I love blogging - I really do. But sometimes, it just isn't enough to pay the bills. And by sometimes, I mean all the time. So, in order to make a little extra cash, I took a retail job. I mostly stock shelves, nothing big. My boss is cool, and so are my co-workers. So, everything was fine until 96.1 Joy FM started playing Christmas music, and I was subjected to it for 20 hours over a three-day span this week. 20 freaking hours of Christmas music. I appear before you a hollow shell of the man I used to be.

It's weird that "Christmas" music is considered a singular genre of music. Really, it's several genres centered around a singular theme. And even that theme takes on multiple iterations. There are Christmas songs of all modes, tackling many different aspects of the holiday. There's the harmless fun of "Jingle Bell Rock," and "Rockin Around The Christmas Tree," to the Biblical matters of "The Little Drummer Boy," to the absolute fucking horror show that is "The Christmas Shoes." I won't get into that one, because Patton Oswalt already said everything that needs to be said. But man, I heard that shit 4 fucking times this week!

One big thing I've learned about Christmas music is that redundancy is a total non-issue. Who cares if your version of "Winter Wonderland" is completely identical to every other version out there? Keep fuckin' that chicken! Same goes for "Let It Snow" and "Frosty the Snowman." We absolutely, unequivocally NEED 549,465,123 versions of all these songs! AMERICA! FOX NEWS! APPLE PIE!

But hey, I'm not a total Grinch about this shit. I do have a soft spot for Wham's enormous hit "Last Christmas."  For all of George Michael's many, many problems that have been discussed many, many times, and do not need to be regurgitated here, the dude can write a damn good pop song. Which is why it kills me that the radio insists on playing the solo Ashley Tisdale cover of the song rather than the fantastic original. There was already a perfectly good version of this song. Why did this soulless dreck need to exist? Oh right, the shareholders. never mind.

But hey, I got through it. My Wednesday shift ended, and I celebrated  a magical Christmas with my family. Wait, that was only Thanksgiving? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

So, I had every intention of finding a new cover that was not holiday related. However, almost every cover floating around this week is a holiday cover, so I relented. The question is, which holiday cover to choose? If you are me, you cover them both! Bonus content!

First up, we have Woods covering Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas Time is Here." Woods obviously make it very, well, woods-y by turning the piano driven track into something more low-fi and psychedelic.

Next up, we have the second greatest Christmas song of all time, Wham!'s "Last Christmas." Now before I tell you about The XX's cover, I have a few things I want to say about this song. One, it is great, don't argue with me on this one, the original is great stuff, seriously. Two, I feel like, looking at the lyrics, George Michael is just asking for the same problem he had the Christmas before. You would think, given what happened to him, he would be way more cautious in giving his heart to someone during the holidays. He basically establishes that he isn't the best judge of character so how do we know if it is really "someone special" this year. Sorry, I am just concerned.

Anyway, The XX's cover is underscores the emotional devastation at the heart of this sad tale, mostly because it is sung by the XX who have made this song much more sparse and icy. All in all, a good cover.
So, there you have it, a holiday edition of "Uncovered Covers." I leave you with this photo of myself, in case you ever wonder what the writers on this site look like. Happy Holidays!