This is the last Playpen before Christmas, so I thought I’d let you guys tell me what your favorite Christmas songs are.
If you’ve followed the blog for any time, you know what my two favorites are: The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York” and Robert Earl Keen’s “Merry Christmas From The Family”.
This one’s my number three:
The Big Man and Darlene Love — how bad could it be?
Anyway, share in the comments.
Get The Picture 
I like this like this version of Christmas Time is Here, but I am a big Steve Vai fan.
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That’s a good one. I have the Merry Axemas album (plus the second one) and they get heavy rotation during this time of the year.
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Classic: Sleigh Ride by Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops Orchestra
Contemporary: Another Lonely Christmas by Prince
Humorous: Santa Claus and His Old Lady by Cheech & Chong
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3) I Am Santa Claus by Bob Rivers & Twisted Radio
2) Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town by Bruce Springsteen
1) of course, & there can be no debate, Blue Christmas by Porky Pig
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I always enjoy the entire Seasons Greetings album from moe.
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Christmas Canon Rock by Trans Siberian Orchestra
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Those are two of my favorites – just watched ‘Fairytale’ video last night.
My other noms are Darlene Love on Letterman with Christmas (Baby Please Come Home), Cheap Trick with Come Home Christmas, and The Kinks with Father Christmas.
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Anything Diana Krall sings is my favorite Christmas song, and the peanuts soundtrack.
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One thing I miss about Letterman is the annual Darlene Love performance.
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Can’t go wrong with Vince Guaraldi Trio
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Hard to beat the classics
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John Lennon
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I’m not a huge Lennon fan, but this is a great song. I was thinking the other day about “current” Christmas classics and the only one I could think of that qualified is this song. Very simple, but timeless. I can even get past Yoko’s screeching.
There are a few good covers, but this one stands out (from the Merry Axemas album).
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NIce!
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Bing Crosby & David Bowie – Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy 1977
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Good one.
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A forgotten classic.
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My all time favorite Christmas album is by The Ventures.
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Love the Ventures. Greatest instrumental rock band ever.
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My dad loved the Ventures. Some of the first songs he taught me on guitar were theirs. I had no idea about this Christmas album
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I have several.
The Ramones I don’t want to Fight Tonight with you
Drummer boy
Hark! The Herald Angels Sings
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From my childhood…
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No Mannheim steamroller? Hehe
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Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters. Specifically, during the scene where Cousin Eddie turns into the department store vixen during Clark’s dream sequence about the swimming pool.
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It’s not Christmas in the Miller household until we play the Nat King Cole Christmas album.
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Don’t know if you heard, but Fairtyale of New York is now “problematic”
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/fairytale-new-york-homophobic-shane-maccowan-pogues-controversy-censored-lgbt-gay-a8671861.html
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Not exactly news. If I’m not mistaken, Kirsty changed the lyrics when she performed the song publicly.
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FYI … yesterday was the 18th anniversary of Kirsty’s death. She was really talented as a singer, writer, engineer etc. 2 quick bullet points:
By writing and originally recording “They Don’t Know”, she was instrumental in the development of The Simpsons.
She was responsible for the song sequencing of The Joshua Tree.
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Bob Rivers “Walking Around in Women’s Underwear” gets my vote for funniest Christmas song.
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The judge pointed to the American flag behind his bench and told the decorated combat veteran that he had undermined it: “Arguably, you sold your country out.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/im-not-hiding-my-disgust-or-my-disdain-veteran-judge-upends-hopes-of-trump-allies-as-he-spotlights-flynns-misdeeds/2018/12/18/6fe78382-02f1-11e9-b5df-5d3874f1ac36_story.html?utm_term=.b4ef3b5cd3a3
Anyone else old enough to remember this?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/national/michael-flynn-leads-chants-of-lock-her-up-at-republican-convention/2016/08/11/788253f8-6016-11e6-84c1-6d27287896b5_video.html
Christmas came early for fans of poetic justice.
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Sullivan also demanded to know from prosecutor Brandon Van Grack whether Flynn could have been charged with treason.
‘Tis the season!
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Lying to the government = treason. Brilliant! Orange man bad!
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Reading = hard. Showing muh ignorance to own the libs!
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Here is an article from Forbes regarding the significance of last week’s revelations. Forbes isn’t liberal, right? They even make a reference to “liberal media” in it:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2018/12/16/mueller-exposes-putins-hold-over-trump/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark#20f6230f48f6
But orange man good, right?
