Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue #1

Heaton Moor Christmas Tree

The Waitresses'  'Christmas Wrapping' is my favourite Christmas song of all time.

I like it's realness, it's sense of harassed pre-Christmas organisation and the merry hell Christmas preparations can have upon everyday life. Anyone trying to get in or out of Manchester city centre recently will know what I'm talking about here.

I first encountered the song in the late 1990s when I was in the process of leaving my job as a Catering Assistant for an ill fated stint as a Researcher at a publishing company. That saxophone definitely kept me sane, and Patty died far too young.

'Coconut Water' by Milk & Bone is a sweetly sad, wistful song I only heard recently. It came out in March so I haven't built any history with this song yet, just really, really like it's electro pop elegance. It reminds me of Foxbase Alpha period Saint Etienne, and doesn't feel much like a winter song, but put that to one side because it has all the hallmarks of a classic.

'She moved through the fair', here being hauntingly performed by Sinead O'Connor as 'He moved through the fair' is a traditional folk song I have loved for several years now. There is a ambiguity and sadness to it that I really like. This version, needless to say, is perfect.

It's taken me a while to settle on a Billie Holiday track, but I've settled in the end on 'T'ain't Nobody's Business if I Do' because I like it's cheery 'fuck you' attitude, its knife edge morality and all round excellence. Enjoy...

Image of Heaton Moor Christmas tree by Cazz Blase. Copyright Cazz Blase, all rights reserved.