After yesterday’s more reflective songs I thought I’d share a couple today where the emphasis is very much on fun. Both of these were new last year but, as before, I’m working on the assumption that you either won’t have seen them or won’t remember (too much egg nog?).

The first of these is from a guy who has been making great music for many years, and is a modern day retelling of the nativity story:

That was on an EP of Christmas songs that Bryan Adams released last year, imaginatively entitled Christmas. There are five tracks on it, this being my favourite. I think it’s a great take on how the story might be nowadays, and the three wise men are hysterical. Coincidentally, one of the EP’s tracks is Must Be Santa – you may recall I shared Bob Dylan’s version of that on Day 8. On balance, I prefer Bob’s version: his video wins it for me!

My second video of the day was actually released on Christmas Eve last year, but I was lucky enough to find it in time to include it. You may well not have seen it before, and for the sheer joy that making music can bring I think it well worth another airing:

I just love how excited Chris Thile is at the end of that, at how they pulled it off! That was from the live music show Live From Here, with is sadly no longer with us – a Covid casualty, I think. The show was fronted by Chris, formerly of the excellent band Nickel Creek. Another former member, Sara Watkins, is now in a female trio called I’m With Her, with Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan, and the three of them were regular guests on the show, either solo or in combinations of two or three. A couple of weeks before the big day Chris and Sarah had a little bit of pre-Christmas fun with a children’s song, which was originally recorded in 1953 by the then 10 year old Gayla Peevey. It was a Christmas novelty hit that year, but as I was only three months old I hadn’t started buying records yet. I’ve often said here how much joy music can bring to the listener, but we shouldn’t forget what it can do for the performers too!

That’s it for today, and I hope I’ve put a smile on your face – as always, I leave you with an image to ponder:

To misquote Arnie: I’ll be back tomorrow 😊