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Forbes isn’t liberal. But that piece is fairly stupid. Building a hotel in Russia isn’t illegal. Not even Mueller claims it is. But for Denning, trying to build a hotel in Russia is not only illegal, but it’s SO illegal that Trump needed to obscure it through “five interlocking conspiracies—arguably the worst set of crimes against the United States in its history.”
So I have no interest in following you NPCs down that rabbit hole. But it’s certainly entertaining to watch folks claim that Orange Man is SO bad that he’s the WORST guy EVER!!1!1!1!
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So be it. I appreciate that you at least took a look at the article. Do you believe this is all part of the deep state conspiracy you mentioned before? If so, which parts do you attribute to the deep state?
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I think the initial investigation may have had merit about Russia affecting the election. But the turn to collusion with Trump was the deep state resisting his election and governance. Since then, it’s mostly just wishful thinking from leftists that something, anything, must have happened. And that’s when things get ridiculous. Building a hotel in Moscow isn’t even illegal, let alone the center of the biggest criminal conspiracy in the history of the nation.
I think Dershowitz is probably correct that Mueller’s report will probably be political embarrassing for Trump, but won’t contain any proof of crimes.
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Building a hotel in Moscow isn’t even illegal
Sometimes I wonder whether you are truly this intellectually handicapped or if you’re just deliberately being obtuse. Given your persistent denial of the reality that is the Trump family criminal enterprise coming unraveled, the former seems to be the most likely explanation, but I’m willing to accept that you’ve just stuck your head as an alternative theory.
Your flippant dismissal of building a hotel in Russia as if it’s as unremarkable as buying a cup of coffee at the McDonald’s in Bogart is…. amusing.
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I’m just not an NPC. People build hotels all the time. It’s just not that monumental to me. What amuses me is your breathless insistence that the very fabric and space-time can’t withstand Trump building a hotel. Because … something that Rachel Maddow said.
It also amuses me that, even if your premise were true, that Trump is so dangerously corrupt that the very survival of our nation is at stake, your solution for it isn’t to reduce the power held by government. No. Your solution is simply to vote in a better dictator. Surely Queen Hillary could save us all from King Trump! It’s sad, but cute.
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Trump also signed the agreement to build and that has been denied even yesterday by Giuliani and several times by Trump. Drip-by-drip, this lying POTUS is even turning the stomachs of Fox News(?) reporters(?) and interviewers. Add to that a traitorous General as head of Security in this country and you can understand why all the denials about consorting with the Russians to secure an American election. Witch hunt my ass!
Collusion doesn’t even begin to describe this crap. Now you have to laugh at what they thought they got away with when Trump had his hand on the Bible.
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Why talk to stupid? It’s pointless.
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Insults polarize and it is always important to try to understand the other side. I am always open to changing my opinion if I am given compelling evidence and expect others to be as well. Depending on my alcohol intake or level of agitation, I’m not above insults, but they rarely move things forward. Insults tend to force people to take sides. I think it’s more important to simply open both sides to the possibility that the truth is not exactly what they think. It is almost certain that none of us is completely right and that all of us have some piece of objective truth in our beliefs. I definitely know that the more I drink, the more concrete and aggressive I get >_<. Anyway, your postings are part of why I feel compelled to drop my longstanding lurker status and I thank you for that.
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Generally, I agree but he’s not “the other side.” He’s a kook who has no interest in any honest debate about anything. I tried many times and finally gave up. There’s a point in having discussions with people you disagree with. There’s no point in having a discussion with that guy. At all.
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I admire your idealism here (I mean that genuinely) but there is such a thing as intellectual dishonesty and that is what so many on the Trump side of things are engaged in, our friend Napoleon here especially. It’s not a difference of opinion – it’s a willful commitment by people who know better to participate in the obfuscation of basic truths. Napoleon knows Trump is a liar. He knows he’s a criminal and a fraud. He knows that the “liberal media” got it exactly right about Trump, the investigative reporting has all been largely true, Mueller’s investigation is completely legitimate and that…. yes, even Hillary was right about Trump. But he’s spent so much time attacking these people that he’s far too invested to admit he was wrong – so instead he’s retreated into this comical act of calling everyone else “NPC’s” and snowflakes, posting memes from Gab and repeating the line “orange man bad” because he has nothing else. He’s like these QAnon’ers who, every time their absurd conspiracy theories get blown up, retreat into even more absurd conspiracy theories to explain why the first one didn’t happen as predicted.
