Left Coast Cowboys

No one has yet mounted a credible challenge to my assertion that I have the world’s largest, most eclectic and eccentric Christmas music collection. So I still hold the crown, and I’m uniquely qualified to steer you away from the tried and true, the boring and overplayed to the fresh, the different and the undiscovered in holiday music. So far I brought you a cross-genre selection of undiscovered gems, a full shaker’s worth of songs for Christmas cocktails and Christmas: The Dance Edition. Today is a complete change of pace, bringing you full circle and back to the beginning. Yes, it’s religious and spiritual Christmas songs. Even if you are a professed agnostic, you can’t deny the power of the story. And c’mon, you know you get all choked up in The Charlie Brown Christmas Special when Linus recites the Bible passage about Jesus’s birth to tell Charlie Brown the meaning of Christmas. So park your skepticism. These picks aren’t your standard boring hymns. These artists sing out loud and proud and sincerely enough to get even as famous an atheist as Bill Maher testifying.

As an added bonus, each of these songs comes from an album of gems just as magnificent. Don’t stop at ten song recommendations, buy all ten CDs.

So open your mind and heart and get reacquainted with the spiritual Christmas classics — but performed better, more uniquely and in a more heart-felt manner than you’ve probably ever heard them done before:

1. Walk In Jerusalem by Mahalia Jackson from Christmas with Mahalia Jackson

Not ready to come to Jesus? Mahalia will get you there. Even Jewish and atheist friends have said her voice is powerful enough to convert. This song was also a surprise addition to my Christmas Dance Party Edition one year, because no one can get you moving like Mahalia Jackson, arguably the greatest Gospel Singer EVER. Oh, she’ll get you moving all right. Maybe swinging your hands over your head Southern Baptist style and movin’ down to the creek for a good ol’ Baptizing. Yes, she’s that powerful.

2. Shout for Joy by Odetta from Christmas Spirituals

Just an aside here, if I ever joined a church fulltime it would have to be an African American church. Hands down, they have the best music. If you don’t know the great Odetta, voice of The Civil Rights Movement and the folk singer who influenced Dylan, Baez, Carly Simon and so many others, read this and believe. Here, Odetta gives a Gospel classic a Jazzy/Bluesy turn, helped by her Bass player Bill Lee (Spike’s dad).

3. Beautiful Star of Bethlehem by Emmylou Harris from Light of the Stable

This lovely Appalachian folk carol is given a soaring treatment by Emmylou’s crystalline soprano. Pals Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton often show up uncredited on Emmylou’s albums and I suspect theirs are the backing and counterpoint vocals here. The fiddle, dulcimer and guitars add the perfect touch of homespun authenticity.

4. Who Kept the Sheep by Johnny Cash from The Christmas Spirit

There are only a handful of singers I can name with as authentic an American voice as Johnny Cash (and most of them appear on this list). This gentle song uses almost the tone of a children’s song to point out one of the smaller miracles of the Christmas story. Johnny softens his rough-hewn voice to ask the listener, who kept the sheep from harm when the shepherds left to witness the birth of Christ. A beautiful parable in song sung by a man with the voice of an Old Testament prophet…by way of Arkansas.

5. Hark the Herald Angels Sing by Kathleen Battle from Kathleen Battle: A Christmas Celebration

I know you’ve heard this song a million times, but you’ve NEVER heard it like this. Great coloratura soprano Kathleen Battle sings out with a full chorus and orchestra including horns that you’ll swear are being blown by those Herald Angels. In fact, I highly recommend the album this came from as a source for many wonderful Christmas songs, some are spirituals, some are well-known carols, many are from other countries. All are wonderful.

6. Gaudete by the King’s Singers from King’s Singers: A Little Christmas Music

As long as we’re getting back to fundamentals, how about a ringing carol in Latin? You won’t think it’s a dead language when you hear this great group from Cambridge England belt out this Medieval crowd pleaser, complete with the ringing trumpets of the London Sinfonia Brass Quintet. They sure knew how to get people on their feet in Merrie Olde England back in the day!

7. Hosanna in Excelsis by Placido Domingo from The Greatest Christmas Show On Earth

I probably shouldn’t even tell you that this ringing Latin number is from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem. Yes, that Andrew Lloyd Webber and, yes, I find him insufferable, too. But when I first heard this, I thought it was an undiscovered Medieval masterpiece. Maybe it’s Placido Domingo who puts it across. I can’t vouch for the rest of the Requiem. I got this off a compilation album.

