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For the glory and the story of Christmas Day

Posted on December 22, 2023 by brucehhackett

An old college buddy of mine, Budd Bailey, sends me a Christmas card every year that includes a CD full of new and unusual Christmas-related recordings — everything from new takes on old carols to hard rock tracks with new twists on the Yuletide traditions.

He’s been doing this for more than 15 years now, and it turns out he’s been nobly carrying on the tradition started by one of his friends who passed away in 2006.

I asked Budd where he finds these festive, fun holiday jewels, and he turned me on to several websites that specialize in this sort of thing: Stubby’s House of Christmas, Santapalooza, Christmas Underground, Hip Christmas and Mistletunes. I’m sure there are others.

A few years back, I posted a blog piece that singled out a baker’s dozen of classic Christmas songs by rock and pop artists, and I still enjoy hearing those each year (and have therefore included that setlist at the bottom as a bonus). But it’s always good to broaden one’s palette and try new things, so I have compiled a selection of some of the newer great rock/pop Yuletide stuff that Budd and others have shared with me, and I offer a little background on the artists and the songs they’ve recorded.

Have a Rockin’ Yule!

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“Christmas Time is Coming ‘Round Again” and “Santa Wants to Take You For a Ride,” The Mavericks, 2018

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Formed in 1989 in Miami, The Mavericks made their mark writing and performing an eclectic mix of Tex-Mix, rockabilly, country and Latin, releasing a half-dozen albums between 1991 and 2003, three of which reached the Top Ten on the US Country charts. They also won a Grammy for their single “Here Comes the Rain” in 1996. They reunited in 2013 and continue to make waves on the Country charts, most recently with “Hey! Merry Christmas!” released in 2018. The Mavericks released the rousing “Christmas Time is Coming ‘Round Again” last year as a single, and it did so well that they chose to put together an album’s worth of material for this year. I’ve selected two tracks from that LP — last year’s hit for the family, and another one with a more naughtily suggestive message.

“Merry Christmas Darlings,” Cheap Trick, 2017

Illinois-based Cheap Trick formed in the mid-1970s, and first became successful in Japan before hitting it big here in 1979 with their “Dream Police” LP. Singles like “I Want You to Want Me” and “The Flame” and covers of Elvis’s “All Shook Up” and “Don’t Be Cruel” were big hits on the singles charts during the 1980s as well. They have continued to tour and release new LPs well into the 2000s, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. From “Christmas Christmas,” a 2017 holiday collection, I’ve selected “Merry Christmas Darlings,” an original by veteran members Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander and Tom Petersson.

“This Christmas Day” and “The Man With the Bag,” Jessie J, 2018

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Hailing from Essex outside London, Jessica Cornish got her start as a child actress and then a songwriter before adopting the stage name Jessie J and signing as a recording artist. Her 2011 debut LP, “Who You Are,” spawned five Top Ten singles in the UK, including “Do It Like a Dude” and two #1 hits, “Price Tag” and “Domino.” The latter reached #6 on the US charts and pushed “Who You Are” to #11 on the album charts here. Her superb voice has brought her continued successes through the decade, and in 2018 she dropped “This Christmas Day,” a holiday album featuring a number of guest artists. I was particularly taken by two songs — the title track, a Jessie J original, and her rendition of the 1950 Dudley Brooks-Irving Taylor classic, “The Man With the Bag.”

