White Christmas

The list of musicians affected by the over-shadowed scion curse (regardless how talented one might be, acclaim is still attached to the parent) has many members (Arlo Guthrie, Jakob Dylan, Adam Cohen, Julian and Sean Lennon, Shooter Jennings, Neneh Cherry, Roseanne Cash, Wynonna Judd etc) who are lucky enough in -- and burdened aplenty by -- choosing the family business.

Teddy Thompson is such a case. The singer-songwriter son of more famous parents (Linda and Richard), is featured in this weekend's NYTimes magazine. He has a deep catalogue of music that might assure him renown on his own, but being the son of a masterful guitarist and phenomenal folk singer duo will forever asterisk his career.

He joins Rufus Wainwright, who (with sister Martha) has a similar burden/blessing being the offspring of folksingers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (who had a career as a duo with sister Anna), on Michel LeGrande's very polished, crisply stylish and woefully middle of the road Christmas record "Noel! Noel!! Noel!!!" most notable for it's expansive use of exclamation points and having Iggy Pop sing Little Drummer Boy

"(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag"

This under-exploited song has a YouTube video of audio with a slideshow of Santa clip art, but here's the song pulled ino the 21st century "(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag" (Thunderball Mix) from the superlative "Merry Mixmas: Christmas Classics Remix" which takes some standards and houses them up, deftly ... more jeweler's mallet than sledge hammer.

Recorded by big band vocalist Kay Starr in 1950,  we can be pretty sure it's not a drug song; eventhough a generation later, similar allusions in mainstream songs leave little doubt as to what they're taking about: The Velvet Underground's "Waiting for the Man," and the George Baker Selection's "Little Green Bag"

... But for some, with these lyrics, a case could be made:

Old Mr. Kringle is soon gonna jingle
The bells that'll tingle all your troubles away
Everybody's waiting for the man with the bag
'Cause Christmas is coming again
He's got a sleigh full, it's not gonna stay full
Stuff that he's droppin' every stop of the way
Everybody's waiting for the man with the bag
'Cause Christmas is coming again

He'll be here
With the answer to the prayers that
You made through the year
You'll get yours
If you've done everything you should extra special good
He'll make this December the one you'll remember
The best and the merriest you ever did have
Everybody's waitin' for the man with the bag
'Cause Christmas is coming again

"The Coventry Carol"

via Sufjan.com

In this season of joy and giving, love and charity, it may be a bit discordant to learn that a traditional seasonal carol is about genocide. "The Coventry Carol" is a Middle Ages lament for the executed children of ancient Israel at the behest of King Herod: Wikipedia entry.

Sufjan Stevens has a version here: "Coventry Carol" -- because he is remarkably proficient and has a couple of Christmas compilations (two 5-EP sets each), at this pace, he'd have gotten around to this infanticide jeremiad eventually.

It ain't "Jingle Bells":

Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might, in his own sight,
All young children to slay.

That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!
And ever mourn and sigh,
For thy parting neither say nor sing,
Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

 It's also called "Lully, Lullay" or some variable thereof. Regardless, versions tend toward the traditional, like this from the Eurythmics' Annie Lennox "Lullay Lullay (Coventry Carol)". Consequently, this song is one the few songs to get posted that is not updated, rebooted, or tweaked in much of any way at all. Yaz' Alison Moyet turns in a good version too, here "The Coventry Carol".

"Silent Night"

A live Gospel record, "Christmas in New Orleans," by Janice Harrington with Linda Fields – "Silent Night" is a gumbo of everything you'd expect, stylish but nothing brash.

on Spotify.com