Merry Christmas

I love Christmas and I'm sick of all the jaded "it's a consumerist holiday!" sermons we seem to hear more and more often these days. Yeah, whatever. Like absolutely everything else, it's what you make of it. And, personally, I love it. I'm a religious guy, so perhaps that makes a difference. I love the (even if, as you cynics say, it's fleeting and artificial) feeling of love, forgiveness, and renewal in the air. Things get set aside quicker. Hugs and forgiveness come more easily. It's awesome. So, in that spirit, some songs that I'm into this season.

Pants Yell! - "Our Turf". Give me a floor-tom beat and I'm usually 1/2 sold on that alone. This is a perfect little bittersweet instrumental with ample beauty for this amazing time of year.

Lily Allen - "Everybody's Changing" (Live Keane Cover). What straight guy wouldn't love to have Lily Allen as a girlfriend? With personality and charm to spare, she's lived up to every ounce of hype she's received this year. This ska'd-up version of an overly dramatic Keane number just further confirms her Midas touch.

Bright Eyes - "Endless Entertainment". "There's endless entertainment in thinking the world is gonna end / and I live some nights convinced of it, but I keep waking up again". "Now you don't have to be content, but you do have to get on with it". I love this guy since he's gone all country bumpkin on us. Keep it coming.

Pedro The Lion - "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day". By a mile, this is my favorite Christmas song. Not this version in particular (though it's good), but the actual song. "But in despair, I bowed my head / "There is no peace on Earth", I said / For hate is strong and mocks the song of "Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men" / Then peeled the bells more loud and deep / God is not dead nor doth He sleep / The wrong shall fail, the right prevail / With Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men". It's never been said better than that.

Tom Waits - "Silent Night / A Christmas Card From A Hooker in Minneapolis" (Live on Austin City Limits). And, finally, the song that I've listend to at least five times per day for the past couple of weeks. Tom Waits is in prime form here, mixing the sentimental with the hilarious with the plain beautiful. A song about a ruined life still glimmering with (even the remotest) hope. And there's nothing more Christmas than that.

Merry Christmas.

Awkward Love Songs

(Disclaimer: Please read this in the intended way or it could all seem very very weird...)

Let me say this first -- I love my wife in a massive way. She's currently all belly with our first baby and we get on awesome. No complaints. She actually just had this very cool personal coffee-table book made (thank you MyPublisher) with pictures from our early dating days, through engagement, through wedding prep, to the wedding, to honeymoon, and a bit beyond. It's awesome. And it got us thinking. I know people like to complain about being married and not being free and all that (usually the same people who never took advantage of their pre-marital freedom in the first place), but really marriage is nice. I dig it. However, it lacks one funadamental quality -- you can never recapture the newness. I'm not talking about "rekindling the spark" or any of that junk. What I mean is -- I will never meet my wife again for the first time (and that's actually a very amusing story). Yeah, sure, there is the far more mature trade-off of a secure/established relationship and what not, but if you don't dig the first moments of meeting someone new, you are really truly missing out. I would love to meet my wife again for the very first time.

All of which is a strange prelude to today's collection of "awkward love songs". The early days of a relationship are the days of maximum charm and (sometimes) well-masqueraded coyness. Things can be awkward yet fun. "But to play is easier than to set the groove and to think is more simple than changing the mood...". "If I translate you wrong, when I complete my song, that would be my two feet, stumbling ahead of me...". Man, those always slightly awkward first moments of anticipation. "No, don't be dumb, no please don't be dumb...". So, if you are single, don't bum out on it. "Said you wanna love, but you don't know how". You have one of life's greatest experiences still ahead of you...

Sondre Lerche - "On The Tower" | Website | Myspace | Purchase
Bromhead's Jacket - "Poppy Bird" | Website | Myspace | Purchase
The Magic Numbers - "Let Somebody In" | Website | Myspace | Purchase