A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
A NEWSLETTER FROM DAVID CORN |
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A (Cracked) Christmas Playlist |
By David Corn December 19, 2023 |
The 1969 billboard Christmas message from John Lennon and Yoko Ono in Times Square that led to one of the best Christmas songs. AP |
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Last year, I sent out an unusual Christmas playlist. It was a popular feature, so here it is again. ’Tis the season, right? And I sure can use a break from writing about the horrific war in Gaza and the increasing threat to democracy here at home.
As for the origins of this playlist, I explained that as a kid growing up Jewish, I did not enjoy Christmastime. I felt alienated from mainstream society during these weeks: an outsider not participating in what was supposedly the most wonderful time of the year. In subsequent years, as someone not keen on religion or commercialism, I remained rankled by the holiday season. Bah humbug, you might say. Eventually, with a family of mixed religious traditions, I made my peace with the Yuletide. But in my crankier Xmas days, I forged a playlist of cynical, dark, or alternative Christmas tunes that I occasionally updated. “Cracked Christmas,” I called it. Light on the jolly, heavy on the irony and subversion. It was a useful soundtrack for Scrooging through the Santa stretch. But the list is also a reminder of how Christmas and other religious doings have the power to inspire great art, whether celebratory or skeptical. Here’s that list. I’m glad Christmas gave birth to these songs.
“Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” John Lennon and Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band. Not cynical at all, the 1971 single dares to apply the fundamental meaning of Christmas—peace on Earth—to the ongoing Vietnam War. It is loving and confrontational. No Xmas song has ever been truer. Not bad for a tune written by a fellow who shifted between agnosticism and atheism. Then again, Irving Berlin, a Jew, wrote “White Christmas,” and according to the CBC, Jewish songwriters have composed more than half of the Christmas classics.
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“Fairytale of New York,” The Pogues. A melancholic tale of a pair of down-and-out lovers for whom Christmas brings memories of what was once a more hopeful time. The incomparable Kirsty MacColl, who died in 2000 after being struck by a powerboat while on vacation in Mexico, joins the Celtic punk-rock Pogues and sings her heart out on this one. The recent memorial service for Shane MacGowan, the Pogues front man who died last month, featured this tune. There was dancing in the aisle of the church.
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“A Christmas Song,” Jethro Tull. Written in the form of a traditional English ballad, this song targets Christmastime hypocrisy: “Christmas spirit is not what you drink.” |
“Christmas Day,” Jim White. Jim White is a rather eccentric indie musician who defies category. His lyrics are Tom Waits-like; his melodies are ghostly. In this song, a protagonist is stranded in a Greyhound station on Christmas Day. |
“Father Christmas,” The Kinks. Another jolt of cynicism, with a department store Santa being mugged by kids who want money, not silly toys. But there is a larger point: “Have yourself a merry merry Christmas/Have yourself a good time/But remember the kids who got nothin'/While you're drinkin' down your wine.” |
“Christmas Morning,” Lyle Lovett. This was another of Lyle Lovett’s many sweet and acerbic compositions. He croons that it’s “the time of the year” when people “tell you it's peace and good will to all men.” But he adds, “What could they mean by that? Perhaps I'm the fool they take me for.” |
“Christmas in Capetown,” Randy Newman. Few songwriters have more bite than Randy Newman. On this 1983 track, he imagines a racist in apartheid South Africa during Christmastime. It’s not pretty. Warning: He uses the n-word. |
“Merry Christmas from the Family,” Robert Earl Keen. Sweet and tender family dysfunction at the holidays, with margaritas, Marlboro Lights, Diet Rite, and bean dip. I have a friend who tells me this precisely describes her family’s Christmas. Glad I’ve never been invited. |
“River,” Joni Mitchell. There are plenty of sad-Christmas songs. This is the best one. The melancholic riff on “Jingle Bells” is achingly sorrowful. The pain of a romantic breakup cuts deep on this track. “I wish I had a river I could skate away on.” Indeed. But instead she is stuck in sunny California at Christmastime. (Aimee Mann did a lovely cover of this.)
