Fun Holiday Friday: Eartha Sings "Santa Baby"

You've probably heard this song before, but the original version isn't played as often as it should. No one gives it just the right blend of naughtiness and musicality as the peerless Eartha Kitt, who recorded it in 1954. As lovely as his voice is, what is Michael Bublé trying to prove by messing with the lyrics and addressing Santa as "buddy"? And don't even talk to me about Madonna's version, sung in an over-the-top Brooklyn slut-ese.

Why mess with perfection? Eartha's version is a little bit naughty, silky smooth, and 100 percent hers. Too bad this video doesn't show the fabulous Miss Kitt herself, but the voice is all you really need.




Every Friday this month I've brought you a memorable Christmas song. Click here to read the whole series.

Fun Holiday Friday: Ashley Davis

This beautiful, haunting carol has no better interpreter than Ashley Davis. She's a Kansas musician who studied in Ireland to perfect her songwriting and vocals, which honor Celtic and other folk traditions. You can learn more about Ashley here, and download the album The Celtic Winter here. All her albums are marvelous.

The carol itself is a 17th-century English song. I love the melodic line and the juxtaposition of major and minor chords. Ashley's rendition perfectly captures the calm, cold spell that winter casts.

Learn how to put a song on itunes at ReverbNation.com

I'm bringing you a new carol each Friday in December. Click here to see the whole series, or search for the tag Fun Holiday Friday.

Fun Holiday Friday: Tim Minchin

I may get a lot of flak for this because I'm supposed to be offering Christmas cheer every Friday, and this song seems at face value to trash the holiday.

But it really doesn't.

The thing is, whatever you may believe about the veracity of the Christmas story, there's no denying that the holiday has turned into a big commercial monster that starts eating its weight in tinsel on Thanksgiving evening and doesn't stop until it's burped its last on December 26. And that's after it's already dined on the post-Halloween appetizers, because that's when the Christmas trees pop up in our Kansas City-area stores.

What I love about this song is that Minchin reminds us that despite everything Christmas has turned into, we can still celebrate it in our own way and feel the warmth and love that it was all supposed to be about way back when. We can still drink white wine in the sun and welcome home our loved ones, and fill our stockings with a few chocolates and feel quite good about that.

It's also an inclusive message. Christmas doesn't have to be just for those who believe in the reanimation of a dead Palestinian. It's a holiday that anyone can embrace. At least, that's how I feel. Sorry if it offends.

Fun Friday: Why Judy Sings It Best

Last month, you may remember (or not) that I wrote a gratitude post every Thursday to explain what I love about the writing life. Now that we've charged headlong into the holiday season, I'm going to share a bit of Christmas cheer every Friday of December. Yes, I said Christmas cheer, not holiday cheer. That's not because I don't honor Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Diwali, or Secular Commercial Month When You Plant a Tree Your Living Room and Snarl at the Nice Folks at Target. Those are all legitimate seasonal traditions too. But I grew up with Christmas, so that's what I'm celebrating.

Having invoked the phrase Christmas cheer, I may now confuse the issue by championing the original version of one of the most beautiful modern Christmas songs, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." If you don't know the words (really?), here they are:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year, all our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
Next year, all our troubles will be miles away

Once again, as in olden days, happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us will be near to us once more

Someday soon, we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
(music and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane)

Sound melancholy? Yeah. It is. The song was written for the 1944 film Meet Me in St. Louis. Judy Garland sings it to little sister Margaret O'Brien after the family learns that they'll soon be leaving not only their beloved St. Louis home, but also all their friends and the man Judy loves. So, yeah. She's sad.

This song perfectly captures the melancholy that often accompanies Christmas as well as the hope that things will get better. Never mind that Garland's beautiful, heartfelt rendition prompts Margaret O'Brien to burst into tears and knock down her snowmen in a fit of grief. No one can sing a song like Judy--just an opinion, but hey, I'm also right--and it galls me that we more often hear this hokey, cheerified version of her classic, which looks like this:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year, all From now on, our troubles will be out of sight
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
Next year, all From now on, our troubles will be miles away

Once again, Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us will be gather near to us once more

Someday soon, Through the years we all will be together
If the fates allow
Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

I'm all for Christmas glee, but not everything about Christmas is happy. It's an emotional time that often is tinged with wistful thoughts. I love the ambiguity of the original song, and again I say, nothing can touch Garland's tremulous vocals. If you've never watched this scene, do it now:




And have yourself a merry little Christmas.


Read more about this holiday classic here.

A Soulful Christmas

Cartoonist Joshua Held honors the Drifters' version of "White Christmas." Bing would've been proud.