Tag: 31 days of Christmas

31 days of Christmas

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Day 31 Dina Carroll – The Perfect Year

So here we are! Last song in my 31 days of Christmas playlist and the last day of 2013. I thought this would be a perfect song to include as my last song in my playlist.

This is such a beautiful song which is originally from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Sunset Boulevard. It’s not really a Christmas song but is often regarded as such due to its reference of a new year. The lyrics are great and the track just screams 90’s! I love it. Such a silky smooth track and Dina’s voice is wonderful on it. True talent.

If you’ve followed my 31 days of Christmas playlist then thank you! It means a lot to know people actually read these and that I’m not just chatting away to myself 😉 I certainly hope you’ve enjoyed reading these entries as much as I have writing them. I promise to continue to blog on other matters in this next year. I hope you have a very happy new year.

 

31 days of Christmas

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Day 30 David Bowie and Bing Crosby – Peace On Earth/Little drummer boy

This is a last minute addition into my playlist, replacing another track. It was difficult to make this decision but after much thought, I realised I much preferred this song and couldn’t possibly exclude it! The song ‘Little drummer boy’ on its own does nothing for me. It’s a nice song but with nothing much to it. This, however, is another story. This is a combination of the 1941 song ‘Little drummer boy’, with a counter point (‘Peace on earth’) added to it.

Bing Crosby and David Bowie are both legends in their own right but this combination is just fantastic. Their voices blend so well to each other and it’s a beautiful performance. I think the two songs work fantastically together and it’s just perfect.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 29 Lady Antebellum – On This Winter’s Night

This is one of the more modern inclusions in my Christmas song playlist. I discovered this song this year after recalling that Lady Antebellum had released a Christmas album last year. I love this band, I think their songs are awesome and full of meaning. They are such a great addition to the Country music scene because they blend it with pop making it more accessible to the younger generation. Let’s face it ‘Need you now’ is a classic!

I fell in love with this song, the only original on the album, straight away. It’s so soft, so festive and beautiful. It reminds me of ‘Silent night’ with a country and R&B twist. Sounds strange but listen and you’ll hear what I mean. The harmonies are stunning and I love the call and response “On this winter’s night (We’ll look back on the year we’ve had) On this winter’s night (we’ll count our blessings)” – it’s just beautifully written and beautifully sung. It’s even got a children’s choir!

A fine addition to Christmas music.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 28 Jona Lewie – Stop The Cavalry

This is one fine song. It supplies me with plenty of memories of me and my younger brother mucking around when we were younger pretending to play the brass instruments heard in the song! Good times. This is one of those more political Christmas tunes which manages to avoid the cheese-factor by having a more meaningful message than perhaps some other festive songs do.

Interestingly, this was apparently never written as a Christmas song, instead as just a protest song. It’s December release, the line ‘Wish I was at home for Christmas’ and brass band arrangements just made it appropriate to be played at Christmas time.

Great song.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 27 Dean Martin – Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Another classic, this is an awesome song. It’s really simple and is relatively short for a pop song but that’s part of what makes it so enchanting. There’s been countless interpretations of this song and I do love most I’ve heard although Dean Martin’s remains my favourite. I just love his voice on his version.

Other versions I’ve heard and have thoroughly enjoyed include Kylie Minogue, John Legend and Rod Stewart.

31 days of Christmas

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Day 25 Michael Buble – Cold December Night

Merry Christmas everybody!

I absolutely adore Michael Buble’s Christmas album and could have selected any track from it but I have chosen the one original track ‘Cold December Night’. I love this song as it’s so cheerful and catchy –  everything a Christmas song should be!

Mr Buble is the perfect soundtrack to Christmas 🙂

 

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.