Nat King Cole: "The Christmas Song"

Merry Christmas from Daijams!

Charlotte Church: "Silent Night"

I went to church with my family today. It had been awhile, but I grew up going to Christmas services with my grandparents, and I never really minded because the Christmas worship is about 80% singing and 20% candle-lighting, both things that even fidgety kids can get behind. The pastor tells the Christmas story and we sing through the Christmas catalog, from "Hark the Herald Angels" to "O Little Town of Bethlehem," ending with "Silent Night." In order to experience this song properly, stick a white taper candle in a plastic cup, turn off all the lights, surround yourself with family, and sing along. If you can hit the notes Charlotte Church hits, the Christmas spirit is truly with you.

If you can't, you're probably just not a child prodigy soprano. Don't be too hard on yourself, it's still Christmas!

Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas wraps up tomorrow, then back to your regularly scheduled programming. I hope you've enjoyed the romp through all the different styles of Christmas celebration!

Lady Gaga: "White Christmas"

So I made it to Iowa for Christmas weekend. The family time is splendid, though I'm hiding for a few minutes to type this up. This video cuts straight to the core of a great live performance. Gaga invokes an almost Disney princess-level vibrato on a cool jazz classic. She's even got an adorable speech in the middle to introduce an extra verse she wrote about a snowman. Not necessarily what you'd expect from the artist behind the songs "Beautiful, Dirty, Rich" and "Love Stick" -- both of which are about exactly what they sound like. I'll take the snowman, and the live band, and the whole bit. Is this testing ground for a full-scale Gaga Christmas album next year?

Two more posts to go in Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas -- which means I'll be posting over the weekend for the first time, uh, ever. So I hope you tune in! Happy holidays and safe travels!

Judy Garland: "After the Holidays"

I'm hitting the road for Iowa to celebrate the holidays, so a very quick post today -- but really, with Judy Garland, not many words are needed. Just close your eyes and listen to her voice in this song. She slides in and out with the piano. They're joined by strings, and then the rest of the band swells and, wait a minute, is that...is that a flute? Why yes. That's a flute. There's a high woodwind section. Don't you miss music like this sometimes?

And Judy always sounds so eager, so sincere. "Just stay with me 'til after the holidays," she pleads. "I know it's hard, but try. Try to pretend 'til New Year's, then we can say goodbye." Talk about a doomed romance. But she still wants it. Don't you miss storylines like this sometimes?

The holidays make me all nostalgic. I think I've been listening to too much top 40 lately. It's just so damn catchy. Three more posts to go in Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas! Which video is going to be the partridge in the pear tree? Any suggestions?

Martina McBride: "O Holy Night"

Juke Box Hero has got one more holiday diddy to offer before we finish up Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas this weekend! Take it away!

With such a diversity of styles and artists in the Christmas carol repertoire, there are plenty of styles in the mix to keep these consecutive holiday-themed posts lively and fresh. And even though Brittany’s done such a thorough job rounding out beautiful voice-focused tracks (Susan Boyle and "Ave Maria"), here’s another one in the same vein.

You might call "O Holy Night" the "National Anthem" of Christmas carols: everyone’s sung it at some point, but it’s difficult to perform, much less well. Country music siren Martina McBride belts it as well, if not better, than anyone. Anyone. (That includes you, NSYNC, though your unique attempt is still pretty cool.)

The song is one of my all-time favorite carols. It’s just so clean, simple and beautiful, devoid of camp and pumped-up production. Every Christmas Eve at the church my family goes to, a soprano performs the solo with traditional organ accompaniment. The only way I can think to describe her voice is as powerfully glistening, a vibrant vibrato making the absolute most of each sustained note. When she begins the song’s climactic verse, I get chills. Spine-tingling, hair-raising, tear-jerking chills. Every time. Now Martina, she’s right up there.

Part of what I love about this song is that it exposes a voice and a singer as truly great or just so-so. Martina may only have been named the CMA’s "Female Vocalist of the Year" a record-tying four times (along with Reba, natch), but her voice, a set of pipes to rival most church organs, could hold its own in any genre – except for maybe Mongolian throat singing. She lays it all out in this performance; she’s holding nothing back, yet she's entirely in control, like MJ driving the lane or MS frosting a cake: it’s a good thing. What you hear with Martina is what you get, and if you’ve never heard her before, you’ll love what you get.

Various Artists: "Ave Maria"

I grew up attending a church with my grandmother. The sermons put me to sleep, but before the sermon came the songs. Church was the only place you were expected to be able to sing four-part harmony without practicing. I'd thumb through the hymnal, my fingers tracing the music lines of my favorite hymns over the thin pages. There was always one verse in the music staff, and eighteen additional verses scrunched into the bottom margin. My grandmother assured me that no one would hear me if I said the wrong words or sang the wrong notes, so I went for it, straining for the top soprano notes, then finding the alto's harmony. Christmas songs were the best, because some of them had shaken out into the secular world and I knew them already. "Silent Night" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" were my favorites, particularly the "Gloria" refrain of the latter, which was my first ever public singing solo (in the church Christmas pageant, natch).

