14 Christmas Songs You Should Listen To

 

 Over the past few years, I've been doing my GETTING IN THE MOOD posts. Sharing Christmas songs and albums I love. I thought it was time to do a new version, sharing some of my favorites Christmas songs. Many of them not traditional. Unique songs and unique versions of traditional songs.

So, let's get right to it...

1. The Kinks- "Father Christmas"....The poor kids anthem, and a classic Kinks riff...




2. Billy Squier- "Christmas is a Time to Say I Love You"...Showing my age...The days when MTV played music...Totally underrated Christmas song...





3. Dead Sara- "Snow in Los Angeles"  Released a few years, I immediately fell in love with this song. The awesome Singer of Dead Sara is now also singing with Linkin Park.




4. "White Christmas" is not only a classic but hands down one of my favorites. I'm not sure I've come across a bad version, but I love  This is the coolest, grooviest, and my favorite version of "White Christmas" by Booker T. & the MG's

5.  "Blue Christmas"  This one is an old standard...It always makes me think of those I wish were still with us. I don't like Elvis...And since one of my favorite bands did it a few years ago, I'll go with them...Our Lady Peace...





6. The Pretenders- "2000 Miles"...I just flat-out love this song...My favorite song from the Pretenders...

7. JD McPherson's "All the Gifts I Need" from his album "SOCKS" has an oldies vibe but it's from 2018.  The album is all original, humorous, with heart and rockin'. 

8. "Be Good at Christmas" by Katie Malco. And after this, checkout more of Katie Malco. She isn't talked about enough and her 2020 album "Failures" is the best album that was released in that God awful year!

9. Daniel Mustard- "Since Santa Ain't Coming"...I shared this many years ago...An anti-Christmas song, from a guy who just months before recoding it was homeless. He was discovered by Opie and Anthony and know as "Homeless Mustard." Opie helped and funded him getting a couple EP's recorded. Awhile back Mustard fell off of social media. I hope he's still making music somewhere.

10. This next one is unique, but I think it's a great take on the classic. Phoebe Bridgers (featuring Fiona Apple and Matt  Berninger : "7 O'clock News/Silent Night"

11. Pearl Jam- "Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time)" Back in the early '90s none of us expected  these guys to do a Christmas song, but they did, and it's excellent...

12. "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"  -Tom Waits...It's a beautiful song about, just what the title says...There is also a great remake by Neko Case...

13. A classic we all love from Charlie Brown, "Christmas Time Is Here"...This version comes from sister and brother duo, Jocelyn and Chris Arndt. They do a lot of Bluesy-Rock stuff but this is acoustic, nice and mellow.

14. A song that I'm sure has parts that offend people these days, but it a beauty, sung by an ugly fucking dude. The Pogues classic, "Fairytale of New York."

A Beezer's Dozen...My Top 12 Christmas Songs

It's the Holiday Season...And I haven't felt very festive...I've been too busy at work, and too broke to really get going into Christmas too much...We also just knocked out Molly's 4th birthday Sunday...4 years already...Holy shit...Now that both the girls birthdays are out of the way, it's time to get our Christmas on...So, I thought I'd revisit the old Christmas songs to see if that would help get me in the spirit...

So lets get right to it...

1. The Kinks- Father Christmas....The poor kids anthem, and a classic Kinks riff...




2. Billy Squier- Christmas is a Time to Say I Love You...Showing my age...The days when MTV played music...Totally underrated Christmas song...





3. Dead Sara- Snow in Los Angeles...This is a new one...Released a couple years just after I had done a list of Christmas songs...This one shot up right away on my list...




4. Pearl Jam- Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time) Back in the early '90s none of us expected  these guys to do a Christmas song, but they did, and it's excellent...





5.  "Blue Christmas"  This one is an old standard...It always makes me think of those I wish were still with us...I'm sure there are plenty of people feeling this year...I don't like Elvis...And since my favorite band did it a couple years ago, I'll go with them...Our Lady Peace...





6. The Pretenders- 2000 Miles...I just flat-out love this song...My favorite song from the Pretenders...




7. Daniel Mustard- Since Santa Ain't Coming...I shared this a couple weeks ago...An anti-Christmas song, from a guy who just months before recoding it was homeless...





