Christmas Countdown: The Christmas Music List

I’m three days behind my daily list (love life). My kids and I have decorated our tree and began eating the chocolate out of the advent calendars. And the girls are listening to the Glee Christmas album with shrieks of delight.  So, I’m here to give the next three songs and catch up to the day. Yes, folks, it is a musical advent calendar for you.

First off, I would like to dedicate the next one to my lovely, charming BFF Jayme, who loves this song, as do I. There is no way this duet should have worked. But it does.

One of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written melody composed by Adolphe Adam and the best know version is with the poetic lyrics of one John Sullivan Dwight. It’s a hymn that people love to sing but few can sing well. There is that note, after all, that only dogs and Celine Dion can hear. I went with my favourite version, by the legendary Nat “King” Cole.

Finally, a modern Christmas classic that just makes me smile. It’s terrible. Just terrible. But it is Bill Nighy.

 

What The Idols Should Sing- Lennon/McCartney Week

Because the Idol Gods hate me and my best friend Rose so freakin’ much, we have got another ( for all intents and purposes) Beatles week/ “Let us destroy “Imagine” just one more time” week.

Seriously, you know one of the nine will do “Imagine”, which should never be sung by anyone ever, ever, ever again in the history of man. And they will butcher it and leave me in tears.

So here we go, my recommendations for the top nine, which they will ignore because that’s what they do.

Aaron- aw, sweet little Aaron who hasn’t turned into a complete train wreck once top twelve came around. So I want him to sing the sweet sounding “Dear Prudence”, and hope he won’t be too fussy at nap time.

Andrew- suck it up, dude, and rock something, like “Get Back”.

Casey- The dude can play guitar but is incessantly upbeat, so let him shine on with some “Instant Karma!”

Crystal- strip it down again with an adaptation of the Michael Penn/Aimee Mann version of “Two of Us”, which is one of the McCartney songs I actually love. It’s also one people never seem to remember. Crystal would make it legendary.

Katie- we all know she’s gonna use her pageant pipes on “Imagine”.

Lee- use the gruff grit to your advantage and kill it on “Don’t let Me Down”.

Mike- the big sap would do a lovely version of “In My Life”. Tears are a bonus.

Siobhan- the wackadoo glass blower would totally nail “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”, but I doubt TPTB would let that go on, so let’s use that banshee wail on “Helter Skelter” and totally be awesome!

Tim- “Silly Love Songs” and then get rid of him, please.

SNARKY SONG ADVICE FOR IDOL KIDS #1

So, the Rolling Stones have sold their catalogue away to Simon Fuller’s behemoth, too. If it’s good enough for the Beatles…

( The Kinks still remain the best British band ever, with the Clash coming in a close second. Yes, I am saying that to provoke you all. It’s my blog, deal with it. Also, I like Coldplay. Bite me.)

The Stones catalogue is deep, as one would expect after forty-five plus years of Kicking Ass.  I’ve been watching Tweets and thread comments since this morning, and I must ask- do you honestly think Idol will allow any of their singers to sing “Bitch”? Really? I doubt it. Nice thought, though.

So here it goes, my totally random and snark filled attempt to suggest songs that our top twelve should sing if they don’t want me to make fun of them next week.

Aaron: Oh, how sweet would it be for baby-faced Aaron to dress in black leather, go all emo, and howl off-key to “Sympathy For The Devil”? Sadly, I will never ask him to do that, because “Sympathy” is one of my favorite Stones tracks, and I don’t want to completely ruin it for everyone. Aaron to this point has mostly picked country songs, but I also think doing the most country of all Stones tracks, “Honky Tonk Woman”, would be creepy.  Frankly, looking over the Stones song list, there is very little I want to see the teenaged Aaron sing. I sat give him ” Time Is On My Side”, with its very limited vocal range, and we’ll plot to get rid of him next week.

Andrew: I still like Andrew, there is some real talent there. I’d like to see him liven things up a bit, grab an electric guitar, and launch himself into “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. I don’t know why I like that idea so much.

Casey: I’ve had trouble picking a Casey song, because he’s got a bluesy rock vibe that goes well with the Stones catalogue.  So I turned it over to GC, who picked ” Paint It, Black”, because it’s one three Stones songs she actually knows and one of them she deemed better suited for one of the girls. I say it works, because if you strip away the sitar, it’s got a good blues underbelly.