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“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home),” Darlene Love. Okay, perhaps this is the best sad-Christmas song. Here is a simple tune that captures the fundamental yearning to be with a loved one for the holidays. But there’s an ambiguity: Why is this longed-for person not coming home? A breakup? Something else? “They're singing ‘Deck The Halls’/But it's not like Christmas at all.” The song, written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry (who together wrote “Be My Baby”) and producer Phil Spector, is a powerful reminder of how the season of cheer can be a damn lonely time for some. Darlene Love’s original and powerful rendition was justifiably slotted at number one on Rolling Stone’s list of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll Christmas songs. For almost three decades she performed it annually on David Letterman’s late-night show. It’s been covered by Mariah Carey, U2, and others. But Love tops them all.
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“Xmas in February,” Lou Reed. In his sing-talk manner, Reed sings about a homeless Vietnam vet and somehow connects that to Christmas. |
“I Believe in Father Christmas,” Greg Lake. The lead singer of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer suggests that hope can overcome cynicism in this reflection on the holiday, but it might not. It begins: “They said there'll be snow at Christmas. They said there'll be peace on earth. But instead it just kept on raining. A veil of tears for the virgin birth.” It ends: “The Christmas we get we deserve.” |
“Jesus Was an Only Son,” Bruce Springsteen. You expected Bruce Springsteen’s “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” his most popular track on Spotify? That is a holiday favorite, but not for this run-down. Instead, I selected a number that, in some ways, is the opposite in spirit to that rollicking cover. For this song, Springsteen envisioned Jesus not as a savior but in a more down-to-earth role: a mother’s son.
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“Chocolate Jesus,” Tom Waits. This is technically an Easter song, as Tom Waits sings about an “immaculate confection”— that is, a chocolate Jesus. Literally. But don’t forget this Waits tune: “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis.” |
“Christmas Wrapping,” The Waitresses. I know this is a sweet song about a Christmas meet-cute. No undercurrents. But I used to see this new wave band in New York City clubs before it had this hit. So here’s some rom-com relief. |
“Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight),” The Ramones. The best bubble-gum punkers have an important message: “Christmas ain't the time for breaking each other's heart. Merry Christmas, I don't want to fight tonight.” |
“Christmas Duel,” Cyndi Lauper and the Hives. This 2008 duet by the Swedish band The Hives and Cyndi “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” Lauper takes the let’s-not-fight-during-Christmas narrative to a height the Ramones could not have imagined. The song starts out dark: “I bought no gifts this year/And I slept with your sister/I know I should have thought twice/Before I kissed her.” From there it gets darker, with extramarital sex with an in-law, a car-wreck, a record collection set on fire, and a hitman hired. Lauper and Hives front man Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist sing, “Who the fuck anyway wants a Christmas tree?” Yet…the Christmas magic triumphs, as they end up together on the chorus: “We should both just be glad/And spend-spend-spend this Christmas together.”
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Perhaps Lauper and The Hives capture the Christmas spirit the best. Whatever shit happens—"I bought no tree this year/And I slept with your brother”—and whatever you think about the holiday, you can elect to make these weeks a special time.
War is over, if you want it? Not exactly. As we sadly see this season. But we can choose to be guided—even if by commerce-driven messaging—toward being kinder, gentler, and more compassionate, empathetic, and generous at home and beyond. I’ll be making year-end donations to José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen and Doctors without Borders. Both outfits have been providing important services in Ukraine and Gaza.
