Author: douglove1225

Xmas Instruments: Drums (pt. 2)

If you go around saying no one writes Baroque chamber music anymore, stop it. Passamezzo’s “Beat Up a Drum for Christmas Reigns” (circa 2020) is too cool for you to pass by.

Enya’s “One Toy Soldier” has a clockwork beat, which might make this militaristic plaything (who wants to sing) even more poignant for Xmas. I dunno, i’m just sad about it.

Sensitive Men band-rap about a party in “Two Drummers.” Not clear who exactly is playing but smiles for the exuberance.

But–what about the twelve drummers drumming?! Fan 3 dishes the cheesy pop rock with “I Love Christmas” wherein lots of gifts are received, including On the six I got some drums… Midnight Whistler gets country rocking with “Twelve Drummers Drumming.” Can you imagine a dozen Keith Moons in your house together??

GIFT TIME!

“Little Tessa Boy” wants a drum. Natalia Wohler (feat. Crazy) gives it to him. Parang parang parang.

Twinkle Toes’ Music take ‘This Old Man’ and sling us a baby song: “This Little Drum Under the Tree.” Fear not, more gifts are a’comin’.

Pat Guadagno got a drum for Christmas. You’ll hear all about it in the bluesy folk of “New Christmas Drum.” Sadly it was a gateway to rock and roll.

The Kavanaughs rock with pop in the superior “Bang the Christmas Drum.” It’s the way you revere, party, AND annoy.

“Billy Got Drums for Christmas” by The Hooves is more pop and rocks even more about that noisy gift.

From the 1950 78rpm, Ole Svenson and His Smorgasbord Band march out “I Want a Christmas Drum.” Thanks once more to Pete da Elf for this one.

Xmas Instruments: Drum (pt. 1)

The skins get big ups on Christmas ‘cuz of some starstruck urchin banging and pounding on whatever he could find at the Nativity. Typical kindergarten behavior. Let’s respond.

Mighty Magic Pants begins the parade against the noise complaint with the honestly folk “Lay Down Your Drum, Little Drummer Boy.” Take that drum and beat it, kid.

Herschel Cedricson aims for that joke about the drum solo that overstays its welcome in a song with his Something Awful “Little Drummer Boy.” Sorry, Bing.

Rapping for Jaysus, Zach S embarrasses himself with the mixup “Drummer Boy.” Look away.

More appropriately, Pineapple Posse raps the ups and downs of “Drumma Boy.” They got the sticks.

The Little Drum Machine Boy seems like an obvious alt-play on the legend. Beck may have started it with an observance over Hanukkah. Vice Versa plays it pretty straight with apparently a robot wanting presents. Wolf Blitzer lays the digital on thick with their electronica. Jane’s Party goes all out when a kid raiding Gramma’s attic for her old Roland gets invited by Santa for a ride-along for being so dope. [Check out synthesizer offerings for more.]

Ray Stevens spoofs up the tune with “The Little Drummer Boy–Next Door.” No peace on earth with that noise! Boy that’s a bother. (Even more of a bother is Pat Boone‘s original retake.)

Watch Out for Rockets pairs that boy with “Drummer Girl” for some frolicking garage frisky-do-dah. Why’s he waiting in a tree?? Must be an indie thing.

Xmas Instruments: Cymbals

CRASH! BANG!

Young Kernel request you “(Shake)” like a cymbal for Christmas time. Repetitive, hypnotic, partytime. Not strictly an instrument, but certainly a boisterous music.

Rap relies on some rhymes more than others, cymbal bell may not ring true for our purposes, but Ranna Royce’s rap out “Silent Night (Carol Flow)” is BLUE ALERT violent and threatening enough to earn a spot on the laissez-faire blog.


Pipes’ll get their due, but for scarcity’s sake let Celtic Woman pair the cymbals with the “Christmas Pipes.” It’s all about the party.

Xmas Instruments: Chimes

Just more bells these chimes, eh?

Charley Pride recalls “Christmas in My Home Town.” Chimes in the square call all together for this easy listening big band kind of stuff.

Alternately, Geoffrey Savage savages the opening melody of 1974’s animated special ”Twas the Night Before Christmas’ entitled “Christmas Chimes are Calling.” It’s Santa they’re calling for, btw.

Todd Michalik chants out “Christmas Chimes” with mixed media in the pursuit of madness.

“When The Christmas Chimes Are Ringing” by Lewis James (1922) is that operatic ragtime love crooning that comes off so grating nay more. hey, those are gongs!

Southern rock the tells a tale, “Chimes of Christmas” is Beat of Alabama unraveling the ones who didn’t get none. (Or AI, p’raps.)

Snappy zydeco from Brenda Lee, “Papa Noel” also has chimes down on the Bayou. Hot stuff.

The Chills sing out those “Christmas Chimes” bong bong bongbongbong. It’s all a metaphor. You know, like life. Indie zippiness.

Xmas Instruments: Cello

Violincellos are not the deepest of instruments, but they get cinematic representation as in ‘Hilary and Jackie’, ‘Truly Madly Deeply’, and ‘The Soloist’.

Neighborhoods and instruments become “Blocks and Strings” from Winter Reverie. Jazz band insouciance that features cellos well.

Even jazzier, Ella Blocker’s Christmas wishes include all “Four Seasons” with you. The final one is you playing cello and her singing. Sexy.

“Little Drummer Boy” will get his day later, but when Panda Corner takes us to the toy instrument factory cars and clocks and trains go by. But then we see a xylophone and a piano and fa la goes the cello bow. Kidsong on drugs.

Xmas Instruments: Bongos

Beatnik skins might simplify musicality, well at least as Hoops & Yoyo present it in “Bongo Christmas.” Carib beatings.

Bryce Bowyn is hunting for bear in “Santa Daddy.” You can hit it like a bongo drum, he advises, in the queerest of ways. Rhythmic pop.

Funnin’ on ‘Nuttin” Snook’s “Nan’s Drownin’ Kittens” is a tragedy… until he gets bongos for Christmas. Huzzah.

Xmas Instruments: Bells (pt. 4)

Part four is (supposedly) funny stuff.

You want silly??!! Joey Slater looks to the midyear and avers that Christmas can still be felt. “JULY or Just Put some Bells on It” is indie rock with a point. But weird.

Okay, we’re avoiding actual ‘Jingle Bells’ melodies, but i have to hear Rick Moyer’s Star Trek fun “Klaxon Bells” one more time.

‘Silver Bells’ gets the mock up from Snook in “Swingin Bells.” Urban reproval.

Kidtime! Disney creatures share in “From All of Us to All of You,” originally a Jimminy Cricket Christmas greeting from the ’50s. This jazz band number revels in the bells. A lot of bells.

Sarah Winter seems to have taken the chorus of that Snoopy/Red Baron Christmas song and made their own “Christmas Bells” repetition. Kinda cool.

Jeff Dunham’s Christmas special finale “When Santa Comes to Town” is not the usual acerbic wit he cuts with. Instead it reeks of 1980s Looney Toons reconstructed TV, slick but hollow. Bells in the chorus, but yawn.

More merry, The Christmas Jug Band do what they do to celebrate Santa’s arrival. Bells will ring, they declare, “When the Red Sled Comes.” Hep-some.

The Superions get suggestive with their strip club jazz “Jingle Those Bells.” Get your singles out.

The Skivvies (who perform in their underwear) mashup mod pop and carols in the odd “Bells Bells Bells.” Give it a tinkle.

Parody perfectionists, The Withers lay out some “Jingle Jingle Jingle” for your edutainment.

The Benefit try out “Sleigh Bells” in a different context… doesn’t work. Still the Winter Holidays. Funny.

Oddly evocative, “The Sleighbell Museum” from The Non Traditionals paints a picture of a fantasy place we will never see with bossa nova soft pop.

Fed up, yet? The Rattlesnakes garage the pain with “Christmas Bells won’t Stop Ringing.” Crescendo and out.

Xmas Instruments: Bells (pt. 3)

Part three’s weirder stuff.

The Boy Least Likely To indies sl-o-o-w pop into the form of “It Will Still be Christmas.” The bells liven the festivities considerably.

Ponderously slow bluesrock marks Waylan St. Palan & The Magic Elves’ “Bells of St. Ignatius.” The sax saves it.

Les Fradken’s “Jangle Bells” makes a rock pop party out of the instrumentality of those fabricated metal pieces. Boss.

Party rock from Sam Scola utilizes the “The Christmas Bells are Ringing” as message and lyrics over and over. You’ll get it.

Watered down rock (for elder Boomers?) from Ginger Cat (feat. Eric Mullins) dampens “Sleigh Bells.” When they say Go, Cat, Go–i think they mean some intrusive tabby wandering through the rehearsal.

Pop music mashed with a rock through line punches up Ohio City Players’ “The Ringing of the Bells.” You have my permission to sing-along.

Just a bit punk, “Jingle Bells Rock” is Dude York slamming on the ‘caster. I’m having fun now.

Reverb punk and distortion from Song Boys destroy the joy of when “Slay Bells Ring.” Ouch.

Robert Blake (not that one, the ‘Dr. Bob’ one) wants to “Make Those Jingle Bells Rock.” He may not make them rock, but he makes them roll under the couch where you can’t reach.

Just a bit rap, “Jingle Jangle” is Yarou (feat. Sydney Smithmartin) classing up the joint with funk.

Sean Cole the Outlaw raps that merry monotone about suffering in “Ringing Like Bells.” That’s his phone, dawg. BLUE ALERT

Hoarse rap from Hard Call Christmas shows us how to rock “My Christmas Bells.” Harsh.

Millennial musings from Lorena Leigh include Southwestern climes, hence “Navidad Bells.” The voice is strong in this one indie.

