We’re adding the 449th and 450th songs to our list, and that means it’s MILESTONE TIME, BABY! Ian tries to find the greatest holiday song of all time and submits a familiar tune by a legendary artist that contains surprises and multitudes. RJ looks for the worst holiday song of all time and lands on a parody of “Let It Snow” that manages to both be both vulgar and prudish – and it ain’t exactly easy on the ears, either.
It’s Father’s Day this week, and here on HARK we’re listening to some songs from those Classic Christmas Dads! In character as beloved and put-upon pop Bob Cratchit, Kermit the Frog performs the poetic “One More Sleep Til Christmas” from the Muppet Christmas Carol. Then Marian Call sings from the point of view of a less gentle holiday movie dad in “Christmas in L.A. (Yippee Ki Yay)”.
The Tony Awards are this Sunday, so we’re celebrating with a musical-theatre-themed request! At listener Emily’s suggestion, we check out two Christmas songs from the not-Tony-nominated show “Songs for a New World.” The first, “Surabaya Santa,” is an intriguing idea that turns out upsetting, while the second, “Christmas Lullaby,” mostly works? Mostly?
In honour (with a u) of National Biscuit Day in the UK, we’re covering two tunes about cookies! These holiday songs are about cookies, and only about cookies, and definitely nothing else. “Christmas Cookies” by RuPaul, for example, is definitely about the baking of cookies and not about being extremely horny. And “The Cookie Song” by Amanda Duncan is about combining ingredients into dough and then heating that dough to create delicious cookies and – I can’t emphasize this enough – definitely not about being extremely horny except probably for Santa in this one.
Thank you to Daniel the Macy’s Elf for requesting “Christmas Cookies”!
This week, by request, we add some ska to our ever-growing list! “I Got This Neighbor” by MU330 is a charmingly short song that has us reminiscing about ska bands of our own youth, while “Big Ol’ Drummer Bwoy” by Sons of Odin offers some mixed messages about the appeal of percussion instruments.
This week, by request, we’re covering two more of The Killers’ many, many holiday releases! As you may remember from Episode 113, Ian has a very special, very hateful relationship towards their non-holiday oeuvre. Yet we find ourselves in an unlikely disagreement about the surprisingly serious “Joseph, Better You Than Me”, featuring Neil Tennant and Elton John, and in a sort of reluctant harmony about predictably silly “The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball”.
This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and we’ve got two Christmas songs about moms… well, at least, two songs that acknowledge motherhood as a concept. “The Christmas Song” as performed by Fantasia just barely qualifies but we wanted to talk about it so there, while “A Mother’s Christmas Wish” by Olivia Newton-John is basically a floral-patterned Hallmark card of a holiday song.
It’s International Workers’ Day and we’re celebrating with some holiday songs for solidarity! “We’re Following the Wrong Star” by Billy Bragg is an evocative Christmas anthem for the working class, while “Stop the Cavalry” by Jona Lewie is a weird and almost whimsical holiday song about the horrors of war.
Thank you to Liam for the requests! Here’s a link to the article that we mentioned in this episode.
Ok, we got the giggles out of our systems last week, and we’re ready to talk about music like a couple of proper grown-ups. This week we reflect on Passover and Easter and listen to two more traditional holiday songs – “Mi Yimalel” as performed by Neal Katz, and “O Holy Night” as performed by David Phelps. It’s serious stuff this week, y’all. Also: RJ performs a wee robot song.
Thank you to Andrew for requesting “O Holy Night”!
You may be celebrating Passover or Easter this week, but here on HARK as per tradition, we’re celebrating April the 20th. Join us as we try to invigorate our 4/20 spirit with two Christmas songs about the dank herb – “Santa Claus is Smoking Reefer” by Squirrel Nut Zippers and “Christmas Trees” by Major Lazer.
