There are so many trees when you realize how many people want one.
“Chris McCree by the Christmas Tree” is a pop rock thrasher from Councilpop about meeting that special someone by the special someplace. Over here!
Porter Wagoner gets talky with a letter to Santy asking for “Johnny’s Christmas Tree.” The twangy country makes me wonder, doesn’t he have trees right outside? Aw, give the kid a miracle.
“The Perfect Christmas Tree” becomes a mighty symbol for The Hot Buttered Elves. It will solve all problems, make nights bright, change you tires in the snow… i guess. Experimental alt folk, with a nihilistic edge– gets bloody.
Jesus gives the sacrifice so The Worship Crew can have “The Perfect Tree.” That might give them an edge in the neighborhood competition. Pop gospel.
Jonah Knight gives us the dance number we need, not the dance number we want. “Perfect Tree” rambles on millennial style about broken dreams and trouble with the cops. But it’s party music.
The game to find the Christmas tree smacks of beauty contest. We judge. But with budgetary constraints, sometimes the trees falter, tremble, and– TIMBER!!
I know, i know… you’re thinking Charlie Brown. But what about little Johnny’s love for the crooked mutt sung about in Tim Lafleche’s “The Naked Little Christmas Tree“? Actually, it IS the same moral: a little love (and a lot of decorations) will beautify anything. (And the gifts matter more, anywho.)
Al Jarreau sings to “The Little Christmas Tree” ’cause he does appreciate it and wants it. Oh, it’s like his kid… Now i’m not so sure.
The scary mutant of the bunch might be “Crummy Christmas Tree” from The Superions. Lite pop with a Schroeder-style toy piano accompaniment, but watch out for the sad ending.
Mafia and Fluxy make that “Little Christmas Tree” sound like someone special with their reggae.
The Stargazers have that song you may have heard as a kid, “A Little Fir Tree.” The whole forest chips in to help… than Santa shows up… well, you’ll just have to tune in to find out what’s next.
Eddy Gober attempts the country music scene with his gargling “My Broken Christmas Tree.” Poor cripple won’t ever have a home, until….
Tyler Meacham sells the sad apartment dweller’s holiday centerpiece with “Pathetic Little Christmas Tree.” It’s adorable folk with just a soupçon of jazz. And so is she.
Aiko Tomi’s gentle tympanic pop guides us through the quest with “Christmas Tree.” She’s at home with her soaring range.
Tom Paxton’s got a plan for the family and explains how “We are Going to Get Our Christmas Tree.” It’s kiddie doggerel, but i can’t stop listening… and it seems to never end.
The Christmas Kids detail “The Christmas Tree Search” by some elves (sounds like ‘Jack and Jill’ to me), but dig that bass bridge.
Bluegrass sounds like family! Bud’s Collective downhomes “Daddy’s Christmas Tree” so you know what his childhood was really like. Watch out, they don’t always get their tree in the same way. The message muddles.
Eric and Paul, The Jacobsen Brothers weave a honky tonk hope of romantic aspirations with “I Want a Real Christmas Tree.” I want more songs like this.
Also garage pop fun is “Going to Get the Tree” from Maxwell, Miranda, Parsely. Classic Christmas carol done party-right.
Karin Hovey soothes with melodic folk. “Family Christmas Tree” is a Robert Frost-style reminiscence over the hills. It’s the fiddlin’ makes you cry.
No better instruction than the outsider telling you how he’s imitating your traditions… Jonathan Mann explains this better with “Jewish Family Gets Christmas Tree from the Woods.” Plunkety boogie woogie sells this cultural mashup WITHOUT guilt, if you can believe that.
The New Christy Minstrels, perhaps, circle the square with the most straight-laced, happening burst of vocal joy to get us in the tree-hunting mood: 1963’s “Christmas Trees.” Resist, ye hipster, and be of sorrow.
Evergreens don’t lose their leaves, so they don’t really ‘die,’ so they’re just like my immortal bra Christ. Or maybe it’s Druidic and celebrates the animus of dendritic growth. Anywho, someres after Protestantism began, firs in the shape of wreaths and room-fitting saplings were brought inside to help elaborate, expand, and freshen up the smell of the celebration of God’s gift to man.
And we’re not just stuck on parodies of ‘Tannenbaum’ here (a nod to the Germanic origins). There’s a dumpload of songs about the greenery of the party. Many I’ve already linked (and may link again).
So let’s go down to the woods today and be sure of a big surprise. From The Magic of Christmas come The Magic of Christmas Singers with “Christmas in the Forest.” This Killarney come-on somnolently celebrates gnomes worshipping Christ. Right.
Just as mystically Welsh Coleggwent Musical Theatre presents a riverdance glee club “Proudly in the (Christmas) Forest.” Their precision and harmony are dumbfounding, but it’s like watching computer programming for the joy it brings.
More family friendly is the traditional Russian “The Forest Raised a Christmas Tree.” Oddly i can’t find this in English. So try a swinging jazz rendition from The Children’s Studio.
