Throwback Tracks -- December 21, 2017
David R. Smith
Well Christmas day is just around the corner. If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet, I've got bad news for you: life is going to suck for you over the next couple days. As of my writing this, I have finished all my shopping, I just have to wrap 3 presents and I'm done!
As it's Christmas time, Shaun and I felt like maybe this would be a good time to throw some Christmas music on here. This won't go towards the playlist, it's just a nice thing to do. That also means the December playlist will be slightly smaller, but do you really care? Didn't think so.
All that said, these aren't your conventional Christmas songs. We still had to find some ways to keep it interesting. Well.. there is one classic one, but the rest are less-so... Enjoy!!
The Guys From do not hold the rights to any of these songs, it is more our hope to expose our readers to new (*cough*) and different retro music, or re-expose them to things they may have forgotten about.
At the top of each section, will be the song name, followed by the artists' name linked to their website (if possible...which is totally hit and miss with oldies), so you can fall down the rabbit hole, finding and supporting what you dig.
Father Christmas - The Kinks
This one was a Shaun request, which I was happy to oblige. I'd never heard this song before I put it on here. But it's good! I figured if it was the Kinks, it would likely be good. I haven't heard much of their stuff that I haven't enjoyed. (Granted, I haven't heard much of their stuff in general...) But this one was good. It's got a nice sound to it! Plus is so cheerfully Christmas!
Rockin Around The Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
Okay. This one is kind of classic. I mean, it's the least unconventional, at least. I put this on here mostly because of its association with Home Alone, which was such an integral part of my childhood, that I had to get this track in here. Now every time I hear this song, all I can picture is the scene with Michael Jordan on the train tracks, and Kevin McAllister dancing along to it.
I will say this: the Home Alone soundtrack is chalk full of great Christmas songs. This one is just the most synonymous. So it made its way here.
Fairytale of New York - The Pogues
This song is... well, it's awesome. Let's just get that out of the way. It's a terrific song by the Pogues. But... it's also super offensive. Even as I type this, the lyrics are up on the YouTube file and, well, there's an F-bomb right in there. You can tell this song was made A) by a punk band, and B) in an era where that word was more accepted. But as it stands, it's still a fun song to listen to.
And also, if Ed Sheeran can cover it, clearly it's a song that we can all get behind! (They did re-jigger the F-bomb, but that's to be expected.)
The Chanukah Song - Adam Sandler
Okay. Not a Christmas song. But still classic. And who knows? Maybe we have some of the Jewish faith who come to read this, I don't want to exclude them.
Plus this song is a classic!
When he was still super popular and really funny, my friends and I loved Adam Sandler. We spent a lot of time tracking down his albums and listening to them ad nauseam. This song often came up so we heard it often. I still have half the damned thing memorized. And the other half came rushing to the forefront like a bucket of cold water.
Ahh memories.
Let Me Sleep - Pearl Jam
And here I bet you thought that there was no possible way to have Pearl Jam on here. Well you were wrong, sucker! Because they legit have a Christmas song, and it's great.
That said, I did try to find other ones, but this one came up on a few lists, so I thought "why fight it??" So here it is.
I first heard it when it came out on their album Lost Dogs which is a collection of songs that never made it to actual albums. When I first heard it, I was confused; it sounded so optimistic and lovely. Very unusual for a Pearl Jam song. But clearly everybody loves Christmas. Even Eddie Vedder.
As this was a special Christmas list, I'm not going to add any of the Playlists on here. Because this is a bottle TBT. If you want to track down the playlists, you can always go to last week's list and find what you want there. But for now, I'm going to close out my article by saying I wish all the readers of The Guys From a wonderful Christmas. We appreciate you coming here on a regular basis, so we want nothing but love and warmth for you this holiday season.
Merry Christmas, friends.
-D (@davidronn)