Twelve Songs of Christmas

During the recent Christmas season, Toronto animator Joren Cull and his cousin, musician AJ Ing, released “The 179 Days of Christmas,” a nearly nine-hour-long Christmas song that takes “The 12 Days of Christmas” far, far, far beyond its logical conclusion. Understandably, the song got attention. The AV Club called it “the worst Christmas song,” but it’s not. It’s among the more challenging due to its length and deliberately sing-song presentation, but as I insist in The 12 Songs Manifesto, the worst Christmas song is the forgettable Christmas song, and this isn’t that. I talked to Joren and AJ about the song, including its origins and how they did it. One commenter on Reddit speculated that they recorded the last day, then cut and pasted the file endlessly to create the song. According to Cull, they didn’t. He talked about the song's absurd length, why it's that long, and how it plays into their sense of humor. He sees the song as less of an FU to Christmas music and as something more playful, in a similar spirit as an Andy Kaufman bit. As a part of my conversation with Cull, we detoured understandably into the world of novelty Christmas songs (In the Manifesto, I argue that all Christmas songs are novelty songs), where he turns me on to the Pac-Man Christmas album and I turn him on to “KITT Saves Christmas,” a Knight Rider Christmas song with a better electro-funk groove than I remembered. Four notes and three apologies: 1) How polite are Cull and Ing? I called their song “The 178 Days of Christmas” while talking to them and they never corrected me. I deserved at least a casual correction—179—but no. Sorry guys. 2) I had tech issues and had to record my interview with Joren on my phone. As a result, the audio is rattier than usual. Again, sorry. Thankfully, I had the glitch solved by the time I talked to AJ. 3) This week’s show is a day late for the second time. This time, I realized when it came time to edit the episode that wrangling a nine-hour mp3 on a MacBook Air that is already feeling stressed and stuffed is akin to piloting a tanker, and it didn’t move with anywhere near the speed I needed it to in order to be up on our usual Wednesday drop date. Note to self: Think about the file size when wrangling nine-hour songs in the future. 4) “The 12 Songs of Christmas” will move to every other week starting with the next episode. Twelfth Night has passed, so the 12 days of Christmas are really behind us. I’ve always envisioned this podcast as a year-around conversation and since I never thought of it as a soundtrack or appendix to the holiday season, I don’t see a reason to stop. I know that there are others out there like me who like Christmas music and aren’t done with it when the decorations are stowed in the attic or shed. There are also others out there who want to hear interesting conversations about how and why music is made, and how it fits into a number of contexts, no matter the song’s subject matter. Still, booking and recording and editing and uploading a podcast while wrangling the accompanying website and social media while also working on MySpiltMilk.com and teaching a class and having a family life has proven to be enough of a task that something has to give. Rather than half-ass all of them, I’d rather find a schedule that allows me to do all of the projects to my standards, which are becoming more demanding as my editing and recording chops improve.  

Los Straitjackets' Christmas albums--2002’s ‘Tis the Season for Los Straitjackets and 2009’s Yuletide Beat--are inventive in a way that you don't expect from surf rock and might not expect from Christmas music. They're respectful of their tradition, so much so that their version of "Sleigh Bells" owes a lot to The Ventures' version from 1965. But they're not hamstrung by their respect for their genre and open with "La Bamba" en route to "Feliz Navidad."  In the recent Christmas season, the band released Los Straitjackets' Complete Christmas Songbook, which also includes loose tracks including a live version of Vince Guaraldi's "Linus & Lucy" recorded in 2015 when the band spent the Christmas season on tour backing Nick Lowe. Guitarist Eddie Angel talks to host Alex Rawls about Nick Lowe, Christmas shows, mash-up arrangements, and his relationship to Christmas music. The show also includes Christmas music by The Ventures and Nick Lowe. The episode also features the return of Nashville songwriter Jim McCormick to talk about The Band's "Christmas Must Be Tonight." The song from 1977's Islands is sincere in a way that most Christmas rock and pop isn't, and it prompts Jim and Alex to talk about The Band, Bob Dylan and his Christmas album, Christmas in the Heart, and one of the many roles Christmas music plays in the culture. 

