It ain't easy, let me tell you that.
It came upon a midnight clear, this wonderfully Christmassy idea. Or should I say, IDEA.
I was lounging in bed, once again unable to sleep, when it dawned on me - the perfect Christmas gift for my family and friends.
I thought that this Christmas, I'd (instead of leaving in their stockings presents, two front teeth or promises I don't intend to keep) make my near and dear ones a compilation of wonderfully unique, unusual and relatively unsung Christmas tunes - a merry mixtape, if you will.
So, as they say in the snooker parlour - set biji sepuluh! Game, set and match. After all, how hard can it be to burn an Xmas CD, right?
Pretty hard, as I'm finding out now.
You see, the art of the mixtape is all in the setting of the tempo. The tempo of the tape, or CD in this case, determines all. It determines how successful, or not, your offering is.
Do I start fast and gradually wind down? Or do I start slow and progress to a grand finale? Or, do I start slow, build up to a crescendo and then taper off towards the end?
If I start too fast, the risk is of an anti-climatic ending. If I go too slow, the danger is that they will lose interest too soon. Problems, problems! Everything has got to be just nice, the perfect blend of fast and slow, upbeat and mellow, religious and commercial, frivilous and profound. In a nutshell, it has to encapsulate Christmas and all the emotional, nostalgic bric-a-brac contained therein.
I've already cooked up in my head a list of songs I want to have. None of this stupid Jingle Bells or Silent Night shite for me (unless of course it's the Bing Crosby version of the former and The Temptations' take on the latter).
My mixtape is going to be full of unknown, but beautiful numbers.These are the contenders for the final list, in no particular order (since the order is my biggest problem!):
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
Pretty Paper - Roy Orbison
Little Altar Boy - Glen Campbell
Senor Santa Claus - Jim Reeves
Sarajevo 12-24 - Trans Siberian Orchestra
Happy Christmas (War is Over) - John Lennon
O Holy Night - Tracy Chapman
Ave Maria - Connie Francis
Hallelujah It's Christmas - Roger Whittaker
Merry Christmas Baby - James Brown
Santa Baby - Madonna (or, preferrably, Eartha Kitt, if I can find her version)
Christmas Bride - The Ray Conniff Singers
White Christmas - The Drifters
Auld Land Syne - Kenny G (I'm still very iffy about this one. Not only does Kenny G just scream corny, but the interspersed dialogue is just to Americana-oriented for me)
Kids - Kenny Rogers
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Jackson 5 (I'm iffy about this one too, coz I always thought the kid must have been a mean trouble causer to want to tell on his mom. And not to mention dumb for not knowing Santa was his dad..)
The Fairytale of New York - Ronan Keating and Marie Brennan (I don't have the original and superior Pogues' rendition, sadly)
Christmas in New Orleans - Louis Armstrong
Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth - Bing Crosby and David Bowie
Silent Night - The Temptations
Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
I'll Be Home For Christmas - haven't decided whose cover I'll get for this one
Yes, I know I said it's going to be full of unknown songs. Yes, I know that most of these songs are known songs. So, let me rephrase what I said earlier. I want it to be full of my favourite Christmas songs and everybody has no choice but to like them. So there!
After all, what is Christmas without Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas or I'll Be Home For Christmas? And anybody who's listened to Chapman's soulful take on O Holy Night will definitely fall in love with it. Also, the songs by The Drifters and The Temptations both just beg inclusion, being such unique renditions of terribly overdone numbers.
And last but not least, how can we celebrate the arrival of the Kid without a song by the King?
It came upon a midnight clear, this wonderfully Christmassy idea. Or should I say, IDEA.
I was lounging in bed, once again unable to sleep, when it dawned on me - the perfect Christmas gift for my family and friends.
I thought that this Christmas, I'd (instead of leaving in their stockings presents, two front teeth or promises I don't intend to keep) make my near and dear ones a compilation of wonderfully unique, unusual and relatively unsung Christmas tunes - a merry mixtape, if you will.
So, as they say in the snooker parlour - set biji sepuluh! Game, set and match. After all, how hard can it be to burn an Xmas CD, right?
Pretty hard, as I'm finding out now.
You see, the art of the mixtape is all in the setting of the tempo. The tempo of the tape, or CD in this case, determines all. It determines how successful, or not, your offering is.
Do I start fast and gradually wind down? Or do I start slow and progress to a grand finale? Or, do I start slow, build up to a crescendo and then taper off towards the end?
If I start too fast, the risk is of an anti-climatic ending. If I go too slow, the danger is that they will lose interest too soon. Problems, problems! Everything has got to be just nice, the perfect blend of fast and slow, upbeat and mellow, religious and commercial, frivilous and profound. In a nutshell, it has to encapsulate Christmas and all the emotional, nostalgic bric-a-brac contained therein.
I've already cooked up in my head a list of songs I want to have. None of this stupid Jingle Bells or Silent Night shite for me (unless of course it's the Bing Crosby version of the former and The Temptations' take on the latter).
My mixtape is going to be full of unknown, but beautiful numbers.These are the contenders for the final list, in no particular order (since the order is my biggest problem!):
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Andy Williams
Pretty Paper - Roy Orbison
Little Altar Boy - Glen Campbell
Senor Santa Claus - Jim Reeves
Sarajevo 12-24 - Trans Siberian Orchestra
Happy Christmas (War is Over) - John Lennon
O Holy Night - Tracy Chapman
Ave Maria - Connie Francis
Hallelujah It's Christmas - Roger Whittaker
Merry Christmas Baby - James Brown
Santa Baby - Madonna (or, preferrably, Eartha Kitt, if I can find her version)
Christmas Bride - The Ray Conniff Singers
White Christmas - The Drifters
Auld Land Syne - Kenny G (I'm still very iffy about this one. Not only does Kenny G just scream corny, but the interspersed dialogue is just to Americana-oriented for me)
Kids - Kenny Rogers
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus - Jackson 5 (I'm iffy about this one too, coz I always thought the kid must have been a mean trouble causer to want to tell on his mom. And not to mention dumb for not knowing Santa was his dad..)
The Fairytale of New York - Ronan Keating and Marie Brennan (I don't have the original and superior Pogues' rendition, sadly)
Christmas in New Orleans - Louis Armstrong
Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth - Bing Crosby and David Bowie
Silent Night - The Temptations
Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
I'll Be Home For Christmas - haven't decided whose cover I'll get for this one
Yes, I know I said it's going to be full of unknown songs. Yes, I know that most of these songs are known songs. So, let me rephrase what I said earlier. I want it to be full of my favourite Christmas songs and everybody has no choice but to like them. So there!
After all, what is Christmas without Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas or I'll Be Home For Christmas? And anybody who's listened to Chapman's soulful take on O Holy Night will definitely fall in love with it. Also, the songs by The Drifters and The Temptations both just beg inclusion, being such unique renditions of terribly overdone numbers.
And last but not least, how can we celebrate the arrival of the Kid without a song by the King?
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