8. Let it Snow...Another old standard...You gotta love how Dean could lay it down...And I have to say, the Rat Pack Christmas album is awesome...





9. Silent Night....I'm going with the Sarah McLachlan version...But there are so many great versions, it's hard to screw up...If you really want to get depressed check out the Lisa Hannigan version...Uhgg





10. Chris Cornell- Ave Maria...Everyone knew the Soundgarden front man could sing, but when he did this for 1997's  "A Very Special Christmas Volume 3" everyone was blown away to hear just how amazing of a singer he is...




11. "Memory"  -Savatage...Long before you heard of TSO, some of those guys were in a group called Savatage that loved to write Metal Operas...This is from one called "Dead Winter Dead"...It's also where that famous TSO "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) came from...



12. "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"  -Tom Waits...It's a beautiful song about, just what the title says...There is also a great remake by Neko Case...




That's it...What do you think?  What are your favorite Christmas songs?

If you're interested, here's my LIST of the 15 top Christmas Movies...

Have a week...

The Beeze.

Monday Moaning (The Beeze's Top 10 Christmas Songs)

This week the normal Monday Moaning is taking a break...It's just before Christmas and I've been all wrapped up in getting things ready for Christmas...We have our annual Christmas Eve party...Plus I have to pick up the Christmas dinner duties because my Mom was slowed down by some health issues...Don't worry, she's fine...Minor thing, but it threw my folks a wrinkle...My brothers aren't in any position to pick up the slack, so it's on us...

Anyways I've spent no time on sports between work, and the Christmas prep...So, I'm going with music...Music as always been big in my life...Ever since I was a kid...My Mom teaching me about the Beatles and Stones...My dad teaching me about Blues and Jazz...Then my older brothers brought in their influences...I've been hooked on music forever...So this week, since I've been sharing different Christmas song each week, we'll get into the full list...Well, at least the top 10....

1. The Kinks- Father Christmas....The poor kids anthem, and a classic Kinks riff...





2. Billy Squier- Christmas is a Time to Say I Love You...Showing my age...The days when MTV played music...Totally underrated Christmas song...





3. Dead Sara- Snow in Los Angeles...This is a new one...Released last year just after I had done a list of Christmas songs...This one shot up right away on my list...





4. Pearl Jam- Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time) Back in the early '90s none of us expected  these guys to do a Christmas song, but they did, and it's excellent...





5.  "Blue Christmas"  This one is an old standard...It always makes me think of those I wish were still with us...I'm sure there are plenty of people feeling this year...I don't like Elvis...And since my favorite band did it a couple years ago, I'll go with them...Our Lady Peace...





6. The Pretenders- 2000 Miles...I just flat-out love this song...My favorite song from the Pretenders...





7. Daniel Mustard- Since Santa Ain't Coming...I shared this a couple weeks ago...An anti-Christmas song, from a guy who just months before recoding it was homeless...





8. Let it Snow...Another old standard...You gotta love how Dean could lay it down...And I have to say, the Rat Pack Christmas album is awesome...





9. Silent Night....I'm going with the Sarah McLachlan version...But there are so many great versions, it's hard to screw up...If you really want to get depressed check out the Lisa Hannigan version...Uhgg





10. Chris Cornell- Ave Maria...Everyone knew the Soundgarden front man could sing, but when he did this for 1997's  "A Very Special Christmas Volume 3" everyone was blown away to hear just how amazing of a singer he is...





That's it...What do you think?  What are your favorite Christmas songs?

If you're interested, here's my LIST of the 15 top Christmas Movies...

Have a week...And a Merry Christmas!

The Beeze.

Monday Moaning



 

                                     Now that's how a Cubs fan should say happy Monday!

 

Yes, once you get past all that ass, you can see she's rocking a Cubs jersey...So why am I starting this week talking Cubs? I'm not...Just look at that ass!  There was some excitement at Wrigley Field this past weekend...Pearl Jam played the old ballpark...A few friends of mine went...It would have been cool to be there, especially when Mr. Cub Ernie Banks walked out onstage!

