Carols

I'm not a "Christmas carols all year round" kind of gal. Truthfully, any Christmas music before Thanksgiving gives me agita, and even the first week of December can seem a little too soon for me. Once I get in the spirit, though, really nothing else can make me smile the way certain Christmas carols do.

In the past few years, I've been compiling a mix of Christmas songs on iTunes, a few more good finds each holiday, and now I have a Christmas playlist that really makes me smile.

There are still some holes to fill---I've heard a kickin' version of "Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella" in French and English with oboe featured, but have yet to find it, for example. I might also try to track down a nice version of "Silent Night" to add, but I'm still on the fence. Up until this year, for some reason, that song hasn't spoken to me, but a few weeks ago, EJ began requesting it as her lullaby, and I have to admit that I am loving singing it with her in the stillness before bedtime. Hearing it sung to me, though, isn't the same as singing it with my daughter, so it remains off the list.

This year some songs have been swapped out for, in my opinion, better versions. Take, for example, Michael Bublé's version of "The Christmas Song," which I nixed today. I purchased this a few years ago when some friends of mine were attending one of his concerts, and I thought I'd check him out. I don't dislike Michael Bublé, but lets just say, sometimes I think he is a little TOO Michael Bublé, if you know what I mean. I realized this year that what I really wanted was a version of the song from my childhood, by the original crooner with an accent on his last e, Mel Tormé, so I made the switch.

The truth is, a lot of what draws me to each carol on my playlist is its connection to my memories of childhood Christmases. Some put me in my parents' living room, listening to the record player and dancing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, which at night, reflected like a mirror back to me, making it my little dance studio. Others make me think of the years I spent in the local theater company's production of "A Christmas Carol," and of all the fun that I had with my contemporaries caroling for the theater-goers (this was integrated into our version of the play) in Dickens-style costumes. Whatever the case, carols for me equal memories. While it takes an act of faith for me to believe in Christmas, it requires no such leap for me to believe in Christmas carols.

I've never done this before, so if this is the world's most boring, self-indulgent post, please excuse me, but I'm going to publish my list of carols here, in the order that I play them, along with the artists and albums, and a little blurb about why they made the list. If they appeal to you, they are all available on iTunes. With that, here's wishing everyone the happiest of holidays.

1. Deck the Halls---Mannheim Steamroller---Christmas
We played this in symphonic band my sophomore year of high school, and I liked that we were the lucky group that didn't have to play a traditionally-styled Christmas song for our holiday concert. It makes me think of my oboe teacher/band director and his family, with whom I spent so many happy times growing up, babysitting for his girls, helping build their Christmas dollhouse, visiting his wife at a local store where she worked that was always completely decked out for the holiday, etc.

2. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year---Andy Williams---The Andy Williams Christmas Album
This was on one of my parents' albums, and the minute I found it and played it as an adult, I was transported to about the age of 8. The splashy beginning makes you think that you are in the middle of a 1960s holiday special (and I wasn't even born until 1973).

3. Winter Wonderland---Bing Crosby---Bing Crosby's Christmas Classics
Can you really have a Christmas compilation without Bing? I don't think so. I love the muted horns in this one.

4. It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas---Johnny Mathis---The Christmas Music of Johnny Mathis: A Personal Collection
I know, I know. Johnny Mathis. Probably not the hippest choice, but bear with me. I love this version of the song, in no small part because my mom, throughout my childhood, loved Johnny Mathis enough to have a Johnny Mathis Christmas album, to play that album regularly while baking Christmas cookies, and to sing this song along with the album in a really goofy way, encouraging us to sing along, too.

5. Caroling, Caroling---Nat King Cole---The Christmas Song
Truth be told, I could just buy a Nat King Cole Christmas album and pretty much be set across the board, but if I have to pick just one of his songs, this is it. I love his voice. LOVE IT. Always have. The easiness of it, especially when set over the rich choral arrangement and orchestration in this song---well, it is genius arranging. Nothing compares to Nat.

