Harkpodcast

Gosh, we can't wait to celebrate the holidays happening this week! Let's see, the first week of April, that means it's... oh. Oh no. Oh no, no no. For April Fools Day, we have given ourselves the unpleasant task of covering two holiday song parodies. Hear us gnash our teeth as "12 Pains of Christmas" by Bob Rivers teaches us true despair, and "Chanukah Honey" by Rachel Bloom is, you know, also not our favorite.

We grow tired of Santa Claus and jingle bells -- it's time to cover some songs inspired by the good book. We review two new-fashioned songs about old-fashioned stories -- the charming "Joseph Who Understood" by The New Pornographers and the perplexing "Christmas Song" by The Dave Matthews Band, which despite its title, only just barely qualifies for this project.

This request was anonymous: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Having been tasked with covering a song of our choosing from the Muppet Christmas Carol, we select the cheerful "It Feels Like Christmas" performed (primarily) by Jerry Nelson. As RJ is particularly biased towards Muppets, we then endeavor to find the worst Muppets Christmas song in existence, and possibly find it in "Christmas Smorgasbord".

In honor of Pi Day, the annual celebration of baked goods and nerd jokes, we review two nerdy Christmas songs: "X-Mas Rulez, Voldemort Droolz" by Harry and the Potters, and "Christmas in the Stars", the first track off of the Star Wars Christmas album of the same name, featuring the voice of C-3PO, Anthony Daniels, and some other people. If you want to know more about Christmas in the Stars, the CBC offers this oral history: http://music.cbc.ca/#!/blogs/2014/12/The-first-ever-oral-history-of-Christmas-in-the-Stars-Star-Wars-Christmas-Album

This week, we take on an anonymous request (which is probably totally 100% from Mrs. Claus) for "River" by Sarah McLachlan, and decide to pair it with the original by Joni Mitchell. It's not just ladies' night: it's Canadian ladies' night.

Since February is extra-long this year, we cover some extra-long holiday songs for Leap Day! Are our lengthy selections from esteemed eccentrics Sufjan Stevens and Beck the hard-wrought work of master holiday music craftsmen, or just the product of some jolly screwing around?

By request this week, we add funny songs to the list by two comedy-music masters. But are they funny-ha-ha, funny-sad, or just funny-interesting? Ponder with us as we analyze "Christmas Is Interesting" by Jonathan Coulton and "The Night Santa Went Crazy" by Weird Al Yankovic. Thank you again to firehawk32 for this request!

As Valentine's Day approaches once again, we break out two original holiday songs for the lovers. The always-sensual Boyz II Men offer comfort (and rebound sex) to the brokenhearted, while Destiny's Child sing the praises of their boyfriends' gift-giving game, which is, uh, all over the place.

In honor of Chinese New Year on February 8th, we're reviewing holiday songs created in just the past year. Our selections are a bit preposterous - but are they dream, fantasy, or something in between? Ariana Grande's "Wit It This Christmas" and The Wizards of Winter's "Spirit of Christmas" are perhaps none of the above.

This week, we address the dearth of hymns currently on our list with the help of listener lavendernebula, who pointed us to "Night of Silence", a modern companion to the classic "Silent Night".

Last week was a tough week, and this episode starts out pretty heavy. To take our minds off of the real world, we listen to some Christmas music from two animated worlds - "Sailor Moon Christmas" and "I'm Giving Santa a Pikachu This Christmas". We loved these characters as kids - do the Christmas albums hold up? Results are mixed.

While we readjust after the holidays to life back at our home in Vancouver, this week's songs have us looking other cities. By request, we cover "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" by Tom Waits, two songs of urban strife that aren't so holly or jolly, but range from bittersweet to anxiety-inducing. Thanks again to Andy for the request! You can check out Andy's blog, The Stopping Point, at wahwriter.wordpress.com.

This episode - marking the first full year of HARK! - arrives on Epiphany, also known as Three Kings Day. While not a big deal in much of North America, it's celebrated to much fanfare in many places in the world, including Spain and Latin America - giving us a good excuse to add the first two Spanish-language holiday songs to our list, "Feliz Navidad" by Jose Feliciano and "Ocho Kandelikas" as performed by Pink Martini. Gracias por escuchar!

As the first year of HARK draws to a close, Ian and RJ take a moment to reflect on 2015, New Year's resolutions, and years past - and the bands behind this week's songs provide a perfect soundtrack for such navel-gazing. "New Year" by Death Cab for Cutie and "This Year" by The Mountain Goats are not exactly NYE party fare, but a lovely way to wrap up our last episode of the year.

After a year of listening to winter holiday music and 49 episodes of elation and despair, we've finally reached Christmas - and our 50th episode spectacular, in which we add the 99th and 100th songs to our list! For this special occasion, Ian and RJ have been planning surprise picks for each other - with RJ shooting for the top of the list, and Ian aiming to find the worst of the worst.

With Christmas fast approaching, RJ & Ian return to some requests. First up is "Taking Care of Christmas" by Randy Bachman of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, which is exactly what you'd expect, followed by the infuriatingly enduring "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" by Elmo and Patsy, which nearly kills RJ's indomitable Christmas spirit. Thank you to Jeri & Corey for the requests!

Happy Hanukkah! This week we grow the number of Hanukkah songs on our list with two artists who - while better known for their humorous work - have produced sincere and meaningful songs about Hanukkah: "Hanukkah Blessings" by the Barenaked Ladies and "Relics of Love and Light" by Erran Baron Cohen.

Hanukkah is upon us - it's time to celebrate with two weeks of all Hanukkah music! Now, we're no experts on this Festival of Lights, so for this week we turn to two (somewhat) educational songs: "How Do You Spell Chanukah?" by The Leevees and "Wikipedia Chanukah" by Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick.

Thanksgiving. Black Friday. Cyber Monday. Dragon Tuesday. It's that time of year: Christmas is coming. We cover "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" as performed by Johnny Mathis, as well as another update of a classic, "White Christmas" by The Drifters.

Whether or not blue snowflakes have started to fall in your part of the world, signs of the holiday season have begun to appear. If you're already sick of eggnog and Christmas music, this episode - in which we cover two songs about what a bummer Xmas really is - is for you.