This week, I talk to Chris Butler of the 1980s’ band The Waitresses about their Christmas single, “Christmas Wrapping.” The band got enough interest and acclaim that they were asked to record the theme song for CBS’ 1982 high school sitcom Square Pegs, but the band never quite caught on in the way a lot of people thought they would. In 1981, The Waitresses were touring on the strength of their signature song, “I Know What Boys Like” when the one-off track they cut for Ze Records’ A Christmas Album, “Christmas Wrapping,” started to get attention. In 1983, it charted in England, and today it is better remembered than “I Know What Boys Like” and “Square Pegs,” and the song represents the new wave era when radio stations go to the all-Christmas format. In our conversation, Butler talks about writing for Patty—Patty Donahue, The Waitresses’ singer, who died of cancer in 1996. Her distinctive sing/speak gave the band its identity because it made the band’s songs sound like natural extensions of her. He also spoke of his affection for XTC’s “Countdown to Christmas Party Time.” Unfortunately, the song is not for sale digitally and I don’t have it in my collection, so I couldn’t include it in the show. You can hear it here. Earlier this fall, I interviewed saxophone player Mars Williams about his Albert Ayler Christmas project. Williams played saxophone with The Waitresses, and at the time we talked about his memories of “Christmas Wrapping,” including his decision to include it on Mars Williams Presents: An Ayler Xmas, Vol. 2. I have included a relevant excerpt from the Williams interview for this conversation on “Christmas Wrapping.”

Twas the week before Christmas, and host Alex Rawls talked to the legendary singer/songwriter Rodney Crowell about Christmas Everywhere, the holiday album he released recently. The conversation deals with Crowell's relationship to Christmas music, but it's clear in the conversation that the same ideas and aesthetics that have shaped his songwriting for decades shaped his Christmas music as well. He worked to make Christmas music that is true to his art and that surprises in the same way that his songs can. With the title song certainly, he succeeded.  In the second half of this week's show, Alex talks to singer K.C. O'Rorke of the New Orleans funk/rock band Flow Tribe. This is the 10th year for the band's annual Christmas week show, and O'Rorke talks about the art and commerce of it along with the band's first Christmas song, "Hammered for Christmas."  During the conversation, Alex fumbles for the artist and title of a song he picked up from the program director of New Orleans' Magic 101.9, which goes all-Christmas at some point every holiday season. The song is "Papa Noel" by Brenda Lee. The song is also included in the episode, but here it is as well since it's not clearly identified in the show. 

Last week when the Grammy nominations were announced, New Orleans' PJ Morton was among the honorees. He is nominated for Best R&B Album (for Gumbo Unplugged), Best R&B Performance (for "How Deep Is Your Love" featuring Yebba), and Best Traditional R&B Performance (for"First Began"). The news came while Morton's attention was on another album--Christmas with PJ Morton, his most recent release on his own Morton Records label. The album presents Morton first as an interpreter of songs, including a glam/funky take on Mariah Carey's "All I Want is You." He did pen two songs for the occasion, including "Do You Believe," a contemporary gospel song featuring Yolanda Adams.  Host Alex Rawls recently talked to Morton about the album, gospel and secular music, Christmas with Bishop Paul Morton and the family, and the business of Christmas music. He also talked to New Orleans' Boyfriend, who returns to 12 Songs to about Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You," the most recent song to enter the Christmas canon. The conversation talks about Mariah now and then, Love Actually, Phil Spector and nostalgia. 

Trans-Siberian Orchestra knows where its bread is buttered. Its press shots are not of individual members but of its live show, which has become legendary for its spectacle with lights, lasers, pyro and countless moving parts including cherry pickers that carry members out over the crowd.  Alex Rawls talked to TSO guitarist/musical director Al Pitrelli about what a Christmas prog-metal band does for Christmas, and how he as a guitarist in the metal band Savatage responded when he was brought a Christmas song to play--"Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24." Pitrelli also talked about TSO founder and songwriter Paul O'Neill, who died in 2017. During the conversation, we also hear "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24," "Christmas Canon Rock," and "Wizards in Winter"--the song that launched a thousand light shows on suburban houses and lawns during the holiday season. For more background, see Alex's interview with Pitrelli on TSO's early years for The New Orleans Advocate in 2015.

Seattle singer/songwriter Kristin Chambers is in the process of making her name, and she has done so in part by singing Christmas music. She has recorded one album, Snow Globe, and one EP, Merry Christmas, and they have helped to shape her identity more than she expected. Chambers talks with host Alex Rawls about the musical appeal as a singer and songwriter of Christmas songs as well as dealing with the success of that part of her songbook. They also talk about her background in theater and how it might relate to Christmas music.  In the second part of this week's show, Alex talks to saxophone player Mars Williams, best known to many for his stints with The Waitresses and The Psychedelic Furs. Williams also plays with Witches and Devils, his Chicago-based tribute band to free jazz hero Albert Ayler. Mars Williams Presents: An Ayler Xmas Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 document his efforts to fuse Ayler's music and method with Christmas music, something that's not as random an idea as it might seem at first.  Williams also remembers recording The Waitresses' 1982 Christmas classic "Christmas Wrapping," and explains how he adapted it to fit with Albert Ayler's "Soul Cry." For more on Mars Williams' Albert Ayler Xmas project, see Alex's story at MySpiltMilk.com.

