A dozen Christmas songs I had not linked to yet this season. These are among my favorites.
Wexford Carol – Alison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma. Alison is one of my wife’s favorite artists. She’s one of her K Girls, along with Diana Krall, and they reside next to each other in the file cabinet. Naturally, the artists are in alphabetical order
Merry Christmas, Baby – Charles Brown. I was not really familiar with him, to be honest until I heard Bonnie Raitt had him and the unrelated Ruth Brown on a live album that I own.
Merry Xmas (War Is Over) – John and Yoko and The Harlem Community Choir. Always makes me sad, because John’s assassination was in December.
River – Joni Mitchell. I’m still mystified that my late friend Donna, who was a music buff and a Joni obsessive, failed to hear Jingle Bells as the motif of this song.
The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole. Likely my mother’s favorite singer. Whatever happened to all of her old 78s she owned?
The year the US entered WWII
Getting Ready for Christmas Day – Paul Simon. I was always taken that the sermon was from 1941, the year Paul was born. Simon is sampling!
This Christmas – Donny Hathaway. I miss Donny, though I have none of his albums, except the ones he did with Roberta Flack.
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) – Darlene Love. I could have picked several songs from that Phil Spector Christmas album. But this song is the best of a great bunch.
The Mistletoe And Me – Isaac Hayes. From one of those Stax/Volt boxed sets. This deserves radio play!
Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses. I have this on 12″ vinyl, but it’s seldom made my annual lists simply because it slips my mind.
What Christmas Means To Me – Stevie Wonder. One of my Top 5 favorite pop Christmas songs. I have it on both a Stevie album and a Motown compilation.
We Three Kings – Patti Smith. This is from A Very Special Christmas 3 in 1997. David Lose calls the rendition an unlikely Christmas carol, in a good way.
Wait, there’s more!
Here are a few from Sharp Little Pencil:
Snowman – Barenaked Ladies
Christmas Calling (Jolly Jones) – Norah Jones