Winter Music Play List

[pegkerr]

As part of my very deliberate campaign to keep my seasonal affective disorder at bay, I have started assembling a play list of music to play for the darkest time of the year. These are songs picked because they celebrate this time of the year, reminding me of the season's coziest aspects, and reassuring me that this time of the year can be dark, but there is still warmth. I play it on my iPod when I got out on my walks, and it's working really, really well. I have included a few bits of Christmas-related music, but if so, they're tangential, sort of related to the whole winter season, or they're instrumental, and suggestive of a festive time of year as a whole. I want it to be a list I can listen to the whole winter long.

I love my play list and find it very comforting, and thought I'd display it here. Does anyone have ideas of songs to add, in the same vein? I'd particularly appreciate any good winter solstice songs you can name.

Christmas Time is Here (Instrumental) (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Christmas at Hogwarts (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)
The Christmas Bells of Belfast (Heartland Holiday Concert - Peter Ostroushko)
In Praise of Christmas (To Drive the Cold Winter Away - Loreena McKennitt)
Let It Snow (Christmas with Dino - Dean Martin)
Medley: The Holly and the Ivy (Heartland Holiday Concert - Peter Ostroushko)
Green (Midwinter - Peter Mayer)
The Juniper Tree (Light - Sola)
Harry in Winter (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Angel in the Snow (Straw House Down - Peter Mayer)
Skating (A Charlie Brown Christmas)
Mid Winter's Night (Past Times with Good Company - Blackmore's Night)
Ring Out, Solstice Bells (Songs from the Woods - Jethro Tull)
Carolyn's Party [Solstice song] (Through the Window - Ann Reed)
The Longest Night (Midwinter - Peter Mayer)
The Houses of Winter (Midwinter - Peter Mayer)
January Stars (Winter Into Spring - George Winston)
Snow (To Drive the Cold Winter Away - Loreena McKennitt)
Winter Woods (Earth Town Square - Peter Mayer)
The Hounds of Winter (Mercury Falling - Sting)
Winter (Tales of a Librarian - Tori Amos)
Where is the Light (Midwinter - Peter Mayer)

Edited to add: I probably should add Joni Mitchell's River and the song Hot Buttered Rum by Tommy Thompson -- what's the best recording of that one, anybody? Red Clay Ramblers? Oh, and definitely John Gorka's "Winter Cows."

Comments

[king-tirian.livejournal.com]

I'm a huge fan of "Baby, It's Cold Outside," by most duets -- most specifically Barry Manilow and K.T. Oslin, or maybe Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschanel.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

I'm really fond of the version with Dolly Parton, even though I usually hate Rod Stewart.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

yeah, I was thinking of that one, and I was checking out some of the options on iTunes looking for the one I liked best, but I hadn't decided yet. I really liked the one I heard once where the woman plays the seducer and the man plays the naive one, only I couldn't remember the singers. For some reason I was thinking maybe Claudia Schmidt??? And the man was???

[king-tirian.livejournal.com]

Paul Cebar. I'm thinking that it isn't available for digital purchase, but you can listen to it here (http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/programs/morning_show/listings/2006/10/16/index.php) by clicking on the 5-7 am portion of the October 20 show from about 0:36 on, assuming you've got RealPlayer on your machine. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how wrong it would be to hold a tape recorder against your speakers while playing, and then rip the tape to create your own MP3, but for anyone who is thinking of getting Peg something for Christmas, it would be very very wrong indeed.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Albert and Gage do a great version of it, too. (CD One More Christmas) www.albertandgage.com