As I do every year, here are two final songs for New Year’s. I tend more to mournful dirge than raucous celebration, since the end of the year tends to be a time to reflect back on things not accomplished (again) and people who have passed. I guess I really ought to focus on the [...]
Sounds of the Season ‘08
As usual, here’s the recap post of all of this year’s songs. See past posts for the documentation. Liberace with George Liberace & His Orchestra – ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas — BUY Henry Rollins – Twas the Night Before Christmas — BUY Shallow – Santa Claus, You Broke My Heart — BUY Ray & [...]
Funky mash-ups for your Christmas turkey
Okay, kids. ‘Tis the day before Christmas and we’ve had fun, right? Okay, I didn’t blog anywhere as near as I intended to this year. I never wrote that analysis of Synecdoche, New York (loved it) and I never wrote that comparison of rock songs that ape Broadway versus Broadway showtunes that ape rock. But [...]
The Festival of Light Strumming and Heavy Beats
I try to have a little something for everybody during this annual seasonal music celebration. And since Hanukkah began at sundown this past Sunday, here are a couple tunes to assist your Maccabee-boy in getting festive. Here’s a dub remix of the traditional “Oh Chanukah.” It fascinates me how little has to be done to [...]
More of a Dark Wonderful Life
I’ve written before of my interpretation of It’s a Wonderful Life (such as here briefly in ’05 and here earlier this month.) as a rather grim view of life, rather than merely heartwarming fare. Now here’s yet another take in the NY Times: Wonderful? Sorry, George, It’s a Pitiful, Dreadful Life. Wendell Jamieson writes: Lots [...]
The sadness in “White Christmas”
I have written a number of times of my fondness for bittersweet portrayals of Christmas. I guess that always feels natural to me. Who needs the constant pressure of merry? And as much of an optimist as I am, I also tend to assume that some things are going to go wrong. Death is inevitable [...]
An Insincere Christmas
Christmas songs are supposed to be about peace and love ‘n’ stuff, right? Really sincere sentiments. But we all know that sometimes Christmas can be crass and commercial. (Although I have argued that this is actually a central part of the Christmas tradition and not an aberration; see here.) Brit popster Robbie Williams offers one [...]
Christmas in Los Angeles
One of the most popular Christmas songs of the 20th Century is “White Christmas.” A lot of people don’t sing the intro verse of the song, which goes like this: The sun is shining, the grass is green The orange and palm trees sway There’s never been such a day In Beverly Hills, LA But [...]
New York was wet and dreary.
Yesterday, I called New York City “an incredibly festive place this time of year.” What it was, was cold and wet and dreary. Of course, this morning, with the rain stopped, it was much nicer. Tags: Christmas, New York, Manhattan
Christmas in New York
As I write this, I’m sitting on a train, headed for New York City. It’s absolutely appropriate to continue this series of songs representing Christmas around the U.S. of A. with a trip to NY. It’s an incredibly festive place this time of year. Today we have a couple of songs that capture a little [...]