[Soundtracking] Sounds of the Season Playlist!

	SOUNDTRACKING Sounds of The Season playlist! Soundtracking is a weekly column featuring indie, alternative, and all around amazing music - published by music correspondent Laura Cushing on Gather.com. Soundtracking includes interviews, CD reviews, band and concert news, music trivia, playlists and much more!

This week on Soundtracking: Sounds of the Season Playlist

If you celebrate the holiday season, you're likely spending this weekend attending to the many last-minute shopping and decorating and wrapping chores. The Christmas season can be a source of great joy and a source of great stress, frequently both at the same time. When I feel my holiday spirit waning and my desire to kick humanity in the jingle bells rising, I listen to some of these songs and unwind.

CLICK HERE for the playlist that accompanies this article! Opens in a separate window so you can read while you listen.

1. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Bright Eyes
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on, our troubles will be out of sight
So have yourself a merry little Christmas night

If you've ever heard Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes sing, you'll know that the 'merry' in the title is pretty ironic. Let's face it - he's emo, and so are you as you're running out of Scotch Tape and wondering if you can get away with spiking the eggnog a few days early. It's a moody Christmas cover of a classic tune that appears on the Bright Eyes Christmas Album (which is full of equally pretty-but-downer renditions of other classics). As an added bonus, all proceeds from the sale of this album go to the Nebraska AIDS Project - so it's a good cause.

2. X-Mas Cake - Rilo Kiley
"It's almost Christmas..."
When I take off my makeup
I look old and defeated
I'm not so dangerous
Cry into my Christmas cake

Fa la la ... wrapping presents in the dark and having no job and your relationship's going bad and here's a hearty helping of Christmas cake just for you! Like many Rilo Kiley songs, this tune is deceptively cheerful until you listen to the lyrics. From the Maybe This Christmas Too compilation.

3. Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie & Bing Crosby
I pray my wish will come true
For my child and your child too
He'll see the day of glory
See the day when men of good will
Live in peace, live in peace again

This Christmas song is a source of magic and wonderment for me. Two very different music legends singing together in beautiful harmony. This was recorded for Crosby's 1977 Christmas special. Sadly, Bing Crosby died a month after the recording and it was aired posthumously. You can watch the entire skit on YouTube.

4. The Winter Song - Eisley
Walking home with the
Snow it is falling down
Passing by lit windows
The people inside they wave from the glow

You'll believe in Christmas angels when you hear the beauty of this song. A very simple tune, but as crisp as a snowy day. Might just restore your faith in the season, or at least give you a rebound of Christmas cheer. From the Maybe This Christmas Too compilation.

5. Christmas Medley - Barenaked Ladies
God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay
Remember Christ our Savior was born upon this day
To save us all from Satan's power when we were gone astray
Oh tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy
Oh tidings of comfort and joy

Listening to this is like having your crazy uncles come over to sing Christmas carols, only without all the drinking and fighting. This Barenaked Ladies tune is a medley of God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen and We Three Kings. They go off on a couple of really amusing random tangents, like how scary the verse about the tombs is. When you think about it... that is some pretty heavy stuff for a Christmas song, isn't it? Merry Christmas and stone cold tombs and everything!

6. Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon
So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun

If only war was really over for Christmas - wouldn't that be nice? A lovely sentiment from one of the best songwriters of all time. And the cheerful voices of little children singing along are bound to put a smile on your face (or remind you of a child you forgot to get a present for and send you rushing back out to the store! But hopefully the former.)

7. Yule Shoot Your Eye Out - Fall Out Boy
Don't come home for Christmas
You're the last thing I wanna see
underneath the tree.
Merry Christmas, I could care less.

Though usually I don't agree with my teenage daughters in their adoration of Fall Out Boy, I find this song quite funny. Besides, there's always SOMEONE who makes you a little less than jolly at this time of year - be it a relative, a co-worker, or just that person who cut you off for a parking space while trying to get that last minute gift. Christmas isn't all about the merry, and sometimes the best present is to be away from the people that drive you crazy.



8. Get Behind Me, Santa! - Sufjan Stevens
I know what you're doing to me, boy
You move so fast like a psychopathic color TV
With your Christmas bag and your jolly face
And the reindeer stomping all over the place


A funky little Christmas tune that even includes a great cheerleader-esque spelling of Christmas at the end. Get your ho-ho-ho on. Sufjan Stevens has a lot of Christmas songs - you can get them as a five-CD collection called Songs For Christmas .

9. Fairytale of New York - Pilate
It was Christmas Eve, babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me,
'Won't see another one.'
And then he sang a song,
The Rare Old Mountain Dew.
I turned my face away and dreamed about you.

This is a cover of the famous Pogues song depicting the stark reality of a less-than-merry Christmas in New York. The song has been in the news lately, due to BBC radio and MTV UK censoring the verses where the characters in the song trade insults (specifically the words 'slut' and 'faggot'.). BBC radio backed down and aired the unedited version after many complaints. MTV UK is still censoring out those words and also 'arse', despite other music channels in the same broadcast area playing the unedited verison. This Pilate (well, now they're known as Pilot Sound) song can be found on the Maybe This Christmas Tree compilation.

10. Everything's Gonna Be Cool This Christmas - The Eels
Remember last year when you were on your own?
You swore the spirit couldn't be found.
December rolled around, and you were counting on it to roll out.
But everything's gonna be cool this Christmas.

