Twelve Songs of Christmas

Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips have recorded a lot of Christmas music, and Steven Drozd and I talk about why that makes sense for the psychedelic rock band as we talk about their Christmas output. He goes back to the version of “Little Drummer Boy” that they worked out in the van on the way to an in-store in Minneapolis and comes forward to 2019’s cover of David Bowie and Bing Crosby’s “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy” and his own “Christmas Snowflakes on the Autobahn,” which he describes as “Kraftwerk meets Mannheim Streamroller.”

The conversation meanders to cover not only their output over the years including Atlas Eets Christmas, a project he initiated that was released under the name Imagene Peise. He talks about recording the title track with Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, and singer Wayne Coyne’s deep commitment to Christmas. We discuss the musical mystery that is Jackie Gleason, his feelings about Christmas on Mars, his podcast, Sorcerer's Orphan, and The Flaming Lips’ 24-hour Guinness World Record tour, which I covered for Spin.

The Flaming Lips’ most recent album, American Head, is out now, and the band has scheduled socially distanced concerts on December 10 and 11 in Oklahoma City’s The Criterion, where 100 fans will watch from the space bubbles that Coyne employs to walk over the fans at concerts. The shows have sold out, but watch CriterionOKC.com for additional shows, and follow waynecoyne5 on Instagram in case additional shows are scheduled.

For the occasion, Steven curated a Christmas music playlist, which you can find in the show notes and at TwelveSongsOfChristmas.com. 

If you like this week’s show, subscribe or follow 12 Songs at Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and now, Pandora.

For a musical record of 12 Songs so far that doubles as a solid soundtrack for the holidays, check out our “12 Songs of Christmas So Far” Spotify playlist. 

"Just Like Christmas" with Low

The American rock band Low recorded one of the newer contenders for a spot in the Christmas music canon when it cut "Just Like Christmas" for its 1999 EP, Christmas. As Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker reveal, the EP emerged spontaneously, driven in part by wondering whether they could intentionally write a body of Christmas songs. 

The EP became an important part of the life of the band in a number of ways as it helped to get them attention and money at a time when they needed both. It has become enough of a part of the band's story that Low has returned to Christmas music a couple of times--in 2008 with "Santa's Coming Over" (which doesn't appear in the podcast) and in 2016 with "Some Hearts (at Christmas Time").

In the episode, we talk about Low's "Taking Down the Tree" from Christmas, and mention but don't play Tracey Thorn's cover of the song. It's excellent and well worth hearing. We also talk about a Gap ad from 2000 that featured Low's version of "Little Drummer Boy."

If you liked today’s episode, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts—Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or Spotify.

The Goo Goo Dolls and Tori Kelly

When 2020 started, The Goo Goo Dolls had no plans to record a Christmas album, but it’s November and we have It’s Christmas All Over. Today The Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik tells the story of the album and talks about his relationship to Christmas music growing up. How do fans of rock ’n’ roll who have been historically suspicious of sentimentality sing such sentimental songs? And how do guys who learned to play by making their own songs handle some of the Christmas classics?

It’s Christmas All Over was released on October 30, as was A Tori Kelly Christmas. Today, host Alex Rawls reviews Tori Kelly’s new album, which includes two new Christmas songs and her version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” from the movie, Sing!

If you liked today’s episode, please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts—Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or Spotify.

 

"Mele Kalikimaka" with Ana Cristina Cash

Singer Ana Cristina Cash released her album Shine in early 2020 and had prepared to tour and promote it before Coronavirus forced her to change those plans. Instead, the Americana singer and wife of John Carter Cash recorded a cover of “Male Kalikimaka” as a way of going to her and her daughter’s happy place. It was Cash’s second Christmas release in two years; In 2018, she released My Christmas Collection.

We talked about both projects, touching on how being a mother and the daughter of Spanish-speaking immigrants from Cuba affected her choices. We talked about her work in the Cash Cabin Studio, and about her thinking before she recorded “Baby It’s Cold Outside” as a duet with her husband. She hears the song as “rapey,” as many do. For those who are curious, here are two interesting defenses of the song that focus more the woman's agency. They don't necessarily change the way the scenario sounds, but they add some useful context.

https://bigbutterandeggman.tumblr.com/post/154013148291/teachingwithcoffee-its-time-to-bring-an-end-to

https://www.thejustice.org/article/2019/12/understanding-baby-its-cold-outside-in-a-positive-light

 

Janie Fricke

Country singer Janie Fricke's music still sounds like country music, which is rare these days. In late September (when according to Rod Stewart, you really should be back in school), Fricke released A Country Cowgirl Christmas, the first Christmas album in her 43-year recording career. She is now her own label, and she talks about the whole project is based out of her Texas ranch, from figuring out what songs to do at the dinner table to filling CD orders in her home office. Along the way, she focuses on the songs as extensions of her life. 

In this week's episode, I also talk about singer Debbie Davis and her husband Matt Perrine's efforts to record a second volume of their Oh Crap! It's Christmas so that they can pay New Orleans musicians to work. She's trying to crowdsource funding for the project, and you can find out how to help at her website. Debbie and I talked about Christmas music on the podcast last season.   