Finally let’s light up the Renaissance folk song popularized slightly by Joan Baez. “Down in Yon Forest” reveres JC’s aborning, but it’s so swaddled in symbology (not a real forest after all) this dirge riddles more than celebrates. Enjoy.
Is it hashtag worthy to worry about the -man part? Always gotta be the guy?!
Let’s get the party rolling with Ten Benson’s rock “Snowman, Snowgirl.” Okay, not woke yet in a freezing world.
The Crowe Brothers solve their lonesomeness with a “Snow Woman.” It’s pure country driven bluegrass, comparing the icy one to the one that left. You see where we’re going here…. (Art Priebe goes more forlorn with this.)
And while on THAT subject, Chloe gives us her home studio version of “Snow-Woman” heralding her own tough life and the cold responses required. Pop country.
Clara Luzia has an insistent folk number “Snowwoman” (finally i’ve found that elusive double-double-yew word so i can finish off my double consonant list!)–a song about forthrightness and identity and stuff. Beautiful, if you ask me.
Let’s get folksy with the down home people for some Abominable Snowmen songs.
Michael Hurley, and his guitar, tell the tale of a troubled traveler with “Abominable Snowman.” It may break your heart. It may steal your watch. His hooting… and ‘humor,’ however, may reverse the trend.
M&TGM submit a dreamy alt-folk “Abominable Snowman” to bring you down. They may not be quite finished.
Our Voyage plays “The Abominable Snowman” like it’s a close campfire at the SciFi convention hall. Another epic yarn about the travails of being misunderstood.
Stan Freberg has a classic comedy bit about interviewing the Abominable Snowman back in the ’50s when comic interviews were all the rage. Thus did our subject become a butt of jokes. We are looking for novelty songs, however, so let’s move on….
Talking Mountain’s “The Abominable Abdominal Snowman” is about that magical creature that came to life and–wouldn’t play with the other kids. He only wanted to work out. Fun electronic pop.
More ice rink electronic fun from Matt Farley riffing as The Paranormal Song Warrior through his album Believe: Exciting Songs about Shockingly Mysterious Stuff. “Oh My Goodness, It’s the Yeti, the Abominable Snowman! Wow!” speaks for itself. Or, it takes less time to read this than to listen to the improvised scat.
A star-crossed story from Arne Hansen & The Guitarspellers: “Snowman in My Heart” fears the abominable one, while experimenting with too many instruments mashed together.
Old-time Dr. Demento hit “Abominable Snowman in the Market” marks Jonathan Richman as a folky storyteller of comic proportions.
Let’s finish up the ankle biting song tributes to putting down that video game and getting exercise in the frosty cold.
Sheila Magaret Ward has an introductory “Who Is He? (The Snowman)” that hits lofty marks (and notes) for the existential and definitive case for that thing. Folk pop.
Less sensible, is the ‘tribute’ to other songs with “Goodbye, Snowman” from Super Simple Songs. Children’s showtune.
Picking up the beat, Rockin’ Rhythms rolls along with “Bye Bye Snowman” in a haunting melody of despair for children.
Ken Galipeau brings up the heat with Michael O’Grady, the snowman who keeps flowing with “The Snowman’s Song.” All good things must end, but not usually this fun.
More fun is the electronic folk of Rudolph and the Snowman” by A.J. Jenkins. Polite, philosophical, and a little kicky.
Kids want to sing and dance and learn at the hands of songs their betters ditto upon them.
Maple Leaf Learning has a sly pop number in “The Snowman Song” about a happy inanimate who wants to play but keeps melting away and then refreezing. Secular resurrection, anyone?
My Vox’s Michelle Schooff pops a cork with her pop “The Snowman” about those magical constructs that walk around while you’re asleep, like in those horror movies you’re not supposed to stay up for. Lots of calisthenics here.
The “Snowman Polka” is a creepy night-only dance from Deborah Malena and Garth Phillipsen. But kids need therapy less than us.
David Chicken enlists the kids to bop a doodle doo with “Snowman the Bop.” Socks out, kids!
Shake a leg for the party at the “Snowman’s Cafe.” Elizabeth McMahon conducts the ragtime fun.
“The Snowman Went Waltzing One Christmas” is a sad tale of looking for the right partner from Das Grumps Bavarian Band. Grampa would like it. Better than you think.
ATTENTION PLEASE: MORAL COMING. Captain Kangaroo narrates the “The Littlest Snowman” to teach us about friendship and bravery and stuff. Come on.
“Blingy the Snowman” reminds Gil Bezy of winter, and song, and Jesus. Kidsong or drug trip?
Caspar Babypants brings the adults into the room to see what the kids are listening to with danceable folk polka “I Wanna Be a Snowman.” Mmm, that’s good ball stacking.
Phil Keaggy rescues the genre with a quiet folk elegy, “The Snowman Song.” It’s thoughtful and reflective and touching, but keeping a departed one’s eyes and heart in jars in your room may not set examples we want children to follow.
