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My how time flies. Haven't been on in quite some time. Life brings many challenges and I'm glad to have hopefully come through the other side. To all the new members, Welcome! Feel free to add your latest musical aquisitions and Christmas memories. To all of the original members over the past few years, welcome back! Hope everyone has a great holiday season!

That title has nothing to do with this song other than that's what I said when I heard this song the other day. I totally had forgotten about it until I was at work the other day (I have to listen to Rite-Aid Radio all day) and heard this song come on. It is a great little almost folk-rocker. Totally different from other songs I remember by these guys. Wish it got more aiplay from some of the oldies stations I listen to on the road.

Just ran across an old country song from the early 70's called L.A. International Airport by Susan Raye. The song is like a little time capsule of the era. I remember seeing her on Hee Haw doing duets with Buck Owens. I realy thought she was great (and great looking), but she never had the staying power of other women of the period. I recently read she went back to college and got a degree in Psychology. Good for her!

Being the Top 40 music fanatic I am, I have decided to let my iTunes play on random through each of the decades of music I have (right now I am starting with the 90's). Normally I just put together a bunch of songs to fit a particular day or mood. I find that I end up listening to the same songs over and over and forget that there are a lot of songs that I have forgotten about over the years. I am pleasantly surprised that I have so much music that I hardly ever make room for in my life. Maybe I will have some new old favorites to add to my playlists in the coming months. If you get a chance check out what I am listening to. Maybe there a few that you forgot about too. Let me know what you do to bring back old forgotten favorites. I'll give anything a try.

Love in music,
Beatleman

By the way, I make no excuses for some of what I listen to. After all, I did say I am definitley a top 40 kind of guy.

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Things around here in Earl-land have been rather hectic. Working retail at Christmas has a way of taking some of the fun out it all, although helping people find the right music or movie for their family and friends has its own rewards. Speaking of music, let's get down to the next installment in the Christmas song journal.....What's new in your collection this year?

Over the years, I've always found at least one new song or album to add to the ol' yuletide songfest. Working with CDs everyday, I see all sorts of new music come through the store. Christmastime is no different. However, this year it seems that very few artists have put out new Christmas material. There are a few notable exceptions. Diana Krall, Anita Baker, Jessica Simpson, and (heaven help us) Kenny G have new ones out, but none of these seem to be destined to become Christmas classics. This year, I've turned to the internet to help locate songs I may have overlooked from the past few years. I've even been poking around other members pages to find a few. Surprisingly enough, I've found about a dozen or so that have passed the grade to enter the Earl Christmas collection this year.

I usually find it hard to like remakes of most songs, however this year I found a few that were as good or even better than the originals. The first one comes courtesy of vs271, Maroon 5's most excellent version of John Lennon's Happy Christmas (War Is Over). Another one is Jimmy Eats World's version of Wham/George Michael's 80's classic Last Christmas. Finally, there is Jars of Clay's version of Little Drummer Boy. I still like the popular versions of these songs, but every once in a while they need a little updating to keep them fresh.

Other newer songs that have joined this year include Michael Buble's Let It Snow, Laurence Juber's instrumental Good King Wenceslaus, Death Cab For Cutie's Christmas (Please Come Home), SheDaisy's Brand New Year, Jason Mraz's Winter Wonderland, Low's Just Like Christmas, Rob Thomas' New York Christmas, and Relient K's Twelve Days of Christmas. Most of these have been available before this year, but are new to me. Better late than never I always say.

What new ones have you added this year? Let us know so we can add to our collections this year. Have a great week and hope to hear from you guys soon!



Maroon 5jimmy eats worldJars Of ClayMichael BubleLaurence JuberDeath Cab for CutieSHeDAISYJason MrazLowRob ThomasRelient K

Having covered the best of our youthful Christmas tunes, I quess we have to think about some of the funniest Christmas themed songs that put the Ho in our Ho Ho Ho.

Growing up, I thought you couldn't get any funnier than the Chipmunks. Their Twelve Days of Christmas used to make me laugh until (insert favorite beverage here) came out of my nose. What wacky guys! Another one that used to get my friends and me crazy was Nuttin' For Christmas by Barry Gordon. We could have sworn that it was written specifically about us. That song served as a strong reminder that being good was indeed the way to go, especially during that last few weeks before Santa came. Last, but certainly not least, was Jingle Bells by the Singing Dogs. Who would have thought you could teach dogs to sing that well! I used to imagine that they had one dog for each note in the song and at the appropriate time they would pull each dog's tail to get the right note. Certainly not a SPCA kind of Christmas vibe, but entertaining none the less.

In college, a local station used to play Blue Christmas by none other than that pork rock supergroup, Pork E. Pig and the Squeelers. I think almost any song would be funny with Porky Pig at the Mic. It was also during this time I discovered Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses. What a great song! For those not in the know, it was about this poor woman remembering all the trials and tribulations she encountered in trying to hook up with this guy during the past year while walking home on Christmas Eve. (For the English majors out there, I know that was an especially long sentence that probably has a few dangling somethings in it somewhere). The line "A&P has provided me with the world's smallest turkey" still makes me smile to this day.

