I don’t know about you, but everywhere I go these days, the minions in the back of the minivan are demanding Christmas tunes. Here are three recommendations.
1. A Christmas Together: John Denver and the Muppets
In 1979, John Denver and Jim Henson’s Muppets teamed up to create the greatest Christmas special to ever air on American television (and no, do not try to talk me into the idea that 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special was anything other than a travesty).
A Christmas Together aired on December 5, 1979, on ABC. The “plot” — such as it is! — revolves around John Denver and the Muppets planning the format and taping of . . . the special itself! It was meta before meta was a thing.
Standout songs include “The Twelve Days of Christmas” (Miss Piggy sings the Five Gold Rings line), “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Silent Night,” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”
You can find the album, which compiles the music from the TV special, here.
Wikipedia tells me that the television-special version of A Christmas Together has never been released in a home-video format, but the whole thing is on YouTube for those inclined to dive into some classic Yuletide Americana!
2. The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge: Traditional Christmas Carols
In 1441, King Henry VI established a choir for the chapel at King’s College, Cambridge. Through the long centuries, there has always been music at King’s College (except, perhaps, for one grim period during the rule of Oliver Cromwell).
In the modern era, the choir has gained great fame for its annual Christmas Eve broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Millions around the world have encountered the story of the Nativity of Our Lord through the choir’s music.
Every year, the choir commissions an original carol from a contemporary composer for the service, but this is truly a time when I think we can all agree that the oldies are in fact the goodies. And in the hands of this magnificent choir, my favorite carol, “O Holy Night” — which is available on video here — is a haunting, beautiful hymn that instantly transports any listener to an encounter with the divine.
You can find 2022’s Traditional Christmas Carols from King’s here.
3. “The Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues
It was Christmas Eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, won’t see another one
And then he sang a song
The Rare Old Mountain Dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you
It’s been called the greatest modern Christmas song, and it tops lists of Christmas favorites in the U.K. and Ireland every December. “The Fairytale of New York” is a masterpiece — an unlikely masterpiece, perhaps, but a masterpiece. The story goes that Shane MacGowan and Jem Finer of The Pogues — the Anglo-Irish ’80s Celtic-punk band — supposedly composed the song when Elvis Costello (their then-producer) wagered that they couldn’t pen a hit Christmas single.
Boy, did they. MacGowan, Finer and vocalist Kirsty MacColl responded with a dark and moving portrait of substance abuse, human wreckage, sadness, and, yes, hope at Christmastime. The song appeared on 1988’s If I Should Fall from Grace with God, which is probably The Pogues’ best album, and it famously never quite reached the very top of the charts (topping out at No. 2) — but it’s just simply the best.
The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing Galway Bay
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas day!
You can find the track here.
Bonus Pick: Look, I don’t know why it would occur to anyone to cross Creed’s “Higher” with “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” — but I’m not going to say that it’s not a banger.