We at Our Land hope you are having the holiday season you desire. Thanks for being part of our expanded family. This newsletter would not exist without your support and encouragement. Merry whatever. You can hear all the above songs on a Spotify playlist. After I sent out this list of Christmas songs last year, several readers suggested additions. These included: Prince’s “Another Lonely Christmas” |
James Brown’s “Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto” |
Aimee Mann’s “I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up for Christmas” |
Dropkick Murphys’ “The Season’s Upon Us” |
If you have any favorites that should be put on this playlist next year, shoot them my way. And because you made it this far, the weirdest Christmas collaboration ever: |
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Do Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis Have a Chance?
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It’s a month out from the silly and absurd Iowa caucuses, where the GOP presidential race will be shaped—if not determined—by a group of white people that is dominated by Christian fundamentalists, many of whom will be voting for a bigoted, lying narcissist who has no fondness for basic decency or Christian morals. After months of campaigning and millions of dollars of spending, neither Nikki Haley nor Ron DeSantis has yet been able to make a dent in Donald Trump’s commanding lead. Still, as longshot contenders and potential future candidates, they deserve scrutiny. So I and my Mother Jones colleagues have been reporting on the pair—while they remain in the news.
Nina Wang, Russ Choma, and I did a deep dive on DeSantis’ fundraising. We focused on the big bucks he raised during his 2022 reelection race in Florida, during which he banked $211 million, setting a national record. The money poured in from billionaires, corporate interests, firms that do business with the state of Florida, and donors with sketchy backgrounds. We focused on the top 300 contributors, who each directly gave DeSantis $100,000 or more. That’s quite an easy way to buy influence. Moreover, DeSantis, in an arguably illegal move, transferred $82 million left over from that campaign to his presidential effort. The article shows how sleazy his fundraising efforts have been. And even with all that money, he can’t buy GOP voters’ love.
On my own, I examined Haley’s tenure as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations. Big surprise—the supposed accomplishments she hypes in her memoir regarding North Korea and Iran were not the clear-cut wins she says. In fact, they did nothing to render the world safer. They probably made the nuclear threats posed by these two nations worse. Yet her campaign ads portray her as a tough-minded leader who triumphed at the UN. Factcheck: No way.
And Stephanie Mencimer and I discovered that Brad Parscale, the digital guru of Trump’s 2016 campaign and the manager of his 2020 reelection bid until he was replaced—who then had a psychotic breakdown—was back on the Trump gravy train. What makes this interesting is that after the January 6 riot he told a Trump adviser that he blamed Trump for the violence that day and that he felt guilty for having helped Trump reach the White House. But such regrets did not get in the way of commerce. This year, Parscale has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars working for the Trump campaign and related entities. Yet another sign that in Trump World profit and grift rule.
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Read Recent Issues of Our Land |
December 16, 2023: Donald Trump, rubber, and glue; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Brenden Dilley); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more. December 12, 2023: Who controls AI?; Nyad is a Rocky for the olds; Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Dave Alvin explore the borderland; and more.
December 9, 2023: Norman Lear: “I love liberty”; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Nikki Haley); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
December 5, 2023: Is a two-state solution still possible?: Less Than Zero is far from nothing; RIP, Shane MacGowan; and more.
December 2, 2023: It’s not too late for a Kissinger reckoning; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Linda Yaccarino); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
November 28, 2023: Nikki Haley’s idiotic proposal; Mike Johnson’s spiritual warfare; Dumb Money is a smart pick; a Laura Cantrell duet with Steve Earle; and more.
November 21, 2023: The tragic indifference of “no ceasefire”; a Thanksgiving time-out; David Fincher’s silent Killer; Claire Lynch rides an “Empty Train”; and more.
November 18, 2023: Is it anti-Christian to criticize Speaker Mike Johnson?; the congressional ethics report on George Santos; a bizarre Albania-Russia-GOP caper; Dumbass Comment of the Week (Elon Musk); the Mailbag; MoxieCam™’ and more.
November 14, 2023: The Money Kings and Zionism, antisemitism, and conspiracy theories; the GOP’s minority rule; Oisin Leech’s “October Sun”; and more. |
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Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at ourland@motherjones.com. |
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