78. Christmas – It’s all about Family (with James)

[1:00:00]
L: Yeah. So obviously there are…
J: We’ll cover that another time.
L: …”Christmas songs”, that we often listen to at Christmas time on the radio, when you go to the pub you hear these Christmas songs being played. Always the same things, you got like “Do they know it’s Christmas” by Band Aid.
J: We should link to all of these.
L: I’ll put some Youtube videos on the site and you can see these Christmas songs.
J: Only it’s a kind of love hate relationship. That’s a good phrase.
L: A love hate relationship.
J: It’s pretty obvious, what that means, but it means “you love it and hate it at the same time”.
L: Yeah.
J: So, there’ll be things like “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues. I was going to say The Stooges, but by The Pogues. There would be a different version, wouldn’t it? By the Pogues which is a beautiful song, but once you’ve heard it a million times, you can get a bit grating.
L: Yeah.
J: It’s still great.
L: But in the same time, you can… (Luke is trying to quiet James) it can be a bit grating.
J: Grating – it can hurt your ears.
L: Like a cheese grater.
J: Yeah. But I still love that song.
L: What you’re saying is that because at Christmas time we always hear the same songs over and over and over again. They can be a bit frustrating, but at the same time, we love the songs, because that… when you hear them, you realise “Oh, it’s Christmas”.
J: And also some of them are very well written songs, which is why they’ve lasted. For another one is (singing) “So here it is, Merry Christmas every…” which is by Slade.
L: (singing) “It’s Christmas”
J: Which is a very kind of baudy, kind of loud, Brummie, kind of drinking song.
L: It’s a glam rock, classic from the 70-ies band called Slade and the song was called “Merry Christmas everyone” and it’s a really really really well-known Christmas song here, in England.
J: And you can kind of sing along to it, when you’ve had a few bears and it’s a kind of baudy. Sing along.
L: For me that… when I hear that song, that reminds me of being in the pub on Christmas Eve listening to, you know, like… in the pub on Christmas Eve surrounded by people having a good time. And then that song comes along and everyone starts singing along and there’s that moment in the song, where the lead singer goes (singing) “It’s Christmas” or something.
J: Yeah.
L: It sounds a bit like muppet.
J: Well, another good one…
L: We’ve got another good once like “Last Christmas” by Wham.
J: I love that song. That is a genius song, really good drum program in that song and also the kind of bell tone…
L: (Luke is trying to quiet James) Be quiet. Just be quiet, please. We don’t have much time. I just need to go through the rest of the things on the list. Alright? “I wish it could be Christmas every day” by Wizzard, another classic. “Mistletoe and Wine” by Cliff Richard, which I don’t like very much.
J: Oh, it’s disgusting. What about the Mariah Carey one. That’s good.
L: Yeah. (singing) “All I want for Christmas is you”.
J: Nice video of Mariah frolicking in the snow, the little dog with its little reindeer antlers. Very very cute. And the dog’s not too bad either.
L: Very funny. And also you’ve got “Merry Christmas War is Over” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono… So other things, we’ve got like carols, Christmas carols. I mean things like “Silent night” (singing), “Good King Wenceslas” (singing)
“Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen”
J: These are Christmas carols.
L: Who was Steven? I wonder.
J: Another religious…
L: He had a feast … That’s for sure.
J: But it was in England. I bet it was in Jerusalem or somewhere in the Middle East.
L: These are Christmas Carols and they’re often sung by some children in the Town Square with candles.
J: They used to be.
L: They do, they still… still happens.
J: Yeah. That still happens, it does still happen.
L: In small towns, you get these, you know (singing “Silent night”). Not like that…
J: And they collect money for charity and then they spent it down on pub.
L: And then you got “The 12 Days of Christmas”. Oh, I can do a whole podcast all about that song. You know, It’s just (singing “12 days of Christmas”)
J: That’s enough.
L: I’m going to play that song. I’ve got that right here. This is going to be maybe a two part podcast.
J: No, let’s just get to the end.
L: Okay, I just want to play this song.
J: Is this mic going to pick it up?
L: Yeah.
J: It’s a traditional… Do you know when it dates from, when it was written.