6. Baby, It's Cold Outside---Dean Martin---Christmas with Dino
Oh, Dean. I would stay at your house as long as you'd like. Whether Dean or Dino, this guy is the charming leader of the pack when it comes to versions of this Christmas tease. Just try not to sing along. (His duet partner is no slouch either, by the way).

7. Feliz Navidad---José Feliciano---Feliz Navidad
This is a smile on the face, dance around the room carol for me, and one that makes me think of my dad. So many songs make me think of my dad, actually, but when it comes to Christmas carols, whenever I hear this I can picture in a flash this scene: my mom, dad, brothers and I are in the car, defroster cranking, windows icy and all of us trying to warm up, as we drive from house to house for our family's round robin progressive Christmas Eve dinner; while we kids peer out the windows trying to spot Santa, this song comes on the radio, and my dad starts tapping his hands on the steering wheel and dancing in his seat. He's the best car dancer in the world, my dad, even in bad weather, he can tap that steering wheel like a master and still keep everyone safe and sound.

8. Carol of the Bells---Mormon Tabernacle---Joy to the World
I sang this in a choir for the first time in high school, and I remember being so excited to get to do it, because I'd always loved it. Once we started practicing it, of course, I realized that the soprano part is actual quite a pain in the neck. I'll leave it to the Mormon Tabernacle choir, who sings the heck out of this driving, slightly haunting, but still very joyful song (and don't get me started on the brass).

9. Breathe of Heaven (Mary's Song)---Amy Grant---Home for Christmas
I first heard this in my 20s when the amazing pianist for the 5:30 choir at Holy Trinity in Georgetown played me a tape of it (that's right, a cassette tape, circa 1998) and asked if I'd like to sing it before mass with him the next week. My performance was one of my worst ever, I must say---the song was way too low for my voice, and I just didn't pull it off---but the song really stuck with me. At the very same time, our little prayer group was meeting each week of Advent, talking about what it might have been like for Mary, so young, to bear her responsibility. I brought the tape into prayer group one night and we played it before we started our session, and it was one of the loveliest moments I remember with that very special group of people.

10. The Christmas Song---Mel Tormé---20th Center Masters-The Millenium Collection: The Best of Mel Tormé
Judge Harry from "Night Court" had it right: Mel Tormé is fabulous. Listen to the way he says "tonight" and "Santa." Dreamy and smooth, Mel. And if you are reading this and remember watching Mel on "Night Court," all the better.

11. The Little Drummer Boy---Harry Simeone Chorale---The Little Drummer Boy
The classic recording from 1959 made it to CD in the 1990s, and here is where you can find it. I remember absolutely adoring this song when I was a little kid. Bump buh buh bummmm....

12. Once in Royal David City---The Galway Christmas Singers---The 50 Greatest Christmas Carols
Truth be told, this version isn't the greatest---it is slightly precious and is missing the last, triumphant verse (my favorite)---but it was the best I could find. Yes, there are a lot of recordings of it by famous choruses out there, but their versions, in my opinion, are too slow. The song isn't a dirge, for goodness sake. I first sang this song as a kid along with with the rest of the chorus of "A Christmas Carol," from the balcony, during one of the dark scene changes of the play. I find the melody and accompanying lyrics very soothing.

13. All I Want for Christmas Is You---Mariah Carey---Merry Christmas
I've loved this song since seeing the little girl belt it out like a pro in "Love, Actually." Loved the movie, loved the song. Can't help but like the jingle bells on the microbeat to keep you dancing around the room, which is exactly what EJ does every time she hears this song.

14. Frosty the Snowman---Jimmy Durante---20th Century Masters-The Millennium Collection: Season's Greetings (Box Set)
This is a kid favorite, and since I have a kid, it is on the mix. Do you remember singing this in school holiday concerts? I can take myself right back to the Jeffery Elementary School gym, parents and kids everywhere, each grade shuffling up to the stage set up under the basketball hoop in succession, and undoubtedly, there would be a Frosty moment. I like Jimmy Durante's version best, for sheer nostalgia.

15. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer---Gene Autry---Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Other Christmas Classics
This is the holiday song Gene Autry was born to sing. I find it nearly impossible not to join along with "The Singing Cowboy," which only makes sense---the man is a cowboy, and if you are sitting around a campfire with a cowboy and he wants you to sing, you sing.

16. Silver Bells---Bing Crosby & Carole Richards---20th Century Masters-The Christmas Collection: The Best of Bing Crosby
A great duet version of a lovely song. Bing is, well, the Bingiest. Carole's voice has a curious quality about it that I find intriguing. The call-and-response sections, as well as the close, where they sing the refrain and verse simultaneously, are what make this version fun.

17.The Carol of the Birds---Joan Baez---Noel
When I was in seventh grade, and was first cast in "A Christmas Carol," I was given this song to sing as a solo, a capella. I remember this as the first moment that I began to feel nervous about what others might think of my performance, even though I had already been in two musicals as a kid, along with countless recitals, without experiencing a twinge of stage fright. Singing this, though, I was so exposed---all alone on stage, one spotlight on me, the notes higher than anything I'd ever sung, no accompaniment---and when compounded with my self-conscious age, I remember being terrified. Making it worse, I realized that in rehearsals, when I would sing, people would stop and sit down and watch me, and some would shut their eyes, as if they were sleeping or ignoring me. I finally asked the director about it, because I was so worried I was doing a terrible job---people weren't clapping, they just seemed in a trance, so it must be awful. She told me that they weren't in a trance---they were entranced, because it was so beautiful, and they couldn't believe that such a bright, big, beautiful sound could come out of such a little person. She told me I had a unique voice that I should treasure, because it could help to take people to their own sacred space, which is a compliment higher than any amount of applause. I burst into tears of relief. And with that, this sweet, ethereal Spanish carol about the birds of the manger humbly preparing for the birth of Jesus changed my life forever.

18. In dulci jubilo---The Cambridge Singers, City Of London Sinfonia & John Rutter---Various: Christmas Night
The Rutter arrangement of this Christmas classic is magical. Sure, you can't sing along as easily as if it were in English (as "Good Christian Men, Rejoice"), but this one is so majestic, listening is all that is required.

19. The Holly Bears a Berry---Lisa Neustadt & the Angel Band & Jean Redpath---Shout for Joy: An Unusual Collection of Traditional Carols
With no offense given to the perfectly lovely "The Holly and the Ivy," I'll take "The Holly Bears a Berry" (also called "The Sans Day Carol") first every day. This song was also a part of "A Christmas Carol," sung by four girls walking around the audience, each with a verse as a solo, then in harmony for the verses. I got to sing in it one year (I believe my verse was "black as coal"), and it was the highlight of the whole show in my eyes. This version is the closest I have found to the unaccompanied version we sang as middle schoolers, and it makes me warm and fuzzy each time I hear it. Give it a try, and you might knock the ivy, too.

20. Jingle Bell Rock---Bobby Helms & The Anita Kerr Singers---20th Century Masters-The Millennium Collection: Season's Greetings (Box Set)
Classic, sock-hop happy, required listening for Christmas. Enough said.

21. Mary's Little Boy Child---John Denver---Christmas Like a Lullaby
In my experience, you are either a John Denver lover, or a John Denver hater. There is little in between. I am a lover. I make no apologies. He was one of the last, truly Western singer-songwriters, and he is never better than when he is singing in the Western story-telling tradition. This song was one that my mom (also a Denver lover, and a native of Denver...coincidence?) played a lot as a kid, and I like it just as much now. For those who don't like John, feel free to skip it, but may I remind you before you pass him over that he was beloved by God (as played by George Burns) and the Muppets (especially Kermit), and those are some pretty solid fans.