I grew up in admiration of "Ave Maria," but as a Catholic intercession prayer, we didn't sing it in my Protestant church. The song has been set to music multiple times, most notably by German composer Franz Schubert in 1825. He was just 28 years old, and he wrote the music for Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake," in which the song is also known as "Ellen's Third Song." The melody has become one of the most recognizable (and universally tear-jerking) Catholic songs in the world, sung at services, weddings, funerals, and any other time the Virgin Mary may be asked to intercede. I'll ask Pavarotti to do the honors:

In 1859, French composer Charles Gounod wrote another version of "Ave Maria," which he imposed over J.S. Bach's "Prelude No. 1 in C Major." I'll let Bobby McFerrin take you through a guided tour of that one:

So the problem I faced as I prepared today's post was that I wanted to include this song in Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas, but I literally could not pick. It would be impossible to choose just one to represent the set, the whole spectrum of experiences. So I offer instead a cornucopia of versions from different artists. (For any easy way to flip through, visit my Daijams YouTube playlist and choose your starting place.)

Tarja Turunen is an enigma. She's got a three-octave vocal range and could easily headline operas worldwide. Instead she's best known as the lead singer of a Finnish symphonic metal band. I repeat -- a Finnish symphonic metal band. You've got to hear it for yourself, so here's a video. She was kicked out of the band in 2005 and has since led a successful solo career that kicked off with -- what else? -- a Christmas album. Here's her 2006 performance of Schubert's "Ave Maria."

Next, Beyonce's got the full diva treatment here, from the fan blowing her hair to the mid-song outfit change to the audacity to add new words to "Ave Maria." She's certainly got the pipes for it.

And we'll end with another Schubert version...this just blows me away. This 10-year-old girl emotes like she's been singing for 50 years. Her name is Jackie Evancho, and she did not win this talent competition, but she's going to take over the world. That's if she ignores the whispers of the Ghosts of Child Stars past. Stay in school, Jackie! (But keep singing!)

Wait, what's that? You say Jackie Evancho also performed the Bach/Goudon version of "Ave Maria" back when she was nine in what looks like a school gymnasium, surrounded by balloons? Oh we should definitely check that out.

Guy Sebastian: "Happy Xmas (War is Over)"

As we wait for the worst winter ever to hit Chicago, we're heading down under for today's installment of Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas. Aussie pop star Guy Sebastian was the winner of the first ever Australian Idol in 2003, and he's kept pace with his American counterpart, Kelly Clarkson, who kicked off the talent show era of reality television in 2002. In a matter of less than 10 years, these artists have each released five albums, toured the world, and become household names in their own countries. Life's good for the Idol contestants -- the ones with the grit to make it, at least.

I hate too much "Beyonce-ing" of a song -- you know what I mean, when a singer will tack on about 15 extra notes to every single word -- and Sebastian is certainly capable of Mariah-style runs, but he does so tastefully, leaving us wanting more. This song is all about building drama and dynamics; key changes are incorporated into every verse and chorus, ramping up the excitement and then bringing it back down again. (Seriously, John Lennon was a genius of a song writer.)

If you follow the news, you'll have heard that President Obama is pulling all American troops out of Iraq by December 31, putting an end to a war that began with our invasion in 2003 -- the same year these pop stars were neophytes singing on a talent show. In the ensuing eight years, nearly 4,500 American lives were lost and another 30,000 were wounded, according to the Washington Post.

President George Bush showed us in 2003 that when you say the war is over, that doesn't necessarily mean the war is over, or the mission accomplished. The war may never be over, but peace is being sought, and for that I'm proud to be an American.

Here are the lyrics:

So this is Christmas and what have you done,
Another year over, a new one just begun.

And so this is Christmas, I hope you have fun,
The near and the dear ones, the old and the young.

A very merry Christmas and a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one without any fear.

And so this is Christmas for weak and for strong,
The rich and the poor ones, the road is so long.

And so happy Christmas for black and for white
For the yellow and red ones let's stop all the fights.

War is over if you want it, war is over now.

Corul Sound: "Shedrik, Shedrik (Carol of the Bells)"

According to a hasty YouTube search, no mainstream artists have done a cover of "Shedrik," otherwise known as "Carol of the Bells," in its original Ukranian. This is probably because the song is more of a choir piece as opposed to something Mariah Carey can take and explode from the inside. This random Ukranian Romanian choir's version is short and sweet and well-executed.

Learning the Ukranian was a right of passage in my high school choir, as we sang it every year for our holiday recital. We sang it as fast as humanly possible, because it sounded awesome that way, and because we were impatient teenagers. The way the middle swells, when the sopranos hit the top note near the end -- it gives me chills every time.

See you on Monday for the second half and thrilling conclusion of Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas!

This post is dedicated to my friend Meaghan Joyce, who just returned from a two-year stint in the Peace Corps in -- you guessed it -- the Ukraine. Welcome back to the States, Meaghan!

