The last time I did Holidailies, I wrote out the liner notes to the Holiday Weetamix CD and I think it’s probably one of my favorite entries from that year. However, the mistake I made was posting them before the recipients actually received their Weetamixes, thus eliminating the surprise. Last year, I didn’t write out the liner notes to my Holiday Weetamix CD because I didn’t get them out until a few days before Christmas. Because I suck. And because of that, I present you with the liner notes from the 2005 Holiday Weetamix CD!
Death Cab for Cutie – The New Year
I always throw a few non-seasonal songs on the mix, and while technically this one is seasonal in a way, it’s definitely not a Holiday song perse. I think the entire difference between the 2005 Holiday mix and its predecessor is really underlined by this song. The 2004 mix is full of optimism and the 2005 mix feels terribly sorry for itself. The New Year? I don’t feel any different. I don’t understand, honestly, because I had a great 2005, and I have happy memories of December in itself. But apparently the week I compiled the song list did not exemplify the entirety of my year. Apparently I was awash with ennui that week and took it out on the list. Or maybe I was just cautiously optimistic rather than unabashedly so as in 2004. You decide.
Harry Nilsson – Remember (Christmas)
I had to do something to cleanse the palate from the dissonance of the feedback that ended “The New Year”, so went with quiet piano and Harry Nilsson commiserating that the holidays, they’re tough, man. They’re tough on all of us. Memories hurt. And this song makes me think of Meg Ryan’s smile. That’s probably an association caused by the fact that it’s on the You’ve Got Mail soundtrack and is the song playing during a montage when she’s realizing that she has to close the store and then sees herself as a child, spinning with her mother and good god are you crying right now, because I totally am. She had to close her mother’s store! She has been happy to have been part of your life! God! I am such a chick. But this song is dripping with nostalgia and also, Harry Nilsson knows just where to stick you. Watch out for him.
Joni Mitchell – River
Oh my god, I clearly needed Xanax or something last December. Because River? RIVER? Good lord, that’s a sad song. I seem to remember that this was another song where I indulged my mood, but then again, who doesn’t sometimes wish they had a river that they could skate away on?
Leon Redbone/Zooey Deschanel – Baby It’s Cold Outside
I was originally going to use an Alan Cumming/Liza Minelli version of this song, but then Mopie convinced me that the Redbone/Deschanel version is the best version of this song. And honestly, she’s right. This is a great version and also, really weird, because what strange powers that be decided to stick Zooey Deschanel into a recording booth with Leon Fricking Redbone? And then, a calamity. At some point during the mass CD burning sessions, this song got eliminated from the playlist. I didn’t notice it was missing until I was almost done, so I have no idea how many CDs actually ended up with this song on it.
Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hot Christmas
I still love SNZ. I only like listening to them during the winter months for some reason, and also, I don’t really like all of their holiday music. I’ve officially run out of decent SNZ songs to include on the Holiday Mixes, so 2006 is the first holiday mix in a long time to go without something from the Zippers.
Rufus Wainwright – Hallelujah
From the title, you’d think it was a religious song, and honestly, I guess it is, but it also isn’t. I was addicted to this song for a very long time a few years ago. I had to keep playing and replaying it while I was writing. I get like that sometimes. I’ve worn through my addiction, but I still love this song. And I have a serious love affair going with Rufus Wainwright’s voice.
Fiona Apple – Across the Universe
I don’t really like Fiona Apple. Oh, sure, I’ll sing “Criminal” at karaoke and slither around the stage as though I’m an anorexic nymph wearing a wife beater, but I still am not terribly fond of her. But her cover of this song is my second favorite. There’s something dreamy and lovely and innocent about her voice here. And that’s the kind of mindset someone should have during the end of the year. Peace and love and harmony with the universe and all that hippy crap. (By the way, the best cover of “Across the Universe” is by Rufus Wainwright, but since I like his “Hallelujah” so very much and I didn’t want to duplicate two artists on one mix, I opted for the Apple version here.)
Sarah McLachlan – Song for a Winter’s Night
I don’t know. It sounded like dark afternoons and fireplaces and also, oh my god, more ennui! Although I will justify this in that Sarah McLachlan, even though she’s totally a clich’, has got a very beautiful voice. And it makes me sort of hate her for it.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack – Magic Snow Music
I try to always put at least one song without words on each mix, and this one was about snow. Except that really, I had a typo in my mp3 and apparently the piece was titled “Magic SHOW music”. Meh, in my world, it’s Magic Snow.
The Carpenters – Sleigh Ride
Think back to a happy memory during your childhood. Think of your mom or your grandmother handing you a present or nuzzling your nose. The sound of her voice? Face it. In your memories, it sounds almost exactly like Karen Carpenter. I think a few years ago, I declared that all holiday compilations needed to have at least one Carpenters song, but looking at the song list for the 2006 edition, I’ve broken that edict.
