“Fuck you if you don’t like Christmas” (YouTube) is a bit Not Safe For Work, but all the NSFWness is in the title. It makes you wonder whether you like that Panama is an isthmus, which is something I never even thought about having an opinion on before.
“We need different stuff in the economy now, things are changing. … You can’t just think of yourself. Just this one time, because it’s Christmas.”
Above all that, it hangs together. And it’s catchy.
“The Boar’s Head” (Wikipedia/YouTube) can be made very subtle and pretty, as in the arrangement I’ve linked to, but at bottom it’s a silly song. Written half in Latin doggerel, it begs to be belted out with gusto: “Let us servire cantico!“
My wife’s family had printed packets of sheet music, so singing carols always meant picking from the ones in the book. When she moved to Albany, we went on-line to look for sheet music. Sending links back and forth, we sang from our open laptops. This led to us discovering lots of great holiday songs, but The Boar’s Head is perhaps my favorite.
Blair Thornburgh isn’t far from the mark in calling it “Almost the absolute best carol ever written.”
Last year I started to write a post about my favorite holiday songs. I didn’t get past listing the titles of seven of them. Inspired by the book week thing, I’ve decided to make it seven posts this year.
I first heard “Fairytale of New York” (Wikipedia/YouTube) as a teenager, because my brother was a huge Pogues fan.It has some lovely musical juxtapositions while still being something you can sing-along to. I understand that it’s a huge thing in the UK, so much so that not hearing it is a challenge on the scale of Whammageddon.1
The challenge was to post 7 books I love (1 per day). When Quentin set the challenge, I was stumped for a bit. There were plenty of books that I like, but are there any that I love? After a conversation with Cristyn, I brainstormed more than enough. With day 9, I draw this overlong book week to a close.
The challenge was to post 7 books I love (1 per day). I couldn’t actually settle on a list of 7.
The challenge is to post 7 books I love (1 per day). No explanations, no reviews. Just covers.
The challenge is to post 7 books I love (1 per day). No explanations, no reviews. Just covers.
The challenge is to post 7 books I love (1 per day). No explanations, no reviews. Just covers.
The challenge is to post 7 books I love (1 per day). No explanations, no reviews. Just covers.
The challenge is to post 7 books I love (1 per day). No explanations, no reviews. Just covers.
