It's a Jagged Time Lapse Christmas Party!

And 20 of my favorite Substack writers are joining me to spin their favorite Xmas songs!

Greetings, Jagged Time Lapsers!

Yes, this is my third Christmas music post in a row. I know it’s hard for a lot of folks to get down with yuletide sounds — or with the holiday season, in general — and I don’t judge or begrudge anyone for it. This time of year has a way of amplifying all the feelings, good and bad, as well as stirring up a lot of sad, painful and traumatic memories. In short, there’s no harder time to be having a hard time.

Ever since I was a kid, I have found Christmas music to be a surefire balm for whatever hurts or sorrows I might be dealing with at the time. And yet, I can also remember a couple of really rough Decembers where even my favorite Christmas records couldn’t put me back in “jolly” mode'; in some cases, they made me feel even worse.

So when I decided to invite 20 of my favorite Substack writers to participate in this first annual Jagged Time Lapse Christmas Party, I made it clear that forced jolliness was not on the agenda. I simply wanted everyone to come ‘round to my (online) place, spin their favorite holiday song and say a few words about why they love it; all genres, eras and styles were permitted, but so too were all moods and perspectives. Sure, we can push back against the seasonal darkness with bright lights and festive tunes, but sometimes just sharing a real downer of a song with understanding friends can be as good for the soul as the sight of a fully-illuminated Christmas tree.

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I could have easily put together a playlist of my personal holiday favorites for you, but I figured this would be much more interesting for all of us. For one thing, while I do love a good soul or rock n’ roll celebration of the season — and I even wrote and recorded a jangle-pop holiday song of my own a few years back — my own Xmas listening leans hard towards what my girlfriend teasingly refers to as “old man music,” as you’ve doubtless already ascertained from previous holiday music posts like this one and this one. For another, I thought a “listening party” might be a good way to introduce my subscribers to some other writers whose Substacks (most music-related, but some not) I dig.

True to form, my guests didn’t disappoint; there are a lot of really cool and thoughtful song choices here, some of which even I’d never heard before. So grab a cup of holiday cheer, turn up the volume on your chosen listening device, and join us!

Donnell Alexander (author of West Coast Sojourn)

Lore has it that Prince came back to Paisley Park after a Christmas night benefit and banged out this gut-wrenching B-side. The echo on his vocal track is over the top, a kind of audio billboard screaming out his loneliness. The “Another Lonely Christmas” version released on 2017’s remaster of Purple Rain adds an extra 90 seconds of anguished workout. Hearing my man howl over guitar, piano, hi-hat and drums is perfect if you want to put finishing touches on a break-up that was one year in the making. Or so I’m told.

Kevin Alexander (author of On Repeat Records)

The Waitresses’ “Christmas Wrapping” is tailor-made for Gen X. It’s snarky, almost an anti-Christmas song. Most teenagers are allergic to anything their parents like and anything a little kid would be into. “Christmas Wrapping” offered the perfect cloud cover to like Christmas songs without appearing uncool. The icy detachment was on brand. Patty Donahue's voice was more our speed anyway. It’s never overplayed and is always a little exciting the first time you hear it. Unlike Whamageddon, where the goal is to avoid “Last Christmas” as long as possible, you want to hear this. The earlier, the better. Irony is kinda our thing, too.

Joe Bonomo (author of No Such Thing As Was)

If you bang around long enough as a band, you're gonna get around to making a Christmas album. The Fleshtones released Stocking Stuffer in 2008, and a prime cut is “Super Rock Santa.” It's a swingin' ode to Saint Nick who, in the Fleshtones’ reality, makes the scene in a big cloud of smoke, grabs the mic, greets everyone with a slyly winking, “Ho ho ho — what d'ya know?”, spikes the eggnog with rum, and cranks up the carols, baby, “just for fun.” And if you’ve been nice, you'll get a fuzzbox in your stocking. My kind of Christmas!

Lori Christian (author of Rock and Roll Girl)

This song was brought to my attention by Chris Wilson of The Flamin’ Groovies who was recording the “Shake Some Action” album at Rockfield Studios in 1975. That is when Dave Edmunds played “Jingle Jangle” for him. Written by Welsh twins Alan and Adrian North. Featuring Dave Edmunds and The Monmouth Children’s School Choir. Produced by Kingsley Ward, owner of Rockfield Studio. Released in 1976 on GNP Crescendo, licensed through BOMP! Records. “Greg Shaw told me that while he was with the Flamin’ Groovies in the UK he asked Dave Edmunds if there was anything in his catalog that could be released on Bomp. The Rockfield Chorale is what he got.” — Patrick Boissel (Alive Records)

Chris Dalla Riva (author of Can’t Get Much Higher)

My dad has a tendency to claim that a deep cut is actually a band’s best song. What’s the best piece by The Rolling Stones? No, it’s not “Gimme Shelter” or “Paint It, Black.” It’s “Dead Flowers,” the penultimate track from their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. He’s the same with Christmas music too. For years, he’s told me the best song for the holiday season is “A New York Christmas” by Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas. While I don’t agree with his Stones take, this one might be spot on. Thomas’s December deep cut is a rolling, warm rock number that is perfect, especially when you’ve already heard “Last Christmas” 15,000 times.