The last two years we’ve watched the Trump base teeter between the first two stages of grief (denial and anger), now we’re seeing some engage in bargaining (there’s literally a gofundme page set up for the wall), but most are still in denial or anger.
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Derek, you’re precious. I figured you would be studying for final exams, which explained your absence from the thread. No, you never honestly debate anyone. You state something and then insist that anyone who disagrees with you is evil/stupid/racist/whatever. That’s the “high ground” you occupy. Even now, you “refuse” to engage me by commenting that someone “shouldn’t talk to stupid.” It’s quite sad to see someone so invested in his extremism that he can’t let it go, even on the internet.
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Chili,
Trust me, if you could ever think for yourself, the world would open up. The world isn’t Hillary supporters vs. Trump supporters. In my case, I think they’re both terrible. So, even though I recognize that Hillary is awful and her supporters are usually not thinking clearly in their reasons for liking her, that doesn’t mean I’m happy with Trump.
However, there are plenty of reasons not to like Trump that don’t involve Russia, Russia, Russia. And sure, the investigative reporting has been great. Stormy Daniels is a huge deal. Building a hotel in Moscow is so illegal that I can’t even! Hookers even peed on him, or something. Blah, blah, blah.
How about circumventing Congress by banning bump stocks via executive order? That’s something awful that even Obama knew was unconstitutional. But the breathless liberals everywhere don’t give a crap about the Constitution. Whatever.
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I disagree. The “turn to collusion” happened as members of Trump’s administration were caught lying about connections with Russia. This was a natural effect of Mueller flipping over all the Russian touched rocks he could find. As soon as Trump felt threatened he engaged in a campaign to discredit the Mueller investigation including framing its scope as being wholly about “collusion.” This conflict of interests is a good example of why presidents generally turn over their businesses to a blind trust. It is to avoid the appearance of being compromised, not because of law. I hope that changes soon. Is the deep state the reason that Trump is so keen on developing a relationship with Russia and lying about it?
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The only reason to lie about something that isn’t a crime is politics. It’s certainly not smart politics, but it’s politics. Trump’s team should have taken a page out of Hillary’s playbook and simply claimed no memory of anything that happened before 15 minutes ago. You can’t go to jail for that. You go to jail for claiming you had an innocent conversation on Tuesday when you really had it on Wednesday.
I don’t know that Trump’s relationship with Russia is especially positive. During the campaign and soon after, he stated that he didn’t want to go to war with Russia. And that certainly pissed off hawks like Hillary. Since then, he’s implemented sanctions against Russia. So if Trump is in Putin’s pocket, he certainly has a funny way of showing it. Maybe it’s the 4D chess where he acts antagonistic toward Russia to throw us all off?
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I wish Trump would take a page out of Hillary’s playbook and testify for 10 hours with enough composure to at least maintain consistency. He didn’t make it ten minutes with Pelosi and Schumer before claiming the “Trump Shutdown.”
As far as sanctions go, Trump implemented sanctions when congress forced the issue and dragged his feet until the last minute.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/trump-just-blew-off-a-deadline-for-implementing-russian-sanctions-he-approved/
I’m not sure where you get your belief that Hillary wanted war with Russia. Russia made a major grab by taking Crimea and we have been fighting a proxy war against them in Syria since (which Trump just surrendered today (we beat ISIS, yay!) along with pulling back on Russian sanctions (Deripeska)). Please link me to whatever led you to your conclusion about Hillary so that I can understand your position. We were already at war with Russia and having actual war with another nuclear power would be devastating and foolish.
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“The only reason to lie about something that isn’t a crime is politics.”
I think that money is a much more powerful motivator and the one that has corrupted politics. Do you agree? Do you believe that a Trump Tower Moscow deal would have made Trump lots of money? Is it possible that a provable self-interested liar might have attempted to make money by trading power for it? Is it really so far fetched that Trump’s attempts to do so were recognized as illegal not by him and his best people, but by the the former head of the KGB and used to leverage his policy? I don’t think that collusion is the word for that, so I wouldn’t say that he colluded either…
None of these ideas are as implausible as pizzagate, jade helm, birtherism, etc…did you believe those with no evidence? Further, this whole NPC thing is especially absurd because one side keeps presenting different evidence and the other replies with memes, orange man bad, and deep state did it. Please explain to me how an NPC is the one changing messages by presenting different pieces of evidence and information as opposed to the one repeating the same message as information changes.
