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Wednesday 7 December 2011

Mistletoe and Wine

Two old Christmas friends!
I have a confession to make - one of my favourite Christmas songs is Sir Cliff's 'Mistletoe and Wine'. (Cue silence). I do realise, that now I've put that statement out there, there's no coming back from it, but as I was about to chat about festive musical picks, I felt that I had to be brutally honest. In my defense, it's partly the title- fuzzy memories of past Christmas', where copious quantities of one inevitably led to the hopeful loitering under the other...good times.... Although, I  DO quite like the song too, (except for the annoyingly lispy choirboy at the end, who's probably an annoyingly lispy estate agent somewhere now). I watched the Peter Pan of Pop on Graham Norton a few weeks ago- studying the face that time forgot, its hard to know if he's a poster boy for Botox or a dire warning - it really seems to depends on the lighting.
The focus on Christmas songs this week, started in an effort to motivate myself to continue my morning walks, and therefore offset a little of the inevitable December chocfest. So, I decided to fire up my iPhone with 'Em's Cracker Christmas', (I do appreciate a catchy title), and I've been trying to decide which holiday hits make the cut. I'm reminded of a radio station in Washington DC that used to play Christmas songs from the day after Thanksgiving in November until Christmas Day. Nothing else for an entire month, and unsurprisingly, with so much airtime to fill, much of it was complete and utter crap.( Think Vince Gill and Olivia Newton John crooning 'Deck the Halls'). But there was one song called 'The Christmas Shoes'  which caused me to almost crash the car every time because I was crying so hard. If you like a little bit of cheese, then this one's for you.  It's definitely not one for the Christmas party, but I might have to sneak it on there anyway, and have a good safe weep around the roads of Glenavy.
Obviously, Band Aid and Wham are both in there for old times sake, as well as Queen's ' Thank God it's Christmas' and I do so love a bit of Bing, scooping his way through 'White Christmas' as well. Springstein's 'Santa Claus is coming to town' is hard to beat and up there with the best of the best has to be The Pogues and Kirsty Macall's 'Fairytale of New York' . I mean, who hasn't joyfully shouted along with 'you scumbag, you maggot' to their significant other at a Christmas party?
'Baby, it's cold outside' has long been a personal favourite, but the Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews version has put me right off. I always thought it quite a flirty, cheeky little number, but the king of sleaze gives it a whole new edge of perv, that makes me quite uncomfortable. Dirty old goat.
'Santa Baby' is another good one, (the Kylie version not Madonna), and Mariah Carey's 'All I want for Christmas ' is a belter. Quite an eclectic mix so far wouldn't you say?  But I know when to ask for help, so it's over to you. Have you got any hot favourites for 'Em's Cracker Christmas' which will surely become my go-to Festive Compilation? Yours too, if you can stomach a bit of Sir Cliff! Ah, go on, go on, go on, go on!

2 comments:

  1. No sign of the classic from Slade ? Here it is Merry Christmas ? You know you love it really.

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  2. Well you have named a lot of my favourites, but I will add Oh Holy Night, though sung in an extreme state of intoxication ...it takes me back to Christmas Eve in the Hunting Lodge, a HUGE night, everyone you ever knew was there and all those who lived away always made it back there that night, much much too drunk but everyone in belter form cos it was Christmas Eve. We usually ended up Cristin's house after with Bondy, who is actually a trained singer (I am trying to bring a bit of class to this debacle), and Cristin and Maighread belting out Oh Holy Night, completely blocked, and the rest of us swaying appreciatively, joining in the chorus and giggling at the 'FALL ON YOUR KNEES!' bit as the girls took that v seriously. The craic was 90, the booze was plentiful and we were young enough to handle it, the Marlboro lights were flying and we were young enough to believe we would definitely give up in the New Years no bother...absolutely class nights! Obviously the Pogues went down a BIG treat in the Lodge too, brought the house down, much floor stomping and nausea-inducing swinging each other about.
    Apart from that you cant beat the oldies and I do like a bit of 'walking in the air'.
    Slade, however, should be banned, really D.

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