electricland

No link today.

However, we do have this live version on YouTube:


Canada is peculiarly rich in girl folk groups: Dala, the Be Good Tanyas, the Wailin' Jennys, and of course the Good Lovelies spring to mind. Here the Good Lovelies perform what amounts to two versions of the classic New Year's Eve song.

There are in fact many many versions of Auld Lang Syne. The Beach Boys did one. Mariah Carey did a whole EP of remixes, which is a little terrifying.

Here's a little history of the song:

Auld Lang Syne is one of Scotland's gifts to the world, recalling the love and kindness of days gone by, but in the communion of taking our neighbours' hands, it also gives us a sense of belonging and fellowship to take into the future.

It is one of the many folk songs from the great Lowland Scots tradition collected and fashioned by the pen of one of the world's greatest songwriters. Burns devoted the last years of his life to the song tradition, and often a mere fragment from some old ballad was transformed by his alchemy into a memorable love song or Scots poem. With Auld Lang Syne, though, the brilliance was already there; this is the Bard's first mention of it in a letter to Mrs Dunlop in 1788:

"... Light be the turf on the breast of the heaven inspired Poet who composed this glorious fragment."

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Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong are never wrong, and they're particularly right together. Ella's solo version is also lovely.



The other seasonal jazz classic is of course "Baby, It's Cold Outside." It's acquired unfortunate overtones but I'm still fond of it. Here's a great version by Meaghan Smith and Buck 65.

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So remember back in the introduction to this Advent calendar I mentioned that former Beatles suck at Christmas songs? It doesn't seem to apply to their wives: this is a Yoko Ono song, and it's amazing, although I admit I like this cover better than the original.

From this interview, in which Thea Gilmore also has trenchant things to say about depression:

Yoko Ono's "Listen, The Snow Is Falling" evokes an idyllic Christmas card of the mind, a kind of universal Yule, and Gilmore's minimal arrangement lends it an air of weightless meditation.

"I didn't even know the song," Gilmore admits. "I was on tour with the Waterboys and I was talking to Mike Scott about covering his song 'December', and he said 'yes you can, that's great, but go and listen to this Yoko Ono song because it will really suit your voice'. So I listened to it and I loved it and I thought it was just beautiful. Everyone said 'you can't do a Yoko Ono song! What's the matter with you!' but it's gorgeous, and it comes at a point on the album where it really needed to draw breath and just stop. I think it really works as that."

Cuddle up in a blanket, close your eyes, and let her sing you to sleep.

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Very late today, sorry! I went to the Sing-Along Messiah this afternoon and it was, as always, delightful. And I bought shoes. Alas that my very long to-do list remains mostly in the imperative and not the past.

This is the Ramones. I don't need to introduce them, right? Somewhat problematic video:



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This, of course, is the Christmas song for cynics and skeptics and thwarted romantics. It was kept out of the No. 1 spot by the Pet Shop Boys when it came out in 1987, but has since triumphed - how often do you hear from the Pet Shop Boys these days? Precisely.

Multiple videos for this one. The original (see Matt Dillon?):



Plus a live version:



Here's a 1987 interview with Shane MacGowan and Kirsty MacColl:

Kirsty: Christmas is obviously a time for overdoing everything at once and regularly. Doesn't everybody? I don't want to bump into anyone sober, that's for sure. The best hangover cure I can think of is giving away all your money to the poor. Then they can get drunk and you can't.

Shane: Boxing Day is traditionally the day for that. Boxing Day used to be when the tradesmen came round and you gave them a box. Hence the name. After three days of drinkin' with a bit of sleep thrown in I start again. I've got two failsafe hangover cures.

Kirsty: Hair of the dog cures, I'll be bound.

Shane: Naturally. The first one is a port and brandy. A nice warming drink which settles the stomach and lines it for the day ahead. The other one is a lunchtime cure - a pink gin. Those two cure anything, especially if you chase one with the other.

Kirsty: Champagne makes me feel better. As long as you can drink champagne you know you're not actually dead.

Well said, Kirsty, we lost you much too soon.

For more Shane/Kirsty goodness, I encourage you to go find Lorelei as well.

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Listen here. (MySpace link today - not on Grooveshark again.)

Week 3 begins. Now we enter a chipper, somewhat modern part of our Advent calendar! This track was one of many on a free online compilation last year, Ho! Ho! Ho! Canada Deux. I really like it - it's peppy yet somehow yearning.



Bonus: Chad Orzel's annual list of Christmas songs that don't suck. Many are already favourites; I'm going to have to check some of the others out.

