2 posts tagged “christmas”
Sol Hoopii ~ Master of the Hawaiian Guitar, Vol. 2 (1927-51)
I. LOVE. THIS. SONG.
This is one my favorite song about parenthood. It's bouncy, fun and profoundly direct in notion. The falsetto harmonies are incredible, as are the clever rhymes in the lyrics. The instumentals are wonderfully intricate. Yes, I know, it isn't a traditional Christmas song and there is no mention of savior, messiah, Jesus, Christ, Santa or any other of those focus group words.
I'd much rather share some more unusual recordings, than the requisite stuff you hear on the radio stations in "Holiday Hijack mode." Seriously, why come here to hear "Santa, Baby" or Brenda Lee's grating voice on "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree." Leave that crap on the Starbuck's and Pottery Barn compilations.
This song is all about doing right by The Baby. That's it.
What's more "Christmas" than that?
Christmas Island
Petty Booka ~ Christmas Everywhere
This one goes out to my family back in Ohio, our dear friends in Chicago and all who know the beauty of a snowblower.
Keeping with the J-Pop vibe, I offer this little nugget of enchanted
reindeer corn from Petty Booka. They are an achingly cute genre-bending
ukelele duo known best for reinterpreting contemporary songs with
Hawaiian arrangements. You are going to see a lot about this band in the coming months, as
they make my 'happy music'.
Though the Hawaiian formula works plenty
for me, their repertoire meshes standards and oscurities of Latin/jazz,
punk, rockabilly and country/bluegrass. The latter is performed with backing
as tight and purist as any out of Appalachia. They can turn a Patsy Cline song into an ass-kicker, a Ramones
song into a wistful tearjerker and make Tom Waits as sweet and
soothing as a cherry Luden's.
"Christmas Everywhere" is my favorite holiday album, bar none. It is, like most of their work, multicultural mastery. Plus, it's the most fun a Christian (devout OR recovering) could have learning some Japanese with their kids. Of course, the usefulness of the Japanese words for sleigh or reindeer in international communication. Oh, heck with it, just say 'Bison'. (see previous song post)
...And It's available on iTunes for no more than you'd pay for any other crap spewed forth by Paris Hilton or K-Fed-X.
