Something On Sunday.

Resounding: Let's Crank Up Those Christmas Tunes. Trust Me On This.

I’m not going to bore you with another long Christmas memory column — check the archive, can’t miss ‘em — but I do think we could all use some Christmas cheer (or some brilliantly depressing/creatively adventurous non-traditional songs).

So it’s that time.

Many of you know I have really, really, really long Christmas playlists on Spotify. I mean, you could probably hit shuffle now and they will get you through Christmas Day and past, and then I would re-introduce you to my New Year’s playlist, and we would all be the better for it going into 2025.

In recent years I have primarily leaned on my Our Silent Nights Are Getting Loud playlist, which spun off my Merry Christmas, Baby playlist and only featured upbeat songs you could sing while driving or that would get you joyously through a very long walk.

These are great songs to listen to at any time, but particularly while putting ornaments on the tree or, subsequently, drinking something lovely while sitting around the tree. The list also works great while you’re cooking or when you’re bored, so I think that covers a lot of ground.

While last year was notably bleak for me (I reread my 2023 Christmas post and got a lot of PTSD, so I’m not even going to link to it but some of you will remember it), this year is at least better, or just a different mixture of ups and downs and I’ve been playing these songs a lot, especially in the car. I’ve even begun adding to the list again (it’s quickly approaching 400 songs and it’s more than 22 hours long).

My advice as always: Play it on shuffle.

Back in the day I had it neatly ordered (which means the top quarter is still a testament to favorites) but soon after there were just too many great songs and the playlist was unwieldy so, again, play it on shuffle.

Here it is:

If you are also curious about the original playlist, Merry Christmas, Baby, which features more classics and remakes and has some slower versions (while still containing a lot of the other playlist), and is currently at 750 songs and 42 hours worth of listening, then you can check it out here:

Additionally, in last year’s bleaker post, I gave you one of my favorite really dark Christmas originals from Slow Club and this year, even better, here’s the live version video:

But because I want us all to be upbeat (even though depressing songs make me happy, and of course this one is upbeat but the lyrical story isn’t), I’m going to leave you with this gem, which I’ve loved for years now.

I don’t have a tree/So I decorated my TV/And it looks real good at night with all the lights/I wish you could see.

Happy Holidays. Sing some of these out loud.