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Dec. 21st, 2007 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miko2Today's Song: All I Want For Christmas by Timbuk 3
I have this song on a Christmas collection called A Different Kind of Christmas, which is an oddball collection of alternative artists of all kinds. As far as I can tell it's out of print these days. It doesn't really contain any instant classics, but many of the songs on it are quite good or at least interesting. There's Shonen Knife's Sapce Christmas, which is typical Shonen Knife silliness. There's a nice cover of Mary Had A Baby by Bruce Cocburn. There's a fun cover of the Hawaiian Christmas song Mele Kalikimaka by Poi Dog Pondering, a band that wasn't Hawaiian but often seemed to think they were. Dave Edmonds does a very good rendition of Run, Rudolph Run (a song that's had many fine interpretations to be honest) and T-Bone Burnett does a nice God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Fishbone, the original funk-metal band, does a frenetic song called It's A Wonderful Life which encapsulates the movie plot before it kind of falls apart. I like that one anyway, it's original. ^_^ Shawn Colvin's Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is a nice cover too.
Which brings us to the Timbuk 3 song. It's not exactly an upbeat happy Holiday tune -- Timbuk 3, you may remember, were mostly known for their big hit The Future's So Bright, I've Got To Wear Shades which many people failed to realize was an anti-nuclear song. All I Want For Christmas (Is World Peace) is not so much an anti-Christmas song as it is an anti-war song. It bemoans warlike Christmas gifts and a world where people celebrate the holiday blissfully unaware that we're on the brink of destruction.
Whether you agree that a G.I. Joe action figure leads, directly or indirectly, to World War III, the song is well-crafted and has a nice (if melancholy) melody. I've always liked it. The cd is apparently out of print right now so you won't find this on iTunes (all they have there is a "best of" collection that, by many accounts, leaves out some of the band's better songs). Anyway, that's my song of the day for Friday.
