The Christmas weekend is now just about behind us – though in England today is one of our small number of Bank Holidays – so I’m guessing that things are gradually getting back to what passes as normal for you these days. So, what could help your day feel better? Some music, perhaps, and not of the Christmas variety? I’ve got you covered, as today sees the return of the “award-winning” series Tuesday Tunes. Too much? OK, but let me dream for a nanosecond or two, please…

In previous years I’ve shared songs to mark the Winter Solstice which, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, was last Tuesday, 21st December. This year I thought I’d do something a little different to bring back Tuesday Tunes after their short break. I’m beginning with a couple of the Solstice tunes I’ve shared previously, and then moving into more mainstream territory with more songs about the season. Well, when I say ‘mainstream’…

The first of the two Solstice songs comes from an Australian pagan band called Spiral Dance. This is from their 2006 album The Quickening:

Whether or not you are into paganism doesn’t matter: there is a real warmth to the voice of the lead singer, Adrienne Pigott, which makes the music feel very welcoming.

Moving across the pond to the US, there is this one from Denise Jordan Finley:

That is from an album called Solstice. According to her bio Denise is very much involved with the church, so I think it would be wrong to describe her as ‘pagan,’ but this illustrates well for me how inter-related these apparently different sets of beliefs actually are, and how the importance of the winter season is reflected in different approaches. Denise’s voice is a thing of beauty, putting me in mind of Jacqui McShee, of Pentangle – in my eyes, that is high praise!

I’m now moving on to songs which reflect winter, but without any religious/faith connections. Firstly, one of my favourites, which has a very dark video:

You may well know that one from the Pentatonix cover version which, in an act of mass criminality, has more than four times the number of YouTube views. Like everything Pentatonix do, it is well sung and staged, but totally lacking in heart and soul. And their video was made in the open air in summer sunshine, with no empathy for the meaning of the song at all! If you listen to the lyrics you’ll hear that this is about the death of innocence in youth, with winter representing the loss, and the Fleet Foxes’ own video is much more in keeping with this theme. The song is from the band’s eponymous debut album, released in 2008, which reached #36 in the US and #3 here in the UK. This song was also a #77 UK singles chart entry. Mind you, having slated the Pentatonix version I feel it is my public duty to warn you to stay away from the Kim Wilde cover – I think ‘laughably poor’ would be a kind description for it.

My second winter song is also lovely, but in a different way:

Being a folkie at heart I’ve always liked Gordon Lightfoot’s music, and this is a beautiful little song about being kept apart from the one he loves by the winter snow. The song was originally on his album The Way I Feel, released in 1967, and a re-recorded version was included on the 1974 compilation Gord’s Gold. The first album didn’t chart, even in his native Canada, but the second reached #8 there and #34 in the US. Wikipedia doesn’t give any details of a UK chart placing, but as the album was certified silver for 60k sales some four years after release I’m guessing it was a steady seller. Apart from that he has never enjoyed huge chart success here, with just a few fairly minor singles hits: his best here was If You Could Read My Mind, which got to #30. His records have sold millions around the world though, so I guess it’s our loss!

My next song is a real beauty, a collaborative effort from Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson:

I think that is stunning, and it looks like some of the Obamas enjoyed it too. This was almost a one-off: the two co-wrote the song, which was released in 2008 on a compilation album of various female singers called The Hotel Cafe Presents Winter Songs. The album also features songs from KT Tunstall, Brandi Carlile and Colbie Caillat, amongst others. There is even a version of White Christmas by Katy Perry, if that is what has been missing from your life. As a single, this song reached #2 in Ireland and #97 in Canada, and got to #18 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under listings, but didn’t chart anywhere else, as far as I can tell. It also doesn’t appear on an album by either singer, either. That made me wonder if they didn’t really get on, but after a bit of research I’ve found that they are friends and regularly attend each other’s shows. They did get together again for the track Miss America, on Ingrid’s 2017 EP Alter Egos, so maybe another collaboration might be possible. Please!

Something a little more mainstream now. Winter and December are often used in songs as metaphors – the ‘cold’ can apply just as much to hearts as to the air temperature. This is one of my favourites of this type:

That was a track on Taylor Swift’s third album, Speak Now, which was released in October 2010 and made #1 in the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, and #6 in the UK. It was the second single to be released from the album, in November 2010, and got to #6 in the US. The song is autobiographical – it was about her break up with a former boyfriend, Taylor Lautner, the Twilight actor.

This next one is another using the metaphor. I don’t think I’ve ever featured this band before:

I rather like that one – one of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ quieter moments. And before anyone points it out, I acknowledge that Anthony Kiedis’ vocal style is as close as I’ll ever get to sharing any rap songs here. It’s stylised, people, and it’s rock music, not (c)rap! This was a track from their double album, Stadium Arcadium, released in May 2006. The album went to #1 in the US, the UK, and just about any other country you can think of in record buying terms, and has so far sold well over 7m copies. This song was the third from the album to be released as a single, in November 2006, and peaked at #22 in the US and #16 in the UK. Oh, and #1 in Hungary.

My final song for today is another of those that I couldn’t really leave out. It is known to many from the cover by The Bangles, and to fewer from another good cover by Haim, but for me the original is the best:

As the video shows, that was a track on the Bookends album, released in April 1968, though this was actually recorded in September 1966. It is a superb album, like everything they did. They only made five albums together, and this is the fourth of them: it was #1 in the US and the UK – their first chart topper in both countries, a feat that was later matched by their final album, which you may well know. Only one song from the album was released as a single at the time, a little number called Mrs Robinson (US #1, UK #4) but this did become a single in the UK in 1991 to promote the release of a greatest hits collection, and reached #30.

That’s all for today, and I hope you’ve enjoyed my meander through some more and less well-known music. Tuesday Tunes will be here again next week, and in the meantime I’ll be back on New Year’s Day, and you can be sure that you’ll know at least one of my New Year songs (he said, hopefully).

See you on Saturday – I’ll try not to crash too much into your hangover 😂