PeDupre (author of The Twelve Inch)

Let me start by saying I’m not the biggest fan of Christmas music. I love the family aspect — spending time with the people you care about — but it’s also the darkest time of the year, and I’m a lover of light. Everything about the season feels a bit over the top, and the music is no exception. That said, there are some exceptions! Mahalia Jackson’s Christmas songs were a staple at my parents’ house on Christmas Eve, and I’ve always had a soft spot for August Darnell’s “Christmas on Riverside Drive.” The song, from a 1982 Christmas album by NYC indie label ZE Records, stands out for its sunny, summery vibe — a signature of Darnell’s group Kid Creole & The Coconuts — even though it’s a Christmas tune. I felt the connection with a kindred soul celebrating Christmas but longing for summer & sunshine.

Ellen from Endwell (author of Rock ‘n’ Roll with Me)

Tony Bennett’s medley cover of “I Love the Winter Weather/I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” by Ticker Freeman, Earl Brown, and Irving Berlin, from Tony’s first Christmas album, Snowfall (1968), never fails to lift my spirits and put me in a holiday mood and a romantic frame of mind. As the icicles form in real life, or only in my imagination, I dream of foxtrotting with my baby and, giddy with joy, maneuvering him under the mistletoe to “collect the kisses that are due me.” The song calls up the nostalgia and excitement that I’ll forever associate with Christmas.

Fiona Gibson (author of All Grown Up)

“It May Be Winter Outside (But In My Heart It’s Spring)” by Love Unlimited. With its catchy loop and gorgeous “oohs!”, surely this song could melt the most cynical of hearts? Forget the endless festive to-do lists, the fighting with Sellotape, Curmudgeonly Uncle barking, “Is this turkey a bit DRY?” Turn up the volume on this one and you’re dancing with a glass of something sparkly in your hand and even Cumudeinly Uncle is cracking a smile. A Christmas miracle indeed.

(BTW,

Fiona Gibson

has a fabulous new Christmas-themed novel out called ‘Tis The (Damn) Season, which you can currently read on Kindle for just 99 cents, or 99 pence if you’re in the UK like she is!)

Robert C. Gilbert (author of Listening Sessions)

The pleasure of listening to Christmas music is amplified by the fact there is a only a few weeks each year when it merrily takes over my record room. When the opening celeste melody of Brook Benton’s “You’re All I Want for Christmas” begins, a shiver of pleasure shoots up my body. And when Benton starts to sing, I feel a bliss I wish I could freeze in time. Brook Benton was an urbane singer at the intersection of pop, rock and roll, and rhythm and blues and here, he mines the sentimentality and sensuousness of the lyrics without a hint of schmaltz. Each time I hear this song, I stop whatever I’m doing. I don’t want to miss a note of it. It may be another 11 months before I can hear it again.

Sean Johnson (author of Sean’s Mind)

“Snowflakes” by SpongeBob SquarePants. Odd choice? Yes, but it was written by a musical mentor and friend of mine, Andy Paley, whom I wanna pay tribute to here. When I performed this song with the Spongebob band in front of kids and adults, it would always stop them in their tracks. It’s a beautiful, nostalgic and, to me, kind of tragic homage to The Beach Boys. If this was an instrumental, I'd assume it was a long lost Pet Sounds arrangement. This is good enough to be a part of any shopping center Xmas playlist next to all the rest of the classics.

Brad Kyle (author of Front Row & Backstage)

When Dan asked me to write about my favorite Christmas song, I wanted to go old school and nostalgic, so an Andy Williams song popped up. But, I also wanted to feature one of a few that I’ve discovered from this century! I decided to split the difference, and land somewhere in between, landing in the ‘70s for two of my favorites! Don’t panic, Dan… I made sure to jam them both into one song… what the kids today would call a mash-up! So, today’s fave Christmas song is “I Wish It Could Be a Wombling Merry Christmas Everyday” by Roy Wood and his Wizzard, with his furry friends, The Wombles, a Mike Batt creation, in a recording and video produced in 2000! Wood’s “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” (written and produced by Wood in 1973) is jammed into Batt’s “A Wombling Merry Christmas” (written and produced by Batt a year later, in ‘74) in a wild cage match bout between two of Britain’s most wildly creative and tuneful songwriters/producers, Wood ’n’ Batt! This medley proceeded to reach #22 on the UK Singles Chart in 2000! Merry Wombling Christmas!