 

 







If you were there and are a baseball fan, let alone a Cubs fan, that had to be pretty damn sweet...Hearing Ernie say lets play two was great....Sadly, it's rare that playing two happens these days....I  often wish I could have lived to see so many of baseball's greats...I think of Baseball in the 40's-50's-60's, I'll even give ya the 70's,  and in my head, that's really Baseball...That's what it's all about...Then I read THIS_POST from our guy Radatz....He nailed it...It wasn't just Baseball that was Special, the character of our country was special...

I wrote THIS Wednesday, and I think it shows my frustration with where our country seems to be, especially from a media standpoint...Don't get me started on our government, that hasn't done any governing for couple years now, because all those DC dolts do is yell and whine at each other and say no to whatever the other guy says....There have been a couple movies about our Nation's Capitol/power structure being attacked, which lead to multiple news stories, and blogs about "What's our fascination with blowing up DC?" 

Do you really need to ask that question?  People are sick of the knob gobblers screwing things up, and screwing us over...The best we've got in reality is elections, which more and more people feel are rigged...Plus the two years of media covering the election shit, which mean politicians aren't doing their jobs, because they are busy campaigning...So we turn to fantasy...Movies, where that whole damn corrupt town get torched...Not hard to figure out....

Speaking of politics, douchebags, shitty media, and sports....Did you see ESPN signed Nate Silver...Silver, a statistician, who was the top guy at Baseball Prospectus, before starting his Five Thirty Eight column at the New York Times, predicting election bullshit...By the way, he of every election result nation wide 2012, he only got 1 wrong...ESPN plans to make him their Uber-stat man, and he'll do election shit for ABC...He will also be a major contributor to Keith Olbermann's  new ESPN talk show that will launch in late August....

Ahhh, another reason not to watch the so-called World Wide Leader!

-Okay, random sports shit that you never thought I would cover...The U.S. beat El Salvador 2-1 in Soccer...Now you know and I know, that I don't give a shit about Soccer...I didn't even know this game was happening...But when I saw the score on my phone, I smiled...The U.S. beat El Salvador in Soccer....My old Fish House friends know why this makes me smile! Our old boss was a Soccer nut from El Salavador, who loved to talk shit...Eat it Chalupa!

-Phil Mickelson won the British Open...I don't care about golf, but when they play the British Open I watch here and there, just because the courses and weather can be so tough...Sunday morning I only watched a bit before I had to start getting on with my day, so I missed what happened...Again, just heard about it via my iphone while Molly and I were kicking it at the park....

-Dolphins Center Mike Pouncey says he won't apologize for pictures he and his brother took with some douchebag, wearing "Free Hernandez" hats in support of their former teammate, Aaron Hernandez...

Okay, anyone who takes a picture with that douche should apologize...As for the hats...They're stupid...But if they want to support their boy, that's up to them...Dude plays for the Dolphins...It's not the first or last time he's gonna be on the losing side!

That's all  I have for now...

Oh, except this week's musical selection...I found these guys last week...They're from Canada...Vancouver I believe...They're called Dead Ghosts...Their style...Old school, 60's Surf rock...It's like listening to a flashback...





Have a week!

The Beeze.

The Beeze's Top Christmas Songs

So last night I broke out my favorite Christmas movies...So of course now it's time to take a look at my top Christmas tunes...Again, not going with the normal numbers...This time I'm stopping at 11...

1.  "Father Christmas"  -The Kinks...The poor kids anthem...Classic Kinks riff...




(Bad video quality but good sound) 

2. "Christmas is a Time to Say I Love You"  -Billy Squier...From the good ole days when MTV played music...To me this has always been an underrated Christmas tune...




3. "2000 Miles"  -The Pretenders...I just love this song...I would call this the best Pretenders song...




4. "Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time)"  -Pearl Jam...Back in the early '90s none of us expected  these guys to do a Christmas song, but they did, and it's excellent...




5.  "Blue Christmas"  This one is an old standard...It always makes me think of those I wish were still with us...I'm sure there are plenty of people feeling this year...I don't like Elvis...And since my favorite band did it a couple years ago, I'll go with them...Our Lady Peace...




