Month: January 2017

United We Christmas Tree Stand: the demographic

Big star-spangled finish. American Christmas songs should be enormo, splashy, slightly overdone casseroles.

Bettina Bush sings big about family and love and “An American Christmas.” It’s pretty, she’s pretty… i feel pretty!

James Brown shouts it out with “Hey America!” This is a sermon to uplift us with Christmas spirit. Feel it! FEEL IT!

Wayne Newton’s idea of “Christmas in the USA” is to call long distance. C’mon it’s Wayne Newton, it’s not what he says (what IS he saying?), it’s how he’s selling it. It’s building, building, building… and there’s that last note!

United We Christmas Tree Stand: don’t tread on us

We gotta admit it, we define ourselves by our borders, and that exclude any of y’all that might be different, or attack us. Bottom line, it’s not our ingenuity, or industry, or even our entertainment business that makes us America. It’s our warlike response to every problem. Take arms! Drive back the doubts and fears with bullets! And honor those in bloody uniforms as the real Americans. The rest of us barely count.

Eric Homer Music sings us wise with “Christmas in America.” Soft, gentle country music with an urgent message about honor and stuff.

Jess Lee has a killer rehearsal in her garage with the boys for “Christmas in America” for the troops get the brunt of our patriotism. It seems to be a quid pro quo: you soldier boys have the burden of being away from home (not the proud duty of protecting the unprotected), so we will sing and stand and salute (ordinarily we’d not care too much). Fair trade? That’s what you get.

Ostensibly about the Newtown tragedy, David Lenett’s posting “An American Christmas” ramps us country rock to make a fine song that includes ‘those who wear our uniform.’ But it’s inclusive.

United We Christmas Tree Stand: under god

Gentle reminder, the big guy in the USA is not the prez… it’s God. John J. Peterson sings “It’s Christmas in America” as a catchy tune redolent with joy and recrimination about how we may have neglected the true meaning of Christmas. Christine Noga also sings this song. A bit more soul; she can carry a note!

John Kammerer wants to remind us–us!–that Christmas is not just about one nation, but one nation under god (that 1954 insistence). In “Christmas Time in America” his rocks populi nudges us into not taking country too much for granted. Without God… well, let’s not go there.

United We Christmas Tree Stand: just us

We’re getting divisive here, another proud American tradition–but not our chosen theme. So let’s not link to any more songs about them vs. us: racism, sexism, classism, ageism, heightism, weightism, politics (yes, virginia, there’s haters’ christmas songs for all of them).

Let’s blend, melt, be together.

Pat Benatar belts out some extremely light rock with “Christmas in America.” They grow up so conservative, don’t they? Naw, she’s godblessing us all, even her grownup head banging fans.

United We Christmas Tree Stand: corporate (not!)

Continuing from our concerns over consumptive consumerism, some carolers counter the corporate coverage of Christmas. Cleverly now….

Posh Hammer add robotic irony to their drear tale of corporate takeover of the holidays. “A Very Corporate Christmas” bangs on like a dirge, but these kids have something to say.

“A Corporate Christmas Carol” by Charlie Reynardine & Michael G. Ronstadt lulls us with glorious harmonious pop folk. Afraid the kids win out, however, and these guys will buy their way through the brand names. (They win me back with their credits roll at the end of the video.)

Davids jolly up the joint with “CGI Penguins (An Anti-Corporate Christmas Song).” At least we have a song to sing along with while we throw shade on Coca-Cola.

United We Christmas Tree Stand: capitalism (not!)

It’s not in the Constitution, but USA is a democratic republic based on the fundamentals of capitalism.

Christmas has also been a bastion of that.

Sadly most reactions have been so caught up in reactionarianism, they fail to win by wit.

Sean Michael Wilson teeters through “Christmas Song for Capitalism” con brio but you’ll be done before he will. BLUE ALERT!

The Twin Cities Industrial Workers of the World shyly and slyly do their part at an insiders’ party, singing “Anti-Capitalist Carols” to the choir. It’s pretty violent, even for Marxist humor.

Toxic Socket’s short finger-wagging screed “Merry Christmas Capitalism” is a fun slide show, still more angry than provocative.

United We Christmas Tree Stand: wall st.

While we’re on the subject of bailing out Santa…

…of the many US milestones we might inaugurate a carol to, Wall Street seems too apt to pass up.

Watkins and the Rapiers fiddle up a folky grassy bit o’ blues with “Christmas at Occupy Wall Street.” It lands as a sentimental Old World reflection of the times. In this live recording the lads might be a bit in the bag, tho.

Phil Coley kicks up a lively country swing number with “Wall Street Christmas,” which oddly seems to counter current conservative trends and takes up an ironic everyman snark–Cut it out, congress! Danny Mack‘s version is slicker and thus less proletariat.