It’s only December 9 and the chances are you’re already sick to the back teeth of Mariah, Wham! and the rest of the Christmas canon. If you work in retail, you doubtless reached your limit long before November was out.
Help is at hand because David Byrne has compiled a Spotify playlist entitled ‘David Byrne Radio Presents: Christmas Music for People Who Hate Christmas Music’. The ex-Talking Head has written a message that accompanies it, saying: “This playlist is not about the solstice, nor does it have some Pagan agenda. It’s rowdy, fun songs that gently poke at and refer to the holidays. Enjoy!”
That’s a pretty good description as the 32 songs on the playlist all put an alternative spin on the season’s festivities. They range from Prince’s Another Lonely Christmas, which was originally on the B side of I Would Die 4 U, to Sharon Jones and the Daptones’ unforgettable Ain’t No Chimneys In The Projects.
There’s also Run DMC’s dimly-remembered but seemingly genuine attempt at a festive hit, Christmas In Hollis (sample lyric: ‘the rhymes that you hear are the rhymes of Darryl’s/ But each and every year we bust Christmas carols’).
Also included is Byrne’s own stab at a Christmas song, Fat Man’s Comin', which he released in 2022.
