonderland
12. The Supremes – My Christmas Tree
13. Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby
14. Ella Fitzgerald – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
15. Etta James – Merry Christmas Baby
16. Vanessa Williams – Christmas Is
17. Gladys Knight & The Pips – When You Love Someone (It’s Christmas Everyday)
18. Margie Joseph – Feeling Like Christmas
19. Emmylou Harris – Light Of The Stable
20. Dolly Parton – We Three Kings
21. Olivia Newton-John – Christmas Never Felt Like This Before
22. Nancy Wilson – The Christmas Waltz
23. Dinah Washington – Silent Night
24. Sarah McLachlan – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

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