8. A Star in the East by Harry Belafonte from To Wish You a Merry Christmas

I featured another song from this album, Mary’s Boy Child, on my Undiscovered Gems list. I wish I could include every song because this album is that good. Only once in a while does an artist produce a Christmas album that isn’t just a retread of a bunch of holiday numbers, but really redefines Christmas songs through their own particular musical lens. Harry Belafonte does that. Many of the songs are spirituals done with his particular Bahamian lilt. But even European standards such as Silent Night or old English carols such as “Christmas is Coming” are given such a personal stamp that, after hearing them, you’ll never think they’re done quite right when done by other artists. The song I’ve chosen here is a traditional spiritual given a bluesy, Caribbean Belafonte spin.

9. Es Hat Sich Heut Eroffnet by The Trapp Family Singers from The Sound of Christmas

Yes, that Trapp Family. They didn’t have Julie Andrews, but they did have a lovely traditional choral sound. And the Germans really gave us what we think of as Christmas when German Prince Albert brought all his traditions such as trees and Santa with him to his marriage to Queen Victoria. So the Trapps are Austrian. Close enough. It’s not really a traditional Christmas without some Germanic singing. Make those singers a famous ski lodge owning singing family and all the better. All the songs on the CD are traditional; not all of them are German. In fact, they do a beautiful version of the Spanish carol A La Nanita. After years of searching, I finally discovered this in a bargain CD bin. So good luck finding it.

10. Angels We Have Heard on High by The Brian Setzer Orchestra from Christmas Rocks!

Just because a song is about Jesus, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to rock out to it. Here Brian infuses a classic with that Big Band Sound, ringing Christmas bells, plus a generous dollop of Rockabilly and a full chorus. The results are magical. You’ll never want to hear this song played any other way.

Can’t find YouTube video of the song I’m recommending for this playlist. But check out how Brian Setzer rocks Christmas:

Merry Christmas, keep the faith and buy these CDs!

Painting at top of post: Titian’s Holy Family with Shepherd from the website of the National Gallery London.

No one has yet mounted a credible challenge to my assertion that I have the world’s largest, most eclectic and eccentric Christmas music collection. So I still hold the crown, and I’m uniquely qualified to steer you away from the tried and true, the boring and overplayed to the fresh, the different and the undiscovered in holiday music. So far I brought you a cross-genre selection of undiscovered gems, a full shaker’s worth of songs for Christmas cocktails and Christmas: The Dance Edition. Today is a complete change of pace, bringing you full circle and back to the beginning. Yes, it’s religious and spiritual Christmas songs. Even if you are a professed agnostic, you can’t deny the power of the story. And c’mon, you know you get all choked up in The Charlie Brown Christmas Special when Linus recites the Bible passage about Jesus’s birth to tell Charlie Brown the meaning of Christmas. So park your skepticism. These picks aren’t your standard boring hymns. These artists sing out loud and proud and sincerely enough to get even as famous an atheist as Bill Maher testifying.

As an added bonus, each of these songs comes from an album of gems just as magnificent. Don’t stop at ten song recommendations, buy all ten CDs.

So open your mind and heart and get reacquainted with the spiritual Christmas classics — but performed better, more uniquely and in a more heart-felt manner than you’ve probably ever heard them done before:

1. Walkin’ To Jerusalem by Mahalia Jackson from Christmas with Mahalia Jackson

Not ready to come to Jesus? Mahalia will get you there. Even Jewish and atheist friends have said her voice is powerful enough to convert. This song was also a surprise addition to my Dance Party Edition, because no one can get you moving like Mahalia Jackson, arguably the greatest Gospel Singer EVER. Oh, she’ll get you moving all right. Maybe swinging your hands over your head Southern Baptist style and movin’ down to the creek for a good ol’ Baptising.  Yes, she’s that powerful.

2. Shout for Joy by Odetta from Christmas Spirituals

Just an aside here, if I ever joined a church fulltime it would have to be an African American church. Hands down, they have the best music. If you don’t know the great Odetta, voice of The Civil Rights Movement and the folk singer who influenced Dylan, Baez, Carly Simon and so many others, read this and believe. Here, Odetta gives a Gospel classic a Jazzy/Bluesy turn, helped by her Bass player Bill Lee (Spike’s dad).

3. Beautiful Star of Bethlehem by Emmylou Harris from Light of the Stable

This lovely Appalachian folk carol is given a soaring treatment by Emmylou’s crystalline soprano. Pals Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton often show up uncredited on Emmylou’s albums and I suspect theirs are the backing and counterpoint vocals here. The fiddle, dulcimer and guitars add the perfect touch of homespun authenticity.

