Best Christmas songs? Dylan just Must Be Santa and Fairytale doesn't have to be the Pogues
December 13, 2021
The cynic in me - and cynicism occupies a large part of my soul - says "best Christmas song" is a bit like "best trainspotter" or, worse, "best thing about medieval dentistry".
But I'm not entirely Scrooge. I like John and Yoko, can listen to Slade for the first few annual outings of "Here it is ..." and appreciate, also in smallish doses, the Pogues and Kirsty's Fairytale, Boney M's Mary's Boy Child among others.
Last weekend took me back to the North East of my childhood and youth.
That lovely feeling of travelling north on the LNER out of King's Cross, over to Middlesbrough to see my sister Sandra, back to Shildon, my home town, for a grand evening with my lifelong pal Pete Sixsmith, a journalists' reunion in Darlington, a winning visit to the Stadium of Light, fish and chips out of newspaper (OK not newspaper but a flat cardboard box) and then home by midnight on Saturday.
And guess which Christmas song Pete Sixsmith had implanted in my brain.
Dylan by Lennox. And check out art by Sunderland's Owen Lennox at https://www.saatchiart.com/quez
It is emphatically not Dylan at his finest and it is not a song of any evident high quality.
But it's joyous and it's there, stuck in my consciousness. No Bah Humbugs from me, then.
You can make of it what you want. The same goes for O'Hooley and Tidow's eccentric interpretation of Fairytale of New York. Few will share my fondness, which has grown from mere sneaking regard, for this quite off-the-wall version. I love it.
Salut! Live, sadly, has no real history of reader participation.
People are far more likely to have a say on social media, when I post links to what has appeared here, than to leave comments below.
But I'd quite like to know which musical Christmas oddities others have taken a fancy to. And what they think of this pair of seasonal offerings.
I alkways thought nothing could match the original 'Fairytale…' with Kirstie's wonderful sweet to McGowan's sour, but that blew me away. Turning nihilism into affirmation just by playing with the notes.
And, on a side note, isn't it amazing how promo material for artists has developed. Long gone are the days of the gestetner, the cheap photocopy and the linocut; all stapled to boards, doors and anything that would stick! That wor proper class.
Posted by: Gervase Webb | December 14, 2021 at 12:38 AM
But that Dylan? WTF?!?
Klezmer, Tex-Mex and psychedelic drugs should never be mixed, that's all I'm saying…
Posted by: Gervase Webb | December 14, 2021 at 12:44 AM
Given that I despise Christmas music in general, I'd be happy never to hear Fairytale of New York again, performed by anyone. But as I wrote on Salut! Live in 2017, I make an exception for the version of Little Drummer Boy performed by Toronto indie band Rural Alberta Advantage during a club gig in 2010. I love how the drummer doesn't even wander onto the stage until past the 20-second mark. This is a sublime rendition - I just wish I'd been there to see it in person:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYR2cfuXHgM
Posted by: Bill Taylor | December 14, 2021 at 02:49 AM
Not Bob’s best. But shows his vast range of musical styles and knowledge, and challenge his fans. It is joyous, which again isn’t a common trait
Posted by: John Marshall | December 14, 2021 at 10:10 PM
Pace Bill Taylor—there are decent Christmas songs out there, once you get away from the mainstream. These aren’t all the kinds of things that Salut! Folk will necessarily enjoy, but a fair few are—as I discussed in a recent blog post. The Alison Krauss is a particular favourite:
https://aroundtheedges.wordpress.com/2021/12/26/searching-for-off-centre-xmas-songs/
Posted by: Andrew Curry | January 02, 2022 at 08:00 PM
Andrew - I’d have lapped that up as a pre- Christmas post . Great stuff.
Posted by: Colin Randall | January 03, 2022 at 12:20 AM
hahaha gaybois. You don't like Christmas. No wonder you are getting conquered.
Posted by: Adolfo Hitlersteinbergwitzblattmangreenblattgoldmann - Steyn | November 24, 2023 at 08:22 PM