Category: 31 days of Christmas – 2013

31 days of Christmas

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Day 24 Wham – Last Christmas

Happy Christmas Eve! This is my favourite Christmas song of all time. You may think I’m a little biased as I’m a massive George Michael fan and George was of course one half of Wham but I just love this song so much. It’s the first Christmas song I remember hearing and I’ve grown up listening to it every year. No matter how many times I hear it it never loses it’s magic as it’s just a fantastic song.

I guess it’s another quite sad song lyrically but the 80’s instrumentation and the Christmassy feel of the track along with George’s vocal delivery just makes it an awesome song.

I’ve never heard another version of this that I’ve liked as much even despite the high amount of covers. Billie Piper’s version is the only one that comes close, as unlikely as that seems!

This has such a festive music video too. Love the story telling and how Christmassy it is.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 23 The Carpenters – Merry Christmas Darling

This is such a special song for me and remains in my top 3 favourite Christmas songs. Karen Carpenter had such a gorgeous voice – she sang like an angel. Her death was such a tragic loss to the music industry.

I think this song is just beautiful. It’s so soft and really quite sad but that doesn’t make the song in general depressing. The harmonies (especially at the end) are gorgeous.

This song has appealed to me more than once with it’s lyrical content as it describes the situation in which you can’t be with the person you’d like to be with.

Love this song.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 22 Chris Brown – This Christmas

This is another song that has been covered many times and if I’m honest, the artist doesn’t bother me as it’s the song I love. Chris Brown was how I discovered this song, however. Every year I YouTube my favourite artist’s name with ‘Christmas’ after it to see if they’ve done a festive song/cover/performance. Around four years ago I did this with Chris Brown and found he had done this song.

I love Chris’ version of this. The acapella intro is fantastic and the R&B vibe he gives it is just awesome. It’s such a great uplifting Christmas song an it’s not played enough at Christmas in my opinion. I just think it’s an all round great song and it’s so good to hear Chris’ natural voice rather than one that’s been manipulated through auto-tune.

Definitely one of my favourite festive records.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 21 Mary J. Blige – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This is the most modern release in my playlist as Mary J Blige’s interpretation of this song was released on her Christmas album, released a couple of months ago. In all honesty I don’t mind who sings this song, it’s just a beautiful, relaxing song. and one that captures the ‘peace’ element of Christmas.

I’ve chosen Mary’s version, however because I’ve heard it a few times this year and have been blown away with how lovely it is. Her version isn’t massively different from previous interpretations by other artists but there are a few extra chord variations and her version has a great R&B vibe to it. She also has a fantastic voice. I’d also massively recommend James Taylor’s version which is featured in one of my favourite movies: ‘The Holiday’. His has an awesome acoustic feel to it.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 20 Bing Crosby – White Christmas

We’re just five days away from the big day now – woooo! Here we are then, a classic that I couldn’t exclude from the list. Perhaps the most iconic Christmas song ever and one that’s universally loved, this song is perhaps the most festive song ever written. Bing’s voice is just amazing – many a time have I attempted imitating it around the house ;D

Absolute corker of a song! :’)

31 days of Christmas

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Day 19 The Darkness – Christmas Time (Don’t let the bells end)

This is what I believe is the 21st Century version of ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’. It’s a full on rock Christmas classic and I absolutely love it. It has a great sing-along chorus and I love the use of the choir towards the end of the track. It’s a fantastically happy tune which is exactly what we need this festive season. Justin Hawkins’ vocal range is incredible too! This also has particularly fond memories for me as it just reminds me of an amazing Christmas when I was younger.

It’s got a great video too – so Christmassy!

Awesome song.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 18 Geraldine – Once Upon a Christmas Song

This is just brilliant! ‘Once Upon a Christmas Song’ is a release by Geraldine, Peter Kay’s creation in response to the amount of reality TV on screen these days. After the success of ‘The Winner’s Song’ which reached Number 2 in the UK charts in October 2008, Peter decided to release a Christmas single and so ‘Once upon a Christmas Song’ was born. This also fared well and reached an impressive Number 5 in December 2008. It’s an exceptionally cheesy but catchy tongue-in-cheek song all about how Christmas songs are played and sung ‘over and over and over again’ until they get in our heads. In the process, this song also becomes ingrained in our brains…

And to make this even better, this song (in addition to ‘The Winner’s Song) is co-written by none other than my idol, Mr Gary Barlow!

Gotta love parody Christmas songs.

31 Days Of Christmas

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Day 17 Cliff Richard – Saviour’s Day

Say what you will about Cliff, whilst he’s not perhaps the most credible artist, he’s certainly contributed generously to Christmas pop records! Most know ‘Mistletoe and Wine’ which of course is a classic too but I’ve chosen an arguably less known track. This reached Christmas Number One in 1990 and has been voted into lists of both the best and most annoying Christmas songs.

I love this, I don’t think it’s necessarily the most Christmassy song you can hear but I think it’s a fantastic song. It’s another one that I’ve grown up to listening to every year and I just love the mood and tone of it. It’s loyal to Cliff’s style with its sway-worthy beat yet the lyrics are optimistic and it is a feel-good track. I particularly love how the track changes during the middle eight and the faded out refrain at the end of the track.

An underrated and often forgot about Christmas tune.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 16 Eartha Kitt – Santa Baby

Oh how I love this song. So flirty and naughty, it’s great! Forget Rihanna and her explicit escapades in her music and videos, this song is sixty years old this year and it manages to be exceptionally flirty without explicit lyrics. Eartha Kitt’s voice is just beautifully sultry – she has one of those classic voices and I love hearing this song every year. I have enjoyed other versions too, Kylie Minogue’s version being a notable cover but I think Eartha’s is my favourite.

 

 

31 days of Christmas

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Day 15 Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You

Say what you want about this one but there’s no denying it’s become a modern classic. This is such a catchy, up-tempo song and I think it’s definitely one of the most festive songs around. It’s been covered so many times but Mariah’s is definitely the definitive, best version.