The Season's Upon Us 🎄
It's that time of year upon us again, the shops get busier as people scurry about frantically looking for last minute gifts, the supermarkets are packed with hordes of desperate shoppers all trying to buy up most of the stuff on the shelves 'in case they run out' over the couple of days that is the festive period, the self serve checkouts are at breaking point. Kids get excited, parents get stressed in trying to sort out food, presents etc. In general usually Christmas seems to spell chaos!
And Cue The Memories🔔
I guess looking back over the years I suspect it was true for my parents as well, Christmas used to be a time when pretty much all the relatives would drop in on our house and as some had come further than others also pop into see my Nan and Grandad as well. The house was chock full of Aunts, Uncles and Cousins dropping in the afternoon after Christmas dinner. Got to be honest as a kid it was really good fun to see relatives I hadn't seen for large parts of the year. Present opening was done early so I guess to prepare for that late afternoon descending of relatives and to get the whole Christmas dinner thing out of the way with.
The smells, feelings of excitement leading up to the big event were great too. Things like nuts that you had to use a nut-cracker on, packets of dates (things you only used to see around Christmas time)😮, chocolates in Advent Calendars, using crimping shears on old Christmas cards to make gift tags and the obligatory hanging of Christmas paper chains and decorating trees🎄. Even the sounds playing on the radio to herald the coming of Christmas were special and less 'hackneyed' than they seem today. Bands I heard when I was growing up were pretty much in the 'Glam Rock' groove🎸 and you were pretty much sure Slade were going to make No. 1 in the UK Charts again in time for Christmas, if not they would be played to death anyway.
I remember the above 'Merry XMas Everybody' when it first came out in 1973 and appeared on Top Of The Pops at Christmas time which seemed to also be another of those 'must watch' programmes to see who got to #1 in the charts on Christmas Day.
The excitement of television 📺brought the rarity in our house of the Radio and TV Times, which only seemed to get brought at Christmas to ensure we all knew what was on over the Christmas period up to New Year and no-one had to go out and buy a paper, mind you shops did tend to shut over Christmas and Boxing Days back in the day (unlike nowadays). 'Specials' by comedy duo's such as 'Morecambe & Wise', 'The Two Ronnies' always brought laughs for all ages, whilst there were obviously family 'game shows' with entertainers such as Bruce Forsyth in the 'Generation Game'.
There is a nice little article about the wonders of Morecambe & Wise at theramblingcurl.blogspot.com featuring other photos and gifs of the funny duo and how they dominated the Christmas television schedules back in the day.
Films were always good entertainment too in keeping us quiet🎬, there always seemed to be ones you had never seen yet (even though some had been out for several years at the cinema). Again back to today, you more than often have to scrabble about to find something that isn't a repeat or a film that doesn't seem to be 'Crocodile Dundee' (seems to be constantly in the television schedules to me anyway!)
And Cue The Festive Sounds🎼
Well here we go with those sort of childhood memories of relatives descending on the house during the Festive Period (although definitely less chaotic than features in this video!). The Dropkick Murphy's from the U.S. with 'The Season's Upon Us' for a wry look through a jaundiced eye at Christmas and all it's joy. I guess a kind of Pogues style Celtic Folk Punk sound.
The track was released by the band in 2012 on their own 'Born & Bred Records' sub-label of 'Alternative Distribution Alliance' (part of the Warner Group).
The track listing is:
- The Season's Upon Us
- AK47 (All I Want For Christmas Is A)
They originally signed with Hellcat Records an Independent Punk label based in Los Angeles, the band were formed in Massachusetts in 1996 and were named after Dr. John "Dropkick" Murphy's alcohol-detoxification facility! (you'd need to be sober even just to say it properly!).
The Band Were Originally
- Mike McColgan - Lead Vocals
- Ken Casey - Bass/Vocals
- Rick Barton - Guitar
- Jeff Erna - Drums
The line up has been fairly fluid over the years with Ken Casey being the only constant member. For a bit more of a 'punky' sound from them and kind of fitting with this post/site catch an earlier track by them called 'Memories Remain' at the youtube link, after all this whole website is about Music and Memories. If you fancy a listen to some other Christmas related posts try Don't Say I Told You So or also catch Streams Of Whiskey at the link on this site, which features a post highlighting the genius of the recently departed and much missed Shane McGowan from The Pogues.
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Anyhow enough reminiscing for another year of music and memories and wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas/Festive Period may your baubles hang proud and loose and above all else enjoy!
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Picture Sources
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash