Category: Music

Advent song for December 18

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Films, Music

Watching this again sent shivers up my spine.  I think we always used to watch The Snowman on Christmas Eve, so for me it’s inextricably tied up with the tingling excitement of waiting for Christmas Day.  I’ve chosen the original version from the cartoon rather than Aled Jones’s slightly more famous version, because the cartoon is still great and I think everyone should watch it again.  The little touches – the whale, the northern lights – really make it.  Although I still don’t understand why they fly over Brighton, since they end up at the North Pole and you can’t possibly start south of Brighton if you live in England, which judging by his nightwear this little boy definitely does.

Advent song for December 17

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music, Reasons to be cheerful

I had no plans to include this song, but it popped into my head this morning and hasn’t left, so here it is.  I don’t think I’d ever seen the video, but I like it very much because everybody in it seems so happy.  Whatever you think about Paul and Linda, I think they were very much in love, and you can see it here.  Also, I like that the “choir of children” is actually them.  It reminds me of the story Paul told about auditioning children to voice the part of Rupert in the full-length video for We All Stand Together, and all of them were so rubbish that he ended up doing it himself.

Advent song for December 14

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Films, Music, Reasons to be cheerful

I knew this was the song I wanted for today, but I didn’t know which version I wanted, so this morning I engaged in a bit of research.  Things I didn’t know before include that this song is from a film, that it was written in 1949 and that it won the best song Oscar the following year.  There’s a very charming version from 1951 featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan, and there will always be a place in my heart for the Miss Piggy/Rudolf Nuryev cover, but because it’s the original and best, here are Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams in Neptune’s Daughter (I’d never heard of it either) with Baby It’s Cold Outside.

Advent song for December 13

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music, Reasons to be cheerful

What I like about this is that it’s an attempt to emulate the glitz and pomp of the glam rock Christmas classics from the 1970s, and it more or less succeeds.  That the song hasn’t passed into Christmas legend isn’t its fault: it’s genuinely good.  It stopped being fashionable to like The Darkness, but for a few months there they were, in their own way, very good indeed.  And this video has everything, including a children’s choir and a Christmas message at the end.  What more could you want?  A penis reference, you say?  It’s got that too.  Enjoy.

Seasonal songs

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music, Small pleasures

I’ve realised, too late, that I should have created my own online advent calendar by embedding a video for a different Christmas song each day. Well, it’s too late to do it from the 1st, but it’s not too late to start now. So from now until Christmas, except on the 19th-22nd inclusive when I will be out of the country and may not have internet access, I will link to a new Christmas song each day from among my personal favourites. We will begin with an item which is neither an embedded video nor even a video at all, really, but it’s one of the happiest Christmas songs there is: Andy Williams singing Sleigh Ride. Make sure you listen all the way through; it gets better as it goes along. Just like advent.

Rick Astley: best act ever

On By Laura MorganIn Music

I am delighted to accounce that Rick Astley won Best Act Ever at the MTV European Music Awards this weekend. It seems Rick is marginally less delighted, having stayed away from the awards themselves and issued a statement which sounded stoic rather than over the moon:

I am honoured that my fans worked so hard to help me win Best Act Ever at the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards.

This is the first time I have been nominated for the EMAs and I would like to thank everyone who voted for me.

I think maybe he suspects that some of the voters were having a laugh. Which, to be fair, we sort of were, but only because we think you’re brilliant, Rick!

YouTube won’t let me embed a video, so here’s a boring old link.