Comments on: Jona And The Wassail https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail Lollards in the high church of low culture Thu, 02 May 2019 00:22:02 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 By: Episode 218: Deck the Halls, Eat the Rich – HARK! https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-2341702 Thu, 02 May 2019 00:22:02 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-2341702 […] whimsical holiday song about the horrors of war. Thank you to Liam for the requests! Here’s a link to the article that we mentioned in this […]

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By: Steve Mannion https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-2319719 Fri, 28 Dec 2018 20:42:14 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-2319719 I’ll add this here rather than The Strange Death Of The UK Charts (https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2009/01/the-strange-death-of-the-uk-charts/) post comments which has contained some previoux Xmas chart hits discussion although that post will be ten years old in a few weeks and worth its own comments bump then (if not a whole new post covering the effects of the last ten years and the steady descent to only around 300 new chart hits per year).

Just over half of the songs in this week’s Top 100 are Xmas-themed, including 8 of the top 10, buoyed by so many shops and restaurants insisting on piping out the same Spotify/Apple Xmas playlists as each other. It’s their staff I feel slightly more sorry for.

A by-product is that there is no Ed Sheeran presence at all, with last year’s Xmas #1 ‘Perfect’ finally being squeezed out of the 100 after a 67 week run (of 84 total).

There’s a new high for Jose Feliciano’s ‘Feliz Navidad’ just outside the Top 75 at 77.

The Waitresses ‘Christmas Wrapping’ finally made significant gains on previous years this Christmas vaulting to 46, just one place below its original peak position in 1982.

The Jackson kids ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ is into the Top 40 for the first time, having stalled just outside in 1972.

Elton John’s ‘Step Into Christmas’ (which I have yet to memorise a note of) continues its unusual resurgence in recent years, surpassing its original peak position (from last Xmas) by one place, into the Top 10.

‘Fairytale Of New York’ managed to equal its joint best performance since first release by reaching #4.

And somehow Mariah was denied again at 2 but it still just seems like a matter of time.

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By: opera tv browser https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-2176603 Wed, 05 Jul 2017 10:59:23 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-2176603 The web browser was originally planned the cellphones that are not efficient in running a conventional Internet web browser.It was introduced in 2005, as a pilot project in partnership.

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By: Andrew Farrell https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1520250 Thu, 01 Jan 2015 12:52:57 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1520250 #6 – the definitive versions are of course the ones on A Christmas Present. Not just because that’s the one we had at home, but also because it has a pop-up gatefold sleeve. That’s science, that is.

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By: Andrew Farrell https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1520249 Thu, 01 Jan 2015 12:49:56 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1520249 I do wonder (though this may just be an excuse to excuse my ignorance) how many people buying “All I want for Christmas is you” don’t actually think of it as a Mariah song? It doesn’t sound very Mariah, she’s toned down the usual pyrotechnics, in fact it sounds more like a glam stomper – or a glam stomper covering a classic.

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By: Mark M https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1516174 Mon, 22 Dec 2014 09:52:34 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1516174 Re48: Yeah, I loved the side-by-side with the Boney M footage.

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By: Ed https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1516064 Mon, 22 Dec 2014 02:54:41 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1516064 @47 Ch 4, I think. That Tony Mortimer interview was great. He’s almost unrecognisable: much fuller-faced, bearded, in a cable-knit sweater.

He explained very winningly – half-rueful, half-amused – how the song had meant a lot to him, but had been taken out of his hands. It’s about his brother who committed suicide, but became interpreted first as a romantic love song, and then with the video and arrangement as a Christmas hit.

Realising it’s a song about family and loss makes it seem much more appropriate for Christmas than I had realised.

A great detail is that the second, Xmas-themed video was a Boney M homage.

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By: Mark M https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1516022 Mon, 22 Dec 2014 00:05:10 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1516022 So on tonight’s Channel 5 (I think) prog about Christmas songs, the Tony Mortimer interview made clear (obviously) that Stay Another Day wasn’t written as a seasonal song. But was equally made clear that the arrangement was explicitly intended to make it a Christmas hit. And since in a recorded piece of music all elements count, I’m saying it’s a Christmas song.