“The Pagans Had It Right,” Devil in a Woodpile, 2017

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Rick Sherry, Joel Patterson and Beau Sample formed Devil in a Woodpile in the mid-’90s, playing country blues and jug music, most of it covers of traditional tunes with a few originals scattered in. They played in and around Chicago for most of their existence, and in 2017, they reunited and came up with “13 Day of Xmas,” which included “The Pagans Had It Right,” a whimsical, cynical look at the crass commercialization and drunken revelry so prevalent in the Christmas season these days: “Baby Jesus shoulda lawyered up, put a trademark on his brand, the pagans had it all figured out, debauchery through the land…”

“Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight),” The Smithereens, 2007

The Ramones, never a commercial success but hugely influential as a New York punk rock band, released 14 albums in 19 years between 1976 and 1995. Their 11th LP, “Brain Drain,” included “Pet Sematary,” featured in the Stephen King film of that name, and also “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight),” Joey Ramone’s ragged attempt at a holiday tune. In 2007, The Smithereens, a Jersey-based rock band with a few modest hits (“Only a Memory,” “A Girl Like You”), did an admirable cover of the Ramones’ Christmas song, and I’ve included it here.

O Come Emmanuel,” Kaskade with Skylar Grey, 2017

A producer, remixer and DJ named Ryan Raddon took on the stage name of Kaskade in 1995 when he was living in San Francisco, where a genre known as “deep house” was taking hold. By 2001 he became a recording artist in his own right, focusing on house, electronic and dance music. Kaskade’s albums and singles became popular on the dance club airplay listings, and by 2013, he was being nominated for multiple Grammy awards and co-headlining the Coachella festival. In 2017, he released “Kaskade Christmas,” on which he rearranged traditional Christmas music and invited excellent vocalists to collaborate with him. My favorite track features the superb Skylar Grey singing “O Come Emmanuel.” Grey had a 2013 Top Ten LP, “Don’t Look Down,” has been a featured singer on many other artists’ hits, including Dr. Dre, Eminem, Moby, Fort Minor and Macklemore, and turned in a memorable 2017 performance on Saturday Night Live with Eminem singing a medley of “Walk on Water/Stan/Love the Way You Lie.”

“You Make It Feel Like Christmas” and “Christmas Eve,” Gwen Stefani (with Blake Shelton), 2017

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Debuting as the 17-year-old singer in her brother’s ska band No Doubt in 1986, Stefani has built a formidable career in the 30 years since. No Doubt’s 1995 “Tragic Kingdom” LP, with its international #1 smash hit “Don’t Speak,” put Stefani at the top of the heap, and she made multiple chart appearances with No Doubt, as a solo artist, and in various collaborations over the next two decades. She has also appeared in films, launched fashion lines and been active philanthropically. In 2017, she released her first holiday LP, “You Make It Feel Like Christmas,” the title track of which emerged as a popular duet written and recorded with her husband, Blake Shelton. I’ve included it on this setlist, and also added the lovely ballad, “Christmas Eve,” co-written by Stefani.

“Finally It’s Christmas,” Hanson, 2017

Hanson will no doubt forever be best known for the 1997 international #1 single “MMMBop,” and its multiplatinum album “Middle of Nowhere,” which put the trio of teenaged brothers at the top of the pop music business for a spell. They had success with a Christmas album recorded that year (“Snowed In”), but then a corporate merger saw their label swallowed by Island Def Jam, where they were neglected and ultimately cast aside. The trio eventually started releasing independently produced albums that helped them resume their career throughout the 2000s, with chart appearances in the high 20s. “Finally It’s Christmas” from 2017 was among several holiday albums receiving high critical marks, largely for the catchy title track, released to commemorate the trio’s 25th anniversary.

“Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas,” Gaspard Royant, 2017

Although recognized as a musical prodigy at age 7, Gaspard Royant struggled in his efforts to become a professional musician until he was nearly 30. Originally from a small French town on the Swiss border, he ultimately moved to Paris, where he began composing for film, receiving prizes at choral festivals and eventually recording and performing his own material on tour. On the strength of successful Christmas singles on European charts in 2014 and 2015, Royant released the “Wishing You a Merry Christmas” LP in 2017, which gained him his first US radio airplay. The track I found most distinctive was “Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas.”

