25 Days or Less of Christmas Songs - #24: Merry Christmas Everybody

I was shoveling snow at work today when one of my co-workers played a snippet of Stompin' Tom Connors' "Merry Christmas Everybody" over the two-way radio. I was kind of surprised because I had never heard the song before and I consider myself somewhat of a casual fan of Stompin' Tom. For those not in the know (i.e. anyone who is not Canadian), Stompin' Tom Connors is a prolific Canadian folk/country singer. Having acquired the nickname for his tendency to stomp his foot to keep the rhythm while playing. Stompin' Tom is also known for his extensive discography which include such favorites as "The Hockey Song" and "Bud the Spud."

Rating: Turkey and mashed potatoes%

(Image from amazon.ca)

"The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot

There are only a few pieces of art (and many knives) in the world that can make me cry, and the song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot is one of them. He takes a minor shipwreck that otherwise would have faded into obscurity and turns it into one of the most moving elegies ever put to music. Even just typing out the line "Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn minutes to hours?" makes me tear up. Uh oh, masculinity is almost gone, so in conclusion football, Camaros, Venus of Willendorf.

RATING: 93%

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Remember when this movie came out and everybody you knew loved it and played the soundtrack incessantly, and while you yourself thought it was pretty good too you only felt the need to see it once and were just a little disappointed that it wasn't The Big Lebowski, and also annoyed with all the hype because you were too cool for school? Me too. Well friend, you can stop the hate because in my opinion this movie is still pretty fun and enjoyable almost a decade later. Sure, the movie might suffer from a minor case of Magical Negro syndrome, but the music is great and George Clooney's character is so charming that it's easy to forgive the movie's minor sins. Then the Coen Brothers made The Man Who Wasn't There, Intolerable Cruelty, and The Ladykillers, oops.

RATING: 78%

Mellow Gold by Beck

In high school, everybody knew the song "Loser," but I didn't know one person who owned this actual album. And that's not surprising - it has an extremely lo-fi and abrasive sound, mixes bizarre electronic sampling with a folk sensibility, and could only be considered a "rock" album because it would have been impossible to classify it as anything else. That Beck ever even made it onto a major label with an album like this is nothing less than astonishing. In other words, it's a pretty good album if I do say so myself. So if you like hiss, sampling, acoustic guitars, yelling, and noise, this album is probably up your alley not to be dirty.

RATING: 73%