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By: chelovek na lune https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515963 Sun, 21 Dec 2014 18:56:01 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515963 George Michael’s “December Song (I Dreamed Of Christmas)” struck me as both rather lovely, and probably also the best single he had released for years – an enormous return to form. But….straight in the charts, straight out, and completely forgotten ever since, Canon bypassed well and truly. A pity.

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By: DanH https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515951 Sun, 21 Dec 2014 18:20:17 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515951 Can I throw in a vote for XTC’s “Thanks For Christmas”? I heard it once in some store outside of a casino…when I got home, was surprised to learn it was the sarcastic Swindon group….though this was years before I really got into them, at the time I only knew them for “Nigel.” I see it didn’t chart anywhere on its mid 80s release, so it wouldn’t be part of the canon.

Another recent song that seems to be wedged into the Christmas scene, at least here in the U.S., is Fleet Foxes’ “White Winter Hymnal.” One deep look at the lyrics should keep it from the scene, but it mentions scarves and snow, so there it goes.

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By: JoeWiz https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515912 Sun, 21 Dec 2014 14:38:32 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515912 2 brief points. One of the worse examples of a recent Christmas song, one that wanted so desperately wanted to be in the canon that it sounded woefully contrived and forced was ‘Don’t let the bells end’ by The Darkness. Horrible on every level. But Coldplay’s ‘Christmas Lights’ from 2010 I think is rather lovely and may well grow in stature over the years.
As for Cliff, I think he lost a lot of good grace with ’21st Century Christmas’ ten years or so ago. So bad, and instantly forgotton. I like ‘Saviours Day’ though.

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By: Another Pete https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515627 Sat, 20 Dec 2014 18:54:28 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515627 The 2012 bunny listed at #27 suggests people prefer”festive” tunes from a different John Lewis

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By: Tommy Mack https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515621 Sat, 20 Dec 2014 18:14:21 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515621 What Jona Lewie did yesterday… http://on.fb.me/1zIAAbm

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By: ciaran https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515556 Sat, 20 Dec 2014 12:35:58 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515556 I’ve heard STC as much as any other xmas song this year. It’s muscled its way into the canon given the vague reference to xmas.It’s a good song but not really suited to January-October plays if you ask me.

You can enjoy those that dont mention xmas in the lyrics (east 17, Frankie) any time of the year. Of the xmas centric stuff The Pogues and Slade I would play throughout the year if given a chance. In the case of Slade it’s one of the highpoints of Glam Rock and in The Pogues it fits in with most of their stuff around their 80s heyday.Plus Saint etienne + Tim Burgess that I could enjoy anytime simply because its Saint Etienne.

Stay Another Day might be on its way out. I don’t really associate with Xmas at all and I’d look for the normal in the studio video first rather then the dire xmas video made when it became clear of its potential.And the personal background to it is not best suited to the festive time.

We’ve got a chance to discuss Sir Cl…… coming up but Mistletoe and Wine is the one for me that gets less and less play with every passing xmas.For an artist with a strong association with the holiday season he hasnt come anywhere close to an a-list blockbuster.

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By: James BC https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515289 Fri, 19 Dec 2014 14:27:41 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515289 #33 The “orchestral” version of 2 Become 1 is especially Christmassy. (But I’m on the pro-Stay Another Day side too.)

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By: flahr https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515246 Fri, 19 Dec 2014 10:10:54 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515246 #38 don’t give G****h M****e any ideas

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By: Chelovek na lune https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515233 Fri, 19 Dec 2014 09:10:49 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515233 A further data point: Santa-hats bearing, pretty-decent quality, charity-fund-raising choir, witnessed performing on the concourse of Paddington Station on an evening earlier this month, singing, between proper Christmas carols, “Stay Another Day”

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By: Alan https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515216 Fri, 19 Dec 2014 07:59:45 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515216 Data points for you… my 7 year old son’s school “carols by candlelight” included lightly adapted…

Robbie Williams “Angels”
East 17 “Stay Another Day”
Mazzer Cazzer “All I Want for Christmas is You”

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By: swanstep https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515102 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 23:55:40 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515102 Fuzzy’s Christmas is a worthy ’90s alt-rock/pop addition to Xmas-playlists. Corgan doing ‘If there is a god’ at an Xmas show w/ ace Mike Garson accompaniment too maybe .

