That time of year when all the department stores and supermarkets try to bring us a bit of festive Cheer by piping Christmassy music into the shop. Strikes me it's always the same old same old. That risible Chris de Burgh song gets its annual outing, along with Mariah Carey singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town etc.
It struck me though that there's some perfectly good Christmas songs that never see the light of day in the shops. For instance when was the last time you popped into Tesco and they were playing Tom Waits' Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis? Or Captain Beefheart singing There Ain't No Santa Claus on the Evening Stage?
Come on guys. You can do better than Chris de Burgh. Well can't you?
I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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Hands up - I'm a compiler of background music, and as such, yes that includes Christmas music.
Mostly restaurants and hotels for us, though, not shops, although we do a hairdresser's salon, if that counts?
I do try and get creative with it where the client's brief allows, but then if you don't include the usual suspects, people miss them, so what can you do?
Have to say that back in the day when I did music for a Spanish-themed restaurant chain, doing the Christmas music was effing difficult!
That reminds me of the issue of the NME many moons ago, where the reviews section included the Phil Collins and Sting albums released that week. One line for each review:
Sting album: "I bet even the Phil Collins album is better than this".
Phil Collins album: "I bet even the Sting album is better than this"
On the plus side, people very often use Christmas as an excuse to drag out really old music, and as an Early Music fan it's a chance to hear stuff that you're denied the rest of the year. And another excellent excuse for Messiah, Christmas Oratorio et al.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Reminds me, I need to get the full kilowatt PA set up for this...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB2l6UESSyo&list=PLcZMZxR9uxC8nhBY9Jn6kihqK9suWiuBQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHoJ3BD6xas
NSFW