4. Who Kept the Sheep by Johnny Cash from The Christmas Spirit

There are only a handful of singers I can name with as authentic an American voice as Johnny Cash (and most of them appear on this list). This gentle song uses almost the tone of a children’s song to point out one of the smaller miracles of the Christmas story. Johnny softens his rough-hewn voice to ask the listener, who kept the sheep from harm when the shepherds left to witness the birth of Christ. A beautiful parable in song sung by a man with the voice of an Old Testament prophet…by way of Arkansas.

5. Hark the Herald Angels Sing by Kathleen Battle from Kathleen Battle: A Christmas Celebration

I know you’ve heard this song a million times, but you’ve NEVER heard it like this. Great coloratura soprano Kathleen Battle sings out with a full chorus and orchestra including horns that you’ll swear are being blown by those Herald Angels.  In fact, I highly recommend the album this came from as a source for many wonderful Christmas songs, some are spirituals, some are well-known carols, many are from other countries. All are wonderful.

6. Gaudete by the King’s Singers from King’s Singers: A Little Christmas Music

As long as we’re getting back to fundamentals, how about a ringing carol in Latin? You won’t think it’s a dead language when you hear this great group from Cambridge England belt out this Medieval crowd pleaser, complete with the ringing trumpets of the London Sinfonia Brass Quintet. They sure knew how to get people on their feet in Merrie Olde England back in the day!

7. Hosanna in Excelsis by Placido Domingo from The Greatest Christmas Show On Earth

I probably shouldn’t even tell you that this ringing Latin number is from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem. Yes, that Andrew Lloyd Webber and, yes, I find him insufferable, too. But when I first heard this, I thought it was an undiscovered Medieval masterpiece. Maybe it’s Placido Domingo who puts it across. I can’t vouch for the rest of the Requiem. I got this off a compilation album.

8. A Star in the East by Harry Belafonte from To Wish You a Merry Christmas

I featured another song from this album, Mary’s Boy Child, on my Undiscovered Gems list. I wish I could include every song because this album is that good. Only once in a while does an artist produce a Christmas album that isn’t just a retread of a bunch of holiday numbers, but really redefines Christmas songs through their own particular musical lens. Harry Belafonte does that. Many of the songs are spirituals done with his particular Bahamian lilt. But even European standards such as Silent Night or old English carols such as “Christmas is Coming” are given such a personal stamp that, after hearing them, you’ll never think they’re done quite right when done by other artists. The song I’ve chosen here is a traditional spiritual given a bluesy, Caribbean Belafonte spin.

9. Es Hat Sich Heut Eroffnet by The Trapp Family Singers from The Sound of Christmas

Yes, that Trapp Family. They didn’t have Julie Andrews, but they did have a lovely traditional choral sound. And the Germans really gave us what we think of as Christmas when German Prince Albert brought all his traditions such as trees and Santa with him to his marriage to Queen Victoria. So the Trapps are Austrian. Close enough. It’s not really a traditional Christmas without some Germanic singing. Make those singers a famous ski lodge owning singing family and all the better. All the songs on the CD are traditional; not all of them are German. In fact, they do a beautiful version of the Spanish carol A La Nanita. After years of searching, I finally discovered this in a bargain CD bin. So good luck finding it.

Here are the Von Trapps singing a German folk song, not a carol, but Trapp family videos are thin on the ground, so this may have to do.

10. Angels We Have Heard on High by The Brian Setzer Orchestra from Christmas Rocks!

Just because a song is about Jesus, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to rock out to it. Here Brian infuses a classic with that Big Band Sound, ringing Christmas bells, plus a generous dollop of Rockabilly and a full chorus. The results are magical. You’ll never want to hear this song played any other way.

Merry Christmas, keep the faith and buy these CDs!

Titian’s Holy Family with Shepherd from the website of the National Gallery London.

I’m in a bit of a funk today and casting around for topics. The answer is, as the Muppets would say (channeling Auntie Mame), “We need a little Christmas right this very minute!” Yes, it’s time for me to go back to my astoundingly large, amazingly eclectic and somewhat embarrassing collection of Christmas music and pull out more undiscovered gems to augment those I told you about in this post and this post.

So forthwith, the latest installment of The Greatest Christmas Songs You’ve Never Heard: The Dance Party Edition. Guaranteed to counteract that millionth Celine Dionne or Boy Band retread of the old, the tired and the obvious.

My criteria for this list was songs that get you moving, up and dancing. Everyone. Kids, adults, the family dog and, even Grumpy Old Uncle Bernie who stopped dancing after he couldn’t find any more live cha cha bands. I think these songs will fill the bill.

