Oh yes, in a perfect world all these selections would be Christmas themed, but maybe that's a little hackneyed, and I'm trying my best to stay away from the obvious this festive season. So although there are one or two Christmas songs here, we're starting off with one of my all-time favourite Irish traditional songs.
I'm not generally into Irish trad as a genre, but you can't ignore the power and passion of a song like “Grace”, by Jim McCann, here sung by him and in this video he explains the background to the song.
And after that sobering and sombre song, let's lighten the tone with another original from one of my favourite TV shows, “Mongrels”, and I know this is what we're all thinking about him....
But it wouldn't be Christmas without a Christmas parody, so here's Irish acting legend Frank Kelly (you'll probably know him as Father Jack in the TV series “Father Ted”) with his hilarious version of “The twelve days of Christmas”. See if you can get through it without having to stop to restitch your sides back together!
Not a huge fan of Bette Midler, but I love this version of “The rose” by her. Close to perfect.
We began on a sobering note, and in this season of stuffing ourselves and spending more than we could ever repay, and thinking largely about ourselves, let's take a quiet moment to remember those who died so that we could have this freedom, with another traditional Irish song, the epic and famous “The green fields of France”. And on that note, let me wish you all a very Happy Christmas!