Advent Calendar 2022: Day 20 🎅

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The big day is rapidly approaching, and I’m running out of time to play you all the songs I want before my Advent Calendar comes to an end! So I’m giving you four today, all of which are making a return visit, plus a little film I found on YouTube.

The first one today is from one of my favourite bands. I have only played this once before, two years ago, so it’s about time for a reprise. By their standards this video is quite sedate:

Of course it’s cheesy, with a fairly predictable end, but that makes it just right for Christmas! The song reached #2 in the UK, having been the odds-on bookmakers’ favourite to be the Christmas #1 that year: it was beaten by the Gary Jules cover of Mad World which, though not a Christmas song, was very good, and was probably the one that restarted the trend for slowed down cover versions. The Darkness also reached the top ten in Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands with this one. Not in the US though: apart from two earlier singles, their chart success there has been limited to lower level placings for their albums. I still enjoy this one now, though, even if it isn’t filled with the excesses of some of their other videos!

In terms of my favourites, this guy is right up at the top. I think I’ve played this one every year, so it wouldn’t be my Advent Calendar without it:

That isn’t a Christmas song per se, but to me it is a modern day retelling of the Nativity story. And it is lovely, so I’m always happy to play it. That isn’t an official video, and most of the images have nothing to do with the song, but I thought it was marginally preferable to giving you a static picture of the album sleeve. The song speaks for itself, though – it is a beautiful piece. It was on Cat’s Catch Bull At Four album, which was released in late September 1972, just in time for me to buy it and then have to leave it at home for my first five weeks at university, until I could get a lift back to pick up my record player and my collection. In those days, everything was on vinyl, which was heavy to shift around! The album reached #2 in the UK and spent three weeks at #1 in the US.

Yesterday might have seen the last of my Hafod Hardware re-runs, but that doesn’t mean that you have heard the last of Andrea Von Kampen’s lovely voice. She released a Christmas single of one of her own songs last year which I played, and it seemed a good idea to do it again:

On her YouTube page Andrea said this about it: “I wrote this song while thinking about a wintry day that feels magical and timeless. I wanted the music to sound like the song you hear when you open a music box as a kid. The strings add a lush and full presence while the rhodes adds that music box feel.” I think she has achieved that: it is a perfect little piece for this time of year.

Earlier this month I played you one of the charity singles that The Killers released for ten years. This is my other favourite from amongst them:

The Cowboy’s Christmas Ball was their 2011 offering. As I’ve said before, I couldn’t leave out that bit of lunacy, could I? Nothing says ‘Christmas’ quite like a bunch of cowboys inviting visitors from outer space into their Christmas hoedown, does it? What I hadn’t realised until last year was that the lyrics of the song were taken from an 1890 poem of the same name by a chap called William Lawrence Chittenden. The Killers adapted the original poem slightly, changing its location of Texas for their native Nevada, and the space visitors in the video were their own invention. There’s no mention of them in the 1890 poem: how surprising! Like most of their Christmas singles, this was a modest chart entry here in the UK, reaching #112, but it didn’t make the US charts – only one of them ever did.

That’s all the music for today, but I mentioned that I would also be playing you another video that I had found on YouTube. It’s in the vein of some of the ads I’ve been sharing with you – nothing spectacular, but quite nice all the same. And there is quite a story behind this one:

Phil Beastall, who made this, is a Commercial and Advertising Director. In 2018, this film – his annual Christmas offering – was a huge worldwide success. It currently stands at more than 2.4m views in the UK alone and has been shared over 100k times on social media. As a result, Phil was interviewed on ITV’s This Morning and Good Morning Britain and was featured in many news and radio articles. Off the back of this he was asked by Good Morning Britain to write and direct a film for their 1 Million Minutes Christmas campaign: the film helped the campaign to receive more donations than the two previous years combined. He was then asked by Lewis Capaldi to direct the music video for his #1 single Someone You Loved. I think this film is rather nice, and can see why it generated such a response. Phil has released a new one for this year, which is also very sweet: I’ll play it for you tomorrow.