Last year may have been a very uncool Yule, but there's still hope? Right? Right?! Guys, come on... it's going to be okay. Isn't it? I just have to find that last present (... and my sanity) and everything's gonna be cool this Christmas.

11. The Night Santa Went Crazy - Weird Al Yankovic
Down in the workshop all the elves were making toys
For the good Gentile girls and the good Gentile boys
When the boss busted in, nearly scared 'em half to death
Had a rifle in his hands and cheap whiskey on his breath
From his beard to his boots he was covered with ammo
Like a big fat drunk disgruntled Yuletide Rambo
And he smiled as he said with a twinkle in his eye
"Merry Christmas to all - now you're all gonna die!"

Sometimes Santa's jolly, and other times he's homicidal. That's just the way it goes, kids - there's a reason why he's checking to see if you're naughty or nice. When your last ounce of Christmas cheer has gone out the window, this song's for you! For extra amusement, watch the YouTube video.

Happy Holidays from Soundtracking!

CLICK HERE for the playlist that accompanies this article, or visit soundtracking.imeem.com for the full versions of all songs!

In a previous article, Soundtracking asked 'What is your favorite Christmas carol or song'? Here are some of your answers!

The Drummer Boy, sung by Bing Crosby and David Bowie,,it just so neat how them two of different world could make a great song sound so beautiful.. -- Stephanine S.

I have spent most of my life in choirs in church and school so I have sung nearly all of the songs that are identified with this season. I like some of the traditional ones like "O Holy Night" and "White Christmas" but of the oldest traditionals, "Silent Night" still gives me goosbumps. It is so simple and requires nothing more than voices to be absolutely beautiful. -- Donna Hammett-Tooker

I am usually a Bing Crosby kind of Christmas song girl, but there is another slightly obscure Christmas song that I really love. It is "I Want a Rock 'N Roll Guitar" by Johnny Preston. The lyrics are a cute story of a guy talking to a boy about what he wants for Christmas and it is soooo much fun to sing along! - CyberGwen

I love most all Christmas music, but one of my faves is My Favorite Things by the Supremes. I really love that song and also It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. I don't know why they are my faves, just always loved them. - Rebekka S.

Actually, I dearly love all Christmas Carols! But my favorite musical group that plays them is the Mannheim Steamroller. I love those guys! Lush sounds and terrific original arrangements! -- Beverly T.

Carol of the Bells. Probably because my mother's name is Carol and I used to think it was about her. Plus, it's cool how the singers' voices actually sound like bells throughout. - Margay R.

-- Sophie S.

The Little Drummer Boy. This Carol is the source of my most treasured Christmas memory, when I sang it with my sister. Like the Drummer Boy, the greatest gift was simple and will be treasured forever, the gift of music. - Tara T.

Silent Night : ( because it has been played somewhere in the background of every Christmas I have ever experienced ).- George Corneliussen

Though not a 'carol', per se, my favorite Christmas song is "Sweet Little Jesus Boy" performed by Mahalia Jackson. I have a tradition at midnight on Christmas Eve to turn out all the lights in my home and light one single candle in the front window to welcome the wayfaring stranger while playing Mahalia's version of this song. A more modern Christmas song I like is "Christmas In Sarajevo" by TransSiberian Orchestra. - Rob Appell

The first Noel - don't know but it's always touched me - Christy J.

O Holy Night, probably because it is so dramatic, though I can't really sing it any more. - Angela B

I'm not sure I can decide on just one! My husband's mens choir in college sang a parody version of "O Christmas Tree" that we're quite fond of. "O Christmas tree, O Christmas Tree, I'm singing to a Pine tree." I also Love the tune to the Wexford Carol. - Laura C

I like a variety of Christmas songs. I like the old classics, but I like to hear something new every once in a while as well... - Sarah

I love all Christmas songs, especially the old carols. - Kay M

My favorite songs are "Oh Holy Night" I want a Hippotamus for Christmas", and Santa Baby" sounds odd I know but hey, that's me! - Susan *

I'm Jewish but I do like Jingle Bells - Lyla L

"White Christmas" is not really a "carol", but it's probably my favorite Christmas/winter song ~ sung by the original crooner, of course. The song brings forth wonderful memories from my childhood and teen-age years. -- Garden Witch

My favorite carol is Silent Night and both Ave Marias, also Oh Holy Night. I like all Christmas music, even Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, Snoopy and the Red Baron is one I really like to listen to. Manneheim Steam Roller has 4 great Christmas Albums, and don't forget the Chipmunks.- Cheryl R.

i love mannheim and rockers doing carols.... also trans siberian orchestra, and i have the coolest 'techno christmas' CD THAT IS AWESOME, also lynyrd skynyrd xmas CD and 38 special xmas CD,just bought 'christmas re-mixed" traditional songs/artist remixed with dance beats....I do NOT like traditional sentimental stuff.....much of it makes me too sad......Oh yeah, love the elvis stuff too -- Robyn F.

White Christmas - Debby C.

My favorite Christmas song is Carol of the Bells. It sounds beautiful any way it's presented: acapella, instrumental, a combination of both. --Leslie T.

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		Laura Cushing, Music Correspondent - Soundtracking
	Laura's column, 'Soundtracking' is published every Saturday in Gather Essentials:Music. Soundtracking is your guide to indie and alternative music -- featuring musician interviews, CD reviews, MP3 mixes, and discussions. Laura Cushing is a 37 year old writer from the New Jersey Pines. In addition to music journalism, she writes fiction and poetry. Keep up with Laura's music series by joining her network, or subscribing to her content.