John Prine | Take It Easy

Day 12 of my Advent Calendar brings you something a little different. I’ve played two of these before, but the other one is new to this series. The difference is that whilst they are a very good fit for this time of year, two of them aren’t overtly Christmas songs. You’ll get the idea, though.

First up is the ‘proper’ Christmas one. I played this last year, and gave you another version of the song last week, but I like this one so much that I just had to include it again, especially as the animated ones seem to be popular this year:

Of all the recorded versions that I know that is my favourite, by a country mile. Bob Seger gives it so much feeling, and you really are taken along with the little boy playing his drum for the newborn Messiah as he had no other gift to give him, “Then, he smiled at me, me and my drum.” This was recorded for the album A Very Special Christmas, released in 1987 (not 1989, the video is wrong) to raise funds for the Special Olympics. The album has to date sold well over 4m copies in the US alone, and started a series which so far comprises nine albums of Christmas songs newly recorded by well known singers and bands. I’ve shared one or two of these previously, like the John Mellencamp one last week: there are some good songs in the collection. The track also appeared on the Bob Seger compilation double album Ultimate Hits: Rock And Roll Never Forgets, which was released in November 2011 and reached #19 in the US and #28 in the UK. The puppet show, by the way, is part of a movie version made in 1968.

I played this next one in 2020 but it didn’t get a look in last year. It isn’t about Christmas, but it is very much a song about the feelings and emotions this time of year can bring as we move into winter. And I think it is beautiful, so it is very much a part of my own playlist:

That is just about as close to musical perfection as you can probably get, with the combination of a beautiful tune and lovely words. It is wonderfully played and sung too. For those who might be puzzling as to where they have heard the male harmony voice before, it is John Prine, who sadly passed away in April 2020 and who I have played in a couple of Tuesday Tunes posts. If it’s of interest, I have written about this song before, about how I first heard it and a connection I feel to it, in #SaturdaySongs No.7 which I updated and reposted earlier this year, here. Beth Nielsen Chapman hasn’t enjoyed the chart success I think she deserves – she has never reached the US Top 100 Albums chart, though she has appeared five times in the Billboard Heatseekers listings. Take a listen to this and tell me you don’t agree that is criminal! This song was on Beth’s 2002 album Deeper Still which, of course, got nowhere near the charts: I rest my case.

Today’s final song isn’t a Christmas one either, but it has a special reason for being here. No doubt many of you will know the song, which is very much a folk standard here nowadays, and has even been a UK Singles chart hit. This version was made for the Crisis charity in 2017, specifically to raise funds for their efforts to provide food, accommodation and other support for homeless people: they do this all the year round, but place special emphasis on Christmas. A number of those they have supported appear in the video, as the ‘Crisis Choir,’ with guest vocals by Annie Lennox. It may be time to get the tissues out again:

Ralph McTell originally recorded the song in 1969 for his Spiral Staircase album, but it wasn’t a UK single until a re-recorded version was released in 1974 after the first had been a top ten hit in the Netherlands. It reached #2 in the UK chart that year, and in his shows Ralph still introduces it by saying “now it is time for my greatest hit.” Though this later version only peaked at #92 on the combined UK charts, the CD single was #1 in the Christmas 2017 Official Physical Singles Chart (for CD sales). The release marked fifty years of the charity’s work, which continues and is probably needed more now than ever. I don’t particularly want to depress you but, as with Saturday’s post, I think there are messages we shouldn’t overlook in the anticipation of the coming festive season. As I have been including adverts in several of these posts, maybe the time is right for this year’s by the Crisis charity. It isn’t an ‘aaah’ moment piece, just factual, but I think it illustrates well why Ralph’s song is so appropriate for this time of year, even more so than at any other time: