Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime

December's Earworms Challenge

For the December Earworms Challenge, I’m just gonna keep it short. It’s the holiday season and everyone is freaking busy and simultaneously trying to relax. I’m a little disappointed in this Challenge cos I figured it would have plenty of Christmas songs, but there was only ONE, you probably already know which one from the title. Anyway, this was my second attempt this month at getting a Challenge done, being so busy and my mind so cluttered, that I’d keep forgetting I was doing one and completely lose track of the songs super quickly. And since it’s been nearly a week since I did this one, I may not remember where they came from. So that’s how I’ll keep it short, by only talking about the ones I distinctly recall. It is a very good list, I’m mostly happy with it. All over the place, as it should be, and filled with damn good songs. Anything you’ve never heard before, definitely check out, and you’re welcome.

Also I included a bonus song at the end, another Christmas song, which was NOT one of my Earworms that day, but a track I heard for the first time and immediately loved. I’ll explain later on. Anyway, here’s the list, and let’s get to some brief notes!

NOTES:

Defying Gravity, by the cast of Glee: Yeah Wicked is everywhere right now. I’ve never seen the movie or the play, but I’ve read the book and of course I know Defying Gravity, mainly from watching Glee. So that is the version that was stuck in my head. Aaand now it’s there again.

Staring at the Sun, by U2: A highly underrated U2 track, if you ask me. It’s here because when I finished listening to one of my playlists, Spotify picked out more music it thought I’d enjoy, as it tends to do, and it chose a song with the same name by some other artist I’d never heard of. I can’t even remember the name of the artist. I got this wonderful song stuck instead.

Just Like Heaven, by The Cure: This is one of my favorite songs of all time, ever. It was playing on the radio and stayed with me, thankfully.

Dammit, by Blink-182: This one was also playing on the radio in the car, just before my elder daughter hijacked the stereo with her Spotify. Since I was obsessed with Blink as a teenager, I used it as a teachable moment to tell her how this was the song that made them big.

Oh Boy, by MxPx: My husband Ian came into the room and was talking to our two-year-old, I don’t remember about what, but he said, “Oh boy,” and that’s all it took for me. This is a cover of the Buddy Holly tune from MxPx’s On the Cover album, which I absolutely loved as a teenager. I probably wouldn’t know all the words to this song without this version of it. I love punk rock covers.

All Along the Watchtower, by Jimi Hendrix: Ian was playing for me some of the music he is working on, and I told him it had Hendrix vibes, so naturally this song took over my brain.

Lost in the Woods, by Weezer: This is Weezer’s rendition of the song from Disney’s Frozen 2, and it plays during the closing credits of the movie. Miranda was playing the movie version (sung by Kristoff) in the car, and since I’m more familiar with Weezer’s, that’s the one that stuck with me. Unpopular opinion: I like Frozen 2 better than Frozen. Especially the music. And this song is one of the reasons.

Wonderful Christmastime, by Paul McCartney: If you don’t like this song, congratulations, you are officially a Scrooge. This was in an Instagram post I saw, and it stayed with me.

The Fun Lovin’ Criminal, by Fun Lovin’ Criminals: I was thinking about this mom on Instagram talking about how her kid was just screaming and yelling at her all the time (personally, I am very much against rewarding bad behavior), and I was just like, yeah if she doesn’t put a stop to that, she’s got a future felon on her hands. Then my brain chimes in with, “Stick ‘em up punk, it’s the fun lovin’ criminal.”

And that’s all I remember about why these songs were stuck in my head.

Bonus Song:

O Holy Night (In the Style of Chris Cornell), by Anthony Vincent: This is the Christmas song we didn’t know we needed. Anthony Vincent is a ridiculously talented musician and singer who is YouTube famous for taking famous songs and singing them in completely different styles. He can sound like pretty much anybody, and it’s insane. So he sang O Holy Night (one of my very favorite Christmas songs) in the way the late great Chris Cornell might have done it. This is magical. Anthony has two YouTube channels, Ten Second Songs and Anthony Vincent. Definitely check it out!

That’s all I have for this month’s challenge! Like and subscribe if you haven’t already, because I’m currently working on my Favorite Albums Ever (or something like that) playlist, which may end up being in two installments, and come Christmas I’ll probably post a list of my all-time favorite Chrismas songs. I actually love holiday music, and I’m kinda disappointed that I haven’t listened to much of it this year. Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season full of love and magic!

Oh, and hey—didn’t you want to take the Earworms Challenge, yourself? Just keep up with every song that gets stuck in your head for an entire day, and make a playlist out of it. If you want to share your Earworms playlist with me, I’ll listen to it! Leave a link in the comments below.