That’s all for today apart, of course, from an image of the day. Not wanting to boast about my culinary skills, but…

See you again tomorrow, for a winter solstice special 🎁

29 thoughts on “Advent Calendar 2022: Day 20 🎅”

  1. since I am reading these in somewhat of reverse order (most recent to oldest), it’s my first time to see a Killers Christmas video in one of your Advent posts. I look forward to see what your first one was. My favorite is Christmas in LA.

    Talk about a tearjerker at the end – I’m not sure how many times I can cry this morning!

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  2. You were right about needing tissues…Ahhh darkness it wouldn’t be Christmas without playing them and Cat Stevens he always has a place on my playlist…Andrea Von Kampen as young rightly said has a lovely voice…you have certainly played some great tunes for your advent calendar, Clive…Christmas will soon be over for another year. xx..

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  3. I like the beat and general sound of The Darkness, and I have a feeling that I might like other songs of theirs more. There’s something about all the high notes from the lead singer that I don’t like with this one.

    I’ve always liked Cat Stevens/Yusuf, so it’s no surprise that I like this tune.

    Andrea’s voice works well with the classical guitar work. Marvelous song!

    I’ve become more familiar with The Killers through your blog and others. I don’t feel so bad, given their limited commercial success in the United States. While this one has a catchy sound, I prefer other songs from them.

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    • A bit of a mixed bag for you, Pete! Justin Hawkins’ falsetto vocals aren’t for everyone, I grant you. Try the video for ‘Everybody Have A Good Time’ to see them in their regular style. You can’t go wrong with Cat Stevens, and I’ve become a fan of Andrea since hearing her on the Hafod ads. As for The Killers, I think they did these for fun and to raise charity funding – some of their normal songs are far better.

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      • You’ve hit the target with me nearly every day this year. I look at music the way I do the same way as eating. People like different things, and that’s okay; it makes life more interesting. I’m not a big fan of crab, even though many friends think it’s the best thing ever. That doesn’t make anyone’s feelings wrong. Old-style, twangy country music gets on my nerves, yet others eat that up (no pun intended). Long live the freedom to choose.

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  5. I don’t know what it is but Cat Stevens’ songs give me goosebumps – voice, performance, melody, message… just the whole package.
    And the last video… OMG, today, I sang at the funeral of my best friend’s mom… so, this hit home even more.

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    • They do evoke that feeling, don’t they. I saw him in concert in 2009, more than 40 years since I became a fan. By the second song I was shedding tears: his music has meant so much to me.

      I can understand that connection for you: a meaningful day for you to see it. Since I posted this I’ve heard that my Dad, who is 95, has been taken to hospital. I’m hoping I wasn’t tempting fate.

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      • Thank you, Erika, you’re very sweet. Today’s news is that he is responding well to treatment and they are trying to put together a care package to allow him to go home. Fingers crossed!

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      • Thank you. I’ll be having a quiet solo Christmas, watching lots of football and movies, but will get family visits afterwards. My ex- mother-in-law died a month ago so my daughters are, quite rightly, rallying around their Mum. It feels like a bad time to be an older member of our family at present!

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      • Oh, I am sorry to hear. That is not the easiest of times for you and you and your family. I know what you mean. Just yesterday we talked about it, and how quickly it can happen and you are the “next in the row”.
        However, I wish you a beautiful time anyway, much love and magic to fill your heart ✨

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      • Thank you. I’ve got used to doing it this way since the pandemic, and have a very pleasant time. I can understand how the conversation turned to thoughts like that yesterday. I hope you will have a lovely Christmas too 😊

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  7. That video is a real tear-jerker. Very nice. I agree Andrea Von Kampen has a lovely voice and the KIllers are a lot of un. (Remember my dad was a cowboy) I can’t believe it is almost Christmas. Just took some chocolate chip muffins out of the oven. Time for a taste test!

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