Now, the smoke fills the air
In this honky-tonk bar
And I'm thinking 'bout where I'd rather be.
But I burned all my bridges,
I sank all my ships
And I'm stranded at the edge of the sea
1. It is my utmost pleasure to have you with me in The Horse & Feather for our last Barfly Session before Christmas Day. I would say the majority of these tracks would sit comfortably alongside a large brandy eggnog so let's call this our Christmas Special and if you've got a festive drink already to hand, many congratulations, you are already winning and these songs are for you. Now, we haven't seen any snow yet but for this session and especially our first track, we'll just have to improvise. Throw a log on the fire, clutch your glass, close your eyes and imagine a white blanket on the ground outside as we try and make tonight as Christmassy as we possibly can... but without the presence of Mariah Carey, Cliff Richard, or Slade. We start tonight with this perfectly weighted Smith & Burrows track from 2011. Really lovely this one. "When I dream tonight/I'll dream of you/When the Thames froze"
1. Smith & Burrows
When The Thames Froze
2. I set a couple of rules to myself when I started this blog and one of those rules was that I'd only play an artist or band just once however I've reached a stage where it's now getting difficult to stick to this. Firstly, the blog's success is dependent on great music (and I've got lots to share) but so much of it is from folks who I've already featured on here and to cut their cord would inadvertently weaken what we've got going and more importantly it would prevent some great tracks been brought to your attention... which is what it's all about after all. Secondly and quite frankly, after hundreds of songs it's getting harder to remember if I've already put the artist on before - especially with my shit-for-brains memory - so I've had to adjust The Barfly Sessions doctrine to allow for artists to appear more than once. I can only trust my Superfans (😝) will support this reversal. Our second track is by a singer/songwriter who has been on a previous session. His Christmas offering from 2002 is one of my festive favourites. Far too sweet a song not to be included in tonight's playlist.
2. Badly Drawn Boy
Donna and Blitzen
3. "Getting groovy after Halloween/Mid-November, got back on the scene/I'm so glad that I just got my pay/I was born on Christmas day." This Christmas pairing from 1993 doesn't get the radio play I think it richly deserves. I love it to bits. From the "roll the tape" intro it's absolutely bloody wonderful all the way to the end and for the last few years, from December 24th onwards, I've downed endless glasses of white wine, Baileys etc to this in the kitchen whilst trying to neatly put a knife through a mint Vienetta (is Vienetta even a thing that exists anymore?) Turn this one up. It's another classic.
3. Saint Etienne (Featuring Tim Burgess)
I Was Born On Christmas Day
4. Now Christmas is a celebration shared across the world so surely it's only right that we include a little Afro-Beat in tonight's playlist. Afro-Beat and Christmas songs wouldn't normally be associated with each other but I fell upon an piece of Ghanaian work under the title Voodoo Funk a couple of years ago that I'd love you to hear. It's a bit of a wild ride but it's very infectious. The singers are Kojo Donkoh, Pee Pee Dynamite and Pee Pee King. Like the main man himself says, keep it swinging.
4. Kojo Donkoh, Pee Pee Dynamite and Pee Pee King.
A Groovy Christmas And New Year
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5. Stelfox has dug deep into his Christmas archives and come up with this gem for us from The Raveonettes from 2004. I am fairly certain we haven't had any Danish bands on our Barfly Sessions before now so this will please the 4 wonderful folks from Denmark who have viewed the blog this month. Ah yes friends, no matter what country you reside in, no one gets left out. I can see you. We are a joint force together. Thanks for the song choice Fox. This is The Christmas Song.
5. The Raveonettes
The Christmas Song
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6. We march onwards to track number six and I've opted to play a quite mystical and enigmatic band called Whyte Horses next. I've never been able to find out too much about this band really except that they're Manchester based. They did a great Christmas song called "Next Year Will Be Mine" and I came super close to playing that instead of this (please check it out if you can) but heart ruled over head and I decided on The Snowfalls as it was one of those rare songs that you hear on the radio and think "Man, that's awesome" and you wait until the presenter reveals the name of the band and you do your best to brain stash it for when you get home. If you haven't heard this one before, you're in for an early Christmas present as this is beyond brilliant.
6. Whyte Horses
The Snowfalls
7. Some poetic licence is needed for our last song tonight. I don't suppose it's a Christmas song to everybody but I think it's got so much magic about it, I always associate it with the festive season. To me, those icy, falling snow, piano keys bring to mind Edward Scissorhand's and those gothic winter scenes that Tim Burton set up so well. Danny Elfman did an incredible job with the soundtrack for that film and this song by Patrick Watson would surely not sound out of place on it. Or maybe it's just me of course. To be fair, it often is. Lets just play the damn track and you can decide for yourself if I'm talking horse-shit. Just one thing though, before The Horse & Feather powers down it's Barfly Session speakers for the year. From the very bottom of my rusty heart, I'd like to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Thank you for being a part of this. Tonight I raise my glass to each and every one of you. See you back here next week. Nollaig Shona dhuit! x
7. Patrick Watson
Lighthouse
