Apart from Christmas Eve, which wins hands down, are there any other tunes or songs that are particularly appropriate for this time of year? I'm sure most of you will be fed up with Slade's Merry Christmas and Shane McGowan's Fairy Tale of New York blaring out all over the place and there surely has to be something else. One that comes up occasionally but that I haven't heard for a couple of years is the alternative "12 Days to Christmas". Personally I think it's hilarious and if you want to have a listen click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkF7fpw-wI.
Most Tull fans will have heard a few of these already, but this wonderful album contains some new songs and brand-new arrangements of old ones. For those who prefer the band in their less rock and roll, more Elizabethan mode (like with their previous albums Songs from the Wood or Heavy Horses), this CD is for you. With excellent flute, mandolin, guitars, percussion and vocals, this is a classic Tull album, one of the best new ones I have heard in years. There are also some nice surprises, like jazzy arrangements of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' and "Bouree," both of which I heard this summer when the band performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. There are new arrangements of old faves, and while some of these reworked tunes are better for it (I love the new rendition of "Ring Out Solstice Bells" (from SFTW) as the old one always sounded a bit hokey to me), some would have done better to stay closer to the original version. In most cases, though, it's mixed, with improvement for the most part. I like the less-electronic feel of "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow," but I think the vocals on the first version (available on the "20 Years Of Jethro Tull" collection) were fuller. Some of my other favorite tracks from SFTW are here, "Weathercock" and "Fires at Midnight," and I like the new versions, which are warmer and mellower than the originals. Songs new to me here include the contemporary songs "Last Man at the Party," "Birthday Card at Christmas," "First Snow on Brooklyn," and "AWinter Snowscape." The album contains some nice instrumentals, including "Pavane" and "Holly Herald." I did wonder why "Pan Dance" was not included, since this was on a special edition Christmas 45 record a few years back. But all in all, I can't really offer any complaints about this CD. Great to have, great to give.
Fed up with Fairy Tale Of New York? Not a bit of it, I was at The Pogues concert in Belfast last night and the version, with Sinead O'Connor on co-vocals, was superb, as indeed was the entire show. Have to say I'm aching a bit from being in the middle of the scrum at the front, no help having two hookers behind me either!
I didn't mean to knock "Fairy Tale of New York" which personally I think is the best of them all, even ahead of "White Christmas". However, there's room for other songs as well and Frank Kelly's "12 Days of Christmas" is definitely worth inclusion. Florida flute player Mart Groody came up with another take on the "12 Days..." at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8 which shows what can go wrong when all performers are not on the same wavelength - this could so easily happen at a trad session, although in reality thankfully rarely occurs!
Christmas time is here, by golly,
Disapproval would be folly.
Deck the halls with hunks of holly,
Fill the cup and don't say when.
Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens,
Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens.
Even though the prospect sickens,
Brother, here we go again.
On Christmas Day you can't get sore,
Your fellow man you must adore.
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three hundred and sixty-four.
Relations, sparing no expense, 'll
Send some useless old utensil,
Or a matching pen and pencil.
("Just the thing I need, how nice!")
It doesn't matter how sincere it is,
Nor how heart felt the spirit,
Sentiment will not endear it,
What's important is the price.
Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
Advertising wondrous things.
God rest ye merry merchants,
May ye make the Yuletide pay.
Angels we have heard on high,
Tell us to go out and buy!
So, let the raucous sleigh bells jingle,
Hail our dear old friend Kris Kringle,
Driving his reindeer across the sky.
Don't stand underneath when they fly by.
I enjoyed a concert with him in Dublin, way back when...
On a more serious note ~ heh, heh, heh ~
"Simponies Des Noëls: A Treasury of Baroque Christmas Concerti"
De Lalande, Sammartini, Torelli, Pez (!), Corelli, Charpentier
Les Violons du Roy
Bernard Labadie
Dorian Recordings
That's just to try to offset the previous selection...
"Fairy Tale Of New York" ~ Only once did I get ill over this, when Welsh opera singer Catherine Jenkins gave it a run ~ uhhh!!! I think I'm going to get the runs just thinking about that atrocity...
