"WHITE CHRISTMAS" FRANK SINATRA (1948)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

Many versions of “White Christmas” have been recorded and performed over the years. But, for me, one rises to the top and remains the benchmark after all these years. Sinatra doesn’t overdo it here. Not that he typically does, but he does have the tendency to croon on some of his other recordings. What’s beautiful about this rendition of “White Christmas” is Sinatra just lets his natural baritone and the power of the melody do its thing. Nothing forced. It’s a recording of remarkable restraint, and that’s why I love it.

“I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Just like the ones I used to know. Where the treetops glisten And children listen To hear sleigh bells in the snow.”

"MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY" BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

I believe Christmas is far better off without having to hear the Boss’ version of “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” incessantly. After Mariah Carey’s commercial darling, it’s probably the Christmas song of the season I loathe the most. That’s why “Merry Christmas Baby” is so important. Because Springsteen is so important. He’s still the accomplished singer-songwriter with a knack for performing on stage. “Merry Christmas Baby” as a live recording is a powerful reminder of this without the over-indulgences of his more popularized Christmas tune.

“Now you see, I feel real good tonight. And I got music on the radio. And I feel good tonight.”

"SILENT NIGHT" SHARON VAN ETTEN (2020)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

“Silent Night” is, in many ways, the perfect marriage of traditional Christmas carol and the moody, atmospheric musicality of Sharon Van Etten. This unique musicality starts and ends with Van Etten’s trademark vocal delivery, but the way in which the synthesizers are used in this rendition play an important role as well. “Silent Night” is traditionally sung in quiet reflection. The last Christmaa hymn at a Christmas Eve candlelight service. But here, Van Etten adds an ominous presence to the song, enabling it to linger on long after the last note is sung.

“Glories stream from heaven afar. Heavenly hosts sing alleluia. Christ the Savior is born.”

"WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME" PAUL MCCARTNEY (1979)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

“Wonderful Christmastime” was the song that paved the way for synth-based holiday tracks and the chillwave genre. It has been ubiquitous for several decades now, to the point where it’s easy to forget how ahead of the times this track was when it was first released. There was an irony about it with its monotonous, repetitive nature. The drum machine was accentuated by bells, the synth parts evoked a futuristic North Pole vibe, and McCartney’s vocals were like a Christmas caroling choir at one moment and a grandfather clock at another.

“THE MOON IS RIGHT. THE SPIRITS UP. WE'RE HERE TONIGHT. AND THAT'S ENOUGH.”

"LAST CHRISTMAS" FUTURE ISLANDS (2022)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

This is my new, favorite version of the Wham! Christmas classic. This Future Islands remake is like a fresh blanket of snow. Updated for the times, Herring sings a full octave lower than George Michael’s original vocal output. Future Islands pays homage to the holiday song without veering far from the original. The synthesizers shimmer more like LED than fluorescent, but the melody is still the melody and the lyrics and still the lyrics.

“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. But the very next day you gave it away. This year, To save me from tears I'll give it to someone special.”

"THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY" JOHNNY CASH (1963)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

Cash’s deep baritone vocals is always the highlight on any of his recordings – from “Ring of Fire” to “Hurt”. But it’s appropriate that the second most iconic aspect of “The Little Drummer Boy” from Cash’s first Christmas album is the drum part. It’s notable that the drum kit sounds raw, basic and unpolished – almost unsuitable for a recording of this stature. But this is Johnny Cash. There’s no flair or production finagling. It’s all about the rawness and gravity of the nativity moment. The gift presented to baby Jesus, after all, isn’t about instrument’s quality, it’s solely about the gift of music.

“Come they told me (pa-rum pum pum pum). A newborn King to see (pa-rum pum pum pum). Our finest gifts we bring pa-rum pum pum pum.”

"O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL" FUTURE OF FORESTRY (2013)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

Over a five-year period, Future of Forestry put together their Advent Christmas EP series. Out of that came a collection of highly reflective, meditative Christmas songs that are more suited to listen to in solitude than in a crowded shopping mall or holiday party. “O Come All Ye Faithful” keeps the reason for the season central, sung and performed in undeniable reverence. The intricate layers of instrumentation are a thing of beauty as the song ushers the listener into a state of adoration. But it’s at the 2:34 mark where my mind is blown with an unexpectedly vigorous guitar-led conclusion.

“SING, CHOIRS OF ANGELS. SING IN EXULTATION. SING, ALL YE CITIZENS OF HEAVEN ABOVE. GLORY TO GOD. ALL GLORY IN THE HIGHEST. O COME, LET US ADORE HIM.”

"DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?" BAND AID (1984)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

The soundtrack to our lives often hit an emotional crescendo around the holidays. The songs remind us of childhood. Of family. Of friends. Of home. The famine in Ethiopia seemed worlds way from my Christmas experience. But there’s something powerfully uniting about this Band Aid classic. This song is a sobering reminder that Christmas was never about gifts and decorations. It was never about us. It’s a story of the world. Written and spearheaded by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, it had a Christmas sound to it. But the lyrics told a different, more powerful Christmas story. This was Christmas with a social conscience, indelibly etched into my childhood.

“AT CHRISTMAS TIME, WE LET IN LIGHT AND WE BANISH SHADE.”

"CAROL OF THE BELLS" THE WESTMINSTER CHOIR (2011)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

This is the kind of Christmas song that lingers on in your head long after you’ve heard it. By stripping out all the instrumentation, the Westminster Choir’s version of “Carol Of The Bells” may be the most powerful rendition ever recorded. All focus is on the ensemble of voices that become the instruments themselves. It’s about the high ceiling acoustics. It’s about the electric crescendo. It’s about that lingering feeling inside of you long after Christmas ends. It’s a song that only a group as talented as The Westminster Choir can truly pull off.

“HARK HOW THE BELLS. SWEET SILVER BELLS. ALL SEEM TO SAY. THROW CARES AWAY.”

"HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS" CAT POWER (2013)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

A slowed down version of this Christmas music standard seems right up Chan Marshall’s alley. Somber, reflective, understated vocals float like thick snowflakes across a wintry landscape of stark, echoey piano chords. Sounds just like another Cat Power song, right? Sinatra, Buble and Judy Garland may all have more popular versions of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”, but Marshall made the song more personal and intimate, like a heartfelt letter written to a loved one.

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Let your heart be light From now on. Our troubles will be out of sight.”

"MERRY CHRISTMAS DARLING" CARPENTERS (1970)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

There are two kinds of Christmas songs that I love. One kind I seek out intentionally. The other kind are the songs that find me. This Carpenters classic is one of the latter. A Christmas staple in every way, but mainly because of Karen Carpenter’s warm, inviting lead vocals. If you follow my blog, you might be a little surprised to see this song featured here. It is, after all, a bit on the nose. Maybe too mainstream for its own good. But screw it. I get the warm fuzzies every time I hear Karen Carpenter sing it. And what’s Christmas without the warm fuzzies?

“But I can dream. And in my dreams I'm Christmasing with you.”

"WHITE WINTER HYMNAL" FLEET FOXES (2008)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

It sounds and feels like Christmas. Like many Fleet Foxes songs, “White Winter Hymnal” feels like a cascade of echoing melodies from the mountains. The song is sung in rounds, a traditional form of singing that seemed to be given a new lease on life through the ban'd’s trademark harmonies where each vocal part comes in round after round. This approach has a way of sweeping me up and away, regardless of circumstance. And the words overdelivered. They felt more like classic literature than song lyrics, leading me to believe the character Michael was an allegory for something far greater.

“I was following the pack. All swallowed in their coats with scarves of red tied 'round their throats.”

"O COME O COME EMMANUEL" SUFJAN STEVENS (2006)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

You know, the thing I love most about Sufjan Stevens’ music isn’t the experimental aspects. It’s the reflective parts. Looking inward, not forward. Sufjan is no stranger to Christmas music, having recorded an extensive multi-disc Christmas album which is headlined by “O Come O Come Emmanuel”. The track represents both a modern interpretation of a traditional Christmas carol as well as a personal reflection of Sufjan’s own Christian faith. It’s not all ho-ho-ho’s, but it’s not all ho-hum either. “O Come O Come Emmanuel” captures the quiet, reflective mood of the artist’s musicality and the quiet mystery and wonderment of the season.

“O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer. Our spirits by Thine advent here. Disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death's dark shadows put to flight.”

"SLEIGH RIDE" ELLA FITZGERALD (1960)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

After all these years, the best version of “Sleigh Ride” still belongs to Ella. That warm, inviting, rich voice is paired with a band that’s crushing it with class on the upright bass, horns and piano. Ella’s rendition is one of the most iconic Christmas songs ever recorded. Who hasn’t heard it? It’s at home pretty much everywhere – perfume-filled department stores, ridiculously crowded Starbucks stores, and another dazzling company holiday party. And a Christmas song that makes you feel right at home is my kind of Christmas song.

“Giddy up, giddy up, giddy up, let's go. Let's look at the snow. We're riding in a wonderland of snow.”

