Cool Yule – 10 Songs for a Slade-free Christmas
Christmas: a time when our sentimental side is stirred and our critical guard is temporarily lowered. As much as we all love Fairytale of New York by the Pogues, and even hold a sneaking and begrudging affection for Last Christmas by Wham, it would be nice to hear something a little different around this time of year – there is only so many times we can listen to that Slade tune and still hold on to our sanity. Here are ten alternative tunes to the old standards – be warned: none of these are likely to feature at the office Christmas party.
1.Sister Winter –Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens: the Father Christmas of the alternative music scene. Beautiful song.
2. Just Like Christmas – Low
Have yourself a hipster Christmas with Low.
3. Jesus Christ – Big Star
Birthday greetings from the legendary Memphis rockers.
4. Christmas card from a Hooker in Minneapolis – Tom Waits
How touching…
5. She Came Home for Christmas – Mew
Quiet-loud-quiet Christmases are the best.
6. Blue Christmas – Bright Eyes
Could it be any other way with Mr Oberst?
7. A Very Sorry Christmas – The New Mendicants
Chiming guitars and classic chords..
8. Christmas Time Is Here – Mark Kozelek
And it brings with it a heap of misery….
9. Christmas was better in the 80s – TheFutureheads
Really, it wasn’t – trust me.
10. Bring On the Dancing Horses – Echo and the Bunnymen
It has sleigh bells and it’s the Bunnymen – that will do for me…
Fleet Foxes ‘White Winter Hymnal’ is another I enjoy.
It’s funny how we associate some songs with Christmas, or a specific time or place. Hearing them often drops us right back to that time or place in the past.