I’m sorry to report that their is no movement on the Christmas spirit front. Not even after having a Christmas tree thrust upon me, a spell of Christmas shopping and a Christmas party on the weekend. Though, sitting in the warm late Spring sun at a barbecue doesn’t really summon up the Noel for me. I suppose if it’s going to happen at all, it will be watching Boy Z open presents on Christmas morning.
I do have some good holiday news, however – a couple of friends have offered up their house for the week after Christmas in what is, in my opinion, the nicest part of Adelaide. A gorgeous old house, five minutes from the beach and a beautiful old shopping district. Hell, there’s even a ferris wheel. Both Dr. O’C and I have the week off and it’ll be a much needed break from Happy (Crappy) Valley.
Just to prove that I’m trying to get in the spirit, I’ll give you my playlist of holiday favorites:
But it don’t snow here
It stays pretty green…
MP3: Joni Mitchell – “The River”
M4A: Jona Lewie – “Stop The Cavalry”
MP3: Aimee Mann – “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
Her old man’s in the sleigh
I’m sneaking in the back door…
MP3: Drive-by Truckers – “Mrs. Claus’s Kimono”
MP3: Steve Earle – “Christmastime in Washington”
MP3: Bright Eyes – “Blue Christmas”
Hey Charley, I’m pregnant
And living on 9th street
Right above a dirty bookstore
Off Cuclid Avenue…
MP3: Neko Case – “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis”
M4A: The Eels – “Everything’s Gonna Be Cool This Christmas”
MP3: Loudon Wainwright III – “Suddenly This Christmas”
And, of course, the best Christmas song of all time:
You’re a bum
You’re a punk
You’re an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God its our last.
MP3: The Pogues – “Fairytale of New York”
Enjoy.
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by nursemyra
17 Dec 2008 at 21:22
I love your taste in music
by The Unbearable Banishment
17 Dec 2008 at 22:16
I had been listening to that Pogues song for years and years, but just last year I Googled the lyrics to fill in the blanks where Shane McGowan mumbles a bit. What exactly is “That rare old Mountain Dew” anyway?
What? No Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses? And since when did Google become a verb?
by SSG
17 Dec 2008 at 22:32
google has always been a verb!
http://justfuckinggoogleit.com/
anyways… so you’re allowed to post mp3s now?
by Prefers Her Fantasy Life
18 Dec 2008 at 00:13
I love that Pogues’ song. And the Neko Case.
As for “You’re a bum, You’re a punk, You’re an old slut on junk”–that could be your new tag line. Just sayin’.
by Hezamarie
18 Dec 2008 at 00:20
Turn down the AC until it’s sweater weather inside then plug in a glade pine scent thing in a socket… dog! how trailer trash of me to suggest that. Hard to shake away the Florida roots, I guess. Despite the seasonal confusion, I say enjoy your December in the southern hemisphere for me. I’m dying for some sun!
by sarala
18 Dec 2008 at 01:31
What a great playlist! I loved Suddenly this Christmas. The only one I knew (besides the Grinch) was the Joni Mitchell.
I am already sick beyond belief of stores playing Christmas music. Is it this bad in Australia?
Last night we had a blizzard and the store was playing Let It Snow. I’m sure the commuters agreed.
by SSG
18 Dec 2008 at 01:36
Dude, you’re leaving your house for a week after Christmas. I just sent you sweets and they are SO going to melt.
by mickey
18 Dec 2008 at 02:00
Bah. Christmas.
That said, I think you’re right: It’ll all come together when Boy Z starts tearing into it Christmas morning.
by JChevais
18 Dec 2008 at 02:01
I like the version of The River done by Sarah McLachlin. It makes me tear up every time.
by mongoliangirl
18 Dec 2008 at 02:19
Oh Free Man. What am I going to do with you and all of this music stuff? You sound like my husband, who admits he wasn’t completely ’sure’ about me when we were first dating until he’d had a chance to review my CD collection. Apparently I passed.
by Ginny
18 Dec 2008 at 03:09
Ooooh! I totally forgot about that Steve Earl song! Good list. (And I am already on record, in agreement that the Pogues created the best Christmas song of all time. So everyone else should stop trying.)
by courtney
18 Dec 2008 at 03:45
Wow, the lyrics to that Pogues song are almost as depressing as the original lyrics to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which basically say to enjoy Christmas now because you’ll be dead by next year.
by Xbox4NappyRash
18 Dec 2008 at 05:25
Fairytale of new york is one of the best songs ever, not just Christmas tunes.
Christmastime in Washington is great too, has a lyric which made me look for a Woody Guthrie album, but I ended up with an Arlo Guthrie one by mistake, and it’s one of my favourites ever since.
Useless information, you’re welcome.
by Gypsy
18 Dec 2008 at 07:21
Will you hate me forever if I tell you I actually like “All I Want for Christmas Is You”? You will, won’t you. Oh, the shame!
by Chris
18 Dec 2008 at 08:07
I love the Pogues song, heard it years back in a little Irish pub. It sounded all joyful and I probably listened to it a good ten times before I really started to piece together the lyrics.
Much to my husband’s chagrin, I love to sing this one loudly in the car and give hima good punch ’cause he’ll never do his part in the duet so I have to do both.
And I would agree that could be a good tagline, you’re the bum, Z’s the punk but Dr.OC is hardly an old slut on junk, she’s quite young actually.
Cheers!
by admin
18 Dec 2008 at 08:35
Nurse – Thanks.
TUB – I’m pretty sure that this particular mountain dew is Irish whiskey. Christmas Wrapping was on the short list, but I’m into the darker Xmas songs this year.