6.  "Since Santa Ain't Coming"  -Daniel Mustard...For being an anti-Christmas song it's good...But it falls under the scope of Christmas songs, and I like it...




7. "Christmas Song"  -Sleeves...Here's an odd one...A little known one...But it's catchy...




8. "Memory"  -Savatage...Long before you heard of TSO, some of those guys were in a group called Savatage that loved to write Metal Operas...This is from one called "Dead Winter Dead"...It's also where that famous TSO "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) came from...




9. "Let It Snow"  -Dean Martin...Another old standard...You gotta love how Dean could lay it down...And I have to say, the Rat Pack Christmas album is awesome...




10. "Silent Night"  I'm going with the Sarah McLachlan version...But there are so many great versions, it's hard to screw up...If you really want to get depressed check out the Lisa Hannigan version...Uhgg





11. "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis"  -Tom Waits...It's a beautiful song about, just what the title says...There is also a great remake by Neko Case...





That's my list...What's yours like...

The Beeze.

Monday Moaning

Well Merry Christmas!

So this past week I went silent...I haven't posted a blog since last Monday Moaning...I did little on Twitter or Facebook...Just needed a bit of a break...Plus it's been busy here...These couple weeks are busy at the Fish House, so I've been trying to get more sleep instead of being up until 2:00AM and then getting up with the kids at 6:30AM...

Then there's getting ready for Christmas...And we had a birthday last week...It's already been a year since this picture was taken of my baby girl laying on my chest the night she was born...


Now look at here swinging in the cool December air...


Here she is busting a move with Frosty the Snowman...




Sometimes blogging just has to take a backseat to shit like that...Now let's get into some sports...We'll start with the shitty Browns...Yeah, they lost again Sunday, in OT to Arizona...Whatever...I want to talk about how Mike Holmgren has been doing his job as President of the Browns...For guy making nearly 10 million dollars a year, he really sucks...Twice he has addressed the media this year...Both times after the media and fans have raised their voices about where is this guy, what is he doing, and why is he on radio shows in Seattle instead of Cleveland...

In his press conference last week he informed us that "NO ONE" on the Browns medical staff, or coaching staff knew that Colt McCoy had his brain caved in by James Harrison..."No One saw him get hit in the head." How is it that the Browns staff are the only people on Earth who didn't see that hit!?! I guess they all have their heads up their asses!

Then Fatty Holmgren got pissy with the media for questioning him, and what he's doing...Earlier that day, long time Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Bud Shaw took Holmgren to task, saying that it doesn't matter who's in charge, "it's business as usual." He also eluded to what many of us think...Fatty is just collecting a check...And that was mild compared to what some of the radio guys were saying...So fatty got pissed at the media and said, "You're either with us, or you're not, so remember that when you come looking for extra playoff tickets."

WHAT!?! How the fuck is this guy talking about playoffs!?! This team is so far from that it's unreal...And you know what Fatty...It's the media's job to question you...And true fans should question you...True fans get pissed after watching a team suck year after year...No one is going to kneel down and kiss your ring...Why? Because you didn't win it here fat fuck!

-So how about those Packers...My pal Ryan has been harping on me all year to write up some love for his Packers...So I was watching them play the Chiefs Sunday, and planning on hyping a perfect season...But then, I noticed after every play that a guy made a first down, he was doing that stupid, hand gesture, showing he did his job...I already hated the Clay Matthews Jr. sack celebration, so now I was getting annoyed, and rooting against them...I didn't actually think the Chiefs would hold on, but damn...They D'ed up big time...Kept Rogers uncomfortable all day, and their offense just kept plugging away at that weak Packers defense...And the '72 Dolphins rejoiced!

- Then there was Jesus Tebow...Now last time I checked the Scripture, Jesus was the son of God...Tebow, I may give the Holy Spirit...But Sunday he, and his Broncos teammates, saw God...Tom fucking Brady...He's gotta be the closest thing to the almighty...All he does his shine up his Super Bowl rings, and MVP's...Sling it like a cock-strong, mother fucker...Win...And speaking of cock-strong, he created life with not only a hot actress, but also his super model wife...Shit, he sounds like the Holy Trinity to me!