Thus brings us to the present day. Three songs stand out as personal favorites. One is by the Little Stinkers. It's called, you guessed it, I Farted On Santa's Lap (Now Christmas Is Going To Stink For Me). The next one is Bob River's Christmas classic, Walkin' 'Round In Women's Underwear sung to the tune of Winter Wonderland. The last one is the original version of The Chanukah Song by Adam Sandler. He's done two but the second was lame in comparison to the first. Being a Christmas song purist, I only play these last three songs once or twice during the season when in dire need of a quick pick me up after a long, rough day.

What songs tickle your funny bone at Christmastime? Pull up a whoopie cushion and add to the list. Have a great week and keep the Yule cool.

By the way, welcome 4inthemorning and goth4fun

I know it's been a while since I last posted. It has been a pretty hectic week here in Earl-land. I work at a nationally known retail electronics store that shall remain nameless (cough, cough) circuit city (cough , cough). Getting ready for the Christmas shopping season in retail is not pretty. Anyway, in my last entry, I said we would jump right to the nitty gritty and name the number one Christmas song ever. However, that's like skipping the double dog dare and going for the infamous triple dog dare. Definitley not good form! Let's start off with some memories of songs we enjoyed when we were small and work our way up.

When I was growing up, Christmas music took the form of whatever the Goodyear Tire people put on their yearly Christmas album. The weekend after Thanksgiving, my parents would invite everyone over to our house to deck the halls and trim the tree. Dad would be in charge of the lights, and everyone else contributed by placing the ornaments oh so carefully on the tree. I would always be in charge of finding the perfect collection of music to play on our stereo. (Actually, it was a stereo masquerading as a piece of living room furniture. You know, the one with the turntable, radio, and 8-track player under the hood) . My favorite was always Goodyear collection 6. Mind you this was 1966 so the album definitely reflected the times. My favorites from this collection included: Andy Williams - Do You Hear What I Hear?, Johnny Mathis - The Christmas Song, Barbra Streisand - Ave Maria, Ray Conniff - Frosty the Snowman, New Christy Minstrels - We Need A Little Christmas, Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme - Let it Snow, and one of my all time favorites Bing Crosby - White World of Winter. ( I bet you thought I was going to say White Christmas didn't you). I eventually wore the grooves off of the album, so when CDs started coming out, I set a goal to find all of these songs on CD. It took almost 15 years and quite a few puchases, but last year I finally found the last one on my list. Huah!

Over the years Mom and Dad picked up quite a few more albums from JC Penneys and other department store dump bins, mostly reflecting the cool stylings of late 60's and early 70's artists. Each one holds a special memory of a Christmas past spent with family and friends around the tree.

What Christmas songs did you guys listen to when you were little? Let's get a list together to help count down to the best Christmas song ever.

Have a great Thanksgiving and hope to hear from You guys soon.

I know it's been a while since I last posted. It has been a pretty hectic week here in Earl-land. I work at a nationally known retail electronics store that shall remain nameless (cough, cough) circuit city (cough , cough). Getting ready for the Christmas shopping season in retail is not pretty. Anyway, in my last entry, I said we would jump right to the nitty gritty and name the number one Christmas song ever. However, that's like skipping the double dog dare and going for the infamous triple dog dare. Definitley not good form! Let's start off with some memories of songs we enjoyed when we were small and work our way up.

When I was growing up, Christmas music took the form of whatever the Goodyear Tire people put on their yearly Christmas album. The weekend after Thanksgiving, my parents would invite everyone over to our house to deck the halls and trim the tree. Dad would be in charge of the lights, and everyone else contributed by placing the ornaments oh so carefully on the tree. I would always be in charge of finding the perfect collection of music to play on our stereo. (Actually, it was a stereo masquerading as a piece of living room furniture. You know, the one with the turntable, radio, and 8-track player under the hood) . My favorite was always Goodyear collection 6. Mind you this was 1966 so the album definitely reflected the times. My favorites from this collection included: Andy Williams - Do You Hear What I Hear?, Johnny Mathis - The Christmas Song, Barbra Streisand - Ave Maria, Ray Conniff - Frosty the Snowman, New Christy Minstrels - We Need A Little Christmas, Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme - Let it Snow, and one of my all time favorites Bing Crosby - White World of Winter. ( I bet you thought I was going to say White Christmas didn't you). I eventually wore the grooves off of the album, so when CDs started coming out, I set a goal to find all of these songs on CD. It took almost 15 years and quite a few puchases, but last year I finally found the last one on my list. Huah!

Over the years Mom and Dad picked up quite a few more albums from JC Penneys and other department store dump bins, mostly reflecting the cool stylings of late 60's and early 70's artists. Each one holds a special memory of a Christmas past spent with family and friends around the tree.

What Christmas songs did you guys listen to when you were little? Let's get a list together to help count down to the best Christmas song ever.

Have a great Thanksgiving and hope to hear from y'all soon!