Advent Calendar 2021 – Day 22 🎅

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I’m keeping to my aim of sharing some favourites today: all of these have appeared here before. But all are worth seeing again, though. Let’s start with a bit of fun:

Bryan Adams’ modern retake on the nativity story was released in November 2019. There is so much to enjoy in that video, and the tune really rocks along. Like his recent single, So Happy It Hurts, which I included in a Tuesday Tunes post, this was co-written by Bryan with Gretchen Peters, who you may recall is one of my favourite singer-songwriters. Both songs are typical of Bryan, less so of Gretchen, but it’s good to see her rockier tendencies coming out! Joe And Mary appeared on an EP called Christmas: as far as I can tell its only chart placing was at #80 in Bryan’s Canadian homeland. I still think it’s fun, though.

I said on Sunday that I might post another carol or two this week, even though I usually saved these for Advent Sundays. This is one I didn’t want to leave out. I shared a version of this by Blackmore’s Night on Day 5 of this series, but this one is just too good not to hear again:

That is, simply, delightful. The blend of Marianne Faithfull’s vocals with the joyous music of The Chieftains is wondrous, and the video brings everything to life. This was a track on The Chieftains’ 1991 album The Bells Of Dublin, which features a number of guest performers: Jackson Browne’s Rebel Jesus, which I featured on Day 7 of this series, saw its first release on this album, which I can recommend highly. I don’t think it ever made the charts anywhere, but it has sold well over its lifetime, and has been awarded a gold disc – for 500k sales – in the US. Sadly we lost Paddy Moloney, seen here playing the uilleann pipes and the tin whistle, earlier this year, but the music lives on: they gave us so much to enjoy over nearly sixty years.

Another song I’ve posted before but want to share again is this one – almost an antithesis to a Christmas song, I think:

As I said last year, Tom Lehrer’s peak performing days were in the 50s and 60s, after which he mostly gave it up to devote his time to teaching mathematics and musical theatre history at the University of California, Santa Cruz, from which he retired in 2001. I think I’d have enjoyed maths more if I’d had a teacher like him! He is still with us, at the ripe old age of 93, I’m glad to say. Quite a few of his songs are of the political satire variety: he was quoted in 1973 as saying that political satire was dead after Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize! He once remarked that he only wrote 37 songs and performed 109 shows across a twenty year period: we are lucky that those songs and live performances live on in his records and these videos.

Another piece of repeated fun to close with today. This is silly, but it makes me smile:

This novelty Christmas song was written by Randy Brooks and was first recorded in 1979 by the then-husband and wife duo of Elmo Shropshire and Patsy Trigg. It offers a dire warning about the dangers of staggering out into the snow while off your head on eggnog and prescription medication – one that we should all heed, I think. It has been re-recorded and re-released several times, and has a number of appearances in the US Country chart to its name – it even made the main Billboard listing in 1997, when it reached #87. There have been a number of cover and parody versions: the only name I recognise of those is Ray Stevens, and this does seem a natural choice for the man who gave us The Streak!

Having said that was the last piece of music for today – which it was – I couldn’t resist adding in another video that just fell out of YouTube. I’ve written before about the excellent Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso, and they have very kindly made a special Christmas video for us:


Brilliant, like everything about the show. If you don’t have Apple TV+ you really are losing out. Series 3 will arrive some time next year, and I can’t wait.

That, finally, is your lot for today. Time to leave you with a suitably tasteful image of the day:

See you again tomorrow ☃️

26 thoughts on “Advent Calendar 2021 – Day 22 🎅”

  2. Love the huge variety today, Clive. I think my favorite was Tom Lehrer. I’m trying to recall where I’ve seen him in the last few months. Would it have been with one of your comedy posts? Perhaps it was another blogger. Like others, I may not be around much in the next few days. We’re hitting the road tomorrow for a nice little eight-hour drive. The reward is we’ll be seeing our son and fiancee before the day is done as we’re meeting up at an Airbnb.

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    • He is a very clever man. Yes, I chose a couple of his songs for one on my Saturday Smiles posts – well remembered!

      I hope the drive goes well and you manage to make the meet up. Have a great Christmas 😊🎅

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  4. great collection.

    excellent choice to open with; reminds me of John Mellencamp…

    how could you go wrong with The Chieftains and Paddy Moloney

    always get a laugh out of Tom Lehrer – what a talented guy…

    the next to last one was fun to watch.

    and thanks for sharing that great clip from Ted Lasso; I had not seen it…

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  7. I love that Bryan Adams song. I enjoyed attending more than one performance by the Chieftains and had their Christmas CD. Love them. As for Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer, it was voted the most popular Christmas song in Canada a number of times. (at least where I lived). It was made very popular by The Irish Rovers, another group I have seen perform many times. When my daughter was little the song upset her as she loved her grandma very much. Fun songs today!

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    • I’m pleased you enjoyed the fun – that was the intention. I’ve never seen the Chieftains – only on tv – but I love their music. I saw the Irish Rovers version too, but decided to stick with the original. I didn’t realise it was that popular in Canada though! I trust your daughter is over her fear of the song now 😉

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