22. The Cherry Tree Carol---Peter, Paul, and Mary---A Holiday Celebration with the New York Choral Society
My mom's favorite group is Peter, Paul and Mary. Hands down, no contest. As such, as her child, I know the entire PP&M canon. I've attended live concerts, both with Mom (and without her). I was raised on this stuff. The Cherry Tree Carol is a really sweet song, in the truest sense, and a break from the strictly traditional stuff. In my own experience, singing "The Cherry Tree Carol" as cantor of the 8:30 a.m. Christmas mass my senior of high school resulted in me receiving the most beautiful note of praise from a parishioner that I have ever gotten from anyone (save maybe from the comment previously mentioned about "The Carol of the Birds,"), a note that is still in my mom's possession. I chose to sing this song for the communion reflection that day especially for my mom, and I think that all of that love must have shown through.

23. Hard Candy Christmas---Dolly Parton---Once upon a Christmas
Oh, Dolly. How many ways do I love you? Too many to write here, clearly. This is one of my favorite Dolly songs, and another nice non-traditional Christmas song for the mix. If you are having hard times, this song is certainly a great Christmas anthem. Let's not dwell on the fact that I first saw this performed by her in the movie version of the musical, "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas." Sure, I was likely way too young to see that movie, but I was so naive, I really had no idea what was going on.

24. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree---Brenda Lee---20th Century Masters-The Christmas Collection: The Best of Brenda Lee
Remember everything I said about #7, Feliz Navidad? My dad, the steering wheel percussionist and front-seat dancer? Repeat that here for Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree. I've heard a lot of versions of this, and I've liked many, but for me, Brenda Lee's is the best.

25. Christmas Is Coming (Vocal)---Vince Guaraldi Trio---A Charlie Brown Christmas (Remastered)
One of the best things about being a parent is that you get reintroduced to things that you loved when you were a kid all over again. Case in point: The Charlie Brown Christmas Special. When you hear this song, can you see all those Peanuts dancing on stage, waiting for the sad little Christmas tree to arrive? Can you remember Lucy proclaiming that she really wants real estate for Christmas? This song brings it all home to me, and I can say without hesitation that our daughter loves it as much as Mike and I do.

26. Christmastime Is Here (Vocal)---Vince Guaraldi Trio---A Charlie Brown Christmas (Remastered)
More Charlie Brown here, I just couldn't help myself. This song smoothly downshifts from the upbeat dance number that proceeds it, and soothes even the most hectic holiday. Glide along with it and think ice skating, just like the Peanuts do, when you hear this one.

27. Holy, Holy, Holy---Sufjan Stevens---Songs for Christmas
How many times have I sung this song at church, whether as a cantor, or part of a choir, or in the pews? Thousands, maybe? I found this version of it this year completely by accident while searching for another song, and was charmed instantly. The beautiful, understated duet is powerful because it is both uplifting and reflective. This, to me, is a slice of what the folk mass sounds like at its best.

28. Happy XMas (War Is Over)---John Lennon---Lennon Legend
The subtitle of the album on which I found this recording says, "The very best of John Lennon," and I have to agree. Lennon + kids chorus + thoughts of peace + happy Christmas = magic. On a side note, I'm also a fan of McCartney's upbeat, "Wonderful Christmastime," but you can't purchase it without getting a whole album of other stuff, too, so only one Beatle wins entry on to my mix. Maybe next year...

29. Sleigh Ride---Leroy Anderson---Traditional Christmas Classics
Sleigh Ride was the last song played at my high school Christmas concert each year with a giant combined band, and some psychological switch gets flipped in my brain each time I hear it that says, "Okay, job well done, now where are we going for sundaes?" It's only fitting that I start with a high school band song and end with one, too. Shout out to the percussion on this one---they get to use all the bells and whistles, literally. So, with a muted trumpet horse to neigh farewell, MERRY CHRISTMAS!