Delicate Steve is a guitar hero for our time with no obvious North Star guiding his musical choices and no piety for the The Church of Shredders. In today's interview, he talks about being a child of Napster, and the self-taught musical education that came from downloading a world of music has led to a career of music that doesn't fit neatly in any box. He started at Luaka Bop, where his personal musical vision was thought of as psychedelic world music (the "psychedelic" part sounds right), and now he's on Anti-, where his instrumental music simply seems personal and at home. He recently released The Christmas Album, but as this conversation shows, Steve Marion is hardly a holiday true believer and approaches the songs as songs instead of as attachments to the season. In his talk with host Alex Rawls, he discusses Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, and his approach to instrumental music. Alex also talks this week to journalist David Dennis about Outkast's "Player's Ball." The song fits squarely into the "12 Songs" mission because its story is very much a business one, but it also reveals that Christmas doesn't live equally in everybody's imagination. David and Alex talk about why, as well as the role Sean "Puffy" Combs' video for the song played in shaping Outkast's image.

Today host Alex Rawls talks to Scott Kelly, who started The Wizards of Winter to play a tribute to Trans-Siberian Orchestra as a benefit for a local food bank. Kelly talks about the aesthetics of prog-rock Christmas music, and the challenge of finding the right people to play it.  The Wizards of Winter will be on tour performing their holiday rock opera "Tales Beneath a Northern Star" through the end of the year.  In the second segment, Alex talks to Nashville songwriter Jim McCormick, who Alex profiled McCormick in 2012 when he had back to back number one records with Brantley Gilbert's "You Don't Know Her Like I Do" and Jason Aldean's "Take a Little Ride." McCormick talks with some envy about "A Baby Changes Everything" from Faith Hill's 2008 Joy to the World. They discuss the song--which Alex pairs with The New Pornographers' "Joseph Who Understood"--and what comes with singing Christmas songs. 

Host Alex Rawls revisits familiar territory when he talks about Toronto and Southern Ontario among other things with Chris McKhool of the Canadian progressive string band Sultans of String, who released a Christmas album, Christmas Caravan, last year. They talk about Turkish strings, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)," and Mario Lanza during Christmas dinner. This week, Alex also talks to New Orleans musician Boyfriend about her affection for The Carpenters and particularly "Merry Christmas Darling," which found a new musical life when it appeared in the 2003 film, Love Actually.  You can find the Sultans of String on Facebook and the band's website, and you can hear Boyfriend on her Soundcloud page and find out more about her on her website. If you've got thoughts on this week's episode, please share them on the 12 Songs Facebook page.

Alex Rawls talked to Texas' singer/songwriter Robert Earl Keen backstage at Tipitina's, where Keen played earlier this fall. While talking, the two realized that they lived in the same Houston suburb at the same time and because they grew up there, the references in some Christmas songs mean nothing to them. The conversation focused on the story behind Keen's "Merry Christmas from the Family," which has become an Americana holiday staple. Keen tells its story and talks about its repercussions, and one of his few attempts to cash in on anything, "Happy Holidays, Y'all." Tickets to see Robert Earl Keen in concert this fall with Lyle Lovett, George Strait, and in his "Cosmic Cowboy Christmas" shows are on sale now through his website. 

Tony Award-winning actor Michael Cerveris and his friend Kimberly Kaye have careers in the theater and on the small screen, and they formed their alternative Americana band Loose Cattle in the late 2000s. In 2017, they released Seasonal Affective Disorder, their conflicted Christmas album. In this conversation with host Alex Rawls, they talk about their cover of John Denver's "Please Daddy Don't Get Drunk This Christmas," Tammy Wynette's "Merry Christmas (We Must Be Having One)" and the appeal of the sad Christmas song.     For more on Cerveris, Kaye, and the story behind Seasonal Affective Disorder, see Alex Rawls' story from 2017 at My Spilt Milk.  

New Orleans' Panorama Jazz Band folds a world of cultures and musical styles into its version of traditional jazz. Bandleader Ben Schenck and host Alex Rawls talk about how Christmas music fits into its business, and how one instrument can make a version distinctive. Music on today's show is available on Panorama's Bandcamp page on Song of The Month Club: Good Music for You.