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Like most things, Trump has been inconsistent with Russia. Yes, he delayed sanctions. But he also approved weapons sales to Ukraine, which the Obama administration wouldn’t do. He’s also hit Syrian sites that were part of Russia’s strategic operations, though without Russian troops. So he’s certainly not acting like a puppet of Putin’s.
As for Hillary’s hawkishness, it’s on record. https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/07/the-kremlin-really-believes-that-hillary-clinton-will-start-a-war-with-russia-donald-trump-vladimir-putin/ She’s been belligerent (or worse) toward many nations, including Russia. She helped orchestrate the coup in Ukraine in 2014 that resulted in Russia taking Crimea. Of course, the majority population in Crimea are ethnic Russians who voted to join Russia. And Hillary/Obama’s response to the blowback from coup we orchestrated was to increase tensions. To hold NATO exercises on the Russian border, impose sanctions, and subsidize Al Qaeda to fight against the Russian-allied Syrian monarchy.
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On money and politics, I consider them one and the same. No rational person would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to win a job that pays $400k. It seems that the notion that Trump could have leveraged the presidency into making a hotel deal is backward. The presidency is worth many times what a hotel deal is. So I don’t get the motivation.
Personally, I’m not much for conspiracies. Among the pizzagate, jade helm, and birther theories, the only one that seemed interesting to me was Obama’s birth certificate. And the reason was the photoshop layers that existed that simple scans of documents don’t have. However, I rejected the conspiracy because it would have to have been planned decades ahead of time. So, while I can’t explain the photoshopped birth certificate, I doubt he was born in Kenya.
I draw the opposite conclusion that you do about the left. Originally, the theory was that the Trump campaign worked with the Kremlin to bring down Hillary and win the election. But wikileaks claims Hillary’s emails came from an internal DNC source. And Russia’s proven influence was buying Facebook ads. The actual meeting was orchestrated not by the KGB, but by a Russian pop star.
But rather than accept that, if Trump committed crimes, they’re probably much less serious than initially thought, the NPCs double down. Paying Stormy Daniels is the greatest threat to democracy ever! Let’s redefine treason to include tweeting insensitive things!
Trump may be guilty of campaign finance violations. But every campaign is. Obama had to pay a hefty fine. Hillary used the state and federal DNCs to launder campaign money in breathtaking fashion. And I don’t even consider those laws constitutional, so it doesn’t bother me. Other than those, any crimes he’s guilty of are probably a result of the investigation. And I’m not very sympathetic of an investigation for which the purpose is to create crimes. It’s like police arresting people for the sole offense of resisting arrest. I don’t think that should even be possible.
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Why do you find wikileaks’ claims about the leaks to be more credible than what we already know?
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/11/wikileaks-trump-mueller-roger-stone-jerome-corsi/576940/
If I were wikileaks, I would love for people to freely give me that sort of credibility.
I read your link. To me, the Kremlin being afraid of Hillary is not evidence of poor policy, it is evidence effective responses to Russian aggression. Our attacks on their economy have worked well because of the cooperation of other major powers. Russia annexed part of a country. The last time I remember that happening, we started a war in Iraq. This is better. I don’t understand the GOP hostility toward NATO and the UN, both of whom enable this sort of economic warfare. Further, I prefer a president who is belligerent to our enemies instead of comforting them and friendly to our allies instead of belligerent toward them. If Russia invades another country and gets caught interfering in our elections, how exactly do you attribute “increasing tensions” to Obama/Hillary? Should they have just tried to build a hotel in Russia for personal gain and let bygones be bygones? Would that have led you to trust them more?
The finance violations are not part of Mueller’s investigation. They clearly happened and, when uncovered, were handed over to New York. They aren’t a big deal, just further evidence of willful corruption…not surprising, but fundamentally different from Obama”s violations.
The issue at hand is conspiracy with Russia, not finance issues or “collusion.” No matter who met with the campaign, it is never acceptable to meet with representatives of a foreign power under the pretense of getting dirt on a political opponent. Never. It is not acceptable to have a deal worth hundreds of millions of between a high ranking government official and a foreign power currying influence (see Saudi Arabia as well…).
Again, I have trouble understanding your objection to this investigation. There is more than enough evidence to see it through to its conclusion.
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This “Orange man bad” insinuation thing you do is my current personal definition of Irony.
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As is him calling others triggered. Poor little snowflake.