Janet Orenstein – There’s Always Tomorrow
I know that a lot of people think that the stop action Rudolph specials are creepy, but I love them. I love the Bumbles that bounce. I love Yukon Cornelius. I really love the island of misfit toys and the Charlie in the Box. And I love Clarice before she ever got tainted by Anthony Hopkins and Jame Gumb. I love her silly little red polka dot bow. And I love that she tries to cheer up Rudolph and that she trash talks Fireball who, quite honestly, was the reindeer equivalent of Scott Farcas. Fucking Fireball.
Billy Mack – Christmas is All Around
Just like last year, I had to use a song from the “Love, Actually” soundtrack. And I love Bill Nighy, whose character “Billy Mack” sings this song in the movie while bare assed naked, his naughty bits hidden by a carefully placed guitar. His delivery of the lyrics in this song still make me laugh. You can actually hear him sneer at one point. That’s some great acting, people. Great acting. I know that it’s a clich’ and supposedly overrated, but I stupidly love this movie, even though Laura Linney’s character gets massively screwed by the plot and there’s mofo Joni Mitchell again, growling out her weltschmerz and making Emma Thompson cry. But still, a great movie, full of completely edible men like Alan Richman and Colin Firth and Liam Neeson and the guy who plays Tim on the UK series “The Office” and also Colin Firth some more. (There’s also Hugh Grant, who is not quite so edible. In fact, this movie completely cured me of any appetite for Hugh Grant, because he is just terribly unsexy in this film. However, his character does have the good taste to hit on the hottest chick in the movie and who makes Kiera Knightly look in comparison like the underfed child that she is.) It should go without saying that I recommend this movie for your yearly dose of schmaltz. And also, they perpetuate the rumor that Wisconsin is full of friendly and lickable women (portrayed in the movie as heavy metal groupies). But maybe pretend Laura Linney’s character isn’t in it, because she’s just going to depress you.
Simple Plan – My Christmas List
Even in what must have been a sour mood, I still recognized the need to balance the mix out with something moaning about all the hurt in the world. The boys in Simple Plan don’t wish they had a river that they could skate away on. They don’t want you to remember everything that was lost along with your childhood innocence like Harry Nilsson. They want a bike. And a first class trip to Hawaii. And a lot of other things too.
Rooney – Merry Christmas Everybody
This reminds me of something you might have heard in the early 80’s on maybe a tribute CD to fix world hunger or something. It’s just a poppy little song from Rooney. I think Rooney is ok with that.
The Decemberists – Grace Cathedral Hill
Oh this song. I love this song. Definitely a non-holiday song, but so beautiful and poignant that I couldn’t help but include it, and also, it’s the Decemberists. In December. So hah, it works. This is another song that I was addicted to, and in fact, it’s the sixth most frequently played song on my iPod right this minute. There are moments in life when you believe in the possibility of magic. And once I was driving along California Street in San Francisco and this song queued up on the iPod and Mopie mentioned that we were actually on Grace Cathedral Hill right then, passing the Cathedral. Which is of course nothing special, and yet, it was all the proof in the world I needed at that moment. Awhile back, I was reading a review of the new Decemberists album and they said that it’s the music that English graduate students put on to seduce other English grad students. That’s probably true, because I can tell you that any song which uses the word “moribund” makes me a little hot.
Coldplay – Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
It’s songs like this that make you realize that Chris Martin really doesn’t have that spectacular of a voice. He doesn’t. He uses it in a way that is perfect while doing his Coldplay songs, but as a voice? It’s nothing special. I love this song, though, and since I used the best version ever in the previous year’s mix (Chrissy Hynde, for the record), Chris Martin just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
Death Cab for Cutie – Christmas ( Baby Please Come Home)
I was on a serious Death Cab kick last December and I like the symmetry of opening and closing the mix with the same group, but this was actually the first song that I knew would be going on the Holiday Mix and thus, it set the tone. I love Ben Gibbard’s voice and wish that he’d get on the stick and do another Postal Service album already. And oh the ennui! I was so freaking emo last year, it’s like I was reliving my senior year in high school. This year’s mix is better. There’s a song sung by a snowman and stuff. Only a little emo, I promise.
The liner notes on Holiday Mix 2006 will be posted a week after they’ve been sent out, along with the songs that didn’t make it onto the mix. And if you post your favorite Holiday Song in the comments section and leave a working e-mail address, I’ll send you a link where you can download these songs as mp3s to have for your very own, along with the artwork that went with the 2005 Holiday mix CD.
