This is another song I’d never heard before, but I like it a lot, and I especially like the juxtaposition of the song and the video here, which is why I chose this version on YouTube. It’s also a perfect combination for Nancy, who is both a spunky punky rebel and a tremendously sweet and charming person. Also, her baby has the best hair of any baby ever. True story!
Happy Christmas, Nancy!
The first time I heard Tom Waits, I thought it was a joke. I’m still not sure that it isn’t, but I have come round to him in a way I never quite managed with e.g. Bob Dylan, Lou Reed or any number of other American men with unusual singing styles. I think it’s partly because it’s so much fun doing an impression of him. Also, the songs are good, and this is no exception. It’s not terrifically Christmassy, but he has made up for it in this live version by stitching a couple of verses of Silent Night onto it, so it definitely counts.
I expect you know your own mind and never need to look to other people to figure out what you think about a thing. That’s because you are very grown up and supremely well-balanced. I, on the other hand, am not very good at deciding what I think, but that’s OK because I am good at finding people whose moral and aesthetic compasses are so well-aligned with mine that I just have to find out what they think and I will usually agree. My husband is one of those people, and Jim is another. I don’t know Jim very well, but whenever I am not sure what to think about a thing, I look to Jim’s opinion to get a pointer towards my own.
Jim has a son and a daughter, which is excellent, because if you were to design the ideal dad, you might end up with Jim. Really, he should have a whole lot more children and populate all of South West England with a bunch of mini-Jims. Perhaps I will suggest this to him.
Happy Christmas, Jim!
Wez was my boyfriend through most of my twenties. We lived together in a ridiculously gorgeous flat in Crystal Palace and pretended to be grownups, with limited but occasional success. The Halloween party which ended with actual blood all over the floor, the New Year’s Eve dinner party where we all had to stop for a nap halfway through and the lost weekend when we invited everyone over and spent three days watching eighties movies and drinking tequila will always stand out as cherished memories for me.
But the really odd thing about my relationship with Wez is that not only do we still get on, but we never had a falling-out period at all. We just both figured out that we made better friends than girlfriend and boyfriend, and seamlessly made the transition. I don’t know if that’s because I’m really nice or he’s really nice. I suspect it’s both.
So happy Christmas, Wez, and enjoy your song, which I had never heard of before today, but which is now going on my Christmas playlist.
Uncle Paul was not specific in his nomination. He wanted a Muppets Christmas song, but he didn’t say which one. So I’ve gone for this one because it makes me laugh out loud and because I think Paul will like it.
Everyone should have an uncle Paul. All small children need a grown-up who tickles them and teases them and tells them jokes and picks them up and throws them in the air so that they feel MOSTLY safe, but not COMPLETELY safe. When you are small you think that adults are invulnerable, and I still secretly think that about Paul even though life has dealt him a difficult hand over the last couple of years. Anyone who, when they’re having a hard time, can still tell jokes and share laughs and be warm and open and giving towards all of their friends and family, gets applause and admiration from me.
Thank you and happy Christmas, Uncle Paul, to you and yours xxx
A number of people nominated this song, but Ursula got in first, which is handy because there are so many good things about Ursula that the only problem is knowing where to start. Or it would have been, except when I got in last night I saw a Facebook update from Ursula saying that she’s been offered a job she was after, so this is now a Happy New Job post as well as a Happy Christmas post.
Ursula is one of those rare people who is completely capable and sensible – you’d definitely put her in charge of things, if you needed someone to be in charge of things – but also very funny and lovely at the same time, and perfectly able to be silly when the occasion demands it (as, for example, in the photo of her family of six posing very solemnly for the camera, each – including the baby – wearing a false moustache).
Ursula and her family and especially her gorgeous children make me happy, and so does this song, so they’re a good match. Happy Christmas and happy new job, Usch!
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!
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?
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.
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!
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!
Glad All Over 