It’s that time of year again! Time for BIRTHDAY BOY’S CHOICE! As per tradition, Ian is given license to choose whatever songs he wants to listen to this week, and also as per tradition, he chooses some weird bullshit. Revisit some earworms from his youth with us: “Tennessee Christmas” as performed by Lee Greenwood and “Our Love Is Like a Holiday” by Michael Bolton.
Our ranking music this episode is “Christmas in L.A. (Yippee Ki Yay)” by Marian Call.
This episode of HARK is here just in time for Canada Day (in our time zone, anyway), and we’re listening to some Canadian content by request! “First Christmas” by Stan Rogers is up first, and we find ourselves unprepared. But we quickly get back into our groove by dissing Michael Bublé’s rendition of “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”.
Our ranking music this week is “Exiles Among You” by The Weakerthans.
Thank you to Joe, Carl, and Dave for these requests!
The solstice fast approaches, and we’re marking it with two seasonal songs! Er, sort of. The real theme of this episode is “Not Winter Wonderland” – “Winter Wonder Land” by Animal Collective is just a boldly named original, while “Summer Wonderland” by Ronan Keating is a southern hemisphere re-write of the classic.
Our ranking music this week is “White Wine In the Sun” by Tim Minchin.
This week, we cover a listener request that may be a ploy to get us to talk about musical theatre again – just in time for the Tony Awards (if, you know, those were happening)! “Holly Jolly Christmas” as performed by Idina Menzel is a pretty good rendition of a pretty bland Christmas song, while “Silver Bells” as performed by Kristin Chenoweth offers an unexpected new flavor.
Thank you Philip (and Olaf) for these requests!
Our ranking music this week is “Christmas Bells” by the cast of RENT.
If you can, please take a moment to donate to one of these bail funds. You will not only be supporting protesters standing up against racist state violence, but potentially saving lives by keeping people out of US prison facilities where COVID-19 has been allowed to flourish.
In this episode, we’re talking about two holiday songs themed around the color red! …sort of! …for Pentecost, I guess! “Wrapped In Red” by Kelly Clarkson gives us an excuse to talk about Love Actually, again, so it’s hard to fault it for that. Whereas “Red-Suited Superman” by Rod Stewart gives us an excuse to talk about Rod Stewart, for the very first time!
The ranking music in this episode is “Christmas Is All Around” by Billy Mack.
It’s time once again for some listener requests! In this episode we dig into two tracks from Christian alt-rock label Tooth & Nail’s Happy Christmas compilation series. First, we interpret the meaning of the mumbled chorus of Starflyer 59’s “A Holiday Song” and then make a pro/con list on Lost Dogs’ robot-heavy rendition of “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)”.
This episode may come out a few days after April 20th, but good news! It’s still April 2020, so it’s 4/20 for another week and a half! Stay safe, smoke responsibly, and enjoy our takes on these two reefer-fueled holiday tunes – “Do You Wanna Hit My Vape Pen?” by MC Flow and “Twas the Night” by Nate Dogg and Snoop Dogg.
This week’s ranking music is “Pot in the Latkes” by MC Flow.
In honor of Easter and Passover, we’re covering Christmas and Hanukkah songs that are on the more traditional, religious side. “Joy to the World” performed by Nat King Cole bring nostalgic joy, while “Mi Yimalel Too!” by Julie Silver may sound like a sequel, but is more akin to a retelling.
Our ranking music this week is “Chad Gadya” performed by Jack Black.
April Fools’ Day is on the horizon – not that anyone should be celebrating it, in this of all years. For what may be the worst of holidays, we listen to two jokes of songs – some old-fashioned parody songs, by listener request. “The 12 Gifts of Christmas” by Allan Sherman may be a so-so version of an overdone song, but it does deliver one very welcome holiday music innovation. “I Yust Go Nuts at Christmas” by Yogi Yorgesson, however, is yust a mess.
Our ranking music this episode is “A Christmas Carol” by Tom Lehrer.
Can you believe we’ve covered 500 songs, and only one by Old Blue Eyes? In honor of St. Joseph’s Day, we’re covering two songs by an Italian-American icon. First is the slightly spooky “The Christmas Waltz” by Frank Sinatra, followed by “The 12 Days of Christmas” by the Sinatra family, which reimagines the interminable classic as a list of extremely generic Dad Gift ideas. Maybe dad likes… jelly??
Our ranking music this episode is “Christmas Memories” by Billy Gilman!
