Christmas Countdown:1000 Ɛ>

Christmas is about giving, and giving is about sharing, and sharing is about relationships… all you need is hearts. Don’t wait ’til Oregon Statehood Day, be in love on 12/25!!

C. Robert Walker cha-joogies the R+B like it’s at the last holiday ever in “A Thousand Kisses at Christmas.” Two shades off disco ain’t doin’ it for me, gotta say. Good luck t’ya, though.

Nell B. (feat. Isaac Johnson) is looking for a thousand times under the mistletoe as well in the auto-tuned rap “This Moment.” Seductive or just sinuous of melody, i’m not sure i’m buying this either.

Not saying it’s easy. Rhyan Besco (feat. Corbin) has tried a thousand times to make you notice so he can get that “Christmas Kiss.” R+B chatty playin’. Maybe a little desperate.

Christmas Countdown: 1000™

Let’s keep the beat up with more exaggerations about how great Xmas is. Reminding me of John Denver (???) Clint Black wails “Looking for Christmas” to medieval instrumentation, but for a good cause: the Nativity. Does he find Xmas? Well, he closes his eyes and sees a thousand lifetimes since we’re all the Magi after all (hu-wha?).

Bonfire Band begins their “Christmas Medley (Joyful Song)” also back at the first Noel, in the land of a thousand. The other medlied songs blur together for me, but that phrase opened up some eyes–how many people for that Herod census?! Maybe that no-vancancied inn only had like two rooms?

“O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” is a hymn about proselytizing all ’round the globe. Takes a few mouthfuls. Ben Haake rocks it out with more a thousand words/years not being enough. His auditorium-full in this recording joins in to make it so. Raise praise for days.

Tunepushers ultimately amps up the adrenaline, though, with the cheesy pop of “There’s a Thousand Reasons to Love Christmas.” Pogo out the list! Oh Yeah! Can i get a Hey, Man!

Christmas Countdown: 1000†

While we’re lighting up the holy days let’s honor the Son of a Gun with… well, candles. Heart’s “Here is Christmas” begins with a little ‘Bring a Torch’ but deftly girl-pops into a soaring paean of… someone visiting the Earth. Candles really dress up a place for deity.

Evie popularized “A Thousand Candles” about shining on Jesus, but I like it from The Ten Tenors. More power from the boys. Hymn-lite.

Gina Naomi Baez sets her “Christmas Candlelight” (her heart) against a thousand nights. Alt-gospel.

TobyMac (feat. Owl City) hard beats the pop in his rap “Light of Christmas.” This is the good of all of us, this light. Then a thousand angels are singing out–so now it’s sound not light. I guess.

“A Thousand Cookies for Christmas” lures us in with complex bi-lingual rhythms and sweets, but Angel A. Alvarez settles with that friend of ours, Jesus. That’s the reason. NOT the cookies. Just to be clear. There are no cookies.

Christmas Countdown: 1000

A thousand is like a lot. More than you could hold, puppy-wise. So get ready for the hyperbole section of the countdown (like millions wasn’t too much… though, Romans used M for 1000 and called it mille, ‘cuz a thousand thousands was like inconceivable). Christmas, after all, can be THAT much.

“Silent Night” by Klip! Klap! from ‘Carol in a Box: A Christmas Musical for Children Young and Old’ is NOT the song you are expecting. Sure it’s pretty, but that’s because of the thousand lights ever twinkling. Percussive kidsong.

While we’re into the luminescence, Alan Jackson associates the Xmas city with where a thousand lights glow. (The country just gots the mistletoe, duh-huh. “Let It be Christmas” is gentle pop with a twinge of country.

Let’s go to God. The Carolleers sail through the hymnal “Now Light One Thousand Christmas Lights” to make the dark skies bright, which will signal the season, but–hey–let the Fire Marshall know, ‘kay?

Christmas Countdown: 1-2-3-4

Counting up is going the wrong way, but The Cheeky Girls layer Eurovision on top of innuendo on top of cheesy pop to open “Have a Cheeky Christmas,” a must-have for any novelty fan. Everybody pumping!

The Nameless go funky garage off-key with “Xmas Time,” when they wait for your plane to land: 1,2,3,4–go for it!

Alternating ‘twixt English and Japanese, “Christmas Town” by Santa Paine (feat. Purplepeople) counts off to love, ‘cuz they’re young. Gentle alt-pop.

One of my formative favorites, Madness, sillily stumble over intros (Hello, this is Woody… 1,2,3,4…) like it’s a dress rehearsal–but the ska comedy of “Inanity Over Christmas” with its Jimmy Cagney gangster movie references, world tour stop name-drops, and bitter cold complaints is casual jollity. Like a Beatles fan-bonus? Or a shout-out to Bonzo Dog, perhaps. Any way, one of my new happy places. (Excuse the cover below.)