I have completed my quest for good Christmas music and assembled a playlist that I used today to accompany some of my last minute gift wrapping:
"Christmas Time is Here (Instrumental)", Vince Guaraldi Trio
"Christmas Time (is Here Again)", The Beatles
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town", The Jackson 5
"Christmas Bop", T.Rex
"Are You Coming Over for Christmas?", Belle & Sebastian
"Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy", Bing Crosby and David Bowie
"What You Want for Christmas", Quad City DJs and 69 Boyz
"Little Saint Nick", The Beach Boys
"Silent Night/Xmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis", Tom Waits
"Someday at Christmas", Stevie Wonder
"Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!", Sufjan Stevens
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", John Lennon
They certainly put me into more of a Christmas mood.
Some of the ones I was unfamiliar with were quite pleasant surprises.
The Tom Waits song is only very indirectly related to Christmas but is really poignant and sad.
"What You Want for Christmas" is absolutely ridiculous and awesome (a shout-out to Jesus followed by a rap about how you need "$1200" and a man with a lot of cash for Christmas).
"Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!" is pretty brilliant, and is probably the best original Christmas song I've heard from recent years. It should be a new holiday staple, as far as I'm concerned. (Planet-man: You should seriously check the song out. I'm pretty sure you'd love it. I'll even send it to you if you're interested.)
Was that a midget at the end??