A Very Static Christmas with The Flaming Lips
A Merry Christmas to all StaticBlog readers, and thank you to Wayne and Steven for this wonderful performance.
“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas”
“White Christmas”
“Silent Night”
Holiday Video of the Day, Part 2: Greg Lake, “I Believe in Father Christmas”
Near the beginning of the season, I featured U2′s version of this song from 2008, and it’s just fine, but the Christmas season gives us license to be a little sentimental, and Greg Lake’s 1974 original will always be one of my favorites. I was a prog-rock kid, and there is something about the holiday that seems to invite prog.
Also, for some odd reason, this seems to have aged well over these 35 years.
Holiday Video of the Day, Part 1: Amanda Palmer and Vermillion Lies feat. Annie Clark, “What’s the Use of Wond’rin’?”
What's the Use of Won'drin'? -Amanda Palmer & Vermilion Lies- from Amanda Palmer on Vimeo.
This is not a Christmas song per se — it’s a Rodgers and Hammerstein classic from “Carousel” — but it was shot at the Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco last year, and it’s quite beautiful in a Ghosts of Christmas Past kind of way.
No, Annie Clark of St. Vincent is not in the video, but she plays on this track from the Ben Folds-produced “Who Killed Amanda Palmer?” Calm down.
Holiday Video of the Day: Julian Casablancas, Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, “I Wish It Was Christmas Today”
Casablancas recently released a limited-edition 7″ of this song, made infamous by Fallon and a much jollier Sanz on “SNL” many ages ago, but this version gets the full Spector treatment, minus the weaponry.
Holiday Video of the Day: The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl, “Fairytale of New York”
Beyond the beautiful melody, most people remember this song for the third verse, a venal shouting match between two addled, disillusioned lovers gone to seed. Then in the final verse, Shane MacGowan unfurls the sadness behind the anger, the lost dreams of this couple and how, despite all the bile, everything they have is wrapped up in the other, bad teeth and all.
And the bells were ringing out on Christmas Day.
Holiday Video of the Day: John Lennon and Yoko Ono, “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”
An essential — the only decent substitution is the Polyphonic Spree’s version. Recently, the clock radio woke me up with Celine Dion singing this song. There ought to be a law.
Holiday Video of the Day: Kim and Mel, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”
This is an example of the Merry Kitsch-mas genre of Christmas music video, and while Hall and Oates’ “Jingle Bell Rock” is the most recognized classic of the form … um, this one has Kim Wilde.
And as this clip indicates, that meant something 22 years ago.
In Britain.
Where they know who Mel Smith is.
And they thought it was funny, because this is Kim and Mel, and at the time there was this dance-pop sister act called Mel & Kim, which had a hit with “Showing Out” and … seriously, what am I supposed to do with all this useless information, have a mental garage sale?
Holiday Video of the Day: The Flaming Lips, “White Christmas”
Merry Christmas, all you fearless freaks.
Video of the Day: Alicia Keys and Stephen Colbert, “Empire State of Mind”
Colbert rocks the upper middle class with the EZ Pass in his duet with Keys, promoting her fifth album, The Element of Freedom.
Holiday Video of the Day: Neil Diamond, “Hanukkah Song”
You can spin the dreidel with Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Mr. Diamond on this Hot December Night version of the Adam Sandler favorite.
