Firstly, yes, I understand the difference between the first day of Christmas and the first day of advent, but the latter doesn’t have quite as much ‘zing’ about it for a blog title. Secondly, my sincere apologies for getting swept up in Christmas hysteria (Christ-eria… sorry).
Now, I’m not a huge fan of the festive period and even less of a fan of the popular music that tends to be released around this festival. However, as with practically everything in life, there are both good, bad and terrible examples of Christmas songs.
Here are some of my favourite Christmas songs for your listening pleasure. From unlikely Christmas crooners Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and The Fall.
Let me know what you think and if I have overlooked anything @monkeyhotel
Thumbplay is currently offering an exclusive selection of tracks from Bob Dylan’s bootlet collection: The Bootleg Series Vol. 9 – The Witmark Demos. All Blackberry smartphone users will be able to listen to 15 previously unreleased recordings from the new album, but only until Thursday September 30.
Users can access these exclusive tracks by searching for the Thumbplay app on their device or by going to their website.
Disclosure: Thumbplay is one of our partners here at RouteNote.
Google recently announced Instant search, which aims to speed up result times. To demonstrate the new features Google used the famous video for Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues”.
If it wasn’t for the clear brilliance of his intellect on his Theme Time Radio Hour, I would think Mr. Zimmerman was losing the plot. He’s released a Wierd-Al-like polka Christmas song, in aid of the charity Feeding America.
“As Rolling Stone previously reported, all of Dylan’s royalties from the album benefit Feeding America and other international charities. “It’s a tragedy that more than 35 million people in this country alone — 12 million of those children — often go to bed hungry and wake up each morning unsure of where their next meal is coming from,” Dylan wrote on his official Website. “I join the good people of Feeding America in the hope that our efforts can bring some food security to people in need during this holiday season.”
Bob Dylan has never been a fan of digital music services, but this week he has pointed the finger directly at music streaming services. Over the past few days his back catalogue has been pulled from sites like we7 and Spotify, as Dylan takes issue with those who are sharing his music with their users. An instruction was issued by his US reps, through Sony, asking sites to prove they have the right to put the material up.
Clive Gardiner, we7’s digital music SVP, said: “We took it off the site a few days ago. Spotify would have had the same instruction. But it may be a short listing and it may come back again.
“There are some artists that will take umbrage at this from time to time. We expect this sort of thing, especially with streaming, and it not being fully understood where it sits yet. “
I still find it funny how major artists and their record labels still arent understand the concept behind music streaming services and technology in general. Dont they understand that music is slowly heading towards free and that the artist will be paid royalties in the same way as radio stations pay royalties?