Aine Hensey starts her Christmas show with Frankin Gavin playing Christmas Eve and follows it with Paul Brady singing Arthur McBride. I wouldn't have thought of it as a Christmas song but it obviously is. http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thelatesession/
Sorry gang, much as it may lower my status here in the yellow pea mush, we did used to sing this, after we'd gotten a little help from something intoxicating ~
CHORUS:
The holly green, the ivy green the prettiest picture you've ever seen
Is Christmas in Killarney with all of the folks at home
It's nice, you know, to kiss your beau while cuddling under the mistletoe
And Santa Claus you know, of course is one of the boys from home
The door is always open, the neighbors pay a call
And Father John before he's gone will bless the house and all
Our Hearts are light, our spirits bright, we'll celebrate our joy tonight
Is Christmas in Killarney with all of the folks at home
Chorus
We'll decorate the Christmas tree when all the family's here
Around a roaring fire we will raise a cup of cheer
There's gifts to bring, And songs to sing and laughs to make the rafters ring
Is Christmas in Killarney with all of the folks at home
Chorus
We'll take the horse and sleigh all across the fields of snow
Listening to the jingle bells everywhere we go
How grand it feels to click your heels and dance away to the jigs and reels
It's Christmas in Killarney with all of the folks at home
Chorus
AND THEN ~ EXTENUATING THE SHMALTZ ~ NICE N' SLOW ~
Is Chrisssssstmas iiiin Killaaaarneeeey ~ with all of the folks at home...
I'll never live this down... Who says confession is good for the soul?
Keeping it 'seasonal', still trying to shake things out of my head, but for now, as we sang a lot of Wassails ~ "The Gower Wassail" is an all time favourite of us both...
Come on all you mad sessioneers, take your shotguns off the rack and lets go out and shoot apples while singing and getting wasted on apple brandy / apple jack... YAHOO!!!
Jimmy Shand playing one of his own compositions, a lovely waltz called 'Welcome Christmas Morning'
I also like this one. You may have to copy and paste this link.
Christmas In February - Lou Reed.
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit - Half Man Half Biscuit.
Christmas Song - Mogwai.
Christmas In Southgate - Ry Cooder.
Think you and I could get a fine setlist, MacCruiskeen.
"The Emigrant's Song/Farewell" & "Galway Bay" (that one I recently added the air to) ~ yes, seriously, for me anyway, for whatever reasons, this time of year, on the cusp of a new one, and during this season of chill...
Indeed we could, Strayaway, but why don't we just content ourselves with an hour of the Biscuits? I'm performing the Len Ganley stance as I write and I still hate Nerys Hughes from the heart:
The rotting mass of calcium
Was shopping in the Superstore,
Careering down the aisles
Like one big psychopathic carnivore.
I'm mellowing out to "Spirit Of The Glen" (Pipes And Drums Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards) ; though not to the extent that I can concur with any mass adoration there may ever have been for "Mull Of Kintyre"..! Nice takes though, IMO, on Hector The Hero and The Dark Isle.
Favourite Christmas Tune
Favourite Christmas Tune
Apart from Christmas Eve, which wins hands down, are there any other tunes or songs that are particularly appropriate for this time of year? I'm sure most of you will be fed up with Slade's Merry Christmas and Shane McGowan's Fairy Tale of New York blaring out all over the place and there surely has to be something else. One that comes up occasionally but that I haven't heard for a couple of years is the alternative "12 Days to Christmas". Personally I think it's hilarious and if you want to have a listen click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkF7fpw-wI.
A Very Happy Christmas to everyone out there.
# Posted on December 23rd 2007 by Bannerman
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Christmas Day In Da Morning is a great tune. Should be played more than once a year!
# Posted on December 23rd 2007 by minijackpot
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
As far as I'm concerned the carols win.
