Not an actual Christmas song, this, but it was Christmas number one in the UK in 1963, so it definitely counts (and wait till you see some of the tenuous stuff I have lined up for you later in the month!). This live recording from The Ed Sullivan Show is more fun if you watch the video, since the audio is slightly shonky but the live aspect makes up for that, especially when the camera pans across to Ringo and the drums suddenly get louder, either because there was a mic attached to the camera or because he noticed they were focusing on him and started to bang harder. I hope it’s the latter.
Tag: beatles
December 3: Ding Dong Ding Dong
“Excellent audio”, says the description of this video, and it’s just as well because the picture quality is pretty dire. Nonetheless, you HAVE TO WATCH THIS VIDEO because it’s AMAZING. Apparently this is the first promo video George made for any of his solo singles, and he puts as much earnest effort into it as he did into everything else, with dazzling, and ocasionally dazzlingly peculiar, results. Released in 1974 this is technically a new year song rather than a Christmas song, but it sounds Christmassy, which is partly because it manages to sound both glam rock-esque and Wall Of Sound-esque, and those are both Christmassy sounds.
I’m not going to tell you what my favourite bit is because the minute you see it, you’ll* know.
I had to work really hard to stop myself from writing “yule know” there, although on further examination I discover I appear to have done it anyway.
December 2: Little Drummer Boy
Like me, you’ll be delighted to discover that of all the Beatles, the one who has recorded the largest number of Christmas songs is Ringo. Some of them are good, some of them are not, some of them are awesome, and then there’s this, which I think is actually the best version ever recorded – sorry, Bing and David – of the Little Drummer Boy, because it has SO MUCH DRUMMING. Like, imagine as much drumming as you can, and then double it, and that’s still not as much drumming as this song has. Make sure to listen all the way through, it would be a tragedy to miss the drum solos (yes, multiple), and the key changes (also multiple), and the bagpipes (just the one, although I suppose bagpipes by definition come in the plural).
December 1: The Beatles Christmas record, 1963
Let’s start at the very beginning, as D:Ream once said. The thing is, you have to like the Beatles A LOT to enjoy their Christmas EPs, released every year between 1963 and 1969, because they are only really interesting anthropologically, and only then if you are a Beatles fan, although it is always cheering to remember how funny they were, at least while they were still all friends, which in 1963 they were. There isn’t a great deal to recommend this musically, though, which is why every time I have to share what is essentially five minutes of rambling with you, I am going to balance it out with an alternative that is either less Christmassy or less Beatles-y, but never both and always good. Welcome to advent 2016, which has to recommend it that by the time it ends it will nearly be 2017, and as Julie Andrews once said, things can only get better.
And here’s your less festive alternative:
Genius II
I first saw this years ago, but it’s worth posting anyway because it’s just about the best thing I’ve ever seen and I had forgotten about it until I found myself poddling about on YouTube this afternoon. For as long as we live in a world where this is possible, there’s always a reason to be cheerful.
Glad All Over 