What Did You Wish For? What Did You Fear?

More festive fun today with Aimee Mann and Michael Penn, performing their song Christmastime on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn on 15th December 2000. This post is dedicated to Rol from My Top Ten and someone who's been a fan of the Mann from the start.

I was much, much later to the party and oddly enough, it was her festive offerings (of which there are many) that drew me in. Christmastime is an original song, [warning: bad pun alert] penned by husband Michael Penn (older brother of Sean and Chris), producer Jon Brion and of course Aimee herself, if the lyrics didn't make it obvious.

I've not seen this TV clip before but I've long owned a version of this song on the 1996 album Just Say Noël. It's an alternative Christmas compilation released on Geffen, featuring a dozen tracks by label artists, mixing up cover versions of traditional and more contemporary songs with original compositions. 

Christmastime first appeared the same year on the soundtrack to Paul Thomas Anderson's debut film, Hard Eight and it's been re-recorded several times since. The studio version is full of the usual festive (jingle) bells and whistles, but I also like this slightly different arrangement for television. Aimee's voice is of course the element that lifts it to another plane.

 

If the annual tweak and reissue of Now That's What I Call Xmas and the prospect of Christmas songs by Ed Sheeran & Elton John, Michael Buble or Sam Ryder have you reaching for bucket to puke in, then Just Say Noël is a pretty decent alternative and relatively easy to find secondhand or online.

The album kicks off with Beck's take on a traditional song with The Little Drum Machine Boy. There's an extract on You Tube at just under two-and-a-half minutes but be warned: the album version clocks in at over seven minutes, by which time the novelty of Beck rapping has worn off, if I'm honest. Cracking bassline, though.

Sonic Youth up next with a surprisingly faithful cover of comedian/actor Martin Mull's 1972 song, Santa Doesn't Cop Out On Dope. Well, when I say faithful, I mean in the sense of their Ciccone Youth covers of Into The Groove and Addicted To Love: structurally accurate replicas but put through the 'Yoot' mangle. Even more surprising, it's actually less disturbing than the original.

From 'Yoot' to The Roots' cover of the De La Soul perennial Millie Pulled A Pistol On Santa. I like The Roots and while it's inevitably not a patch on the hip hop trio, it's worth a listen or two.

Just Say Noël is not all downtempo, downtrodden music either. XTC make a belated appearance here with their 1983 single Thanks For Christmas. It ticks all the boxes for being a festive smash but failed to make a dent in the UK chart. This is possibly (and no doubt intentionally) due to the single being released as The Three Wise Men not XTC, with songwriting credited to Balthazar, Kaspar and Melchior rather than Partridge, Moulding and Gregory. As soon as Andy's voice kicks in though, you know you're in for a treat.

My final seasonal selection from Just Say Noël is Gloria by Elastica, which first appeared as a 'B-side' to third single Waking Up in, er, February 1995 and would prove to be the band's biggest hit, coming in at #13 on it's week of release. It's got all of the Elastica hallmarks: thumping drum intro, strident bass, fuzzy guitar and Justine's slightly snotty vocals and original lyrics over a very familiar melody. What's not to love?