The Post Christmas Post

So it's the day after Christmas: servers all across the nation are breathing a sigh of relief as those of us who collect Christmas music ease off on the downloads and uploads, the nog is going sour, the tree needs to be tossed, and what was a white Christmas has melted into a muddy and salty post Christmas. I don't know how many will be here to check out my site for more Christmas songs, but in the event you haven't gotten enough, I have more to share.

Last year I started a folder for new songs I just got in 2007. By the end of the year, I had somewhere over 1100 songs in that folder alone. In the 2008 folder? Well...let's just say I don't think any human being is meant to get this much Christmas music in one year, and I still have a handful of CDs to rip and a good pile of LPs and 45s to convert to MP3 (though me thinks those vinyl sides will be in my 2009 folder) and a good number of zipped files on my desk top waiting to be unzipped and put in my 2008 folder. So when all is said and done this year, I've exceeded my expectations of what I think I would get for music.

Which makes cataloging it all the more difficult. There's just so much to listen to and to connect the dots between all the tracks and that makes coming up with compelling post ideas quite a challenge. But I plow ahead.

When I listen to my Christmas songs, I make notes of common themes that stick out to me (and I often have to listen to the songs SEVERAL times before bigger themes stick out to me) and that's how I get the ideas for my posts here. But from time to time sometimes all I have is just a couple songs that are related and I don't get around to making themed posts on those topics. So today you're in for a bit of a treat...Here are songs I've noticed from my personal collection that may not be great enough for individual posts, but I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at them in one longer post.

One unexpected theme came to me as I listened to my new songs this year: pirate Christmas songs. Granted, two of them are from the same artist, but I was able to uncover one more for this post. An interesting concept...of course, these are comedy songs by default.

Kevin Mahler-Pirate at Christmas Time
Kevin Mahler-Pirate's Christmas
Gastronomical Unit-A Pirate's 12 Days of Christmas

Another curious and unexpected theme arose from my collection of Christmas songs this year...Brady Bunch Christmas songs. No, I am not talking about the old Brady Bunch Christmas album, but songs inspired by the Brady Bunch.

First up is from a compilation I found online this past summer (yes, Virgina, there ARE Christmas songs to download during the summer!) and my honest review of the compilation is don't bother seeking it out unless you want something for your audio torture chamber. One or two songs by this "artist" is quite enough in my book. The entire CD worth of music by him not so much. Individually, his songs are unique, quirky, and certainly something fun to toss into a mix to keep people on their toes, but a little bit of this guy goes a long way, trust me.

The second track is from a download I found this past month.

Kenny and the Christmas-Tones - The Ann B Davis Christmas Song

(and I am telling you all of Kenny's Christmas songs sound that way...and he is obsessed by cows.)

Joe Algeri and Friends-All I Want for Christmas is Cindy Brady

Another curious theme that came out when listening to my music was the concept of Christmas trees with FEELINGS. Not too many songs are out there like this, folks...I've only come across two so far. That's not to say there are more, but they are certainly far and few between.

This first track comes from my most absolute favorite compilation I purchased this past year: A Very British Christmas. Crappy cover, awesome collection of music. (As of the time of this post, it looks like it's out of print...or maybe just out of stock for now, I hope...)

Peter Brough & Archie Andrews-The Little Fir Tree

That track reminded me of a track I got last year from Nellie McKay's My Space page, a very passionate plea by Nellie to, please, have sympathy for these Christmas trees we kill every year.

Nellie McKay-A Christmas Dirge

You'd think there would be more war songs, and perhaps if I plunged more into the Christmas music from the 40's I'd find more, but in the modern age we pretty much have John Lennon's famous track. But I did manage to find a couple more examples.

Arthur Askey-I'm Sending a Letter to Santa Claus
Jona Lewie-Stop the Calvary

And if Santa retires some people think he'd have some problems....(though I think if he just shaved and changed his clothes he'd be fine...)

Tina Marie Holbrook-If Santa Claus Retires
Keith Tenley-Gold Watch for Kringle

As always, thank you for reading and listening.