“Happy, Happy Christmas,” Ingrid Michaelson, 2018

New York-based singer-songwriter-pianist Michaelson emerged from New York state college theater environments to write and record music in 2005, ultimately charting three Top Five albums in the 2010s, including “Human Again” (2012) and “Lights Out” (2014). When she began work on a Christmas album in 2018, she wanted to focus on traditional holiday songs as performed by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and others from the 1940s-1950s period. She completed a set of 11 cover versions but couldn’t resist including one original, “Happy, Happy Christmas,” which was dedicated to the recent deaths of her parents.

“Naughty Naughty Children (Better Start Acting Nice),” Grace Potter, 2011

Grace Potter is a Vermont-based multi-instrumentalist who formed Grace Potter and The Nocturnals in 2002 and has periodically released albums with the band and on a solo basis. The group’s strong 2010 LP, “Grace Potter and the Nocturnals,” reached #19 on the US album charts and #3 on mainstream rock lists. The following year, Potter was asked to be the voice of Carol in an animated Disney project, the holiday-themed “Prep & Landing: Naughty vs. Nice,” for which she also wrote and recorded “Naughty Naughty Children (Better Start Acting Nice).” Although it’s highly derivative of Chuck Berry’s classic “Run Rudolph Run,” it has a new millennium feel to it that I found compelling.

“Bring Me Love,” John Legend, 2018

Born John Stephens in 1978, Legend was an instant success with his “Get Lifted” album debut in 2004, and his multiple talents since then have earned him kudos as the first African-American recipient of the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) designation. In 2014, Legend co-wrote and sang the Oscar-winning “Glory” for the film “Selma,” and had the second-best-selling song of the year (“All of Me”). In 2016, he won an Emmy for performing the title role in the live TV special of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and then in 2018, he released his first holiday LP, “A Legendary Christmas,” which includes eight traditional songs and six Legend originals, most notably the Motown-ish Christmas track “Bring Me Love.”

“Happy Xmas (War is Over),” Emily Hackett, 2018

John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s musical call for peace at Christmastime 1971 was released as a single that year but didn’t get much airplay. Once Lennon was assassinated during the Christmas season nine years later, it became a haunting, ironic reminder of the senselessness of violence and war, especially in a time of peace and good will. Since then, this revered song has been covered in a wide variety of arrangements by dozens of artists, ranging from Carly Simon to The Moody Blues, from Jimmy Buffett to Darlene Love, from Celine Dion to Pat Travers, from Josh Groban to REO Speedwagon. I happen to be partial to the gentle treatment that singer-songwriter Emily Hackett gives to it, and I think you’ll agree.

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We just want to give gratitude

Posted on November 23, 2023 by brucehhackett

Melody Beattie, a pioneer of the self-help movement and a recovering addict herself, has written many inspirational books that have assisted many thousands on how to live fuller, more productive lives. She has said that being grateful for life’s blessings is a crucial component, and she wrote this marvelously succinct summary of the concept:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. It can turn an existence into a real life, and disconnected situations into important and beneficial lessons. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. Gratitude makes things right.”

In this special Thursday post on this music blog, I have gathered a dozen songs of gratitude from as far back as 1935 and as recent as 2018. They each focus on the importance of being thankful for what we have in a world where we sometimes forget that. There’s a Spotify playlist at the end for your listening pleasure.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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“My Thanksgiving,” Don Henley, 2000

Henley collaborated with former Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch to write several songs for his overlooked 2000 album “Inside Job,” including this poignant tune about a man looking back with regret on his years gone by, and the blessings he didn’t appreciate at the time. The message of this song, it seems to me, is that it’s never too late to be grateful: “And I don’t mind saying that I loved it all, I wallowed in the springtime, now I’m welcoming the fall, for every moment of joy, every hour of fear, for every winding road that brought me here, for every breath, for every day of living, this is my thanksgiving…”