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By: lonepilgrim https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515080 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 21:52:09 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515080 @27 all those chart placings will be overturned on Christmas Eve when a swathe of rockist dads shout ‘D’oh’ and slap their foreheads before hurriedly downloading ‘Christmas Time (Don’t let the Bells end) by The Darkness

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By: Steve Mannion https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515032 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 18:02:21 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515032 Poor rubbish Cliff. I keep remembering his performances of ‘We Should Be Together This Christmas’ on TV from the time in which he mimes dialling a phone and talking to someone in the intro. Note to me: Stop remembering this and listen to Cristina’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ instead.

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By: katstevens https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515030 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 17:58:19 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515030 I think 2 Become 1 is more Christmassy than Stay Another Day. Then again the Die Hard soundtrack is probably more Christmassy than Stay Another Day.

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By: Tom https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515024 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 17:48:55 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515024 The most lasting schism within the Freaky Trigger editorial cabal is over the Christmas status of “SAD”. (I say it’s not, certain others are wrong.)

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By: James BC https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-2#comment-1515004 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 15:54:16 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515004 The Spice Girls version of Christmas Wrapping gets a lot of play from me. It was a B-side to one of their Christmas number 1s.

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By: Ed https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1515000 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 15:24:42 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1515000 My first ever encounter with the NME was it making ‘Christmas Wrapping’ Single of the Week, and in the same column panning the live version of ‘Closer to the Heart’ by Rush, presumably released as some kind of heroically optimistic attempt at a Christmas cash-in.

It was enough for me to conclude that the NME was stupid and had no taste, and it was about four years before I picked up a copy again. These days, I can see perhaps it might have had a point.

@27, @28 ‘The Power of Love’ does at least have vaguely spiritual lyrics. (Very vaguely, I admit). And I remember Morley saying it was about religion.

The one that baffles me is ‘Stay Another Day’. The only Chrisymassy thing about that is a couple of bells and E17 wearing white parkas in the snow in the video.

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By: enitharmon https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514991 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 14:29:57 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514991 Is Stop the Cavalry really a Christmas song? Greg Lake’s is more like an anti-Christmas song, as is Judy Garland’s bitter little “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” which isn’t in this list but was always a staple of US radio’s Tin Pan Alley Christmas.

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514975 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 13:15:41 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514975 Is “The Power Of Love” really a Christmas song?

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By: itinerantgeoff https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514971 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:58:47 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514971 To complement the streaming list, here’s the list of Christmas songs from the top 200 sales chart last week – and we can see that Jona is just about hanging on in there (as is Macca, and Mud). No sign of The Waitresses, The Pretenders. Or Sir Cliff, thankfully.

#12 Band Aid 30 – Do They Know It’s Christmas? (2014)
#17 Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You
#18 The Pogues featuring Kirsty MacColl – Fairytale Of New York
#39 Wham! Last Christmas
#52 Wizzard – I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
#53 Shakin’ Stevens – Merry Christmas Everyone
#59 Band Aid – Do They Know It’s Christmas?
#67 Chris Rea – Driving Home For Christmas
#68 Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody
#69 Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
#79 Michael Bublé – It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
#86 Andy Williams – It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
#95 East 17 – Stay Another Day
#97 Elton John – Step Into Christmas
#102 Dean Martin – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
#108 Ariana Grande – Santa Tell Me
#129 Boney M – Mary’s Boy Child / Oh My Lord
#130 Leona Lewis – One More Sleep
#132 John & Yoko &The Plastic Ono Band with The Harlem Community Choir – Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
#135 Michael Bublé – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
#139 The Ronettes – Sleigh Ride
#142 Greg Lake – I Believe In Father Christmas
#145 Frank Sinatra – Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
#156 Coldplay – Christmas Lights
#159 Kylie – Santa Baby
#160 The Killers featuring Jimmy Kimmel – Joel The Lump Of Coal
#162 Paul McCartney – Wonderful Christmastime
#164 Perry Como & The Fontane Sisters with Michell Ayres & his Orchestra – It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
#166 Gabrielle Aplin – The Power Of Love
#178 Michael Bublé – Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
#181 Jona Lewie – Stop The Cavalry
#182 Bing Crosby – White Christmas
#185 Michael Bublé & Shania Twain – White Christmas
#188 Michael Bublé – Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
#191 Mud – Lonely This Christmas
#197 Michael Bublé – All I Want For Christmas Is You
#200 Michael Bublé – Holly Jolly Christmas

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514957 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:15:38 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514957 The only use I have for canons is for printing out stuff I’ve typed.

