A Very Multitrack Christmas: the Christmas Music Singularity ContinuumDay Two: Cultural Christmas Songs These are the Christmas songs you can’t escape, but something makes you hesitate to call them ‘carols’ (and it’s probably the part where they were written for record sales). They’re a bit more abrasive and prone to covers by disposable pop stars and punk rock bands. There’s a lasting worth in the songwriting, though, for the most part. Jeannie’s pick: Darlene Love “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home).” A lot of people have covered this one—U2, Mariah Carey, Hanson, Death Cab—but nobody’s been quite able to deliver it with the emotional urgency as Darlene Love first did. Love’s is joyful and desperate all at once, brimming with a collage of emotion (like some of us get at this time of year). —baton pass— I don’t have much to say about these kinds of songs. To me, they’re the musical equivalent of that long part in a book that your eyes skate over like butter. I feel bored even writing about it without an example, so I will stop. Matthew’s Pick: Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. This is how I like my cultural Christmas songs. Secular, silly, and none too heavy. Cut the religious trimmings, and celebrate the fun parts of the season. Time with family, the ritual of setting up the decorations, that’s what makes me feel warm and fuzzy around this time of year.

A Very Multitrack Christmas: the Christmas Music Singularity Continuum
Day Two: Cultural Christmas Songs

These are the Christmas songs you can’t escape, but something makes you hesitate to call them ‘carols’ (and it’s probably the part where they were written for record sales). They’re a bit more abrasive and prone to covers by disposable pop stars and punk rock bands. There’s a lasting worth in the songwriting, though, for the most part.

Jeannie’s pick: Darlene Love “Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home).” A lot of people have covered this one—U2, Mariah Carey, Hanson, Death Cab—but nobody’s been quite able to deliver it with the emotional urgency as Darlene Love first did. Love’s is joyful and desperate all at once, brimming with a collage of emotion (like some of us get at this time of year).

—baton pass—

I don’t have much to say about these kinds of songs. To me, they’re the musical equivalent of that long part in a book that your eyes skate over like butter. I feel bored even writing about it without an example, so I will stop.

Matthew’s Pick: Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. This is how I like my cultural Christmas songs. Secular, silly, and none too heavy. Cut the religious trimmings, and celebrate the fun parts of the season. Time with family, the ritual of setting up the decorations, that’s what makes me feel warm and fuzzy around this time of year.