Yeah, it's nice to see Tebow, Denver, and the Tebow followers, get a dose of reality! If your boy Timmy is such a miracle worker, and has the ear of God, then why is he wasting his time with Football...Go cure Cancer with your magical powers!

-Christmas time means something else besides, shopping, and gifts, and parties...It means here comes the non-stop 3 week parade of College Football Bowl Games...This week we get into the madness with plenty of average teams going at it to make a few extra bucks...I'm dogging on them, but I'll be watching a bit of Florida Int. vs. Marshall on Tuesday night...

-Now with it being Christmas time, we here a lot of the same old songs...And I love the classics, but I thought I'd share a few from one of my favorite bands...You don't think of Pearl Jam as a Christmas tune band, bu they do some good ones...Some unique tunes...I hope you enjoy...

"Let Me Sleep"




"Santa-God"




Here's the Bluesy "Don't Believe in Christmas"




Have a week...And have a Merry Christmas...

Later, The Beeze.

The Beeze's Hump Day Hits

Well welcome to a special Cheerleader edition of the Hump Day Hits! My pal B-Dub was mad that I didn't mention the South Carolina Gamecocks in my first College Football Preview, so this next pic is for him...

So Cleveland's Favorite Douche did an interview, and took his shots at Cavs owner Dan Gilbert...That's fine, you two children can keep arguing in the sand box...Then when asked about Cleveland and growing up near by, "The King" said this...
"It's not far, but it is far. And Clevelanders, because they were the bigger-city kids when we were growing up, looked down on us.… So we didn't actually like Cleveland. We hated Cleveland growing up. There's a lot of people in Cleveland we still hate to this day."

Well there you have it people, for those who don't understand how he could have left, there's one reason...Never mind the clues he gave by wearing a Yankees cap to an Indians game, or a Cowboys jersey to a Browns game...He hates Cleveland and Clevelanders...Get it dummies!

That's okay, people are getting pretty sick of him too...He was just recently at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, which if you like Roller Coasters, it's the place to go...He had to hire 4 of Sandusky's finest to escort him around for the day...He's f*cking huge, and he doesn't feel safe...DOUCHE! The crowd let him have it when he played a little free-throw shooting game...DOUCHE!



He also sucked ass at a three point shooting contest...DOUCHE!

In other stories of Douchebaggery...Brett Favre is coming back...I know, f*cking shocker, right!?! All it took was a little extra cash, and a couple weeks away from camp...I hope he breaks both his legs on the first play of the season.

The next topic I was gonna leave alone, but I can't...The once great publication, best known for it's in depth coverage of Baseball, The Sporting News, which over the last few years turned into nothing more then a rough piece of toilet paper, now has revamped their website, which has been in a steady decline for a couple years...And I don't mean revamped in a good way...It looks as though what many of us saw coming is happening...They are cutting ties with the blogging community, and members can't even comment their crappy staff writers work...What the site is becoming is sad...Full of ads, videos instead of quality writing, with more ads, and links to other sites for content...Speaking of links, here's ONE with more info on it...

When I saw this happening a song popped in my head..."Baba O' Riley" by The Who..."I don't need to fight, to prove I'm right." But I don't mind it, and I love being right...Let's see how well Pearl Jame covers it...



Now, since I did my College Football Preview last Saturday,(I'll be doing a second one this week as well) I've been looking at a lot of Cheerleaders...So for this week's big question, we're gonna go to the PAC-10...On this fine Hump Day, which set of these PAC-10 Cheerleaders would you most like to bury yourself in...

A. The USC Song Girls...

B. These beach loving gals from UCLA...

C. These sultry girls from Oregon...

As always, Read and Respond...

Later, The Beeze.

A Little Yellow Ledbetter, for FRAG

After Monday Moaning, Frag brought up a good question...What the hell is Eddie Vedder saying in the song "Yellow Ledbetter?" Well, I checked multiple sites, including this one...
http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/p/pearl_jam/yellow_ledbetter.html





This seems to be what I find everywhere...But if you checkout a live video...It doesn't sound anything like that...But who cares...Mike McCready rips it on the Guitar!





Later, The Beeze.