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By: Cumbrian https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514950 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 12:00:33 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514950 I have heard very few Christmas songs at all this year but this is likely due to my online Christmas shopping and eschewing of commercial TV, so I am not running into them often. This was an interesting read as a result – I guess there is a Christmas canon but I am gradually programming it out of my life – which is, I think, in some respects sad. I’m no longer as plugged into what is heard by the population as I once was, if I ever was. Sad for Jona – those royalty cheques must have been very useful over the years.

That said, I heard AC/DC’s effort at a Christmas song for the first time today. Maybe it was because I haven’t had a dose of seasonal cheer yet but I thought it was awesome – and having not made the canon yet, won’t now. Basically, it’s got sleigh bells over an Angus riff for the first 30 seconds and then is just an AC/DC song for the rest of it. I’d even hazard a guess that they wanted to write a song about a Mistress, thought “what rhymes with mistress” and then retrofitted the whole thing around that. Sort of Slade like – with fewer lyrics actually referring to Christmas. Awesome in the sense that it genuinely inspired awe in me – this is the most half arsed effort at a Christmas song I’ve ever heard and yet so obviously AC/DC that I can forgive it.

I managed to snag a ticket to Wembley, so this is what inspired this. No Malcolm but I’ll have to make do.

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514949 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:55:05 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514949 “Christmas Wrapping” considered too indie and weird by 1981 radio, which preferred to play classics by Ken Dodd, Showaddywaddy and the Snowmen.

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By: Steve Mannion https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514939 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:16:47 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514939 Yeah the Christmas Canon is very unforgiving to anything that didn’t initially make the cut – interested in why ‘Christmas Wrapping’ didn’t do better when it was first released. Transatlantic disconnect in the pre-Mariah era? It would need serious airplay and TV coverage to at least re-enter the chart – probably too late to ever improve on its original position/sales.

‘Stay Another Day’ is still the biggest Xmas-not-Xmas playlist inclusion.

Mariah’s song resonates more with each new crop of kids having their first Xmas parties with friends at home than any other Xmas song partly because she’s still just about active and well known enough to them.

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514937 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 11:11:36 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514937 Mariah’s 2CD Greatest Hits compilation – would be indispensable, but “remix” (i.e. ruination) of Xmas song renders it instantly dispensable. Her original Xmas album readily available from charity shop near you.

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By: wichitalineman https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514916 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:53:51 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514916 Nice work, Tom.

Macca’s hit seemed ridiculous in 1979, its squelchy minimalism made no sense pre-McCartney II. I’d say it has grown considerably in stature since, though now may be on the wane.

Interesting to see the Pogues resurgence may be down to a UKIP knee jerk.

Try and find a non-digital single of Mariah. There was one on ebay last week which was up to £60 with a couple of days to go.

Slade seem more susceptible to Xmas fashions than most. It feels like we need periodic breaks from MCE. Likewise, I haven’t heard the Waitresses’ Christmas Wrapping once this year.

Jona Lewie (and Freiheit) will be around for a while I’m sure. The relatively recent UK discovery of things like Brook Benton’s You’re All I Want for Christmas (which I’d never heard outside of my home til this year) may be rendering the canon passé for some but Stop The Cavalry et al will surely get handed down as part of the folk narrative, like every other inexplicable Christmas tradition.

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By: JonnyB https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514913 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:47:41 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514913 Re #4 – A vision: in one of the infinite parallel universes, there is a ‘Let it Be’ like atmosphere as Paul tries to teach the still-together Beatles the chords.

If the mighty Jona track has slipped due to brand awareness issues, I think that’s finally curtains for ‘Keeping the Dream Alive’ (which I know isn’t really a Christmas song.)