# Posted on December 23rd 2007 by nicholas
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
THE JETHRO TULL CHRISTMAS ALBUM! (a short review)
Most Tull fans will have heard a few of these already, but this wonderful album contains some new songs and brand-new arrangements of old ones. For those who prefer the band in their less rock and roll, more Elizabethan mode (like with their previous albums Songs from the Wood or Heavy Horses), this CD is for you. With excellent flute, mandolin, guitars, percussion and vocals, this is a classic Tull album, one of the best new ones I have heard in years. There are also some nice surprises, like jazzy arrangements of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' and "Bouree," both of which I heard this summer when the band performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. There are new arrangements of old faves, and while some of these reworked tunes are better for it (I love the new rendition of "Ring Out Solstice Bells" (from SFTW) as the old one always sounded a bit hokey to me), some would have done better to stay closer to the original version. In most cases, though, it's mixed, with improvement for the most part. I like the less-electronic feel of "Jack Frost and the Hooded Crow," but I think the vocals on the first version (available on the "20 Years Of Jethro Tull" collection) were fuller. Some of my other favorite tracks from SFTW are here, "Weathercock" and "Fires at Midnight," and I like the new versions, which are warmer and mellower than the originals. Songs new to me here include the contemporary songs "Last Man at the Party," "Birthday Card at Christmas," "First Snow on Brooklyn," and "AWinter Snowscape." The album contains some nice instrumentals, including "Pavane" and "Holly Herald." I did wonder why "Pan Dance" was not included, since this was on a special edition Christmas 45 record a few years back. But all in all, I can't really offer any complaints about this CD. Great to have, great to give.
# Posted on December 23rd 2007 by Lint - upon - Tweed
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Fed up with Fairy Tale Of New York? Not a bit of it, I was at The Pogues concert in Belfast last night and the version, with Sinead O'Connor on co-vocals, was superb, as indeed was the entire show. Have to say I'm aching a bit from being in the middle of the scrum at the front, no help having two hookers behind me either!
# Posted on December 23rd 2007 by strayaway
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
I didn't mean to knock "Fairy Tale of New York" which personally I think is the best of them all, even ahead of "White Christmas". However, there's room for other songs as well and Frank Kelly's "12 Days of Christmas" is definitely worth inclusion. Florida flute player Mart Groody came up with another take on the "12 Days..." at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8 which shows what can go wrong when all performers are not on the same wavelength - this could so easily happen at a trad session, although in reality thankfully rarely occurs!
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by Bannerman
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
"A Christmas Carol" ~ Tom Lehrer
Christmas time is here, by golly,
Disapproval would be folly.
Deck the halls with hunks of holly,
Fill the cup and don't say when.
Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens,
Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens.
Even though the prospect sickens,
Brother, here we go again.
On Christmas Day you can't get sore,
Your fellow man you must adore.
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three hundred and sixty-four.
Relations, sparing no expense, 'll
Send some useless old utensil,
Or a matching pen and pencil.
("Just the thing I need, how nice!")
It doesn't matter how sincere it is,
Nor how heart felt the spirit,
Sentiment will not endear it,
What's important is the price.
Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
Advertising wondrous things.
God rest ye merry merchants,
May ye make the Yuletide pay.
Angels we have heard on high,
Tell us to go out and buy!
So, let the raucous sleigh bells jingle,
Hail our dear old friend Kris Kringle,
Driving his reindeer across the sky.
Don't stand underneath when they fly by.
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
I enjoyed a concert with him in Dublin, way back when...
On a more serious note ~ heh, heh, heh ~
"Simponies Des Noëls: A Treasury of Baroque Christmas Concerti"
De Lalande, Sammartini, Torelli, Pez (!), Corelli, Charpentier
Les Violons du Roy
Bernard Labadie
Dorian Recordings
That's just to try to offset the previous selection...
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
"Fairy Tale Of New York" ~ Only once did I get ill over this, when Welsh opera singer Catherine Jenkins gave it a run ~ uhhh!!! I think I'm going to get the runs just thinking about that atrocity...
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Try thinking of a carol in a minor key.............
Rudolf the red rose cafe........... ?
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by P.browne
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
What Child is This; Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel, Twas in the Moon of Wintertime
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by wyogal
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Aine Hensey starts her Christmas show with Frankin Gavin playing Christmas Eve and follows it with Paul Brady singing Arthur McBride. I wouldn't have thought of it as a Christmas song but it obviously is.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thelatesession/
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by kuec
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Hey, does nobody love "Christmas In Killarney"?
Who says confession is good for the soul?