Susan Boyle: "Away in a Manger"

I'm usually wary of using broadcasts like this, from last year's Christmas Rockefeller Center broadcast, because more often than not the performers are lip-syncing. If YouTube commenters are to be believed -- and they are the last bastion of truth, so why wouldn't we trust them? -- then the little boy soloing at the beginning is probably lip-synching. But he's little, and asking a prepubescent boy to sing live for a broadcast to millions may be asking a bit much in this day of overwhelming criticism. But I trust Susan Boyle not to deceive me.

Since the world discovered her on the venerable Simon Cowell-judged Britain's Got Talent back in 2009, Susan Boyle has released an album every November, including a Christmas album titled The Gift in 2010. The entire thing is pure splendor. This is what angels sound like when they sing. Each note is delicate, smooth, perfectly plucked from the air. Even here, when a few of the notes wobble -- evidence that she's actually singing live for millions of people, the cajones that takes, sheesh -- she pushes the notes through to their soothing resolution. In a manger somewhere in heaven, Baby Jesus is being lulled to sleep to the voice of Susan Boyle.

And as far as a complete holiday experience is concerned, the Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas would not be complete without a boys' choir. Enjoy this classic and beautiful version of a classic and beautiful song.

Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan: "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / We Three Kings"

Juke Box Hero is jumping into the holiday spirit with us this week!

It may be a little younger than some of Brittany’s previous Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas selections, but I have no doubt this fantastic festive collaboration between BNL and Ms. McLachlan is (and will be) just as classic. They’ve basically maintained the meter of the original carol but added a dynamite swing that transforms the typically plodding and dry "Merry Gentlemen" into finger-snapping power pop.

It’s fun to listen to, it’s damn catchy, and they all genuinely sound like they’re enjoying recording it together ("Aw, not Sarah McLachlan again!"), a characteristic Brittany reminded us all yesterday that yes, we do still notice and appreciate when it manifests itself in joint efforts. Sarah and the BNL boys sound like they’ve been harmonizing forever, their voices -- her gossamer turns and swells and Robertson’s loping fine-sandpaper tenor -- sweetly contrasting.

I won’t deny I’m guilty of singing along to Christmas (and Hannukah!) standards aplenty, especially when it’s a pop cover that appears to have at least a little creativity and artistic effort put forth. (And no, Mr. Bieber, you don’t get any of those words. And Mr. Dylan: no more Christmas albums.) This cut, with its pretty modest range and repetitive harmonies (and extra verses for carol nerds), is right on the money: well-considered and fun as hell to crank up on the hi-fi, despite the nonexistent video.

Though it’s hard to top Whitney’s "Do You Hear What I Hear" or The Boss’ "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" on my singalong playlist, these guys are getting close.

Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby: "Jingle Bells"

This morning, with my mind flitting through ideas for today's Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas post, I attended a networking breakfast, the theme of which was "turning your passion into a profession." The presenters, Jenn Krenn and Jill Felska, discussed how too many people are working jobs they hate for companies they don't respect. (Happily, this conundrum does not afflict me, though I enjoyed the encouragement to make happiness a workplace priority.) The presentation was a reminder that pursuing your passion -- and making a living at it -- is achievable, a version of the American Dream. Anyone can go to work and really, truly enjoy it! Imagine that!

I chose this song for today because it displays the joy I hope everyone feels at work. The setup here is great -- just two dudes drinking some punch and busting out some harmony -- and as professional musicians, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby make it look easy. Obviously it's a staged set, but what is not fake is the mirth the two exhibit when singing together. They toss comments in -- "Grab the verse," Bing says, "Isn't this a lot of fun?" -- and at one point they almost descend into giggles. They may be getting paid to sing over punch, but they're clearly loving it, and that's the point of music, even a silly one-minute diddy. The love of music is the reason my friends and I still meet once a week to practice a cappella, the reason I still own a trombone even though dreams of playing for the CSO are long since squashed by the reality of (ugh) regular trombone practice. These guys were lucky enough to do what they loved for a living, and it shows. I dare you not to smile.

So get out there and do what makes you giggle. Why waste your time doing something you hate?

Straight No Chaser: "12 Days of Christmas"

To kick off Daijams' 12 Days of Christmas, I give you -- well, the twelve days of Christmas. Performed by Indiana University a cappella group Straight No Chaser in 1998, this song was posted to YouTube in 2006 and quickly ripped through the Internet, wreaking havoc and impregnating women, until the ten original members were given a five-album record deal with Atlantic. Three albums have been released so far, two of them Christmas albums. By the numbers, they're the most successful a cappella group in history, and they've accomplished it all in six-part harmony and without auto-tune.

A cappella groups everywhere have attempted to recreate SNC's meteoric rise. After all, they went from university extra-curricular to 100% working musicians, playing regular, sold-out shows at the Chicago Theater and around the world. This year they took a break from touring for a 52-show stint in Atlantic City. Next October they've got an entire cruise set up. Not bad for some funny boys in suits from Indiana.

And it all started with this, a silly mash-up of Christmas tunes, made wonderful by the members' own personalities and sense of humor. What starts as a traditional song quickly degenerates into a mess of holiday classics, complete with overlapping, false starts, and a nod to Hanukkah. I just love this video.