Harkpodcast

As the Great Holiday Equinox of 2016 continues, we celebrate this rare overlap of winter festivities by introducing a new holiday to the list. It took us one hundred episodes to get there, but "Seven Principles" by Sweet Honey in the Rock marks our very first Kwanzaa song! We also hear a new jam from the band that produced one of our Hanukkah favorites - The Macaroons, who urge us to "Hurry Up and Light the Candles".

You there, boy! What day is this? Why, it's the day of the 100th episode of HARK! As per tradition, RJ and Ian introduce the 199th and 200th songs in the list by surprising each other with picks for the top and the bottom. RJ's pick for the top comes from the heart - will they sell you on their favorite song, or is this the episode in which we expose ourselves as a couple of sentimental know-nothings? Meanwhile, Ian (with help from a listener!) submits a pick for the bottom that is so revolting, the incredible fact that literally every unsold copy of it was court-ordered to be destroyed is only a small comfort. Thanks for listening, and until the next 100 episodes, happy holidays.

Our 100th episode approaches - but first we attend to our first-ever appeal in this very special episode! Some new context enriches our listening experience of the #3 song on our list, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love. Will our top three get a shake-up just one week before the Great Holiday Equinox of 2016? Thanks to Chris for both the original submission and the appeal!

This week on HARK, we're building up to episode 100 with two classic songs from two classic Christmas specials: "Christmastime is Here (Vocal)" from A Charlie Brown Christmas and "Welcome Christmas (Reprise)" from How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

This week we cover "The Christmas Song" and "All I Want For Christmas" -- but not the songs you're probably thinking of. Inspired by an anonymous request, we let The Raveonettes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs gently rock us to the recent past.

It's a good time to give. And to make fun of bad Christmas music. This week on HARK, we recognize Giving Tuesday by talking a bit about some organizations that might be worth supporting, and just like, totally taking the piss out of "Do They Know It's Christmas" by Band Aid and fellow well-intentioned infuriatingly-poorly-executed supergroup carol "Snow Snow Snow" by the Band of Merrymakers.

For the first time since the show's launch, Ian and RJ are taking the week off from HARK! What you're going to hear this week is a different podcast, which may or may not be from some kind of alternate universe. Many thanks to Emma & E for "filling in" this week! If you want to check out the other stuff Emma and E do, visit anopportunemoment.com and eandegames.com!

Hey. So, uh. It sure has been a year. We're about to take some time off, but before we do, here's a few new year's songs intended to inspire some hope that 2017 might be more bearable: "This New Year Will Be For You and Me" by Lacrosse and "My Dear Acquaintance (Happy New Year)" by Regina Spektor. Hang in there.

This coming Tuesday is November 8th, a very important day! Yes, it is RJ's birthday, and absolutely nothing else! NOPE. That means birthday boi's choice, and RJ decides to use this occasion to return to two Christmas favorites who have been featured on the show previously: the Muppets and Sufjan Stevens. If RJ's crying on the podcast, tell them you said Happy Birthday. (Also: vote please.)

Are you excited about Halloween? Chances are you're more excited than our resident Halloween Grinch, Ian. He is literally complaining about Halloween again as I type this episode description. Anyway, this week we covered two Christmas songs best suited to this spookiest of seasons: "Monster's Holiday" by Bobby Pickett and "All I Want for Christmas is Halloween" by Happy Fangs.

In this sort-of prequel to our Halloween episode, we listen to two metal holiday songs that conjure images ranging from kinda spooky to fairly upsetting to downright awesome - "I Am Santa Claus" by Bob Rivers and "Hanukkah Gone Metal" by Gods of Fire. Thanks to Jeri & Corey for the request!

This week we discuss an anonymous request and a beautiful baffling miracle which both feature NPR personalities performing songs about being dominated by robots at Christmastime. "Chiron Beta Prime" by Jonathan Coulton and "Toymageddon" by Yo La Tengo, Ira Glass, and Eugene Mirman spin two captivating Christmas tales/post-apocalyptic visions. Alternate episode title: Wait Wait Don't Kill Me With Robots

It's another week of Hanukkah tunes on HARK! As Yom Kippur approaches, we're listening to some more somber Hanukkah music - "Light One Candle" by Peter, Paul and Mary and "Feast of Lights" by They Might Be Giants - two songs which couldn't be more different, but both offer complexity in a simple package.

Happy Rosh Hashanah! In honor of the new year, this week we listened to two Hanukkah songs released in the past year. The result was some smooth and chilled-out holiday delights: "8 Days (of Hanukkah)" by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and "Outside of December" by The Leeves and Matisyahu. Shanah tovah!

Hey, remember the 90s? If you're roughly our age and were required to line dance in gym class or ever attended a wedding, you're about to. We're covering two Christmas versions of dance craze songs: "Macarena Christmas" by Los del Rio and "XMas Slide" by Xpress Band. Thank you to Sarah for the request!

This week, we cover two songs in a language new to the list - but pulled from albums we've visited many times before. "O Tannenbaum" and "Stille Nacht" mark our first songs in German, just in time for Oktoberfest. Hear Nat King Cole, a chorus of Muppets, and one of HARK's co-hosts attempt to pronounce and sing this beautiful language. (No. sarcasm. intended.)

There's a door at the back of your mind. Do you open it? A strange little boy approaches you to tell you he sleeps in cars because he's bad. How quickly do you phone for help? These and other questions asked and, more or less, answered in this spoken word episode of HARK, featuring "Faith In Santa" performed by Hermann Lammers Meyer and "The Train" by Celestial Navigations. In case you can't tell, this one was kind of a trip.

We missed National Dog Day, but every week is a good week to celebrate our furry friends. Right? Come with us on this. We listened to two songs about pets, "Christmas Is Going to the Dogs" by Eels and "It's Hard to Be a Cat On Christmas" by Cats Across America, and it, you know, could have gone worse. It didn't go great.

With one week left until September, it's back to school season! Hear us stroll down memory lane with Christmas songs by bands that bring us back to our own school days, "Christmas at the Zoo" by The Flaming Lips and "It's Christmas Time" by Yo La Tengo.

Friend of the show Andy has served us with another request - this time for what could be the worst of all versions of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah": a Nativity/Good Friday centric cover by The Osmonds, recorded in the Year of our Lord 2015. To cleanse our palates, we then listened to Rufus Wainwright's "Spotlight on Christmas". Hallelujah.