Around Thanksgiving time I made the impulse purchase of several Christmas music CDs put out by popular singers.
The best of them, and it's very good, is "The Gift" by Susan Boyle, the woman who became a star in my book simply by reducing Simon Cowell to stunned silence when she auditioned on "Britain's Got Talent." Her CD is a great combination of traditional, beautifully arranged carols and some offbeat, thought-provoking selections (Lou Reed's "Perfect Day"?). And I've always loved the Church of England hymn "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace," which she performs simply and reverently.
She also sings the songs correctly: in "The First Noel," "looked" should be a two-syllable word. Tilda has spoken.
As for the other CDs? Well, apparently you what you need to do these days to release a Christmas CD is: (a) mash up a traditional carol with a modern "holiday" song, to the benefit of neither one; (b) throw in "ad libs" and phony-sounding laughter; (c) riff on an unimportant word in the song, change the key, add a disco beat, or leave a pointless pause so long it sounds like a glitch ("later on [3 seconds of silence] we'll conspire").
But then, just as I was about to leave the CDs behind "accidentally on purpose" in a public place for some other listener, the singer would do a smashing, heartwarming version of "All I Want for Christmas" or "You Make It Feel Like Christmas." Time to do some cutting-and-pasting on the playlist.
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