Lessons and Carols is a traditional Christmas service. This is the audio from the 2015 version of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at King's College, Cambridge, which was first heard there on Christmas Eve in 1918:
They have a website with more information on the service and directions for how to listen to it live. This is a beautifully uplifting celebration.
We have a lot of Christmas CDs, but I also enjoy combining music to make up my own list of songs to listen to. Here's my Spotify Christmas playlist:
I like a variety, but if your tastes are different I'm sure there's a playlist to suit you. Searching Spotify for Christmas playlist yields more options than I can possibly describe. This link is to my past posts that were tagged "Christmas Music". And yes, it seems I post a video for the song Chiron Beta Prime every year.
We love listening to Christmas music around here. We have a kajillion CDs, I have a Christmas playlist on Spotify, and I've been surprised to see how much Christmas music there is on Youtube. Here's a playlist that lasts almost 12 hours:
Well, today a friend told me this sorry tale
As he stood there trembling and turning pale
He said each day's harder to get on the scale
Sort of like Jacob Marley's chain
But it's not like life's such a vale of tears
It's just full of thoughts that act as souvenirs
For those tiny blunders made in yesteryear
That comprise Jacob Marley's chain
My personal choice for winner of Most Depressing Christmas Song Ever is Christmas Shoes by NewSong:
A more dreary, sad, and depressing Christmas song cannot possibly exist.
But Salon.com gave it a go, coming up with a list of unintentionally depressing ones. They go into some detail about the recordings at that link, but I'm excerpting just a bit to give the flavor of why these were selected.
Frank Sinatra's The Christmas Song, about which they say, "Classics like “The Christmas Song,” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas” took on a heartbreaking tone after Frank phoned them in for this 1957 recording. Sinatra was going through a messy divorce and simultaneously making a holiday album in the triple-digit heat of Los Angeles summer."
Lightnin’ Hopkins' Merry Christmas, and Salon describes it as "the sound of a man alone on Christmas".
Low's Blue Christmas. Salon says, "After a couple of minutes listening to Mimi Parker and company you suddenly get the sense of what it must be like to wake up Christmas morning to find you have been robbed of everything but the tinsel."
Vince Guaraldi's Christmas Time Is Here. Salon says the piano-only version "has always seemed like the soundtrack to crying in your old bedroom".
My Morning Jacket's Xmas Time Is Here Again. Salon says the vocals "evoke the most disheveled group of carolers to ever find your door."
Red Red Meat's There’s Always Tomorrow. Salon says they turn the Claymation Rudolph song "a big pile of ashes and antlers."
Eurythmics' Winter Wonderland. Salon says they "sounded more alien or robotic".
Now if all that isn't depressing enough, read Salon's exploration of why Baby, It's Cold Outside is about date rape. And yes, yes it is. There is no saving that song.
Every year I delete some pieces from my Spotify Christmas music playlist, and I add others. It gets longer every year. I like a variety of types of music, so my playlist is eclectic, but there are also many traditional tracks. You can listen to it here:
This year has been a little crazy for the Andersons.
You may recall we had some trouble last year.
The robot council had us banished to an asteroid.
That hasn't undermined our holiday cheer.
And we know it's almost Christmas by the marks we make on the wall.
That's our favorite time of year.
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime,
Where we're working in a mine for our robot overlords.
Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime.
On every corner there's a giant metal Santa Claus, who watches over us with glowing red eyes.
They carry weapons and they know if you've been bad or good.
Not everybody's good but everyone tries.
And the rocks outside the airlock exude ammonia-scented snow.
It's like a Winter Wonderland.
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime,
Where we're working in a mine for our robot overlords.
Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime.
That's all the family news that we're allowed to talk about.
We really hope you'll come and visit us soon.
I mean we're literally begging you to visit us.
And make it quick before they [MESSAGE REDACTED].
Now it's time for Christmas dinner - I think the robots sent us a pie!
You know I love my soylent green.
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime,
Where we're working in a mine for our robot overlords.
Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.
Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime.
Once Again It Didn't Snow
And I Turn on My Radio And "Blue Christmas" Plays.
When the Clock Rolls Past the Twelve
We Put Time Up On a Shelf Just For a Day.
Chorus:
It's Not The Presents Or The Lights Up On The Tree
It's Not The Santas Ringing Bells Out In The Streets
It's That I'm Home and There's No Place I'd Rather Be
Because It's Christmas in Memphis
Christmas in Memphis
Christmas in Memphis, Tennessee
Brand New Year is a holiday cd by SHe DAISY, a female country music trio, and although I'm not a country music fan, I enjoyed this cd with its close harmony. I was pleased and surprised to find "Christmas Children" here. We watch a lot of Christmas Carol movies during this season, and the one this song is from -the musical "Scrooge" starring Albert Finney- is a favorite. The lyrics are online here.
I remember listening to the radio in the car one day years ago, hearing a flute playing unfamiliar Christmas music and thinking that it sounded an awful lot like Jethro Tull. I couldn't imagine that Jethro Tull would have a Christmas CD. But they do. You can read the lyrics at the band's site. You can listen to some of the music here. I like this one, but The Husband's not a fan.
Because this blog does not consist of a single focus topic I chose the name Divers and Sundry where "Divers" means being of many and various kinds, and "Sundry" means consisting of a haphazard assortment of different kinds.
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