Homemade Christmas CD Playlist 1 (2001): The Classics

During the first post-9/11 holiday season, for no particular reason that I can remember, I acquired a hobby of making my own CDs of holiday music, focusing on styles of music I can actually stand to listen to for long periods of time: various types of rock, blues, r&b, certain strains of country, a smattering of reggae, ska, jazz, and swing, but very few choirs or Crosby-esque crooners. This has grown to be quite a lengthy collection over the years (18 CDs so far), and people hear us playing them and ask what is on them. Since there is a whole genre of blog that features nothing but playlists, a blog seemed like a good place to share this information. The sources of the music are my CD and record collection along with my beloved EMusic and the occasional dip into pay-per-track services like Amazon downloads, post-outlaw Napster, and the painfully proprietary ITunes. The CDs started out with a lot of obvious choices, but they get a bit more clever and thematic as they go along, if I do say so. I should note that the playlists include nothing from several family holiday favorites that got (and still get) played a lot without my anthologizing them, Phil Spector's A Christmas Gift for You, the Squirrel Nut Zippers' Christmas Caravan, and The Coolest Christmas, a 1994 compilation that may have been the first holiday CD I ever bought.

VOLUME 1: MODERN CLASSICS
1. Bobby Helms - Jingle Bell Rock (2:11)
2. Chuck Berry - Run Run Rudolph (2:43)
3. Louis Prima & His New Orleans Gang - What Will Santa Claus Say (When He Finds Everybody Swingin'?) (3:12)
4. Louis Armstrong - 'Zat You, Santa Claus? (2:49)
5. Ventures - Snow Flakes (What Child is This) (2:21)
6. Bruce Springsteen - Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (4:29) -- probably started the modern trend of semi-irreverent rock Christmas music back in the late 70s, when it was a December staple of the AOR stations
7. Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping (5:28) -- ditto
8. Gary Glitter - Another Rock and Roll Christmas (3:47)
9. Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) (2:05)
10. Teenage Fanclub - Christmas Eve (2:01)
11. Mabel Scott - Boogie Woogie Santa Claus (2:18)
12. The Bangles - A Hazy Shade of Winter (2:47)
13. Sting - Gabriel's Message (2:13)
14. Dido - Christmas Day (4:02)
15. Low - Little Drummer Boy (4:52) -- from the probably the best rock Christmas album ever, but also once used on a Gap commercial
16. Weezer - The Christmas Song [no chestnuts] (3:08)
17. Tom Petty - It's Christmas All Over Again (4:15)
18. Queen - Thank God It's Christmas (4:23)
19. Alison Moyet - The Coventry Carol (3:32)
20. Pearl Jam - Let Me Sleep (It's Christmas Time) (2:57)
21. Lyle Lovett - Christmas Morning (3:46)
22. Widespread Panic - Christmas Katie (5:29)
23. They Might Be Giants - O Tannenbaum (2:05)
24. Willie Nile - We Wish You a Merry Christmas (1:34)