Christmas Mix '06

1. The Ramones - "Merry Christmas (I Don't Wanna Fight Tonight)" (mp3)
2. Billy Idol - "Yellin' At The Xmas Tree" (mp3)
3. They Might Be Giants - "Santa's Beard"
4. Jackon 5 - "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
5. James Brown - "Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto"
6. Darlene Love - "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)"
7. Mariah Carey - "All I Want For Christmas Is You"
8. The Waitresses - "Christmas Wrapping" (mp3)
9. Kurtis Blow - "Christmas Rappin'"
10. De La Soul - "Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa"
11. Trick Daddy - "Ain't No Santa (Bonus Mix)" (mp3)
12. Grand Buffet - "Stocking Stuffer" (mp3)
13. Rocket From The Crypt - "Cancel Christmas"
14. The Who - "Christmas"
15. The Pretenders - "2000 Miles"
16. Travis Morrison - "My Two Front Teeth, Parts 2 & 3"
17. The Posies - "Christmas" (mp3)
18. Prince - "Another Lonely Christmas (Extended)" (mp3)
19. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Christmas At Ground Zero"
20. The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl - "Fairytale Of New York"

Generally I'm loathe to start overtly anticipating or acknowledging Christmas as early as Thanksgiving (I usually don't start shopping or anything like that until mid-December). But almost every year I think about putting together a mix like this (I posted an early version here a couple years ago), and then procrastinate until it seems too close to the date to bother, so I decided to get started on it early this time. I thought about sticking with a theme or focus, like silly Christmas songs or sentimental Christmas songs or hip hop Christmas songs, but ultimately I just threw together all the stuff I could think of that I liked, at least in terms of modern/pop Christmas songs.

There were some toss-ups as to whose version of songs to include, Jackson 5 versus Springsteen, Darlene Love versus U2, with R&B winning out over 80's pop star compilation fodder on both counts (though it really could've gone either way). I've posted plenty of Prince extended mixes here that I've gotten from my friend Mat, but the b-side "Another Lonely Christmas" is a favorite of both his and mine (this version has like a whole different verse and some additional instrumental stuff than the version the hits/b-sides comp). The Posies' "Christmas" is a cover by some band so obscure I can't remember their name right now, but is a highlight of their non-LP catalog. "Stocking Stuffer" might be the funniest thing that Grand Buffet has ever recorded, a superlative I don't throw around lightly. I think "Christmas Wrapping" is my favorite out of all of these though, managing to be both irreverent and modern like a lot of recent Christmas songs are, yet still really sentimental and sincere about the holiday.

Labels: hip hop

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 23, 2006 at 11:59 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.