I don’t mean to be quite as much of a humbug as I appear about the approaching festivities; it’s just that life shows no signs of letting up and I still haven’t started shopping or writing my Christmas cards. As for decorations, well, Jay says we’re not allowed to put them up until the “twelve days” begin on Christmas Eve. Which is a good enough excuse for “I don’t have time for that either”.
What is it about those two-for-£5-in-the-Post-Office Christmas CDs that the stores start playing on a loop from the 1st of November that makes my blood run cold? I’ve always thought myself a fan of the season, so what gives? Just the other day, the reason occurred to me: five Christmasses worked in retail and one in the catering trade. It’s not something I’ll ever have to go through again, God willing, but the sound of synthetic sleighbells will haunt me to this day.
With that in mind, because it’s been a long time since I made you guys a mix and before I have to spend the rest of Sunday at the Southern General as the wound I earned myself falling down the stairs at work the other day has gotten infected and there’s a Mountain Goats show tomorrow I’d rather like to stand at the front during: here’s a festive/wintry mix! And, after some deliberation, I left off Neko Case’s cover of “Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis”. So it’s not all depressing country music…
They Faked Their Way Through Fairytale Of New York…
1. Steve Earle, “Christmas In Washington”
2. Angus Stone, “River”
3. Joy Zipper, “Christmas Song”
4. Eleni Mandell, “Salt Truck”
5. The Replacements, “Skyway”
6. Okkervil River, “Listening To Otis Redding At Home During Christmas”
7. David Bazan, “Harmless Sparks/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen [Daytrotter session]”
8. Bruce Springsteen, “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town [live]”
9. INTERLUDE: Sufjan Stevens, “Jingle Bells”
10. Helen Love, “Merry Christmas I Don’t Wanna Fight Tonight”
11. Fountains of Wayne, “I Want An Alien For Christmas”
12. Death Cab For Cutie, “I Was A Kaleidoscope”
13. The Kinks, “Father Christmas”
14. Jack Scott, “There’s Trouble Brewin’”
15. John Prine, “Silent Night All Night Long”
16. Liza Minelli & Alan Cumming, “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
17. Jesse Malin, “Christmas”…when the band finished playing, they howled out for more [.zip file, left click &save]
PS If you’re desperate for this but can’t download it for any reason, I have a limited selection of Christmas cards big enough to take a CD and will send you a copy – ’tis the season, and all that. Just let me know!
PPS Pop over to lo-fi indie heart-throb/superstar music blogger Fresh Cherries From Yakima, because it’s list central at the moment! And, yes, a contribution from yours truly should be going up sometime this week – at least, it’s been sent off!
PHOTO: Day 134.
I actually miss working in retail, I remember dancing with glee as the first Christmas songs started to come on the mix last year and I felt so festive because of having plenty of time to admire all the gifts and no grinchy essays to write. There were more cuntstomers at Christmas time but they’re part of the challenge and I got to come in at 8am to make sure there were enough accessories on the shop floor…that was the life!
I hope your ankle is ok and I must now download your Christmas mix because it looks awesome.
xxxx
Meh please can I have a CD? I don’t do mp4 or whatever they’re called
xxx
Aw, sorry Jo, looks like I forgot to switch settings when I reinstalled iTunes so it would import music files in mp3 format. Don’t have time to reupload just now so will burn you a CD for the weekend if I don’t fix it beforehand.
I can’t be bothered waiting at the hospital so I’m going to my dad’s, we’ll ring NHS24 and he’ll run me over to the RAH if necessary.
I miss retail too, just not the same CD eight hours a day for two months! Fun times indeed, I loved it when the shop was busy especially in later years when I was up running about all the time rather than sitting on a till all day.
YAY. That makes me all kinds of happy. My Christmas playlist was in need of a boost, and that (coupled with my discovery of Dolly Parton’s ‘Hard Candy Christmas’) was just what I needed.
And I do want an alien for Christmas, it’s true.
i’m gladly looking forward to my first christmas out of retail for……it feels like ever.
Not having to work double shifts, not having to deal with the rudest customers of the year, not being told that i’ve ruined anyones xmas because i don’t know about every item in the shop (lets be fair..i did know about 98% of the crap) or because, when theyve come in on the 23rd of december looking for that rare american edition…i have to explain we cant order it in time.
your list is going up the day after tomorrow. it’s, by a pretty wide margin, the best list of the year so far.
haha. lo-fi indie heartthrob. you flatter me.
“best list”? you flatter me.
lame-o fangirl gushing regarding our hero will be posted this afternoon.
(back now – ish)
Christmas? What’s that then?
I’m just miffed because they haven’t organised a day for us to wear fancy dress this year. So I’m stuck in my poorly fitting excuse for a uniform and coveting the random Christmas accessories which are around for staff to wear.
just as i was prepping the xmas special i came across this…actually had a few the same.
which ones?
need to tune in on thusrday!
http://www.sunnygovan.org
Shameless! Though I am planning to this week, since I’ve promised Jay I won’t watch the finale of Studio 60 til he’s back from his Ned’s Atomic Dustbin pilgrimage….
“Girl” – nice to have you back!
Why thank you… I’m yet to decide on a suitable name type thing for this reinvention of myself (as it were..)
Maybe I should call myself Violet Elizabeth..