Yes, it's Christmas, and yes, it's our last voyage into the Tunnel of Love before the new year begins, and as you might expect, the songs are all Christmas themed. But in my continuing attempts to avoid the easy sell, take the simplest or most expected route, I've chosen not necessarily Christmas songs, but songs that either evoke the Season of Goodwill, have it in their title or even just paint a picture of winter, in some cases. So no carols, no hymns, no hits and definitely no bloody “Last Christmas”! Hope you enjoy this selection anyway.
Opening with a band you would definitely not expect in the Tunnel of Love at any time, though they've had some very decent ballads, here's Kamelot, and a track called “On the coldest winter night”.
This
is often a Christmas favourite, but a great song too, from David Essex, and this is “Just another winter's tale”.
This, on the other hand, has pretty much nothing to do with the festive season, though it is in the title and also the lyric. A great song from Steve Earle, it's called “Christmas in Washington”.
An album very soon to be reviewed by me (after Christmas, now), the new one from Kate Bush is called “50 words for snow”, and this is the opening track, a great little number called “Snowflake”.
Another one you probably have never heard, this is Shadow Gallery, from their album “Tyranny”, the closing track in fact, entitled, appropriately enough, “Christmas Day”.
Gerry Rafferty knew how to write a great song, rest his soul. This is from one of his last albums, “North and south”, and it's a great little song called “Winter's come”.
Another man who sadly left us, but was a master songwriter was Dan Fogelberg, and this is his contribution to the Christmas season, something of a favourite, it's “Same old lang syne”.
We'll squeeze in just the one carol, notwithstanding what I said in the intro. This is Josh Groban with his version of “Silent night”.
Great ballad by a-ha, featured recently in our “Taking centre stage” slot, this is a song written by the guitarist Pal Waaktaar for his wife, it's a lovely little song called “Angel in the snow”.
And we'll close with a song that definitely does not evoke the Christmas spirit, but is nevertheless a great little tear-jerker, from the master of the art of songwriting, Tom Waits. This is “Christmas card from a hooker in Minneapolis”.