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Bells of Dublin again! I can't seem to find a video of this version, but here's one featuring an ACTUAL BOAR'S HEAD (or reasonable facsimile thereof):



Mainly Norfolk says:

The ancient ceremony of the Boar's Head Carol was performed for many years on Christmas Eve at Queen's College, Oxford, but now on a Saturday shortly before Christmas, when old members are entertained at a “gaudy”. The College Choir processes into the Hall during the refrains, stopping each time when a verse is sung. When the boar's head is set down on the high table, the Provost distributes the herbs among the choir and presents the solo singer with the orange from the boar's mouth.

Does it not just seem like a very Oxford carol? Mainly Norfolk also quotes John Kirkpatrick thus: "Interesting fact: Songs like this which combine workaday English and scholarly Latin are called “macaronic”. Blessed are the pasta makers!"

Sang this in choir last year - the men did the verses and we all chimed in on the chorus. Great harmony parts.

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Here's another entry from The Bells of Dublin. I believe this is the first time so far we've repeated an album; I warn you now that it won't be the last.

I loved Thelma & Louise when it came out. (Still do.) I saw it a bunch of times in theatres and bought the soundtrack. The song I liked best was Marianne Faithfull's Ballad of Lucy Jordan, which I wrote out and memorized. I'd never come across her before (of course I was 17, there were lots of things I'd never come across before). Later, in university, I bought Faithfull: A Collection, which is a fantastic compilation and also has excellent liner notes (I slightly regret mainly moving over to iTunes for my music purchases, because I love liner notes, and not all artists make them available online).

If you listen to Faithfull: A Collection, what's perhaps most striking is the contrast between most of the songs on the album and the last track, As Tears Go By, released when she was 17. Her voice is so clear, almost carefree, compared to the magnificent wrecked growl it became. What a life the woman has had, and good on her for surviving Mick Jagger and a struggle with drug abuse.

Anyway, here she is with the Chieftains, in great form.



She collaborated with them again on their Long Black Veil, singing Love is Teasin' (which, incidentally, has the same tune and some of the same lyrics as The Butcher Boy, which Kirsty MacColl sang for the audiobook version of Patrick McCabe's novel of the same name).

Wikipedia points out that the tune is a variant of "Greensleeves"/What Child Is This. I NEVER NOTICED THIS BEFORE, and this version doesn't play it up. But I kinda see it. Not quite as strong a family resemblance as some. We sing this (surprise!) for choir.

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No link again today, sorry.

On the mix I made, today's entry is "Christmas Trilogy" by Finest Kind. I had never heard of this group until I went to Newfoundland this summer; my friend Esther had bought their CD For Honour And For Gain, which is full of splendid stuff, including John Barleycorn Deconstructed which I heartily recommend to anyone who likes singing harmony.

However! "Christmas Trilogy" isn't on Grooveshark (I am afraid of their TOS, as I explained on Day 5), nor does it appear to exist anywhere on the Internet in audio or video form. (Although I did find this excellent post featuring another good Christmas playlist while looking for it, so all is not lost.)

So today we are having a fill-in song: "Goodnight Persephone" by Alejandra Ribera. Fittingly, or at least symmetrically, the ONLY place this seems to exist is on YouTube. I wish she would put out another CD! Or put this out as a single!



Once again, CBC gets the credit for introducing me to this incredible performer. Her voice is so distinctive and powerful; I can't immediately think of another singer quite like her. I'm pretty sure she sang this at Sounds of the Season last year. It's not strictly a Christmas song, but it is a winter song. I hope you like it.

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I have a confession to make: I am a bad Canadian and have not yet fully embraced Sarah Slean. On the other hand, some of her stuff is just incredible and it's possible I just haven't spent enough time exploring her repertoire. (I adore So Many Miles. I'm pretty sure Fresh Air played it to me; they're very good at slipping songs under my radar before I'm fully awake.)

I just realized something: I think Andy Barrie is to blame for putting me off. He called her "just delicious" once, which creeped me out. A one-off thing; most of the time he was perfectly uncreepy. Sorry Sarah!

I'm still a bit on the fence with this track, but it's growing on me; I kinda like the doom-laden sound and the fuzzy guitar. Also, I am ever a sucker for harmony vocals, so that helps. A live, piano-and-vocals-only version:



I'm quite impressed that the tune has stuck around for 400 years. Of course, it is lovely.

So, we're a week in! Anyone have any predictions? Complaints? Suggestions for next year?

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