Indie folk from Krisp and the Kringles warbles out the message of “Bells of Peace.” Get to it, wudja?

A Fine Frenzy can’t make sense of a distant family reuniting for the holidays. They recommend ringing bells to “Wish You Well.” Pretty indie pop.

Make Like Monkeys declare “I Love You Jingle Bells” with the coolest of retro rock. A bit obsessive.

Xmas Instruments: Bells (pt. 2)

Part Two’s cool stuff.

Lena brings us pop back around to silly romantic love with “All My Bells are Ringing.” And her heart is wrapped in a ribbon and a bow.

Christmas Choir w/Murgatroyd & Burrell use the ol’ Britpop to rally the kidlings around for Santa With those “Christmas Bells.” Run.

Lynne & Mike lull us to sleep with the kidsong “Sing-a-Ling Christmas.” Yawn.

I prefer the ear worm of The Cricketones’ “Ding a Ling Dong, the Sleighbell Song.” Giddyup, kidsong.

Reaching for both rock and kids, Freddy Cannon plays it safe and slow with “Santa’s Here to Stay.” It’s all about his bells: Let me hear you now!

The Bandana Splits are here for the yuletide sing-along. “All the Bells” is jump blues jazzy class all the way.

Slower swing from The Tractors swear “The Bells are Ringing” to let you know it’s Christmas time. Like that flashing blue light lets you know there’s a sale in Walmart.

Just as jazzy come A Harris and Hart Holiday with their big band-ish “Christmas Bells.” Hey, is this mockery??

Proper big band from Ruth Lyons sashays “Everywhere the Bells are Ringing.” That crystallophone makes my day.

Julie Christy is snazzy and jazzy when she tells you to “Ring a Merry Bell.” This is how the ’60s spelled cool.

Driftless Sisters bang the folk jazzily with “Hang a Little Bell.” Then the whistling starts. Wow. Can’t tell if they’re decorating or conjuring.

Modern jazz with a retro bent, Natalie Taylor’s “Holiday Bells” timpanically moves us into the season.

Just as spookily Keziah Kate Gwenaelle invokes “The Holiday Bells,” That can break bad curses and spells–mostly in English. Worldly.

Passable doo wop from Sha Na Na (what they do) involves those “Christmas Bells.” The ding dongs are a cappella here.

Groovy doo wop from Ultimate Ovation syncopates “It’s Christmas” with much more ding a linging a cappella.

Modern-retro doo wop from Make Like Monkeys swirls up “Jingle Jangle” into a new dance craze. Weeee.

Xmas Instruments: Bells (pt. 1)

Heavens, a whole month has come and gone dedicated to Christmas Bells. But that rings hollow compared to the cornucopia available. So, a few more that jingle, peal, and clatter. Part one’s Jesus and other old fashioned stuff.

Nativity feting allows for bells, despite the silence of the night. “A Maid Bore a Babe” from Alan.s.Robinson is dandy medieval folking about joyful noise making.

Mark Hand goes faux medieval with “Fortune Bell.” It’s gravely fun.

This paradox is explained in “All the Bells in Bethlehem” from Janice Kapp Perry ()feat. Steven Kapp Perry, Lynne Perry Christofferson). This Xian pop tells us how bells weren’t there then, but shoulda been.

By the time we get to the folk rounds of The Lower Lights, “Christmas Bells” = Jesus is born. Humbling.

“The Joy Bells are Ringing,” according to Slim Whitman, sweetly tell of Jesus’ birth. Easy listening western.

Alan.s.robinson puts the “Sweet Bells” in the hands of the shepherds back then. Sprightly folk.

Leonard de Paur Chorus caribs the nativity party with “Ring de Christmas Bells.” Loud.

Patch the Pirate anoints the “Christmas Bell” with an Annunciation, so that kid chorale hymn shall herald the K o’ Ks.

Travis Cottrell is either asking you to “Ring the Bells” with soaring gospel country, or he’s asking Jesus to do it. Get’r done.

Stan Davis & Friends retort the cool with community glee in their “Christmas Bells.” Everyone join in.

Willie K swings Hawaiian with his “Christmas Bells.” Uke jazz, man.

“Gringo Bells” is Nicholas Marcos with a bossa nova beat reaching across borders.

An old Celtic drinking song rewritten for us is “Bells Chime” by The Uh Ohs. I don’t know whether to tipple or tinkle.

Mark Hand tortures easy listening with the slowdown of “Ring Those Bells,” a celebration of hard candy in a dish.

Kenny Loggins sets the scene at a churchyard and a lost child in the jerker “The Bells of Christmas.” Easy listening sax.

Lawrence Welk and His Orchestra and Chorus throw polka into the middle class with “Ring Those Christmas Bells.” This is the closest we’ll get to rocking today.

Maudlin indie from Bruce Enloe (feat. Ben Mullen) centers us on what’s important with “Northern Bells at Christmas.” Norman Rockwell whitewash.