1. Papa Noel by Brenda Lee

Like your Christmas turkey blackened Cajun style? You want some catfish, jambalaya and gumbo with that, Ma Cher? Then this upbeat Cajun number will push all your Bayou-lovin’ buttons:

“Hey Beau, let’s go and get pirogue and push-pole down the bayou/I want to see the Christmas Tree, dance o- fais dodo./Have a big time and cut a shine, where all will be gay-o /Oh, Santa Claus will come tonight, down on the bayou”

And because it’s Brenda Lee, you know it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it.

2. Christmas Every Day by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Speaking of dancing, can’t go wrong with Motown and Smokey. ‘Nuff said. This number will get your Holiday party in the right mood.

3. Boogie Woogie Santa Claus by Andrea Strehli

Another gem I picked up from one of those Pottery Barn holiday collections. This will have you swingin’ and jivin’ around the tree for sure. Particularly love the sax solo and Big Band sound.

4. Cha Cha All the Way by The Capitol Studio Orchestra

Move into Cha Cha position with this nifty number from the Christmas Cocktails Part Three album.

5. Dig That Crazy Santa Claus by Ralph Materie and His Orchestra

Moving further into the Fifties, how about this nugget chock full of hep, hipster talk, smokin’ sax and great lyrics like “All the little hep cats jump for joy.” If Jack Kerouac and the Beats had been party-going types rather than drink alone types, I bet this is the Christmas song they would have requested.

Note: Friends have told me Brian Setzer and His Orchestra do a great version of this, but I’ve found out it was also done by Oscar McLollie & His Honey Jumpers. I have to find it, just to own a CD by a band of that name!

6. Soulful Christmas by James Brown

As the joke goes, nobody, even his band, knows what James Brown is saying, but he is the Godfather of Soul. You’ve gotta love a Christmas song that includes his trademark growls, “Uhhhs”, “Owwwws” and “Good Gods!” After two cups of eggnog, I always take it as a personal shout-out when James thanks his fans:

“You bought my records, come to see my show/That’s why James Brown love you so/You come to see my show/That’s a debt I’ll always owe”

And a Merry Christmas back atcha James, wherever you may be.

7. El Cha Cha Cha de la Navidad by Celia Cruz

I used to be very traditional about Christmas music leaning toward the German which is what the American and British Christmases mostly based on. But since moving to California, I’ve realized Latinos, any Latinos — Mexican, Cuban, Central American — have the BEST Christmas music and some of the best Christmas traditions. I’m always on the lookout for more of it. Frankly it was hard to chose just one song off this, one of my favorite Latino Christmas albums, Mambo Santa Mambo. There are faster songs with a more definite beat on the CD. Take “We Wanna See Santa Do The Mambo”. But this song won out because the smoky, incomparable voice of the great Celia Cruz takes you right back to Old Havana. Light up a Cuban cigar and start that tropical sway.

8. The Night Before Christmas by Eek-a-Mouse

I love my Reggae Christmas collection (yes, it is possible to amass such a thing.) While there is Bob Marley and then there is everyone else, Eek-a-Mouse is still one of Jamaica’s premier Reggae artists, so he gets the nod for this collection. It’s not a hard reggae beat, more a soft Rock-Steady, proto rap sort of tune. Perfect for after dinner when you’ll be lighting up that large…um…Christmas candle.

9. Walkin’ To Jerusalem by Mahalia Jackson

I debated before adding this to the Dance Party Edition. It’s a classic ringing Gospel number by arguably one of the greatest Gospel singers ever. Soon, I’ll compile my Religious Christmas Songlist to counteract all these secular ones. And this will probably have pride of place. But, like all good Gospel, this one really gets everyone moving, waving hands and jumping up and down. After all, Christmas is a religious holiday. So let’s slip a little Come to Jesus moment in there. Especially when it’s this much fun. Even as famous an atheist as Bill Maher would be testifyin’ when Mahalia gets in full lung power.

I‘ve got a different version with a full Gospel chorus, but this will

give you an idea how Mahalia can get ANYONE jumping.

10. Gettin’ in the Mood (for Christmas) by the Brian Setzer Orchestra

Originally, I put Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer here because its obnoxious, faux country twang always got people laughing, playing bad Country air guitar and jumping around. That’s before I picked up Brian Setzer’s Christmas Rocks! album. The whole album is great and you have to admire someone with the chutzpah to mix Rockabilly with Big Band. I chose this song because it’s one that Setzer helped pen, so you are unlikely to find it overcovered. Full disclosure: there is a warm spot for Brian Setzer around this house because my husband once beat him at Asteroids in a London Pub back in the 70s. But that’s another story.

Merry Christmas Season and watch this space for more lists of undiscovered Christmas tuneage.