This week we cover a request for two animated holiday musical numbers! We delight in the Seussian turns of phrase in “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” performed by Thurl Ravenscroft and ponder the murky moral implications of “Oh, Santa!” performed by Larry the Cucumber and the cast of VeggieTales.
RJ was a guest on the Book Club for Masochists podcast this week, check them out!
Thank you to kiragecko for this week’s requests!
It’s Ash Wednesday! It’s Valentine’s Day! And possibly more relevant to this episode, it’s International Condom Day! We listen to two Christmas songs about sex, a sub-genre of holiday music that runs deep enough to haunt us for the rest of our days. Enjoy our slightly extra-long, extra-spicy musings about “Dick In a Box” by The Lonely Island featuring Justin Timberlake and “Not Tonight Santa” by Girls Aloud.
It’s Family Day here in British Columbia! Grab your sister, your Aunt Marie, and your weird uncle, and listen to some high-spirited holiday music with us! We review and rank “Come On! Let’s Boogey to the Elf Dance!” by Sufjan Stevens and “Latke Clan” by The Leevees, two somewhat eccentric songs that remind us of everything there is to love about the holidays.
This week we hear some songs from returning requesters! “Please Come Home For Christmas” as performed by The Eagles has us contradicting ourselves and each other, while “Til Santa’s Gone (Milk and Cookies)” by Clint Black finds us unexpectedly in sync.
Thank you to Dave and Mindy for these requests!
This week we cover two songs that force us to contemplate fear and desire, love and hatred – “‘Zat You, Santa Claus?” by Louis Armstrong and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” as performed by Burnaby’s own Michael Bublé. Our anonymous requester presents us with a puzzle – one song is beloved and one is despised. Which is which? Can we be sure? Can RJ get over their anti-Bublé bias long enough to figure it out? Find out!
Thanks again to our anonymous requester!
Buckle up for a car-centric episode of HARK! By request, we listen to “Driving Home for Christmas” by Chris Rea and “Home for the Holidays” as performed by The Carpenters. We also dunk on a bunch of American states, PROBABLY unfairly, so uh, sorry.
Thank you to lettinggosthehardestpart for the request!
It’s Alexander Hamilton’s birthday this week? And there are (at least) two Hanukkah-themed a capella Hamilton medleys available at a professional recording quality? Barack Obama endorsed one of them? So anyway, this week we’re talking about “Hasmonean: A Hamilton Hanukkah” by The Maccabeats and “A Hamilton Chanukah” by Six13.
The twelve days of Christmas continue and in this episode, we celebrate Epiphany with two versions of “We Three Kings”! Pink Martini’s rendition offers a smooth, fun take on this somber carol, while Patti Smith’s version is completely grave.
For our final episode of the year, we’re covering two 2017 songs by artists best known for their childhood work – in a sequel of sorts to one of our favorite episodes of HARK ever, we’re talking about “Finally It’s Christmas” by Hanson and “Christmas Memories” by Billy Gilman!
Happy holidays everyone! It’s that time of year – time for a milestone episode in which Ian & RJ surprise each other with picks aiming for the top and bottom of the list! RJ’s pick for the top offers a message of possibility in uncertain times, while Ian’s pick for the bottom submits some extremely specious advice about dance partners.
Here’s the article that RJ mentioned about ranking versions of “This Christmas”!