This week on HARK, we’re celebrating two holidays with just one set of requests. Notable interesting person Richard submitted a decidedly non-standard version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” performed by Jimmy Pardo and Scott Aukerman, which we’re covering for … Valentine’s Day(?). He also submitted “3 Generations” by Hawksley Workman, which definitely fits a Family Day theme.
Thanks again, Richard, for the requests!
This week’s ranking music is “A House or Maybe a Boat” by Hawksley Workman.
This week’s HARK is a veritable feast for the ears, though some parts of it likely go down more easily than others. We start with “Sick Christmas” by (DJ) The Prophet, a bottom-shooter apologetically requested by Alan. Then, we pair it with a high quality jam of our own choosing: “Sleigh Ride” by Astrocolor, which also serves as this week’s ranking music.
For our first episode recorded in 2020, we’re covering two songs from 2019! Get your HOT TAKES here! “Like It’s Christmas” by the Jonas Brothers is nothing and “Christmas Tree Farm” by Taylor Swift is something, but not much.
Thanks to Dave for these requests!
This week’s ranking music is also “Christmas Tree Farm” by Taylor Swift, but just the good part.
It’s 2020 and we’re looking back 20 years at some quintessentially 2000 holiday songs!”Xtina’s Xmas” by Christina Aguilera and “My Only Wish (This Year)” by Britney Spears both feature superstar performers and some strange formatting choices in their titles, but which one will fare better on our list? And which one is, you know, an actual song?
The ranking music in this episode is “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays”.
Happy Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a very merry milestone episode! RJ tries to top our festive list with a holiday classic that almost wasn’t a Christmas song, while Ian shoots for the bottom of the list by getting back to basics. We end this episode with an announcement about the future of HARK!
The ranking music this week is “What Christmas Means to Me” by Stevie Wonder.
The holiday equinox of 2019 is upon us, beginning with the first night of Hanukkah on December 22nd. To celebrate, we’re listening to two high-quality Hanukkah songs. “Chanukah Time” by Josh and the Jamtones is a fun song that captures a child-like excitement about the holiday, while “This Chanukiah” by Daniel Cainer takes a more heartfelt, reflective approach.
This week’s ranking music is “Christmas Wrapping” by Save Ferris.
RJ and Ian are back from Tokyo and celebrating their jet-lag with songs from decades that have never been featured on the show before. First, 1898’s “Sleigh Ride Party/Jingle Bells” by the Edison Male Quartet becomes the oldest song we’ve every talked about on the show by several decades, while also proving that there is no such thing as a “standard” version of Jingle Bells. Then, 1904’s “Old Jim’s Christmas Hymn” by Albert C. Campbell and James F. Harrison provides a much more moving story than we expected given the goofy title.
This week’s ranking music is “Swingin’ Them Jingle Bells” by Fats Waller.
We’re still in Japan, celebrating our anniversary, and this episode is all about love! I mean, and holiday music, because that’s the show. Two winter love songs help us mark the occasion – “Love In December” by Club 8 and “Warm In December” by Julie London.
This week’s ranking music is “Sea Urchins” by Yo La Tengo.
Greetings from Japan! We recorded this episode early because we’re currently on our long-anticipated vacation in Tokyo, and we picked songs to suit the occasion. We journey from Canada to Japan with “Last Christmas (English/Japanese Version)” by Gunnarolla featuring Micaela Braithwaite and then just have a real nice time – you know, it’s just nice – with “Sweet Christmas” by Shonen Knife.
This week’s ranking music is “Party Hard” by Andrew WK, and this episode also features clips of “Canon in D (Pachelbel’s Canon)” performed by Marnie and Patrick Laird and “Triangle Foods” by Gunnarolla.
Knock knock! In this week’s episode, we celebrate the ancient tradition of wassailing with two listener requests – “Here We Come A-Wassailing” as performed by Kate Rusby and “The Wassailing Song” as performed by Blur.
This episode’s ranking music is “Here We Come A-Caroling” as performed by the Sesame Street gang.
