Holiday Cheer: Favorite "Contemporary" Christmas Songs

Another one from the vaults. . .

These are some of my favorite Christmas songs, the "contemporary" kind. And kids, I know to you these are "old school" songs, but to we 40-plussers, these are modern songs. Enjoy.

[From Original post]

I noted in a previous (also frivolous) post that I'm not big on traditional Christmas music. Choirs and churchy stuff just don't do it for me. I like the funny stuff, and the more modern tunes. Of course, some of the modern songs have become almost traditional, haven't they? Here are some of my favorites. . .




#1 - Feels Like Christmas - Cyndi Lauper: This song is from Cyndi's outstanding Merry Christmas. . .Have a Nice Life album from several years ago. The album is chock-full of great songs. This is a good one, but not the best one on the album. Unfortunately, finding video clips of these songs is more difficult than I thought!

#2 - Step into Christmas - Elton John: This is one of my favorite "modern" Christmas songs. Modern is in quotes because this is clearly from Elton's 70s heyday. But whatever, I love it!

#3 - Put a Little Love in Your Heart - Annie Lennox & Al Green: Sadly, this song is another substitution, for Eurythmics' superb Winter Wonderland, which is unavailable. This may not seem like a Christmas song on its face, but it's from the movie Scrooged, and is very much a Christmas video. And it gives me that same chill Winter Wonderland does.

#4 - Happy New Year - ABBA: OK, officially this is an after Christmas song, but it belongs at the end of your Christmas mix CD. And it beats the crap out of Dan Fogleburp's Auld Lang Syne, doesn't it? Now, if they could just go in and re-dub the "end of a decade" and "1989" parts, it would be perfect.

Here's a bonus, the still unavailable Winter Wonderland from Eurythmics. . .audio only.

Annie Lennox Mashup Video (DJEarWorm)

I'm an Annie Lennox fan from way back, so I found this video to be extremely cool. "Mashup" songs and videos can be hit or miss. Sometimes, only a few things fit, and the rest is just tedious. But this video is masterful. Songs from Walking on Broken Glass to Shining Light, to Little Bird (my personal favorite), and No More I Love Yous are squished together to make a whole new song, and video. Wonderful.

Holiday Cheer: Annie Lennox & Cyndi Lauper "Winter Wonderland"

Having another lull in my blogging "finds" it would seem. But this is pretty cool. I was looking to see if there was a YouTube video of my favorite "contemporary" Christmas song, "Winter Wonderland" by Eurythmics. There is, sort of. It's an slideshow. But right after that, I found a version of the song by Cyndi Lauper!

I'm a big fan of both Annie Lennox and Lauper, being a child of the 70s and 80s. Both artists are tragically underappreciated. I have Lauper's Merry Christmas. . .Have a Nice Life! album, and love it. But this track is not on it. So, without further ado. . .

McCain Girls: Here Comes McCain Again

Holy mackerel. John McCain, lacking most of the internet "viral videos" of campaign songs, at least has The McCain Girls to rely on. This time, they're taking on The Eurythmics. Annie Lennox should sue.



UPDATE: I've got to tell you, I'd only watched a few seconds of this before I posted it. In keeping with the "blogger's rule," I must keep this posted. You're not supposed to delete a post as though it never happened--it looks like you're trying to cover something up. But, oh, I'm just really sorry for this one. After watching it, I'm just. . .I don't. . .it's just that I. . .I'm just really, really sorry.

Previously:

McCain Girl Has Some Words for Us

Annie Lennox is Back!

Annie Lennox has only made three albums in her solo career, amazingly enough. The first, Diva, was an outstanding pop album. The follow-up, Medusa was a collection of cover tunes that I loved, even if it didn't have a lot of hit songs. Bare, her third album was haunting, and the cover photo like the title, had Annie bare, without makeup. It didn't do very well, but was still an outstanding work.

Now, Annie has a fourth album about to come out, Songs of Mass Destruction, and I hope this one does well for her. Few other artists have a voice that is as clear and pure. She's an amazing talent, and deserves success. Here is the first single, Dark Road.