Now, those of you that know me, will know that Christmas is a time of humbug, while festive playlists generally leave me cold. I'm not saying that there aren't a few Christmas tunes out there that aren't at least reasonable, musically speaking, but they are few and far between and drown in a sea of cheese.
But I wanted to at least make an effort to be a little bit festive - so I thought, what theme can I go with? Then I figured that 'winter' as a theme might be nice - tis the season, and all that!
The trouble is, on closer inspection, the songs I found that are about winter and snow are not so much happiness and jollity, but more melancholy and darkness....
That said, most of the tunes I have picked for you are gorgeous and beautiful, with no cheese in sight. And, because I couldn't narrow them down, you have an extra couple. Now there's Christmas giving for you!
1. The Bangles: Hazy Shade Of Winter
An absolute banger to start you off! This Paul Simon composition about a hopeless poet was more famously (and more successfully) covered by The Bangles. It was written by Simon while he was in England in 1965, while The Bangles version was recorded in 1987 for the film Less Than Zero, although they had been playing it live since 1983. It was unusual in that all four band members shared lead vocal duties on it. Their version was produced by Rick Rubin and never appeared on a studio album (until it turned up on a greatest hits record).
Official music video - here
2. Kanye West: Coldest Winter
Coldest Winter turns up on Kanye's fourth album, 808s & Heartbreak. Roland Orzabal gets a songwriting credit on this minimalist piece of electropop, as it is based around Memories Fade by Tears For Fears. The song focuses on West's depression and mourning following the death of his mother, Donda West.
Official music video - here
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow
No cheery Christmas time is complete without a bit of Nick Cave. The video for this one is interesting, as it was filmed in a building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. A number of well known faces put in an appearance as dancers, including Jarvis Cocker, Jason Donovan and Noah Taylor (actor from Game of Thrones). Fifteen Feet became the second single from the Bad Seeds eleventh album.
Official music video - here
4. Regina Spektor: 20 Years Of Snow
The snowy references continue with this piano driven piece, somewhat reminiscent of a Tori Amos tune. Spektor was born in Moscow, living there for 9 years before relocating to the US. Her mother taught at music, firstly at a State College in Moscow, and the an elementary school in New York. Regina started learning piano from aged seven, where her first focus was on classical music (you can really hear that influence in this song), but later on she would become influenced by other genres like hip hop and punk.
Audio only - here
5. Elliott Smith: Angel In The Snow
This achingly beautiful song features on 2007s New Moon, a collection of 24 previously unreleased songs taken from sessions around the recording of several of his early albums. Angel In The Snow was originally recorded in the sessions for his eponymously titled second album, 1995s Elliott Smith. Smith led a relatively short and tragic life, he struggled with ADHD, depression, drugs and alcohol most of his adult life and died in 2003 from a stab wound that may or may not have been self-inflicted.
Audio only - here
6. Gwen Stefani: Early Winter
This comes from her second solo album, The Sweet Escape (2008), which was co-written with Tim Rice-Oxley (Keane) - and you can really hear that input. As ballad's go, it's a bit of a belter, with plenty of emotion and lyrics about a relationship nearing its end, which were commonly assumed to be about her and husband Gavin Rossdale (of British rock band Bush). However, the song lyrics were largely written by Rice-Oxley (with a few tweaks from Stefani) and Stefani and Rossdale didn't split up until 2015.
Official music video - here
7. Red Hot Chili Peppers: Snow (Hey Oh)
This is mellower than much RHCP output and comes from monster double album, Stadium Arcadium. Lead singer, Anthony Kiedis says it is a song about "surviving, starting fresh. I've made a mess of everything, but I have a blank slate - a canvas of snow - I get to start over."
Official music video - here
8. Belle & Sebastian: The Fox In The Snow
Belle & Sebastian's second album, If You're Feeling Sinister, was recorded in just five days (and mixed in three more), with the bands Stuart Murdoch calling it their best collection of songs. The album was described by journalist Dave Thompson as having "a west coast vibe tinged with unbridled Scots romanticism."
Official (live) video - here - an interesting cartoon video with live audio
9. Merle Haggard: If We Make It Through December
The melancholy is turned up to 11 on this one, because the traditional happy Christmas images are juxtaposed against heartbreak and despair - "I don't mean to hate December, it's meant to be the happy time of year, and my little girl don't understand, why daddy can't afford no Christmas gift." The song is a wrenching tale of unemployment and sadness - a working man who is laid off at the end of the year and dealing with financial hardship, while trying to retain some hope that "If we make it through December, we'll be fine".
Audio only - here
10. Fleet Foxes: White Winter Hymnal
This gorgeous two minutes of harmonious pop music, is a must for any wintery playlist. It comes from their highly acclaimed debut, Fleet Foxes, which had an emphasis on three and four part harmonies. Singer and chief songwriter, Robin Pecknold, had retreated to a log cabin built by his grandfather, to write the lyrics. The beauty of the song, again, betrays a darker undercurrent - White Winter Hymnal is apparently about the friends who abandoned him in middle school.
Official music video - here
11. The Walkmen: While I Shovel The Snow
By fifth album, 2010s Lisbon, Hamilton Leithauser's vocals had fully matured towards something of a crooner, and could pack an emotional punch. This is a song that seems to be about being detached and a bystander, providing a warning that you should not sleepwalk through life. However, forget all that and enjoy the beautifully shot video which matches the timbre of the song. Gorgeous.
Official music video - here
12. Fountains Of Wayne: Valley Winter Song
I think we might all have been guilty of thinking that the Fountains were a one song band (clearly wrong), and indeed, this comes from the same album (Welcome Interstate Managers) that spawned their breakout song, Stacy's Mom. The album was self-financed because no label would pick them up without them first providing demos. Their gamble and perseverance paid off, as it ended up being a very well received album. Valley Winter Song was later used on an LL Bean commercial in 2008.
Live video - here - from 2009's No Better Place: Live In Chicago