“Thanksgiving Prayer,” Joanne Cash, 2018

Country music icon Johnny Cash died in 2003, but his younger sister Joanne began her own musical career four years later at the age of 69 with the release of “Gospel” in 2007, the first of four LPs the deeply spiritual singer has produced. In 2018, the LP “Unbroken” included a dozen songs of religious devotion, including Josef Anderson’s sensitive “Thanksgiving Prayer,” which expresses gratitude for lifer’s blessings: “We’ve come to the time in the season when family and friends gather near /To offer a prayer of Thanksgiving for blessings we’ve known through the years… /I’m grateful for the laughter of children, the sun and the wind and the rain, /The color of blue in your sweet eyes, the sight of a high ballin’ train, /The moon rise over a prairie, an old love that you’ve made new, /And this year when I count my blessings, I’m thanking the Lord He made you…”

“I Want to Thank You,” Otis Redding, 1965

Soul music giant Redding was generally regarded as an interpreter of other composers’ works, but he also wrote a handful of original tunes, including “Respect,” the song that became Aretha Franklin’s signature piece. In 1965, on his second LP, “The Great Otis Redding Sings Soul Ballads,” he offered “I Want to Thank You,” a song of gratitude for the love and support of a woman who died prematurely: “I want to thank you for being so nice now, I want to thank you for giving me my pride, /Sweet kisses too, and everything you do, /I know I’ll never find another one like you…” Redding himself perished far too young at age 26 in a plane crash in 1967.

“Thanksgiving Song,” Mary Chapin-Carpenter, 2008

This talented singer-songwriter of country and folk music emerged from the Washington DC area in 1987, first reaching the Top Ten on US album charts in 1994 with “Stones in the Road.” She had an impressive run of Top Ten singles on country charts throughout the 1990s with original songs like “I Feel Lucky,” “Passionate Kisses,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” and “Shut Up and Kiss Me.” In 2008, Chapin-Carpenter released “Come Darkness, Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas,” which featured “Thanksgiving Song,” a gentle song that conveys a significant message: “Grateful for what’s understood, and all that is forgiven, /We try so hard to be good, to lead a life worth living, /Father, mother, daughter, son, neighbor, friend, and friendless, /All together, everyone, let grateful days be endless…”

“Thanks to You,” Boz Scaggs, 2001

An original member of the Steve Miller Band in the late ’60s, Scaggs went solo in 1969 and had three Top Ten albums in the late ’70s including the platinum “Silk Degrees” with the hit “Lowdown.” He has continued to release smooth new LPs every 4-5 years through the decades since. In 2006, his overlooked album “Dig” included the heartfelt closer “Thanks to You,” a poignant ode to a life partner who provides much-needed love and support “as I balk and stumble through the world.” “Thanks to you,
I’ve got a reason to get outta bed make a move or two, /Thanks to you, there’s a net below, ’cause otherwise, well I don’t know, /And thanks to you, there are promises of laughs and loves and labyrinths, /And reason to suspect that I’m meant for this, a smile, a song, a tender kiss, /Thanks to you…”

“(I’ve Got) Plenty to Be Thankful For,” Bing Crosby, 1942

From the mid-1920s well into the 1960s, Crosby was a leading singer, actor and radio star, a winner of Oscars and Grammys, and most famous for his recording of the seasonal classic “White Christmas,” first heard in the 1942 film “Holiday Inn.” That movie soundtrack featured a dozen other songs by the great Irving Berlin, each commemorating various holidays (Easter, Independence Day, Valentine’s Day) as part of the film’s plot. For Thanksgiving, Bing sings Berlin’s “(I’ve Got) Plenty to Be Thankful For,” with these lyrics of gratitude: “I’ve got eyes to see with, ears to hear with, /Arms to hug with, lips to kiss with, /Someone to adore, how could anybody ask for more? /My needs are small, I buy ’em all at the five and ten cent store, /Oh, I’ve got plenty to be thankful for…”

