Alicia Witt & Ben Folds "I'm Not Ready For Christmas"

Call me cynical, but these days, there is only one reason write a Christmas song:

For the mailbox money.

Unlike other songs, which have a regular arc of popularity, in that they play, they gain popularity, and they fade over a period of months or years or (if the songwriter is lucky) decades.

Christmas songs are different.  They fade from January to October, to return in November and December.  The cycle repeats.

If you are lucky enough to write a Christmas song that will get played from year to year---and the bar to clear to join that club is pretty low---then as a songwriter, you’ll be getting publishing check for years to come.

So it’s not surprising that Alicia Witt and Ben Folds were able to create a memorable, hummable Christmas tune.

What’s unfortunate is that it ain’t so FCC friendly.

Even though this song beats the pants off a lot of the 2nd rate stuff that gets played on radio at Christmas, it’s not likely to see the attention---or ASCAP/BMI fees---that it could potentially create . . .

So blast this one on your own.  But remember that it’s NSFW.

Ben Folds "All U Can Eat"

You know what I can't quite reconcile?

I feel pretty disgusted by the whole Black Friday insanity of our consumer culture, and am very, very put off that some businesses tried to get a jump on Christmas (which is still a month away!) by opening on Thanksgiving.

I reject participating in any of it.

On the other hand, I am not opposed to having a large, lavish meal on Thanksgiving.

Why is one okay in my mind, but not the other?

Isn't it all, as Ben Folds sings about, just crass consumption?


Hear the song on Youtube.