It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Well, no it's not actually since it's pouring with rain out there, but inside it's warm and cosy and it's the start of Christmas.

One of my first jobs at the start of December is to hunt out all my Christmas records so they can be played over the festive season and, with the advent of the iPod, transfer them onto iPey so I can take Christmas with me. So far I have 413 songs in my Christmas playlist and I'm now adding Christmas carols. Of course, it needs some editing. How many versions of the same song do I need? For example:

'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' by Bing Crosby, Bruce Springsteen, The Jackson 5, Wayne Newton, The Beach Boys, The Crystals, Frank Sinatra, SLADE (obviously I need the SLADE version);

'Winter Wonderland' by Andy Williams, Bing Crosby, Darlene Love, Dean Martin, Eurythmics, The Funk Brothers, Macy Gray, Peggy Lee, Perry Como, Rosemary Clooney, Tony Bennet;

All the 'standards' are represented by multiple versions.

Some of the non-standards are great to hear over the festive period. Songs like 'Wombling Merry Christmas' by The Wombles, 'Hey Mr Christmas' by Showaddywaddy, 'I Believe In Father Christmas' by Greg Lake, 'Listen The Snow Is Falling' by John and Yoko, 'Ring Out Solstice Bells' by Jethro Tull, 'Gaudete' by Steeleye Span, 'Another Rock'n'Roll Christmas' by Gary Glitter, 'Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney' by Ella Fitzgerald and, of course, that festive classic, 'There's No Lights On The Christmas Tree Mama, They're Burning Big Louie Tonight' by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

SLADE are, of course, represented in the playlist with their 'Crackers' album and Sufjan Stevens with his 'Songs For Christmas' boxset. I'll also add a sprinkling of non-Christmas but still seasonal songs, songs that I associate with Christmas, like 'Morningtown Ride' by the Seekers, 'Mr Sandman' by The Chordettes, '2 Become 1' by the Spice Girls, 'Cheery Beery Night' by PottedHeid, 'Us Amazonians' by Kirsty MacColl and 'Generation' by Buffy Sainte-Marie.

Anyway, enough of this rambling, I've got work to do!
*muttering* where did I put that 'Christmas With The Rat Pack' CD...