Sorry gang, much as it may lower my status here in the yellow pea mush, we did used to sing this, after we'd gotten a little help from something intoxicating ~
CHORUS:
The holly green, the ivy green the prettiest picture you've ever seen
Is Christmas in Killarney with all of the folks at home
It's nice, you know, to kiss your beau while cuddling under the mistletoe
And Santa Claus you know, of course is one of the boys from home
The door is always open, the neighbors pay a call
And Father John before he's gone will bless the house and all
Our Hearts are light, our spirits bright, we'll celebrate our joy tonight
Is Christmas in Killarney with all of the folks at home
Chorus
We'll decorate the Christmas tree when all the family's here
Around a roaring fire we will raise a cup of cheer
There's gifts to bring, And songs to sing and laughs to make the rafters ring
Is Christmas in Killarney with all of the folks at home
Chorus
We'll take the horse and sleigh all across the fields of snow
Listening to the jingle bells everywhere we go
How grand it feels to click your heels and dance away to the jigs and reels
It's Christmas in Killarney with all of the folks at home
Chorus
AND THEN ~ EXTENUATING THE SHMALTZ ~ NICE N' SLOW ~
Is Chrisssssstmas iiiin Killaaaarneeeey ~ with all of the folks at home...
I'll never live this down...
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
THE JETHRO TULL CHRISTMAS ALBUM!
Aaaaaarrrrgggh!!!!!!!!
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by Farr
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
French carols / Chants de Noël ~ are lovely...
The Coventry Carol ~ "luly lulay thou little tiny child, By-by luly lulay ~ "
And we used to sing one particular Medieval carol every Christmas but we can't seem to remeber it.
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
We also used to butcher some of these, playing some of the French ones, like "Ding Dong Merrily" as dance tunes...
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Keeping it 'seasonal', still trying to shake things out of my head, but for now, as we sang a lot of Wassails ~ "The Gower Wassail" is an all time favourite of us both...
Come on all you mad sessioneers, take your shotguns off the rack and lets go out and shoot apples while singing and getting wasted on apple brandy / apple jack... YAHOO!!!
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Jimmy Shand playing one of his own compositions, a lovely waltz called 'Welcome Christmas Morning'
I also like this one. You may have to copy and paste this link.
http://badaboo.free.fr/merryxmas.swf
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by Free Reed
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
The Damned - Sanity Clause
The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)
Captain Beefheart - There Ain't No Santa Claus on the Evenin' Stage
Aimee Mann - Whatever Happened to Christmas?
The entire Phil Spector Christmas album
That's enough, I'll get my coat.
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by MacCruiskeen
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Christmas In February - Lou Reed.
All I Want For Christmas Is A Dukla Prague Away Kit - Half Man Half Biscuit.
Christmas Song - Mogwai.
Christmas In Southgate - Ry Cooder.
Think you and I could get a fine setlist, MacCruiskeen.
# Posted on December 24th 2007 by strayaway
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
"The Emigrant's Song/Farewell" & "Galway Bay" (that one I recently added the air to) ~ yes, seriously, for me anyway, for whatever reasons, this time of year, on the cusp of a new one, and during this season of chill...
# Posted on December 25th 2007 by ceolachan
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/8046
# Posted on December 25th 2007 by ceolachan
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Indeed we could, Strayaway, but why don't we just content ourselves with an hour of the Biscuits? I'm performing the Len Ganley stance as I write and I still hate Nerys Hughes from the heart:
The rotting mass of calcium
Was shopping in the Superstore,
Careering down the aisles
Like one big psychopathic carnivore.
Seems appropriate for the post-Xmas sales!
# Posted on December 25th 2007 by MacCruiskeen
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
I'm mellowing out to "Spirit Of The Glen" (Pipes And Drums Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards) ; though not to the extent that I can concur with any mass adoration there may ever have been for "Mull Of Kintyre"..! Nice takes though, IMO, on Hector The Hero and The Dark Isle.
# Posted on December 25th 2007 by nicholas
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Got my Joy Division Oven Gloves on as I type! Just got in, I'm one of the 24 hour garage people, you know.
# Posted on December 25th 2007 by strayaway
Re: Favourite Christmas Tune
Thanks Ceolachan for reminding us of the alternative "12 Days" one by Frank Kelly at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkF7fpw-wI which is a real classic.
# Posted on December 5th 2008 by Bannerman