The Beatles' Christmas Recordings with Jonathan and Julia Pretus of "Ranking the Beatles"

The first crossover episode for "12 Songs"! 

Sooner or later, it happens to every podcast. In this case, I'm talking to husband and wife team Jonathan and Julia Pretus, who host the "Ranking the Beatles" podcast, which ranks Beatles songs, working from the bottom up. Jonathan appeared on "12 Songs" last year to defend Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime," and this week he and Julia help break down The Beatles' annual fan club-only Christmas messages, which range from the relatively straightforward to borderline musique concrète. 

These tracks are not easily purchased, but they can be found on YouTube and mp3 blogs online. One song, "Christmas Time (is Here Again)," was released in 1995 as the B-side of "Free as a Bird." You can, however, find Ringo Starr's faithful version from his 1999 album, I Want to Be Santa Claus.

In this week's episode, I also review Dolly Parton's third Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas. 

Our theme music comes from AF the Naysayer, who now has the vinyl seven-inch version of his new single, "Adelheid." You can hear it and get it at his Bandcamp page. 

Rhonda Vincent, and Carrie Underwood's "The Gift"

Before our conversation, bluegrass musician Rhonda Vincent never thought about the lack of Christmas music in her house growing up. She played in her family band, The Sally Mountain Show, but they didn't play Christmas music onstage or at home.

Vincent chews on that with Alex Rawls while talking about the ideas behind her two Christmas albums, Beautiful Star (2006) and Christmas Time (2015), and her upcoming residency in Branson, Missouri, "Christmas in Branson." She talks about the challenges posed by Christmas shows, bluegrass and country Christmas standards, and the challenge of singing Christmas songs.

Before that, Alex reviews Carrie Underwood's new Christmas album, The Gift. 

In the episode, Rhonda talks about "Beautiful Star." While preparing for the interview, Alex ran across this history of the song. Producer AF the Naysayer made the 12 Songs theme music, and he has a new single, "Adelheid," on Strange Daisy Records.

Mega Ran

Rapper Mega Ran recorded A Very Random Christmas in 2011, then updated in in subsequent years to make it what he calls "a living album." In our conversation, he talks about how A Charlie Brown Christmas inspired the album, and how the project emerged from a desire to fill the Christmas hip-hop void.

As a part of the conversation, we talked about the sketchy history of Christmas hip-hop including OutKast's "Player's Ball" and Jeremih and Chance the Rapper's Merry Christmas, Lil' Mama, and the songs that were a part of his Christmas growing up. 

New Orleans' producer AF the Naysayer provided our theme music, and he has a new seven-inch 45, "Adelheid," on Strange Daisy Records.

Christmas Music on the Billboard Charts with Chris Molanphy

When singer Eddie Cantor performed "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" near the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1936, people knew it was a hit because of the amount of sheet music sold. Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" returned to the charts so regularly in the years following its initial release in 1942 that he followed it up in 1945 with a similar sentiment in "I'll Be Home for Christmas."

Christmas music and the charts have a long history together. Legend has it that Phil Spector, who made his fame producing hit singles, recorded, A Christmas Present for You with Darlene Love, The Ronettes, The Shirelles and more because he thought that Billboard's newly created Holiday album chart gave him his best chance of album success.

Writer, critic, and chart historian Chris Molanphy tracks not only how songs perform on the charts but how they work, and as he illustrated last season in an episode of his podcast "The Hit Parade" at Slate.com, changes in chart rules helped Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" reach number one on the Hot 100 in 2019, 25 years after the song's release.

This week I talk to Chris about Christmas music and the charts, and particularly how Billboard factoring streaming into chart positions opened the door for decades-old Christmas favorites to return to the charts and, in many cases, to make the charts for the first time. 

This week's show also includes a first listen to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" from the upcoming A Holly Dolly Christmas by Dolly Parton. 

"A Jazzy Little Christmas" with Ernie Haase and Signature Sound

Last Christmas, Ernie Haase and Signature Sound released "A Jazzy Little Christmas," the product of a collaboration between his vocal quartet and Tony Bennett's long-time arranger Billy Stritch. Haase talks at length about their collaboration, and how the album fits into their career as Christian recording artists. He talks about how he squares the spiritual and the secular in his recordings and the holiday season. 

A couple of notes: 

1) We recorded this interview last January, well before Coronavirus had become part of our national discourse. That explains why he talks about Christmas music tours without a hint that they might not happen, and it explains why he sees snow on the ground while talking to me.

2) At one point in the conversation, I brought up a caroling event that I organize each year in New Orleans. I didn't want the conversation to be too much about me, and since I believe I have mentioned it before, I cut a number of references to it. At one point though, I couldn't do that without losing something interesting that Ernie said. And doing so would have changed the context for a few things he said, which wouldn't have been fair to him. 

In this episode, I also mentioned I'd link to the trailers for upcoming Christmas albums by Meghan Trainor and Carrie Underwood.