We’ve fought the good fight, people. The insidious Christmas creep, and the endless stream of repetitive holiday music at least as far as terrestrial radio is concerned, has been beaten back over the last eight years from midnight on November 1st to some time between November 15th and (American) Thanksgiving day.
But that doesn’t mean the fight is over yet, comrades! There is still the question of the same shank-of-the-year songs being recycled by hot new artists every 5-to-10 years. With roughly 50 completely new works stretching back to the 19th Century given different spin, we’re still dealing with over 200 versions of the Same. Damn. Songs. Over and over.
I propose a remedy for this malaise. Over three separate installments before Christmas Eve, I’m providing holiday song aficionados a break from the usual earworms, and will present 30 essential original Christmas songs from the rock and roll era. No covers, no rocking versions of the old familiar carols, just original ideas from some of the most respected artists of the last 60 years.
In this second edition, the middle 10 of the group. Before proceeding, catch up on songs 30 through 21.
- Christmas in Hollis (1987) – Run DMC. Sure, you’re seeing a typical SoCal December tableau to kick off 1988’s action flick Die Hard – a jet-lagged, flight-weary New York cop inside the jet black stretch limo gliding through the ribbons of concrete in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, a blood orange sunset and a massive corporate owned skyscraper – but the song that greets us is 100 percent chilled-out Queens.
- Run Rudolph Run(1958) – Chuck Berry. From the master himself, a blast of guitar and we’re off on a jaunting two-minute journey that pits the reindeer with the very shiny nose as the only creature on Earth who can fulfill little Johnny and Janie’s dreams for their favorite Christmas toys. Still haven’t figured out who Randolph is or why he’s hot on Rudy’s heels, but just chalk it up to one of Chuck’s speed-induced hallucinations and call it a day.
- Christmas Day (1979) – Squeeze. The Bards of South London clock in during their prolific early cult hero period with a surprisingly straightforward song that combines a unique take on the birth of Jesus alongside the iconic and somewhat humdrum images associated with Baby Boomer-era UK yuletide. Despite having two No. 2 hits earlier in the year, this song failed to chart, and has in later years become a find for alternative and new wave listeners. Don’t we wish all holiday office parties were as good as this one.
- Christmas at Ground Zero (1986) – Weird Al Yankovic. One for all the freaks, weirdos, misanthropes and all others with a demented sense of humor. Or just those old enough to remember when we thought the Commies had their finger on the button just waiting for their chance to nuke us into oblivion. Found it on a Doctor Demento compilation CD in the late 90s, but the song, a cheerful 60’s rave-up, has been pushed far into the background due to “Ground Zero” taking on solemn significance for the 9/11 attacks in New York 15 years ago.
- Merry Christmas (I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight) (1989) – The Ramones. Just how many songs written by Joey were veiled or not-so-veiled attempts at quelling the constant turmoil between he and Johnny which defined the latter half of the band’s existence? The secrets, if any, went to both their graves. But we have a typical bleak tableau redeemed by the narrator’s desire to quit the arguments that define his relationship and just get along because it’s for the sake of the kids and what’s supposed to happen this time of year. It’s a very practical thing to wish for peace not on a world scale, but inside one’s own home.
- Christmas Griping (1991) – REM. Who would have thought a band that unleashed “Losing My Religion” to the world earlier in the year could compose something so loose, anarchic and fun? Certain things on this record are timeless, such as the crack about Burl Ives. Some things on the record are cringeworthy given recent sensitivities, such as that crack about a tower and high-powered rifle, but it’s all supposed to tap into distaste for all holiday cliches.
- A Fairytale of New York (1987) – Pogues with Kirsty MacColl. Sing it loud and sing it proud. Drunk or sober, who cares? Shane McGowan and the gone-too-soon Kirsty craft a wistful and possibly fistful lovers’ spat with Christmas as its backdrop and Gotham as its star. Who hasn’t ever wanted to melt into their significant other, madly in love, then after a spell tell them off by spouting all those things they wished they’d said during every argument and silence, still mean it but still look at each other with a twinkle in their eyes? What, nobody? Ah, romance.
- Mr. Mojo’s Christmas (2002) – The Wise Men. Easily mistaken for something out of the Bob Rivers parody milieu, instead it’s a complete, scary-good holiday-themed Doors pastiche by someone who may or may not have the name of Mark Pitta. Have to see and hear it to believe it.
- 2000 Miles (1984) — Pretenders. Chrissie Hynde endured a bleep-ton of misfortune getting this band off the ground in the early 1980s after two successful albums. Right as they kicked out bassist Pete Farndon for drug excesses, guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died from heart failure related to drug use. Farndon later died from a hot dose of heroin. Hynde penned this ode, often thought to be about the distance between two lovers or between London and the North Pole, about Honeyman-Scott. As Frank Perdue once said, it takes a tough chick to write a tender ballad.
- Christmas All Over Again (1992) – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. A less-than-original concept (Home Alone 2: This Time the kid’s left behind in New York while the family’s in Florida instead of Chicago and Paris) thankfully gets an original song treatment. Featured on the second Very Special Christmas compilation CD, according to Wikipedia, since Petty donated all proceeds back to the Special Olympics, it has since raised $200K.
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