"CHRISTMAS WRAPPING" THE WAITRESSES (1982)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

When new wave took it to Christmas with jangly piano treble keys, bells and an unjoyous Christmas stoy. But the best part of “Christmas Wrapping” is the blaring sax and Tracy Wormworth’s killer base line which mimics the chaotic, frenzied pace of the holidays. It’s the story of Christmas gone wrong… at first. But then there’s redemption with a last-minute hunt for cranberry sauce. It feels all too familiar. With that, The Waitresses have helped capture the holiday spirit yet again. Happens every single year.

“A&P HAS PROVIDED ME WITH THE WORLD’S SMALLEST TURKEY. ALREADY IN THE OVEN, NICE AND HOT. OH DAMN! GUESS WHAT I FORGOT?”

"HARK, THE HERALD ANGELS SING" VINCE GUARALDI TRIO (1965)

So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

This is the opposite of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. And that’s exactly why I like it so much. It’s stripped down, not overproduced. It’s plain-and-simple, not over-the-top. The entire Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas album is a must-listen for the holidays. And “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” is my favorite track because of the children’s chorus and church organ. This sounds like a choir practice happening inside a small neighborhood church, not a glitzy studio. It's as real as real gets. Some of the kids are out of tune. Some of them aren’t even singing in unison. It’s messy. It’s quaint. It’s beautiful. And it reminds me so much of the original Christmas story.

“JOYFUL, ALL YE NATIONS, RISE. JOIN THE TRIUMPH OF THE SKIES. WITH TH’ANGELIC HOST PROCLAIM CHRIST IS BORN IN BETHLEHEM!”

"DO THEY KNOW IT'S CHRISTMAS?" BAND AID (1984)

One of the most powerful things about music is that it is the soundtrack of our lives. Fellow music fanatic Sharon Hepworth started a music challenge on Twitter for the month of July. Each day, fans around the world will select a song from their life and describe what it means to us. These are my songs. #SoundtrackToYourLife

Day 3

The soundtrack to our lives often hit an emotional crescendo around the holidays. The songs remind us of childhood. Of family. Of friends. Of home. The famine in Ethiopia seemed worlds way from my Christmas experience. I was fortunate to never have to worry about food on the table or a roof over my head. My holiday experience was a privileged one. But there’s something powerfully uniting about this Band Aid classic. Christmas holds a special spiritual significance in my life and my family members’ lives. And this song is a sobering reminder that Christmas was never about gifts and decorations. It was never about us. It’s a story of the world.

It’s significant that one of the most famous Christmas songs of all time was an anti-famine fundraising effort for Ethiopia. Written and spearheaded by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, it had a Christmas sound to it. But the lyrics weren’t Christmas-like on the surface. The song’s meaning can be summarized by this line in the first verse: “At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade”. The lyrics told a different, more powerful Christmas story. Then the musicians and singers did the rest of the work. Sting. Bono. Duran Duran. George Michael. Paul Young. Phil Collins. Boy George. Siobhan Fahey. The list goes on. This was Christmas with a social conscience, indelibly etched into my childhood.

“At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade.”

"O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL" FUTURE OF FORESTRY (2013)

If you haven’t celebrated with this one or heard this one yet, you should. Over a five year period, Future of Forestry put together the Advent Christmas EP series. Out of that came a catalog of highly reflective, meditative Christmas songs. “O Come All Ye Faithful” is my favorite. It kept the reason for the season central. But it blew my mind at the 2:34 mark with an unexpected, forceful guitar conclusion.

“Sing, choirs of angels. Sing in exultation. Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above. Glory to God. All glory in the highest. O come, let us adore Him.”

"SNOWED IN WITH YOU" OVER THE RHINE (2006)

In a frenzied, often frantic holiday season, “Snowed In With You” is a slow-brewing musical masterpiece. Warm. Inviting. And hopelessly romantic. It’s more of a winter seasonal song than a Christmas tune. The musical components that I like best: The violin. The upright bass. And Karin Bergquist’s vocal delivery. The song—and the entire Snow Angels album—put an infectious Americana spin on the time of year.

“When you come home and all the world's asleep, I'll close my eyes and breathe with sweet relief.”

"WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME" PAUL MCCARTNEY (1979)

One of the most original Christmas compositions ever recorded, “Wonderful Christmastime” was the song that paved the way for synth-based holiday tracks and the chillwave genre. It has become such a Christmas classic that it’s easy to forget how ahead of the times it was. There was an irony to the monotonous, soulless vocal delivery of the festive lyrics that somehow seems to get lost in the holiday shuffle whenever it’s played.

“The moon is right. The spirits up. We're here tonight. And that's enough.”