Songs for the Christmas Season 5

Yesterday, I went with mellow. Today I'm going with some uptempo, happy songs. First up is a great song by Detroit Jr. called "Christmas Day." Not only is it a great, driving R&B number but it's also an original holiday tune!





Today's second selection is another driving song, this time Louisiana-style. It's "Louisiana Christmas Day" by Aaron Neville from 1993.

Songs for the Christmas Season 4

Not all Christmas/seasonal music has to be uptempo and exciting. Some of it is downright depressing and I don't like those at all. But there are some songs that are really mellow and reflective and I enjoy those very much. Here are two of my favorites.

First, we have Glen Campbell with "Christmas is for Children" from his very mellow X-mas album of 1968. The title may be misleading as at the end he concludes that "aren't we all children, Christmas Day."






Next is a not-so-Christmas song but definitely a favorite around this time of year. It's John Denver singing about the winter beauty, peace & smiling faces of "Aspenglow" from 1975.

Songs for the Christmas Season 3

Here are a couple of songs that are not exactly about Christmas but they are about the winter season. First up is what I consider to be the penultimate version of that seasonal favorite, "Baby, It's Cold Outside." I usually prefer older versions the grand majority of the time but a very few rare times does a newer recording become my favorite. This one is by Barry Manilow with K.T. Oslin.






Next is an instrumental version of a song which captures the peaceful, gentleness of falling snowflakes. I have never heard another song which so appropriately conveys the mood felt or what falling snowflakes might actually sound like if they weren't so silent! This is called "Snowfall" and it's performed by The Gordon Langford Quartet.

Songs for the Christmas Season 2

How about a couple of jazz Christmas tunes today?  First up is my favorite jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell doing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" from his 1966 album. Gosh, 1966 was such a great year for music and this entire album does not disappoint.






Next up we have the Vince Guaraldi Trio with the original song, "Christmastime is Here" from the 1965 Charlie Brown Christmas special. Just three instruments yet this song is filled to the brim with good sound. More to come from the VGT!

Songs for the Christmas Season 1

I'm a huge fan of Christmas music. It is a dying art, though. Nowadays many pop artists put out Christmas albums, but the music feels more like someone going through the motions. Fulfilling recording contract obligations. Doing the same old tired songs. Sounding very uninspired. Rare is the new track which captures the essence and feel of Christmas Magic. I'm sure most Christmas music aficionados would agree the we are not currently living during the apex of recorded holiday music. That was years ago. Certainly there have been great new songs recorded in the last few decades and perhaps even great new versions of standard Christmas tunes. And there are some great, harder-to-find new albums that don't fit the 'pop' moniker, thus reducing their visibility and marketability. But I think we would agree the pinnacle of recorded holiday music is from the 1940s to the 1980's. Before the 1940's there was much recorded Christmas music to be found, but its sonic quality can make it very difficult to listen to. After the 1980's, well, recording technology became exceptional but musical inspiration for this genre was way past its peak.

The good news is that those five decades left us an amazing collection of Christmas jewels in so many genres of music. And today I will start sharing some of the ones I really like. For my first post I will have two country-pop songs which kind of remind me of each other.

First up is Tanya Tucker doing "Christmas to Christmas"





And next is Vince Vance & the Valiants with "All I Want for Christmas is You"





Don't you think these two songs should always be played back-to-back?

Songs for the Thanksgiving Season (Thanksgiving Day)

Today is Thanksgiving and as we enjoy being with and eating with family & friends, it is inevitable that we start looking forward to Christmas. That being said, here are two final songs for the Thanksgiving season, both of which give thanks for Christmas.

First up is The Lawrence Welk Orchestra with "Thanks For Christmas."







Finally, an oft-overlooked song by The Bee Gees called "Thank You For Christmas."





Starting tomorrow and probably through the end of the year (since once I get into Christmas music it is very hard for me to get out of it) I will post some of my favorite Christmas & seasonal recordings.

Music for the Thanksgiving Season 3

First up today we have Brenda Lee thanking someone for breaking her heart, sarcastically of course.





Next we have Vince Guaraldi's contribution to the tiny world of actual Thanksgiving Day music. This is his "Thanksgiving Theme" from The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving cartoon.

Songs for the Thanksgiving Season 2

So I sidetracked a bit and didn't get to my daily postings of 'thankful' songs. So here are a few a couple days before Thanksgiving.

First up we have John Denver thanking God he's a country boy (which I don't think he really was. Mountain man maybe. Oh well, it's all just semantics).





And next we have Neil Diamond being thankful for the night.

Songs for the Thanksgiving Season 1

So as soon as the Halloween season has passed us, it's time to start thinking about the Thanksgiving season. Let's start that today for we should be thankful more than just one day out of the year. I'll post some 'thanksgiving' songs that aren't necessarily about the holiday but rather just being grateful for one reason or another.

We'll start off with this great classic from Sam & Dave called "I Thank You." Their studio recording is great in itself but I found this live performance which is equally great and fun to watch. I'll thank you for watching it.

Songs for the Halloween Season 19

Today is All Souls' Day and with that we close this chapter of good music for Halloween. But before we move on to other things, here is one final song appropriately titled "All Souls Night" by Loreena McKennitt.

Songs for the Halloween Season 18

The word "Halloween" comes from "All Hallows' Even" or "All Hallow's Eve," which means today is All Hallows or All Saints' Day. Technically it's still the Halloween season in my eyes and this includes tomorrow as well. So I will continue with 2 more posts of Halloween-ish music.

So first up today is "Children of the Night" by The Stylistics. The music is eerie and the lyrics are pretty dark as well. Give it a listen!






Next is "Black Cat Blues" by The Beau Gentry. Black cats are especially symbolic of Halloween and the narrator has a case of the black cat blues. Not really scary but it is great for the holiday!