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Getting Ready for Christmas Day – Paul Simon (2010)
As Simon and Garfunkel emerged out of the 60’s folk scene they were considered the less political and more mainstream of the era. In fact, a lot of the folkies of the time dismissed their music as too commercial and one of the running jokes was to greet each other by saying “Hello darkness my old friend”. The folk scene was a tight little group and if music didn’t contain some spirit of protest, then it wasn’t cool enough. Paul’s songs never contained a lot of the in-your-face lyrics Pete Seeger or Joan Baez had become known for, but he did have rare moments of less subtle socially charged creative bursts like 1966’s Silent Night 7:00 News, where news broadcast about Vietnam were laid over the track. On the other hand, his most recent work – while now in his 60’s – has had a lot of the in-your-face type lyrics that the hardcore folkies would have salivated over back in the day.

Most notably his 2006 album Surprise was laced with opinion and now a brand new tune called Getting Ready for Christmas Day. Aside from Paul, the other voices you hear in this tune are his wifey Edie Brickell and Reverend J.M. Gates, recorded in 1941, an American Christian preacher and singer who helped shape early gospel music before he died in 1945. Oh, and since it’s the season for giving…..Paul is giving you this track for free. www.paulsimon.com

Christmas in Hollis – Run DMC (1987)
In New York City, within the borough of Queens, there is a neighborhood called Hollis where I’m sure some family is sitting around the Christmas tree right now not bored out of their minds with the same old crusty christmas song because their home town band Run D.M.C gave them and the rest of us the holiday classic “Christmas in Hollis”. I love this song for a million reasons, but mostly because it uses a sample from another song you should own this holiday season – 1968’s Back Door Santa by Clarence Carter. Back Door Santa…need I say more?

Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight) – The Ramones (1989)
As punk, metal and hip hop went from underground movements to mainstream marketability, the Christmas songbook very quickly became both the most obvious and unlikely place to find music of that ilk (Jesus, did I really just use that word, and did I really just say Jesus when talking about a Christmas song?). The Ramones jumped on the punk Rock Christmas bandwagon kinda late and it wasn’t until 1989 that they gave us Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight), written by Joey Ramone and part of the final album to feature Dee Dee Ramone ,who quit the band shortly after to release his inner hip hop artist – AKA Dee Dee King. The name of that last Ramones album to feature this Christmas tune and Dee Dee was Brain Drain.

Christmas at the Zoo – The Flaming Lips (1995)
Nothing says Christmas like the Flaming Lips! In 2008 they released a film, directed by frontman Wayne Coyne, called Christmas on Mars which revolves around a newly colonized Mars and its inhabitants celebrating their first Christmas there. The soundtrack includes future holiday classics like “Space Bible with Volume Lumps”. But that was not their first shot at holiday music. That award goes to 1995’s Christmas at the Zoo. A lovely little song about wanting to release the animals from the zoo on Christmas Eve, but the animas don’t want to go. They are grateful for the yuletide gesture, but they just don’t want to go!

Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto – Snoop Doggy Dogg (1996)
In 1996, Death Row records released a Christmas charity album called Christmas On Death Row, which contained the track Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto by Snoop Dog with a handful of guests. In the 60’s James Brown had a song called Santa Claus, Go Straight to the Ghetto. Both tunes shared the same sentiment of wanting Santa to…..ya know, not forget the ghetto, but lyrically speaking there is little different vibe between the two songs. James Brown wants Santa to leave a toy for Johnny and a dog for Mary…Snoop got a fifth of Hendog to take his mind off the weed set to a classic sample from the Isaac Hayes tune “Do your thing”. Either way, solid holiday gold.