“Thankful ‘n Thoughtful,” Sly and the Family Stone, 1973

“Fresh,” the third of three enormously influential progressive-funk LPs released by Sly and The Family Stone in the 1969-1973 period, found Stone offering a lighter, more accessible version of the psychedelic soul found on “Stand!” and “There’s a Riot Goin’ On.” A typical example of this was the tune “Thankful N’ Thoughtful,” which explores Sly’s feelings about his drug excesses and how he found his way back from dark places: “From my ankle to the top of my head, I’ve taken my chances, hah, I could have been dead, /I started climbing from the bottom, oh yeah, all the way to the top, /Before I knew it, I was up there, you believe it or not, /That’s why I got to be thankful, yeah yeah, I got to be thoughtful, /Thankful, gotta be thoughtful…”

“Thank You,” Led Zeppelin, 1969

This dreamy track sits in stark contrast to the hard blues rock that makes up most of “Led Zeppelin II,” one of the undisputed pillars of the classic rock era. It’s a dramatic ballad carried along by harmonious electric and acoustic guitars and subtle organ, and a delicate melody sung by Robert Plant, who wrote the lyrics as a loving tribute to his wife: “And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles, thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one…”

“Thanks a Million,” Louis Armstrong, 1935/1991

The songwriting team of Arthur Johnston and Gus Kahn wrote this jazzy number with Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong in mind, who recorded it in 1935 at the height of his popularity, although it wasn’t released as a single. In 1991, it appeared on “Volume 1: Rhythm Saved the World,” part of a compilation of his Decca Records catalog. Kahn’s lyrics express how grateful the singer is for his lover: “Thanks a million, a million thanks to you, /For everything that love could bring, you brought me, /Each tender love word you happened to say is hidden away in memory’s bouquet, /Thanks a million, for I remember too, /The tenderness that your caresses taught me, /You made a million dreams come true, and so I’m saying, Thanks a million to you…”

“Thanksgiving Day,” Tom Chapin, 2010 (original 1990)

Chapin’s older brother Harry established himself as a writer and singer of superb story-songs in the 1970s (“Taxi,” “Cat’s in the Cradle,” “Sniper”). Concurrently, Tom Chapin forged his own career in entertainment on children’s TV programs and on records beginning in 1976. Although never a big success on the charts, the younger Chapin has released many LPs of simple songs meant for all ages. His 1990 album “Mother Earth” was expanded in 2010 to include more songs including “Thanksgiving Day,” which explores the holiday’s history and evolution: “Everything changes, yes, even Thanksgiving, /Let’s rededicate this old day to helping the hungry, the poor and the homeless so all may be able to say, /Thanks for our health, thanks for our hearth and the bounty that grows from the ground, /With our loved ones near, we bless the year that’s brought us safely ’round…”

“Thanks,” The James Gang, 1970

Joe Walsh was just 22 when he became the guitarist, singer and chief songwriter of Cleveland’s heroes, The James Gang. Walsh’s songs “Funk #49” and “Walk Away” became national hits, and Walsh himself went on to become a major star in his own right, first as a solo act and then as a member of The Eagles. On the 1970 album “James Gang Rides Again,” Walsh wrote a largely acoustic track called simply “Thanks,” which took a somewhat resigned, matter-of-fact approach to life: “Thanks to the hand that feeds you, give the dog a bone, thanks to the man that gives you, haven’t got your own, that’s the way the world is, woh-oh…”

“Thanks For the Memory,” Rod Stewart, 2005

Lyricist Leo Robin teamed up with composer Ralph Rainger to write several popular songs from movie soundtracks, including the witty “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1949) and the sentimental “Thanks For the Memory” from “Big Broadcast of 1938,” which won the Best Song Oscar that year. In the film, Bob Hope and Shirley Ross play a divorced couple who run into each other on a cruise ship and, after singing this song to each other, eventually choose to reunite. Artists like Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra recorded it in the years since, and rocker Rod Stewart covered it on the fourth volume of his Great American Songbook series in the 2000s. “Thanks for the memory of faults that you forgave… /And how are all those little dreams that never did come true? /Awfully glad I met you, cheerio and toodle-oo, /Thank you, thank you so much…”

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