Hello again, and welcome back to see what lies behind the ninth door of my Advent Calendar. After a day of upbeat tunes followed by a more relaxed selection, what should I do for today? How about a completely random mix up? OK, here goes. Three returning favourites of mine, together with the next stage in the Hafod Hardware series.

The first of these is utterly bonkers and so out of character for him. Maybe that’s why I love it so much:

This is what I said when I played this one last year:

Must Be Santa was written in 1960 by Hal Moore and Bill Fredericks, and first released by Mitch Miller in November of that year, though I can’t find a record of any chart placing for it. His version was included on his 1961 album Holiday Sing Along With Mitch, which topped the US albums chart. A cover version by Tommy Steele made #40 in the UK singles chart in November 1961. But perhaps the most unlikely thing is that Bob Dylan made a Christmas album: it was called Christmas In The Heart and was released in 2009, a mixture of carols and traditional favourites. This track featured on the album: the tune is based on a German drinking song, with a call and response treatment, and I think Bob did justice to that with this crazy video and the accordion band. It’s good to see him having so much fun, too. His royalties from the album have all been donated to charities that provide food programmes, especially at Christmas. The album reached #40 in the UK albums chart, and got to #23 in the main US albums chart, whilst also reaching #1 on Billboard’s Holiday and Folk listings, and #9 on their Rock albums chart.

For several years I have played this next song with a lovely accompanying video featuring the Peanuts characters. But when the artist releases her own video it would be rude not to play that one, wouldn’t it:

An absolutely beautiful song, which you probably already know was on Joni Mitchell’s Blue album, released in June 1971, and which I still think is her best album ever. Ten tracks, and they are all brilliant. The album peaked at #15 in the US, at #9 in her native Canada, but I’m pleased to say that we did best by it, as it reached #3 here in the UK. Fifty one years ago, and it still sounds as fresh as ever. Joni suffered an aneurysm some years ago, which has severely affected her, but it is good to know she is still recognised for her music: she received the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Historical Album, for her Archives, Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) collection, and made a nostalgic appearance at the Newport Folk Festival this summer, accompanied by many who paid homage by joining in with her on some of her songs. She looked frail, but thrilled to be there, still (just) able to perform.

I have played the Russian folk band Otava Yo on several occasions, and this was one of two of their songs I featured in last year’s Advent Calendar. Yes, I know they are Russian, and that is something of a dirty word at present, but if we can’t let the music win at Christmas whenever can we? And it would be a shame for me if I left this out. If the English subtitles aren’t visible, just click on the ‘CC’ symbol on the video, though the translation does look a little odd in places:

That is such a joyous sound that I couldn’t resist it! Otava Yo, accompanied here by the singers of Vasilisa, have been a big find for me over the past couple of years. I have yet to find a video of theirs I didn’t like, and even without subtitles they produce beauty and happiness in their music – what more could you want? This song, if you hadn’t realised, is entitled The Day Christ Was Born, and is a great way for me to finish today’s music.

I promised you the next episode of Hafod Hardware, didn’t I. As you may recall, they made four wonderful Christmas ads from 2017 to 2020. I played the first one a few days ago, and this is what they gave us in 2018:

Part of the beauty for me of replaying this series is to see little Arthur growing up. In the first one he was at the crawling stage but capable of unwrapping presents, whilst here he makes a timely appearance at the end with that wonderful gurgling laugh. Stay tuned to see how he develops! You probably recognise the accompanying song, but as a reminder this version is by Andrea Von Kampen, who has a lovely voice and makes great records of her own.

Time for an image of the day?

See you again tomorrow? 👑