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514912 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:43:05 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514912 #16: so rockism is essentially misogynist? And here’s me thinking it was a JOKE that Wylie did in the NME a third of a century ago.

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By: flahr https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514910 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:29:23 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514910 Einstürzende Neubauten to Elbow…

Someone else who remembers BBC4’s quickly-cancelled Popstar to Operastar spinoff!

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By: James BC https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514909 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 09:29:08 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514909 Who’s still buying Mariah? I assumed that people who don’t download very much music were going on iTunes to buy songs for a Christmas party playlist one year, then losing the MP3s in the intervening year, or replacing their computer or phone without a backup, and having to buy them again the next time.

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By: Mark M https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514894 Thu, 18 Dec 2014 08:39:38 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514894 Re15: It was the third, and explicitly the most speculative, of my potention reasons. ‘Rockism’, on reflection, was shorthand here for ‘the preference for anything someone might deem more serious than a girl singing a seasonal pop song’ – from Billy Bragg to Busta Rhymes, Carcass to Culture, Debussy to Derrick May, Einstürzende Neubauten to Elbow etc.’ Probably less so now, but certainly when I was a teenager, there was a pressure to position yourself for and against stuff more strictly than (I’d argue) is natural. I.e., when you actually look at them in an unedited form, most grown-up people’s music collections appear to be fairly random to the observer, whatever internal logic may apply.

On the other hand, using a tighter definition of rockist, I’d always be tempted to sell them the Mariah song by claiming it was secretly written by Bruce Springsteen.

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By: flahr https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514683 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 23:29:30 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514683 (my guess) 3) people who have grown out of their adolescent rockism and realise it’s a belter of a song.

Given that ‘adolescent rockists’ is not a big enough demographic to have much chart impact, I struggle to imagine a world in which ‘people who have just stopped being adolescent rockists’ is. Rockists are a minority among teenagers, and I suspect rockists who stop being rockists are a minority among rockists.

I appreciate ‘a world where teenagers are an unthinking mass of sneering rockists, converted en masse to the holy light of poptimism by a Christmas mariahcle’ makes for a better story, though. And I suppose if their first step out of rockism was to buy, er, a glam rock single, that would have a sort of pleasing plus ça change quality to it.

Meanwhile, I can provide a sort of me-too attestation to #6; I spent Christmas of second-year asking people “what’s that one that goes ‘dah dah dah-dah-dah, dah dah dah-dah-dah” until catching the song’s identity on TOTP2. Also this provides me an opportunity to plug an essay I wrote for the student newspaper partially about STC.

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By: thefatgit https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514631 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 19:48:42 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514631 I’m fairly ambivalent towards “Stop The Cavalry”, perhaps it falls between the sublime “10,000 Miles” and the dreadful “Fairytale Of New York”. Looking at the OCC list, I was drawn to the Ariana Grande track, having not heard it yet. So off to YouTube I pop, and I immediately thought: STC had been ousted for this? I guess the jury’s out for any new stuff, until at least a few years down the line.

If the “nuclear fallout zone” line dates STC to Cold War era, it’s no less relevant than “take a look in the 5&10” line from “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas”. I guess we’re all prepared to overlook anything that dates something, because Christmas is built on nostalgia anyway, even the imported stuff. Mentally, I’m editing 5&10 for Woolworths or more recently, Poundland.

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By: punctum https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514625 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 19:31:07 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514625 You mean they’re not?

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By: Ed https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514588 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 17:22:13 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514588 I guess it would make sense if Stop The Cavalry did stop being a Christmas standard, because it was not originally intended as one: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5513

It says something about the mood of 1980 that lyrics about “the nuclear fallout zone” and so on made perfect sense in a Christmas hit.

I always think it must be one of the hardest things to reconstruct for anyone born since 1989: that sense that the world really could end at any moment.

Here’s hoping a new generation doesn’t get to discover it all over again.

