Episode 80: Christmas Music Birthday Style

This week on HARK, we’re not celebrating a holiday… we’re celebrating a Holliday. It’s Ian’s birthday! When the birthday boy is given free reign over song selection, he puts forth two familiar Christmas tunes from his childhood, the always-classic “Let It Snow” by Dean Martin and the never-classic “Christmas Dinner Country Style” by Bing Crosby.

Episode 79: Torches, Cigarettes, & Other Experiments in French Parenting

This week, we add another language to our list – we’re celebrating holiday songs in French in honor of Bastille Day! While we’re not able to shed too much light on the cultural context (and our mastery of the language is… it’s just the worst), join us for two very enjoyable chansons en français, “Un Flambeau, Jeanette, Isabella” as performed by Diane Taraz and “Petit Papa Noel” by Tino Rossi.

Episode 78: Genderfucking and Santa Roleplay

This week we cover two requests from our # 1 fan timemachine, who followed up on the theme of a previous episode which… well… you’ll know which one. We discuss the genre-ruining “Santa Stole My Girlfriend” by The Maine and the surprisingly less surreal but still slightly off “Santa’s Beard” by They Might Be Giants. Thanks again to timemachine for the requests!

Episode 77: Mitten Metaphors & Straight-Up Lip-Mushing

It’s Canada Day and Nickelback still doesn’t have a holiday album, so we’re covering two original Christmas songs by previously-featured Canadian pop stars, Carly Rae Jepsen and Justin Bieber. RJ has accepted the gospel of Carly into their heart, but Ian is skeptical. We resolve our differences and learn a valuable lesson about sneaking into people’s bedrooms to leave them clothing(don’t do it).

Episode 76: All the Fun We Had Last Year

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After 75 episodes and 150 songs, we’re finally opening the seal on an unforgettable album: A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector. By request, we discuss Darlene Love’s “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, an actual-factual top-of-the-list contender. We pair it with Death Cab For Cutie’s more subdued version of the same song, what may be the least terrible of cover versions. Your mileage may vary. Thank you to Chris for the request!

Episode 75: It Wasn’t Like Obama At All

This week we cover our 150th song, and you know what that means! Ian & RJ surprise each other with their picks for the top and bottom of the list. Ian goes for number one with a simple but evocative indie tune. RJ looks for the worst of the worst and lands on a little ditty sponsored by the Koch brothers.

Episode 73: Close Your Mouth and Make an Ugly Face

For the next two weeks we’ll be addressing one of the more neglected decades on our list – the 1960s. This week we cover two songs that you might call Christmas music cult classics – “Close Your Mouth It’s Christmas” by The Free Design and “Rudolph Pouts” by Israfel’s Son.

Episode 72: Sailor Alvin, Sailor Simon, Sailor Theodore

By listener request, we tackle two Christmas songs from cartoon characters: “When the Saints Go Marching In” performed by the voice of Sailor Moon, Kotono Mitsuishi, and the novelty standard “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as The Chipmunks. Whether you find these tunes cute or cloying may depend on your level of nostalgia – listen in to hear which one causes our biggest ranking disagreement yet. Thank you to listener CJ for the request!