To Heck With Ole Santa Claus - The On Warmer Music 2013 Christmas Mix

Well it's been quite the year here at OWM and though I have (more or less) retained my health, hearth and loved ones, it's still been somewhat of a let down. A year of wheels spinning and frustration. And, perhaps not surprisingly, those feelings are leaking their way into this mix.

It's a more downbeat collection of Christmas songs, which is fortunate because Christmas is a holiday that can actually take some sadness and melancholy and downright knife-twisting heartbreak (just wait till your hear the end of "Rudy"). To achieve that, I've gone with a lot of early country tunes which manage to combine sweet and sad in perfect proportion.

The man in the beard plays a big role in this year's mix and things don't always go well for him. People want to hit him with snowballs, shoot him with water guns, pull the beards off his mall-bound helpers and blackmail him for plutonium. Perhaps it's that broke, late twentysomething realization that, as a grownup, Santa is gone forever but so it goes.

There's lots of other goodies in here, including Stephen Colbert singing an old carol, some problematic Christmas drinking, John Darnielle going morbid with and old classic and even a moment of genuine sweetness on Christmas eve. As with previous mixes, I'm including a James Brown song, a Sufjan Stevens song and yet another version of "The Fairytale Of New York" because Christmas is about TRADITIONS, dammit!

And finally, one quick note. I've often thought about trying to make a mix that I can also put on YouTube or Spotify or some other such Millennial avenue but have once again decided against. I pride myself on including rare, live or otherwise out-of-the-way songs that aren't quite so easy to source. So once again, you can preview everything on here by clicking on the link but it's really designed to be listened to. In order. By physically downloading the music. It's how I roll (although individual song poachers are also welcome, been there, girlfriend). Anyway, I hope this helps drown out the treacle and get you through this Christmas in one piece.

Download the whole damn thing as a .RAR
1. To Heck With Ole Santa Claus - Loretta Lynn
2. Sleigh Ride - The Ronettes
3. Put The Loot In The Boot, Santa - Mae West
4. Santa's Beard - The Beach Boys
5. Rudy - The Be Good Tanyas
6. Silent Night - Charlie Musselwhite
7. Good King Wenceslas (feat. Mandy Patinkin & Michael Stipe) - Stephen Colbert
8. Lumberjack Christmas/No One Can Save You From Christmases Past - Sufjan Stevens
9. Soulful Christmas - James Brown
10. All Fucked Up On Christmas - Billy Filo & the Christmas Allstars
11. I'm Going To Lasso Santa Claus - Brenda Lee
12. Little Hands (feat. Beck) - Wilco
13. Donna & Blitzen - Badly Drawn Boy
14. Santa Looked A Lot Like Daddy (And Daddy Looked A Lot Like Him) - Buck Owens
15. Old Toy Trains - Roger Miller
16. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Mountain Goats
17. The Fairytale Of New York [The Pogues] - Scotland Yard Gospel Choir
18. Christmas Must Be Tonight - The Band 
19. Happy Xmas (War Is Over) (feat. Mavis Staples, Sean Lennon & The Harlem Gospel Choir) [John Lennon] - Jeff Tweedy
20. Empty Hearts - Josh Ritter