Category: Arts

Advent song for December 9: Happy Christmas, (another) Matthew!

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

This is a proper Christmas pop song. Chosen by Matthew, who says:

I Believe In Father Christmas: makes me smile because I remember Greg Lake being asked what it meant to him and answering “never having to write another song”.

Which is a wise, witty and pragmatic reponse worthy of Matthew himself, who is all of those things. I worked with Matthew years and years ago, before I knew how to do – well, just about anything. I never fully penetrated the mysteries of what he does for a living, but he did teach me, extra-curricularly, to be interested in cooking and photography, so for that I will always be grateful to him. In particular, I remember salivating as he described in exquisite detail the Christmas dinners he used to cook for what sounded like dozens of people at once. I am making Christmas dinner for the first time ever this year, and although I am only catering for four people, I shall endeavour to do it in the spirit of Matthew.

Happy Christmas, Matthew!

Advent song for December 8: Happy Christmas, Alex!

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

I never used to like Bruce Springsteen. Actually, to tell you the truth, until I was about thirteen I thought he and Sylvester Stallone were the same person, and once I found out they weren’t I still thought they were both kind of intimidating and mainly for boys.

These days I am more or less indifferent to Sylvester Stallone, but I have discovered a late-burgeoning love for The Boss. So much so that I might even go and see him when he comes to the UK next year, and if he does I hope I will see Alex there. Alex and I have known each other since we were teenagers and shared some times that, now I think about them, were pretty special and formative. I don’t see her very often these days but it’s always loads of fun when I do, and then I remember how sweet and funny she is and I wonder why I don’t see her more often.

So happy Christmas, Alex, and I hope to see more of you in 2012. We’ll make a date for Springsteen, shall we?

Advent song for December 7: Happy Christmas, Matthew

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

I have always said (what do you mean, you’ve never noticed?) that it’s easy to be funny and mean, and much harder to be funny and nice. Matthew manages to be all three, which is even cleverer, and whilst I have sometimes been reduced to tears of laughter by his beautifully elegant put-downs (always aimed at the most deserving of targets), it’s also abundantly clear that he is a dazzlingly nice man, whose warmth, wit and generosity of spirit make him one of the best people you could ever hope to bump into in the pub.

I demand that you follow him on Twitter immediately. It is his perfect medium, and also the place where you get to find out about the music he likes, which – since he is a musician – is another treat.

Happy Christmas, Matthew! This tune is one of my earliest memories, although I never knew its name before today, so thank you for that too.

Advent song for December 6: Happy Christmas, Anna

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music1 Comment

This is a last-minute entry from my aunt Anna. She said she thought it was too late to be included, and technically she was right, but I had a reshuffle and made space for it.

Anna is (along with my sister) the funniest person in our family, and everyone else in our family who is funny (including my sister) gets it at least partly from her. When we were little she was the cool aunt who let us get away with things our mothers – her older sisters – would have told us off for. And now we’re big, she’s the cool aunt who lives in beautiful parts of the world where we can go and visit her, and fantasise about our own far-off retirements being half as elegant and jet-setting as hers and Euan’s.

There is an advert before this song, but you can skip it. I looked for another version without an ad,  but this video is more fun than any of the alternatives. They aren’t, perhaps, the handsomest boy band you’ve ever seen, but they have a charm all of their own.

(There, how’s that for diplomacy?)

Happy Christmas, Anna!

Advent song for December 5: Happy Christmas, Susan

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music1 Comment

I got my first proper Christmassy shiver listening to this just now. There’s something about carols, isn’t there? Perhaps I will rejig the upcoming songs to make room for more carols. This is an especially pretty one, which I wouldn’t have thought of myself, so thank you to Susan for suggesting it. Susan is super fun and very kind, and a person I would like to be more like, because she absolutely knows her own mind and follows her own path, and as someone whose mind is changed about nearly everything every time I talk to someone new, I find that hugely admirable. She is also a Palace fan, and she has a brilliant daughter, so double points for all of that.

Happy Christmas, Susan!

Advent song for December 4: Happy Christmas, David!

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

You know when you are small and you accept your family for exactly what they are, it never occuring to you that anything could be different? And then one day you realise that they are real people and you are free to like and dislike them? And the joy of discovering that the relations you adore because you grew up with them are actually also really super people? Well, that. This song was picked by my cousin David, who as well as being a blood relation and therefore naturally superior is, as it turns out, one of the nicest, cleverest, funniest people the world has ever made. So that’s good. He is also married to one of the sweetest and most charming people I have ever met (the list comprises her, my dad and my brother-in-law).

Yay David! Happy Christmas to you and Susie. Here is your song which, as it happens, is also in my top five:

Advent song for December 3: Happy Christmas, Katie!

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

I haven’t heard of all of the songs people have nominated, and of those I don’t know some are, frankly, quite weird. So I am glad that other people nominated old favourites, and Nat King Cole singing The Christmas Song is pretty much the definition of an old favourite. Do watch the video as well as listening to the song, because there is something endlessly charming – something, despite his youth here, somehow grandfatherly – about the way he looks when he sings.

This song was chosen by Katie, who was my best friend at university back in the dim and distant past. Over the last few years we lost touch for various reasons, but then she turned up on Twitter and her tweets were so funny and cute that I remembered why we were friends and was annoyed that we’d ever stopped being. So now we’re back in touch, which is an excellent Christmas present.

Happy Christmas, Katie!

Advent song for December 2: Happy Christmas, Lindsey

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

I’d never heard the full introduction to White Christmas before, but when Lindsey nominated this song she specifically mentioned it, so I searched out this version and I’m glad I did, because it’s lovely – and, I think, more interesting and a little bit more wistful than the Bing Crosby version we all know and love.

I don’t know Lindsey very well, but she’s one of those people I immediately fall into conversation with whenever I see her, because she’s such witty and entertaining company that I can’t help it. She’s the sort of person you might accidentally confide in, but it wouldn’t matter because she would keep your secrets and make you laugh at the same time.

Happy Christmas, Lindsey!

Advent song for December 1: Happy Christmas, Tom!

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

This is one of my favourites, and as well as it being a good song to start with, Tom is a good person to start with, because he is EVERYONE’S FRIEND. I have almost never met anyone as kind, open, generous and without side as Tom: when Tom looks happy to see you, it’s because he’s happy to see you, and he’s always happy to see you. He also looks after my little sister like a big brother, and although she already has one big brother, there’s nothing wrong with having a spare.

Happy Christmas, Tom. I don’t know which tune you prefer, so have one of each:

Advent calendar for 2011

On By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

Forgive my prolonged absence. I’ve been busy getting married, among other things. Also, I always get lazy about blogging in November in the knowledge that when December comes I’ll be posting at least once a day. Yes, it’s time for the annual Gladallover musical advent calendar!

I ran out of good Christmas songs two years ago, so last year I changed the format and did a 24-day countdown of the best Christmas number ones from my lifetime. This year I needed a brand new idea, so a few weeks ago I asked my friends on Twitter and Facebook to nominate their favourite Christmas songs. I got quite a lot more than 24 replies, so I have whittled them down to my 24 favourites (songs, not people), and this year each day’s entry will be a song chosen by someone I know from either Twitter or Facebook, with a note on the song from me and also, to make it more interesting, a bit about the person who nominated it. Some of the people who chose songs are related to me, others I know in real life and some I don’t know at all.  But I promise to be nice about everyone. After all, it’s Christmas.

See you back here on Thursday x