S.W. Lauden (author of Remember The Lightning)

In the course of his evolution from a teenage ‘60s hitmaker with The Box Tops to an outsider solo artist throughout the rest of his life, Alex Chilton revealed himself to be something of a low key Loki. In between was his short, but legendary stint with the early ‘70s power pop band Big Star. After releasing two “way ahead of their time” albums full of shoulda-been-hits — #1 Record in 1972, Radio City in 1974 — he and drummer Jody Stephens embarked on the sessions that would eventually become the messy masterpiece known as Third/Sister Lovers. Tucked in among chaotic confections like “Kanga Roo,” “Thank You Friends” and “Holocaust” is “Jesus Christ” — either one of Chilton’s most earnest pieces of songwriting or a work of staggering sarcasm. Whichever side of that debate you fall on (maybe it’s both?!), it is in my opinion one of the best holiday songs ever written. Only a genius like Chilton could have penned a timeless track that simultaneously warms your heart while delivering a wry smile to your lips as you look around the crowded shopping mall and wonder if this is his most subversive legacy.

Eline Maxwell (author of The Girl Can’t Help It)

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” — written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane for the classic 1944 movie Meet Me In St. Louis — is probably my favorite Christmas song just because it carries such emotional weight with it. In the movie, the song serves as a reminder that joyful memories of Christmastime can banish the temporary sadness of leaving one’s home. But it took on additional meaning in wartime America. With battles raging in Europe and Asia, people were despairing for absent loved ones, the lost and the injured, and wondering if their lives would ever be the same. The song points both to the warmth and comfort of holiday cheer, and to the future, when the absent can “gather near to us, once more.” “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” was my Mother’s favorite holiday song. She passed six years ago at this time, and I remember her singing this to me when I was a child.

Lily Moayeri (author of Pictures of Lily)

It’s a sign that a song is either really awesome or really terrible if there is a seasonal game created around it. “Whamaggedon” is the game and Wham!’s wonderful song, “Last Christmas” is the unfortunate fallout from inadvertent participation. The game began some two decades ago when the song was — rightfully — being overplayed during the end-of-year holiday season. In 2023, the year of renewed interest in Wham! most likely due to the excellent Netflix documentary on the British duo, Whamaggedon went supersonic.

The rules are simple, if you hear the original, that’s it, you’re out. If you hear any of its many, many covers, say by Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, The xx or The Arctic Monkeys, you’re safe. But who wouldn’t want to hear the tinkling and delightful original? “Last Christmas” is not so much a holiday jam as it is a heartbreak song, complete with a snow-filled video of beautiful people, with one of them, George Michael, still pining over his girlfriend from last year, now with his best friend, Andrew Ridgeley. The song missed becoming Wham!’s fourth No. 1 in the UK, bested by supergroup Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” partially vocalized by Michael. It has since hit that top spot a few times, particularly recently with its TikTok popularity. But only last year did it reach the coveted position of “Christmas No. 1” in the UK. Whamaggedon be damned.

Rob Neyer (author of Rob Neyer)

Here's the thing about Christmas songs: A mediocre song doesn't become a good song just because someone I like plays it. There are a million perfectly fine covers, by great bands, of perfectly mundane songs. About which, I'm like, why? Sure, if I have to listen to a whole album at once I'm fine with Weezer or the Beach Boys singing their holiday hearts out. Everybody's gotta make a buck. But are those great songs? Nah.

You know what I really wanna listen to? Great original songs. Of which there aren't many, not that I've found anyway. One notable exception, though? Fountains of Wayne and their dainty little power-pop gem, “I Want an Alien for Christmas”. Great band, great song, and perfectly within the spirit of that little kid within us all who can’t wait to see what’s in their stocking.

Tony Pierce (author of Hot Box)

I love “I Love The Christmastime” by The Brothers Steve for many reasons. It’s like a fruitcake — a mix of songs in one. You can hear all the Steves singing wacky words as it gallops through unique stanzas. Lead Steve, Whalen, happily greets your mother, sister, and Uncle Theodore(?) around the 1:33 mark. An intentional production mistake? Left in like a marshmallow in the cake? Perfect! A music video could match its energy, with Brady Bunch-style boxes showing each Steve singing, and Coulter in the center on snare. More indie bands should try original Christmas songs, despite how tricky they are to pull off.

