Episode 369: Taking Care of Nonsense

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Listen, at the time of this recording, Sabrina Carpenter’s album WAS at the top of the charts. She’s still near the top! Top-ish! WE REMAIN RELEVANT

In this episode, we discuss Sabrina Carpenter’s 2022 Christmas track (and soon-to-be basis of a Netflix special, apparently) “A Nonsense Christmas”, followed by the circa-2015 “Christmas the Whole Year Round”. Join us as we celebrate Carpenter’s musical journey, from pop production that projects virginity to the most dick-puns-per-minute song in the podcast’s history!

The ranking music in this episode is, of course, “Nonsense” by Sabrina Carpenter.

Episode 368: Lower Twang Quotient

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It’s back to school season and we’re back to taking listener requests! That’s not really the theme of the episode, but it is true. This week we cover two listener requests for two versions of the same song! First up, we listen to “Nothing But a Child” as performed by Robin and Linda Williams for the Prairie Home Christmas compilation album or audiobook or live broadcast or whatever the case may actually be. Then we visit the original (and much twangier) version by Steve Earle.

The ranking music in this episode is “A Baby Changes Everything” by Faith Hill.

Thank you to Patricia and Liam for these requests!

Episode 367: Our Podcast Got Run Over by Syllables

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Hey, listen. As I’m writing this, Ian and Jam are both very jetlagged. They don’t remember why they thought covering these songs would be fun. It was a nightmare. August Got Run Over By a Reindeer is a nightmare in general. But hopefully, that’s fun for you, the listener. In honour of the Election Year (and because we gotta cover these versions of GGROBAR eventually), we listened to “Obama Got Run Over by a Reindeer” by Doc Pearson and “Kamala Got Run 0ver by a Reindeer” by…… (checks notes)….. Bubba Beige? I think that’s right.

The ranking music in this episode, and all August Got Run Over By a Reindeer (AGROBAR) episodes, is “Everything Sucks” by Reel Big Fish.

Episode 366: Our Podcast Got Run Over by Good Kerning

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Savor with us, won’t you, the delectable second year of August Got Run Over By a Reindeer? The second year is the brief stage of a made-up tradition in which we could, if we had better judgment, back out: haha, that sure was a funny joke we made last year, an annual month of Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer related songs! By the third year, we’ll be in too deep; listener expectations will force us to continue. And yet, dear listeners, we have not opted to take this last exit. We stay the course. We persist. We drive on, like so many sleighs over so many grandmothers, down this lonesome highway once again.

The songs in this episode are, bafflingly, “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” by Elmo & Patsy and “Grandma’s Homemade Christmas Card” by Merle Haggard. It will make sense when you listen, I promise.

The ranking music in this episode, and all August Got Run Over By a Reindeer (AGROBAR) episodes, is “Everything Sucks” by Reel Big Fish.

Episode 365: Atoning for Our Ska Sins

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It’s been almost a year, and the time has come. In August of 2023, Ian was incorrect about something. More incorrect than we usually are about things on this podcast. And so, we attempt to set things right by giving ska its due. Our ska education starts with Al and the Vibrators’ “Merry Christmas”, followed by Toots and the Maytals’ “Christmas Feeling Ska”.

The ranking music in this episode is “Polka Face” by Weird Al Yankovic. (For the record, Ian chose this.)

Episode 364: I Wish It Was Birthday Today

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Ian’s birthday has us pondering important questions, including: What does the early 00s sound like? Are British people more excited out of their gourds about Christmas than North Americans? And, perhaps most importantly, am I The Guy Who Sucks? We also listen to two versions of “I Wish It Was Christmas Today”, one performed by Julian Casablancas and one performed by Cheap Trick!

The ranking clip in this episode is from “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” (which I’m just finding out right now is maybe sometimes titled “Christmas Treat“) as performed by Horatio Sans, Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Gonzo.

Episode 363: Have Yourself a Merry Little Dance Party

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We’re about to go on our annual summer break, but we wanted to leave you with something to enjoy while we’re away! This episode, we’ve got two Christmas songs that might just be your new hot summer jam. “Make It Jingle” by Big Freedia will have you shaking a number of both literal and metaphorical things, and “Stripper Christmas Summer Weekend” by GWAR is better than that sounds, we swear!

Correction: in this episode we accidentally combined two soundtrack credits for “Make It Jingle”, the film Office Christmas Party and the game Just Dance 2018. The TV show that the recently evil search engine suggested was probably “Christmas Party”, an episode of The Office, which is still not a show, per se, so let’s say we’re all in the wrong here.

The ranking clip in this episode is Big Freedia in Beyonce’s “Formation”! That’s worded oddly because she’s not a “featured” artist for whatever reason!

Episode 362: Santa Daddy

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Ok, yes, we may be burning this title when there are certainly multiple renditions of “Santa Baby” called “Santa Daddy” that we didn’t touch in this episode. We’re just going to have to call that one “Daddy Christmas” or something. No, rather than casting actual Santa as a metaphorical daddy, this Father’s Day episode features songs about actual fathers and not-actual Santa Clauses: “Santa Claus Looks Like My Daddy” by Danny Kaye and “Daddy’s Beer” by Dave Gunning.

Thank you to Myles for requesting “Santa Claus Looks Like My Daddy”!

The ranking music in this episode is “Santa Claus is a Black Man” by Akim and Teddy Vann.

Episode 361: Hard Listening

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It’s getting to be that time of year! You know, the time of year when it feels completely wild to tell someone that you listen to a year-round winter-holiday music podcast? But don’t worry, we’ve got two listener requests to kick your holiday spirit back into high gear. “Bing Crosby Wrote Festive Christmas Songs” by Angry Snowmans is a cover that puts a right jolly twist on a punk standard. Then the upbeat “I Still Believe in Christmas” by The Fleshtones puts us in the mood for prancing, dancing, dashing, and dondering!

(Side note: if you want to know the origins of all of Angry Snowmans’ songs, someone did that legwork and posted it on reddit three years ago!)

The ranking music in this episode is “Bob Dylan Wrote Propoganda Songs” by The Minutemen.

Thank you to Kevin for these requests!

Episode 360: Aggressively Fine

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Since it’s almost Victoria Day (or as Canadians call it, “May Long Eh”), we’re talking British Christmas music again — specificially a few popular tunes that never crossed the threshold into Christmas #1s in the UK. “Christmas Lights” by Coldplay is, you know, fine. It’s fine! And “You’re Christmas to Me” by Sam Ryder? It’s FINE. WHATEVER, OK? IT’S FINE.

The ranking music in this episode is “Best Friends Squad” by Strong Bad, for reasons that should become obvious.