Jesus, these are cool!

NEW HOLIDAY SONGS

“Maybe This Christmas” by Graham Smith
“This is a sequel of sorts to an old song of mine entitled ‘Maybe Next Christmas,’ which contained the line ‘but maybe next Christmas you’ll know.’ I wrote it, like, 12 years ago, so I don’t remember what I was talking about, if anything. So this song can be thought of as a modernized updatement of that abstraction, which casts Christmas into an acute cauldron of awkwardly humorous depression—which cauldron I have seasoned over the years with tears and laughter grease.” Smith performs at Pianos Jan 7.

“Keep Repeating Those Words” by Corey Dargel
“When I was 19, I met this boy who stood outside the grocery store and rang the collection bell for the Salvation Army. He wouldn’t give me his phone number, but he gave me his elf hat and a balloon. I never saw him again, but I still have the hat. I often wear it during the holidays when I’m feeling depressed. It cheers me up. Holiday songs are usually about the things that make people feel good, but what makes me feel good is feeling bad.” Dargel’s Other People’s Love Songs is out now. Removable Parts, Dargel’s music-theater piece about voluntary amputation, is at HERE Arts Center Jan 7–11.

“Christmas (It’s the End of the Year)” by Benji Cossa
“I’m a big fan of Christmas. I feel like Christmas is to the year what the weekend is to the week. My wife thinks the song is funny because all of it is actually true.” Cossa has a residency at Pianos Thursdays in January, and plays the Serious Business Records holiday party Sat 20 at the Studio @ Webster Hall.

“The New Yorker’s Lament” by Gabriel Kahane
“On the Monday before Thanksgiving, I was in a cab, and the driver had his radio tuned to a station that was playing nonstop Christmas music. I thought to myself, It’s really time for some new Christmas songs, no? Two hours later, I was sitting at the terminal and got an e-mail from TONY about writing a holiday ditty. Serendipity? Or did you guys pay off that cab driver to prime me for the job?” Kahane’s self-titled album is out now.

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