"Merry Christmas from the Family" by Jill Sobule

SONG TITLE: "Merry Christmas from the Family"
ARTIST: Jill Sobule covering Robert Earl Keen
ALBUM: You Sleigh Me [also: Women of Christmas In the Garden of Lilith]
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1994
WORDS: cowboylyrics.com
DOWNLOAD: right-click here

It's probably pretty strange that this is my all-time favorite Christmas song. Much like the original Simpsons holiday special from way back in the day (before there was a series), this really speaks to the kind of holidays I remember growing up. My extended family was not about gathering around in fine clothes to speak in somber tones of religious miracles. We were the same people we were the rest of the year: loud, irreverent, and complicated. We always had a few people I could never quite place (Mabel? Who's Mabel? Where did Nathalie come from, and where did she go the rest of the year?) as well as a revolving door of significant others, more kids than I could count, and a steady supply of chaos and emerging needs.

I've never heard the original Robert Earl Keen version of this song, nor the Dixie Chicks cut. I don't need to. Jill Sobule's voice is just perfect for this song, and I wouldn't want to hear it any other way. Her interpretation is complex: vulnerable and fragile, while simultaneously straightforward and steadfastly accepting. There's something in that affection, in celebrating and embracing people as they are, that chokes me up every time. No other song is guaranteed to make me cry like this one. Feliz Navidad.

"Dhoom Pichuck" by Euphoria

SONG TITLE: Dhoom Pichuck
ARTIST: Euphoria
ALBUM: Dhoom
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1998
WORDS: official website [pdf]
DOWNLOAD: right-click here

Euphoria invented an entire genre of Indian pop music that came to be known as "Hind-rock". They are the rock gods of India, and are totally unheard of in the states. The band is headed up by Palash Sen, who is known as "Dr. Polly". Dr. Polly is a practicing physician and surgeon, in addition to his role as lead writer and singer for Euphoria. And he's dreamy. We may as well just call him Buckaroo.

I saw these guys perform at a corporate party for one of the big BPO companies in India in January 2004 - one of the execs is Dr. Polly's cousin. There were 6000 employees at the party, the huge majority of them kids in their early twenties who were over the moon to see Euphoria. I was in the VIP area, which meant that I got to sit on a nice overstuffed couch in the front row to enjoy the show while the screaming masses stood ass-to-belly behind a security rope twenty feet behind me.

The band played for four hours straight without a break. In addition to playing all of their own popular songs, they did dozens and dozens of Western songs. They did ACDC and Pink Floyd and U2 and everything in between. And they did it all incredibly well, shifting style effortlessly from one tune to the next. I've never seen such a versatile group. Every time they played one of their own songs, though, the crowd went crazy with cheers, dancing with just a tiny bit more enthusiasm and singing along.

Dr. Polly talked a lot to the audience, speaking the blend of English and Hindi that's earned its own name - Hinglish - and that really messes with your brain if you're overtired and only speak on of the languages. At one point he looked at me and asked if I understood any of what he was saying. All I could do was shrug happily. I was bouncing along, cheering and clapping and dancing and having a great time even though I had no idea what he was talking about, and it made him laugh out loud. Definitely one of my favorite Indian experiences.

Unfortunately, the company that's released their music has gone through some trouble and it's next to impossible to find any of their CDs anywhere, even in India. I saw one cassette once that I regret passing up now. You may have some luck on LimeWire or another file sharing system if you stick with it. Over time, I've managed to amass ten songs, but only with dedication and patience. This is the absolute best of the lot, and it was their breakout hit as well. My second-favorite is "Maeri", which is also worth any time spent digging for it.

"Saudade" by Love and Rockets

SONG TITLE: "Saudade"
ARTIST: Love and Rockets
ALBUM: Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1985
WORDS: none
DOWNLOAD: right-click here

I have been trying for 15 years - I shit you not - to remember the names of two songs on a mix tape that my friend Mike made for me in the mid 80s. Yes, this is the same mix that gave us "Faded Flowers", referenced on another SotW entry. Mike had all the obscure vinyl no one had ever heard of, and this mix was a masterpiece. I lost track of it somewhere along the way, and would give good money for a time machine to go back and make an extra copy for safekeeping.

Anyway, my effort to remember these two songs has been hampered by the fact that I couldn't remember their titles, couldn't remember the artists, and they are both entirely instrumental. So, um, yeah. Try it sometime.

Today it came to me like a bolt of lightening that one of the songs was by Love & Rockets. So I googled "love rockets instrumental" and lo and behold, there it is: the song is "Saudade". It's on "Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven", which was their debut album. This explains why I couldn't remember them - Love and Rockets went on to much commercial success later, but they were still relatively unknown in 1985 and therefore appropriate Mikefodder.

Once I got that far, I could picture the tape case in my head, and could read the other band's name in my mind's eye: The Art of Noise. Of course, they have a billion different versions of all their songs, and finding the one in question was a bitch. I was about to give up - I like this song less than the other anyway - when I found it at last on some dude's web page: "Moments in Love" (the version from "(Who's Afraid Of?) The Art of Noise!"). LimeWire was lousy with MP3s of it, so I suggest digging there for copies if you're interested.

Honestly, I had resigned myself to never unearthing this particular piece of my history, and tolerating these unidentified songs in my head for the rest of my life. Instead, I can now die happy.

"The Beast in Me" by Nick Lowe

SONG TITLE: "The Beast in Me"
ARTIST: Nick Lowe
ALBUM: The Impossible Bird
YEAR OF RELEASE: 1994
WORDS: lyricsdownload.com
DOWNLOAD: right-click here

Anyone who knows the recent career of Nick Lowe can tell I've screwed up the images and links above. It's intentional. The song I want to highlight here is "The Beast in Me", which is a better fit with the album "The Convincer" than "The Impossible Bird" on which it was released. Plus, I just love that cover. Does he look like a classic crooner, or what?

Nick Lowe was a prolific behind-the-scenes guy for 20 years, producing tons of seminal punk and pop bands. He had a pretty sad solo career, though, getting a reputation as a One-Hit Wonder with his song "Cruel to be Kind" in 1979. In truth, he's released twelve albums, but none of them has shined like his most recent trilogy: "The Impossible Bird" (1994), "Dig My Mood" (1998), and "The Convincer" (2001). The latter is the best of the lot, and if this was Album of the Week I'd be highlighting it for sure.

But this is Song of the Week, and for that I turn to the quiet croon "The Beast In Me". This song brought Nick Lowe to my attention - as it did for many others, I'm sure - by playing over the closing credits of the first episode of HBO's The Sopranos. Yes, it captured Tony Soprano well. But it also spoke to me.

I don't have a raging temper. I don't fly off the handle. I don't perpetrate violence. But I'm a jerk with a frequency that disturbs me. I don't want to be. I'll be humming along doing my own thing, and then cut the legs out from under someone who dares speak to me. Even the someones that I love. I don't know where it comes from, but it's a Jekyll/Hyde thing that doesn't feel like it's within my control. Apologies don't help, excuses don't help, and for that reason this is really neither. I suppose it's simply an acknowledgement that there's work to be done, and a plea for patience.