Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Christmas Day Special Music Edition

Once the Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches subsided, I cared about one thing: when would I hear that first Christmas song to make the holiday season official?  What I'm about to say is guaranteed to both validate and increase the amount of gray hairs in my goatee: today's generation is missing out when it comes to Christmas music.  Not only is most of the new stuff often swaggerless retreads of classics, but you darn near have to wait until Christmas Day to hear the radio play anything seasonal and it seems like only the adult contemporary stations play Christmas music at least most of the day.  Although I was more excited to wake up early in the morning to open presents with Big Little Brother Scribbler, one of the greatest joys of Christmas was tuning into WHUR 96.3 FM and hearing Christmas music from sunup to sundown while having some memorable moments with the fam.  So in the spirit of the season--and because I haven't done a new edition of this series for two months now--allow me to share five songs I must hear to feel like the Christmas season has arrived decked with boughs of holly, sleigh bells and inappropriate mistletoe placements...

#5 KURTIS BLOW, "Christmas Rappin'" (Kurtis Blow, Mercury, 1980).  Much like the genre has done for music altogether, hip hop has occasionally and effectively spiked the eggnog when it comes to Christmas tunes.  Although it's difficult to leave off an indisputable classic like Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis", the first holiday hip hop jam I gravitated toward as a kid was "Christmas Rappin'" and it isn't Christmas for me without it.  Between Big Dadi Scribbler and my uncle both being DJs and blasting this through my grandfather's house or my mother waiting with baited breath for the radio to play this at least once on Christmas Day, this jam (which served as the backdrop for Next's "Too Close") is as much as a traditional family ornament as...oh wait...we've never had any traditional family ornaments.  Besides, anybody who has the unmitigated gall to transform "stereo" into "stere-oooh" for the sake of rhyming is alright with me and deserves to be on such a countdown...

#4 DONNY HATHAWAY, "This Christmas" (This Christmas / Be There, ATCO, 1970).  As much as this song has been remade--Chris Brown and The Whispers have my favorite remakes while I'm frankly a little more annoyed with Mary J. Blige's version being promoted in the commercials for Collateral Beauty with Will Smith--nothing touches the late, great Donny Hathaway's version.  When those first couple of drums come on, those signature horns begin playing and you hear those sleigh bells in the background, it's hard not to want to get to know somebody better underneath that mistletoe.  If I don't hear this song before or on Christmas Day--even with the other songs I've ranked higher--then the holiday feels empty because who doesn't look forward to when Hathaway sings "shake a hand, shake a hand"?  Nobody has delivered or mimicked that line the same way and it always feels a bit meh when anyone else has tried, but then again, I can be quite the Christmas remake Nazi.  "This Christmas" is simply one of the most soulful Christmas songs ever done by one of the most timeless, underappreciated and influential soul singers of all time...

#3 BOYZ II MEN FEAT. BRIAN MCKNIGHT, "Let It Snow" (Christmas Interpretations, Motown, 1993).  You know what made me a huge fan of this song?  Watching The Box.  (I know...I aged myself and everybody who remembers calling that number at least once to order their favorite video, especially the ones they wouldn't and couldn't play on Video Soul.)  Being the last Christmas we spent at Halley Terrace in Southeast D.C., "Let It Snow" would get advertised on The Box like it was going out of style, but although I never ordered it, I'd always be glad when someone else did and never got tired of it.  Heck, any song with Brian McKnight even in a featured capacity of which I don't get tired deserves to be on this list.  (Why did I throw Brian McKnight some California Sequoia shade?  That's another post for another day.  Stay on topic, will ya?!?!)  Although I was only 14 at the time, this was one of those romantic holiday songs which made me want to be near a fireplace, wear a ridiculously thick ugly sweater, open expensive gifts and simply get lost in love underneath the mistletoe.  Sappy?  Of course it is...

#2 ALEXANDER O'NEAL, "My Gift to You" (My Gift to You, Tabu, 1988).  While this has been a Christmas staple since I was about nine years old, my love for this song has grown even more over time--which explains its position over the latter three songs in this countdown.  First and foremost, it's a vintage production from Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis for one of their most successful singers of the mid-to-late 80's not named Janet Jackson.  Second, on an album which also includes "Sleigh Ride" a.k.a. the unofficial Christmas remix to "Fake", this is by far the best song as well as one of my favorite Alexander O'Neal songs of all time.  Third, much like "Let It Snow", the loving sentiment is one of its greatest strengths as O'Neal delivers lines like, "So I'm offering my heart and soul/And every single part I have to give of myself/My love is what I bring to you as my gift to you."  Growing up in a household where we predominantly listened to soul music before and on Christmas, "My Gift to You" is an absolute must for me to feel like the season is truly upon us.  Speaking of good soul music and as much as I nearly elevated this to the No. 1 spot, there is still no Christmas song on the face of the Earth which bests the top dawg...

#1 THE TEMPTATIONS, "Silent Night" (Give Love at Christmas, Gordy, 1980).  Christmas 1987 was one of the most bittersweet Christmases in my entire life.  On one hand, it was only a month after Big Dadi Scribbler and Momma Scribbler separated and we were living at my uncle and aunt's house in Southeast D.C.  On the other hand, I got some of my favorite gifts as a kid, including Galvatron and Blaster (because I had to have a Decepticon and an Autobot) as well as a Casio Muppet Babies keyboard (which we still have to this day and all of the kids from the new generation still play it when we go over my momma's house).  Another one of the highlights of that Christmas was Momma Scribbler got her hands on a copy of The Temptations' Give Love at Christmas--albeit seven years after the fact, but better late than never.  Although I'm a huge fan of their rendition of "Give Love on Christmas Day" and the funkiest cover of "Little Drummer Boy" ever recorded by far, their version of "Silent Night" is the reason I love Christmas music.  Whether it's Glenn Leonard (fellow D.C. native formerly of The Unifics) with killer falsettos, Melvin "Blue" Franklin with his incomparable bass delivery or Dennis Edwards filling out the song with his soulful voice, this is perhaps the most commanding song in The Temptations' catalog after the mid 70s.  If I don't hear this song by December 25th, then you're gonna have a difficult time getting me in the mood for Christmas.  If I don't hear it at all on Christmas Day, then it's virtually pointless.  Thank God that's never happened and every Christmas for the past 29 years has been completed with this version of "Silent Night"--the only version which matters.

So maybe your list either isn't as "urban" as mine or maybe my list isn't urban enough...what's on your Christmas playlist?  Please feel free to share in the comments and be on the lookout in the New Year for another edition of "Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five".  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good Tuesday every day!!!