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By: lonepilgrim https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514542 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:54:16 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514542 as well as the ubiquity of seasonal piped music I think that fewer contemporary music acts have the desire, ambition or opportunity to release Christmas material that will appeal to ‘the whole family’ in the way that Slade, McCartney and others did in the past – perhaps because audiences are becoming increasingly niche and also because there are so many competing channels of dissemination in comparison to the days of Top of the Pops and only 3 or 4 TV channels.
I suspect that the experience and consumption of Christmas music has developed over the last 70 years or more to reflect changes in technology, media and population growth spurts.
I should add that I love Christmas music and have a separate playlist of 80 songs with more waiting to be uploaded that trace some of these changing tastes – including wonders such as ‘All I want for Christmas is my daddy’ by Buck Owens and the bluesy innuendo of ‘On a Christmas Day’ by C.W. Stoneking.

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By: intothefireuk https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514541 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 13:42:31 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514541 I would totally endorse #9’s point that the proliferation of fave xmas hits at supermarkets and every damn shop you go in throughout December has had a numbing effect on the Christmas song. If I want to hear my fave Christmas tunes I would prefer it either accidentally by turning on the radio or TV or deliberately via one of my playlists or CD’s, NOT when I’m picking up toilet tissue, humous and toothpaste (lovely with whipped cream I’m told).

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By: JonnyB https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514504 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 11:26:40 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514504 Another theory for the mix: out-and-about effect. This is utterly anecdotal, but my recollection is of the ubiquity of Christmas piped music being a relatively recent thing. It’s hardly an original thought to grouse about piped music, but I always remember it from shopping centres and big stores as Christmas approached, not on a loop in every shop and – especially – supermarket in Britain, from December 1st.

I am perfectly willing to back down RE this expansion theory in anticipation of contradictory evidence from long-suffering shop assistants. It’s just an impression I get.

I guess my theory goes something like: supermarkets and stores play the safe, established canon. So they are increasingly dooming the joy around that particular selection of tracks.

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By: Tom https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514498 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 11:00:56 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514498 I have not yet bought a copy of the Mariah song! Though I think I have it on a CD somewhere. Perhaps I will become one of Those People this year, since (obviously) I like it.

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By: Mark M https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514484 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 10:06:40 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514484 My tolerance for Wonderful Christmastime is somewhat enhanced by De La Soul’s use of the keyboard hook on their track Simply.

Instinctively, I prefer the Great American Christmas Songbook to the British glam-and-beyond version. However, not when it’s in the hands of Bublé (Harry Connick Jr was much less aggravating, for some reason) or boybands.

Re 2: Who’s buying Mariah after all this time? Definitely 1) parents of kids 2) people who bought it back in the day but need a digital copy and (my guess) 3) people who have grown out of their adolescent rockism and realise it’s a belter of a song.

Re 1: Whereas there is no seasonal song I’d sooner be shot of than Merry Xmas (War is Over). Sorry, Rosie.

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By: weej https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514458 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 08:36:23 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514458 Count me into the fans of ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ – it might even be my favourite in the UK cannon. Suppose there must be a bit of a marmite thing going on with that squelchy keyboard sound

The problem ‘Stop The Cavalry’ has is that for people under, say, 35 years old it’s only been present on the radio or in shops during the Christmas period – but the song’s title isn’t prominent in the lyric and the singer isn’t otherwise famous. I’d guess that lots of people know it, but couldn’t tell you what it’s called or who the singer is – and that’s not good brand value for actually downloading or streaming songs.

I’m in the odd position of “selling” this music to people in China this Christmas – I made a Christmas playlist for the public area where I work and had to edit out anything too jarring or rude while trying to slip in as many of my own favourites as I could. This goes down fine at work but my wife is confused by the lack of things like “jingle bells” or “rudolf” or “we wish you a merry christmas” – I guess these all came from the days before recorded music was dominant, but it’s still odd that no definitive version has emerged at any point.

(oh, and admin – I have a comment stuck in approval limbo over at “Popular ’58” – please save it, for Christmas)

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By: Ed https://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2014/12/jona-and-the-wassail/comment-page-1#comment-1514346 Wed, 17 Dec 2014 02:00:03 +0000 https://freakytrigger.co.uk/?p=28172#comment-1514346 At least someone is still lighting a seasonal candle for Jona Lewie: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7qQAE794uvo

A recent addition to my personal Christmas canon.

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