Derek See (author of The Green Room)

I make no claims of guilty pleasures when it comes to holiday music (or movies, special episodes of TV shows, etc). I unabashedly love a whole bunch of it. When it gets down to the nitty gritty, though, I have two favorites — Elvis’ Christmas Album from 1957, and the haunting, unbelievable The 25th Day of December by The Staple Singers (1962). It’s not easy picking a favorite song from the latter, as this is not only tied for my favorite Christmas album, but stands tall as one of my all time favorite albums. With sparse yet swinging drumming, glorious Hammond B-3 that’s as psychedelic as it is trippy, Pops Staples’ incredibly beautiful tremolo-laden electric guitar, and their glorious family harmonies, this album makes an agnostic like me fully believe in The Lord for 35 minutes or so. It’s also recorded so well that it could be used as an example that audio quality never surpassed the sound heard here. The one I’m picking is the transcendent “There Was A Star”; co-written by Pops, it features a lead vocal from Mavis that shows her range and power so vividly.

(BTW,

Derek See

’s latest musical project The Meadow Gallery has just released a wonderful Christmas song of their own — a lovely cover of The Christmas Spirit’s 1968 obscurity “Will You Still Believe In Me?” You can check it out at their Bandcamp page.)

Jami Smith (author of Songs That Saved Your Life)

I hesitate to say that I’m a Grinch about Christmas music, mostly because I don’t want that song stuck in my (or your) head. Spotify won’t be enlisting my services to curate their holiday algorithm but they should. Maybe then our collective taste would be more discerning than the cringey lyrics of “Say, what’s in this drink?” and “The answer is no” from “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” There are better options out there. I’ve made a playlist of holiday songs that I think are worth the month-long rotation and at the top of that list is Otis Redding’s version of “Merry Christmas Baby.” Originally written by Johnny Moore, the song has been more famously covered by legends like Chuck Berry, Ike & Tina, and my personal favorite rendition by the king of Memphis Soul. When I turn this tune on, my little Grinch heart grows and the spiked eggnog flows.

Tim “Napalm” Stegall (author of The Tim “Napalm” Stegall Substack)

“Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is a masterpiece: Darlene Love — Phil Spector’s favorite singer before discovering Veronica Bennett, AKA The Ronettes’ Ronnie Spector — delivering a holiday heartache epic written by Spector with Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. As The Wrecking Crew delivers grandly, inappropriately jaunty uptown rhythm & blues backing, Love stands in the middle of Gold Star Studio’s celebrated echo chamber, tearing your heart apart in 32 places: “They're singing ‘Deck the Halls’/But it's not like Christmas at all/’Cause I remember when you were here/And all the fun we had last year.” Her near hysterical closing plea for her absent lover’s return — the “please” in “baby, please come home” repeated five times, each more desperate than the last — wounds you in ways you’ll never recover from.

Gary Trujillo (author of Coco Crisp’s Fantabulous Afro)

New Order’s “Ode to Joy” feels like Christmas in a world where everything is explicitly curated and no one is really happy. Perhaps a wink to Guy Debord and “The Spectacle?” The glossy synths, Megatron vocals and bleeps and blips are immaculate and perfectly produced, but there’s an emptiness in Bernard Sumner’s delivery that cuts through the cheer. It’s like he knows the holiday is a consumerist performance, and we’re all just going through the motions. The song isn’t catchy, but it’s cold and polished — like a blasé-wrapped gift with nothing inside. You’ll play it at a party and feel nothing. And maybe that’s the point.

Dan Epstein (author of Jagged Time Lapse)

Since it’s my party, I’m gonna close out the festivities — and since 2024 has been “The Year of Redd Kross” in so many ways, I’m going with a song of theirs. Released in late 1991 on Australia’s Insipid Vinyl label, and only ever released in the US on Dionysus Records’ long out of print 1997 compilation Santa’s Got a GTO! Rodney On The ROQ’s Fav Xmas Songs, “Super Sunny Christmas” is one of many great Redd Kross tunes that should be much, much better known. Brimming with jangly guitars and joyful harmonies, the song lifts your spirit without ever resorting to cheap theatrics or overwrought emotions, and makes the prospect of a Super Sunny Christmas sound just as appealing as a White one. It’s one of the few Redd Kross releases I don’t actually own on vinyl, simply because it’s so damn hard to find an affordable copy. Maybe Santa will finally bring me one this year?

I’d like to thank all my guests who contributed to this fabulous sonic soirée, and all of you who joined in on the reading and listening side. This may well be the last JTL post before Christmas — in which case, I wish you all a very happy, safe and love-filled holiday season, however you choose to celebrate it and whomever you choose (or choose not) to celebrate it with. And if you find yourself with a little joy and kindness to spare, please don’t be shy about sharing it.

Peace, Love and Soul,

Dan

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