Welcome to the first artist who is here for her mad skillz rather than for a specific song: you can’t have a list of the best women singer-songwriters without Tracy Chapman on it, duh. And this version of O Holy Night is a perfect showcase for her beautiful voice. Are you calm? If you’re calm, this will suit your mood perfectly. If you’re not calm, listen to this and you will be.
Did you know that Peggy Lee had a Christmas album? I mean, I suppose most crooners (and she is one, which is why she is featuring on our first Crooners’ Sunday of 2017) have a Christmas album, but what sets Peggy’s aside is that she wrote about half the songs on it, including this one. It is a little more middle-of-the-road than our first two entries, but no less charming for that. If you want to know (or remember) what Christmas sounded like in 1960, here’s your answer.
If you like this, there’s a whole lot more where that came from.
From the sublime to the ridiculous and back again, because what Kate Bush and Lady Gaga have in common is that they are both both, more than almost anyone else. I love this song and it makes me want to dance like Gaga which, let’s be clear, I cannot do.
If you don’t like this song never fear, it is – like all the best songs not counting November Rain – under three minutes long.
I can’t think how we’ve never had this theme before, but it works out nicely because if there was ever a year to celebrate the achievements of Phenomenal Women (thank you, Maya Angelou), 2017 is it. So here are Christmas songs from twenty-four of my favourite female singer-songwriters, although I will definitely have missed some good ones so feel free, as always, to send me your nominations.
Point of information: some of the artists that will be featured have written amazing songs, but never a Christmas song. In those cases I have decreed that it is OK to have them singing someone else’s Christmas song, because they are too important to leave out altogether.
It’ll give you an idea of the calibre of songs coming up to enthral and delight you over the next twenty-three days that we are starting with Kate Bush and this very twinkly 1979 live performance of December Will Be Magic Again. If this doesn’t get you in the festive spirit, go away, drink a small sherry (or a sparkling cranberry juice with a slice of orange in it) and then come back and try again.
Glad All Over 