SSG – Allowed? Just fucking google it.
Prefers – I like the tagline idea, but it would sort of imply that Dr. O’C was an old slut on junk, which she demonstrably is not.
Heza – Every Christmas in Florida my Mom used to turn on the air conditioning and light a fire in the fireplace.
Sarala – It’s worse. We have an pedestrianized street where a lot of the big chain shops are and they pipe Christmas music into the street. Not the Pogues, though.
SSG – They may get here before Xmas.
Mickey – Maybe.
JChev – I’ve not heard the Sarah McLachlan version, but I love me some Joni.
Mongola – Dr. O’C’s music creds helped me fall for her as well.
Ginny – The Steve Earle one rocks, and it’s about perfect again for right now.
“Getting into gear for four more years of things not getting worse.”
Courtney – Come on, what about the chorus?
The boys of the N.Y.P.D. choir
Were singing ‘Galway Bay’
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas Day
Xbox – You’re probably right about ‘Fairytale’. It’s the only Xmas song that I can listen to year round. Arlo is awesome.
Gypsy – I love that song. ‘Love Actually’? Huh? Just not in that kind of Christmas zone.
by Trooper Thorn
18 Dec 2008 at 08:40
Absolutely some great non-traditional Xmas songs. Check outmy reveiw of Merle Haggard’s “A Christmas Present” for a few more songs free of sugarplums and elfish smiles.
by NATUI
18 Dec 2008 at 08:45
I’m with Gypsy. Hubbie cannot stand my Buck Owens Xmas CD. He thinks it is depressing as hell. I fucking love it. Blue christmas lights, just as blue as me…
by casinos
18 Dec 2008 at 11:29
What a great playlist dude!
by topcat
18 Dec 2008 at 12:45
Oh my …. those LYRICS.
Totally fucking awesome!
Christmas is sometimes quite strange …. everybody around us parties like it’s 1999, no? I shall lift my lemonade to you in a silent salute, freeman.
by The Dean
18 Dec 2008 at 13:27
I know it won’t be a big deal to you, but we are headed to S. Georgia in three days. I can’t wait for weather warmer than freezing (that is if the ice storm doesn’t delay us).
Watching the boy open presents or at least play with the wrapping paper will do it. I promise.
by Joe
18 Dec 2008 at 14:54
Maybe you should start a new family tradition while you’re in Oz… celebrate Christmas on June 25th.
by headbang8
18 Dec 2008 at 17:12
Semaphore is an undiscovered gem in Adelaide. Many in Adelaide so take the beach for granted, that the charm of a (mostly) Victorian seaside village is lost on them.
Hard to believe, but there was a time in the recent past when Happy Valley was considered more desirable than Semaphore. How I wish I’d bought real estate!
Do you dig those huge terrace houses just down the way at Grange?
by Rol
18 Dec 2008 at 17:49
As you probably know, I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas… but I do like a good Christmas song. And that was a pretty damn good selection right there. Hope it’s not as bad for you as you worry it might be.
by arizaphale
18 Dec 2008 at 19:09
Go see some Christmas movies in an airconditioned theatre. That’ll sort you out.
by Angel
18 Dec 2008 at 21:21
I thought MY lack of Christmas spirit was painful! Yours is positively horrible! Boy Z will save you just in time.
by headbang8
18 Dec 2008 at 21:55
Arizaphale: “Go see some Christmas movies in an airconditioned theatre. That’ll sort you out.”
Aaaah! So this is about air conditioning. I see.
That’s a tough one to solve on a desert continent. Evaporative cooling is the preferred Adelaide solution, I recall. And it’s both environmentally friendly and gentler on the lung.
BTW, did you make it to Miss Betty’s Xmas do? What’s the goss?
by Kathy
19 Dec 2008 at 07:18
Have you seen Neko Case’s EPK for “Middle Cyclone”?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbjnS_RTj_o
by admin
19 Dec 2008 at 08:16
TT – You’ve got to love Haggard.
Natui – Dr. O’C’s Swedish brother-in-law loves country music, which is strange. Are you saying that your hubby is not a country Swede?
Casinos – Cheers.
Topcat – And too you. It’s always a weird part of the year for us, no?
The Dean – Enjoy SoGa! Are you headed to the CapOne?
Joe – They do a Christmas in June or July here, which was strange as well. When is it Aussie readers?
Headbang – The fact that Crappy Valley was more valuable than Semaphore confirms my hypothesis that most people are frickin’ morons. Dr. O’C is firm in her desire to live between Flinders and the CBD, but if she wavered on that at all I would be up in that part of town – Semaphore or the older part of Port in the blink of an eye.
Rol – Me too. A good Christmas song.
Ariza – I’ve got A/C, that ain’t the problem. I wouldn’t mind seeing Love Actually, because I’m apparently gay.
Angel – He’s got none either.
Headbang again! – I’ve just removed a comment that I’m going to send by e-mail. Sort of fits the theme of this post, eh?
Kathy – I think that Neko Case is my new rock girl crush.
by busy dad mumbles
19 Dec 2008 at 15:31
Christmas at the beach. We did that a couple of times while in Alabama. Except is was very cold.
We will be thinking about you at the beach while we are digging out of the ice and snow.
All the best this holiday season. Hope the Z man has a wonderful Christmas.
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by Florida Girl In Sydney
25 Dec 2008 at 05:55
Hey Free Man,
I’ve got about 10 minutes of internet time (kids and hubs are sleeping and there’s actually internet service!) so I’m catching up on 3 wks. of your blog!
After reading this, it occurs to me.. maybe you’re actually really Jewish? That would account for the lack of xmas enthusiasm, right?
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