Delving into Miso Enveloped within Spector
with Andee & Tinsel for that 2 a.m. Christmas Snack Christmas All Year Week Wind-Down
For this 2 a.m. Christmas Snack with Andee & Tinsel, we are diving into the depths of Phil Spectorโs ๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐๐ญ ๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฎ, a unique Christmas song project with a crazy history, and a warm, tangy bowl of gingery Miso soup.
I have been a bit under the weather this week, so we are miso souping it with a handmade ginger ale and fresh Caesar salad, which we ordered in because today crafting in the kitchen sounds daunting. Yeah, Somehow I caught a tiny cold, and when that happens one of my favorite things to do is put on my Pop-pops favorite holiday album and zone out to the upbeat tunes. I close my eyes and imagine what it must have been like to walk down the city streets for my Pop-pop when this album became the new Christmas sound. Ironically, it was almost a decade after Spector released the album in 1963 that it finally got popular. Some say it was the Kennedy assassination which happened the same week that put a damper on these fun and upbeat arrangements of some beloved holiday songs. Others think people just werenโt quite ready for such different versions of their favorite Christmas songs yet, because these arrangements were unique.
I personally love a new arrangement of old classics, because as much as I love Christmas and its sounds, it's like everyone just makes the same songs over and over and over and over. So, I am always looking for unique covers, and even more so, original Christmas songs, which is more rare โ Albums of originals, TOTALLY rare. I found a few, Elizabeth Chan is one, but it sounds like she uses compositions from other songs and almost uses Christmas as a form of parody, like when she officially parodied Taylor Swiftโs Shake it Off as a Christmas song. But I have to really research it to verify if the compositions are originals or not, but she is using Christmas lyrics. She and Mariah Carey are in a tussle over the title Christmas Queen, which Carey is trying to trademark, because theyโre both self-proclaimed โChristmas Queensโ which is some funny tea. Mariah has two Christmas co-writes songs, whereas Elizabeth has over a hundred, soโฆ. of course we are speaking lyrically only. Luckily, its not โsupposedโ to be possible to trademark a phrase, so Chan may be happy at the end if money doesnโt talk too loud.
And since I mentioned Mariah Carey and I am enveloped within the Spector album right now, its keen to mention that โAll I Want For Christmasโ uses a familiar couple of tricks which likely added significantly to its huge success like the introduction being extremely similar to a Darlene Loveโs version of Christmas โ Baby Please Come Home, and the same chord progression โ considered the Christmas progression, from a dominant chord to that lovely Christmassy diminished chord, that feels โfestiveโ โ of Bing Crosbyโs White Christmas โ which is the single most successful Christmas song ever. Sneaky, sneaky! For now, Tinsel and I will continue to swim in the sounds of Spectorโs 1963 holiday versions while slurping some Miso soup and sipping ginger ale, for me of course. I got Tinsel a special peanut butter dog cookie treat from our local neighborhood vendor, which just happens to be Tinselโs favorite dog cookie spot.
Thanks for joining us for our 2 a.m. Christmas Snack and until next time, remember to share a little Christmas cheer all year.