Lockdown Ludonaut

Compiling the checklist for the latest Operation CanCon piece — the Holiday Special — was an interesting exercise. I dug out my various collections of holiday music, literally a bin full of stored discs, and my beloved iPod Classic with years worth of playlisted favourites. Going through them was like the proverbial trip along memory lane, and I quickly amassed a number of feasible candidates. I was soon faced by a several issues, though…

First, the prior OCC checklists had been limited to a single selection by any one artist. In the case of holiday music, many of the available songs were collaborations; it quickly became apparent that a significant portion of the list might be dominated by the Barenaked Ladies. (Unfortunately, the hardest cut was “Green Christmas”, which I love.)

Second, some artists had so many holiday songs — still looking at you, Barenaked Ladies — or even multiple holiday albums — like Sarah McLachlan — that the choices were overwhelming. What to choose?

As a compromise, addressing both of these issues, I decided to invert my own guideline by narrowing the selections to one of each song (rather than one of each artist) so, for all of the versions of “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” that I love — including those by Alanis Morissette and, again, Sarah McLachlan — I limited myself to only one, by the Grapes of Wrath.

Third, many of the artists in the four OCC checklists (Eighties, Nineties, Classics, and New Millennium/How to Play) were not represented in my personal collection of holiday music, so I went on a mission to trawl through as much of their new materials as I could. For instance, I discovered that the Crash Test Dummies had released a specific Christmas album, although I wound up sticking with my original pick, the seasonally-themed “Winter Song”. Also, Dragonette had released what is currently this holiday’s hottest song — at least in this household — “Merry Xmas (Says Your Text Message)”.

Fourth, and finally, I was reminded that YouTube does not allow “children’s music” to be included on custom playlists (for reasons which, frankly, don’t make much sense to me). As such, my original choice of Raffi’s “Must Be Santa” was replaced by a runner-up, Choir!Choir!Choir!’s “What a Wonderful World (Live in the Eaton Centre)” on the playlist below.

I hope you enjoy these songs, I hope you enjoy the free, limited-time Holiday Special, and I hope you have an amazing rest-of-the-year! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6UrFBoxXUApOMW0yXfKTumZ6p9rsGVia