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Classic projection.
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Fruitcake by the Superions (Fred Schnider of the B-52’s)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruitcake_(song)
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Run, Run, Rudolph-Chuck Berry
2.Merry Christmas From The Family-Robert Earl Keen
3.Blue Christmas-Elvis or Porky, love ’em both.
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I always enjoy that Chuck Berry version..
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Christmas in El Paso by Dash Rip Rock
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Dash!! Loved those guys.
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Not sure this has moved in my “favorites” yet, but it’s good. Popped up on my playlist last week and I’ve been listening to the album. Skafish Christmas.
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The Christmas Song – Nat King Cole (best version, IMO)
The entire Charlie Brown Christmas album by Vince Guaraldio Trio
Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney
That Spirit of Christmas – Ray Charles
Christmas All Over Again – Tom Petty
Christmas Wrapping – The Waitresses
Christmas in Hollis – Run DMC
And I’m with you Senator on Darlene Love’s All Alone on Christmas. Never knew until recently that she was Danny Glover’s wife in the Lethal Weapon movies. She also sings the funniest ever “Christmas” song:
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My favorite is “Oh Holy Night”…
Secular..Alabama’s “Christmas in Dixie”.
(The whole Alabama Christmas Album is excellent)
The worst..”I want a hippo” and “Little Drummer Boy”.
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Haters gonna hate…
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Dan was from Peoria but got his start in coffee houses and bars in Champaign-Urbana. Alison Krauss is from C-U as well.
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Came back to put on the Clarence…good call.
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Bonus track. (I see you, Dawg Vegas). 😉
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Stevie Wonder- “What Christmas Means to Me”
The Band- “Christmas Must Be Tonight”
Merle Haggard- “If We Make it Through December”
Just my .02.
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This one will get ya, I like it and “If we make it” together.
Get Me Through December, Alison Krauss and Natalie McMaster
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Dad gummit you can’t have the playpen on early singing day. I’ve got work to do!
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Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You”
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Her entire Christmas album is excellent. Like, you can listen to it in July and it’s still enjoyable.
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Kacey Musgraves put out a pretty good Christmas album a couple years ago. Some good originals on it…
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On a different note, who has been betting on games this year? I did for the first time this year by putting $200 in a 5dimes account with the idea that if I lost it all, then I would be done for the year. I mostly played even with my biggest loss was $75 when we lost to LSU and my biggest win $150 when we played UK. I finished the regular season a little over $300. What games are you guys betting on this bowl season? I like us to beat the spread against texas and auburn to cover v purdue. I don’t have any other bets out there right now.
I’d really like to know anyone else’s experiences this year or how they like to bet.
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I haven’t bet real money, but I’m not sure we cover against Texas. That’s a big spread. And I’m starting to think OU beats Bama straight up. I think Kyler Murray gives them fits.
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Yeah, I’m worried about motivation with the loss to Bama/exclusion from playoff and Fields stirring the pot. I put in my bet in before Fields right after Herman made his comments about stopping the run and Baker saying he would play. Most of my bets this season have been for $5 or less and spread out over all the time slots to make the whole day interesting. Right now, I have 50 on UGA covering and 100 on Auburn covering (wife is Auburn…). I’m in screw it mode at the end of the season…not smart, but it’ll be fun :D. No matter what, $200 well spent imo.
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Feliz Navidad: Jose Feliciano
Silent Night: The Temptations
Little Drummer Boy: Ray Charles
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Bah Humbug but that’s too strong….
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Mahalia Jackson is my favorite singer of all time. And this song really gets me in the Christmas spirit.
I also love Mindy Smith and I sing this one to my wife each year…
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My list.
O Holy Night by Emer Barry [Irish Soprano] and Affiniti, Celtic Version.
Carol of the Bells by Lindsey Stirling, violinist.
I’ll Be Home for Christmas by Percy Faith and Orchestra.
Santa Baby by Kellie Pickler [older version]. Girl can dance, almost as good as Katie Bolye.
Tennesse Christmas by Alabama.
Hymn of the Cheribum by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Not exactly a Christmas song or carol, even though PI did the Nutcracker.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas Cannon and Christmas Cannon Rock.
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I will add:
Hag’s Christmas Album
Jamey Johnson’s Christmas album
Away in a manger – brad paisley
Silent night – the hooters
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Also, I think the Senator would like “Daddy’s drinking up our Christmas” by Commander Cody
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