I pray to God it's our last

Okay, here's the final holiday post of mine before I head northeast, where the temperatures are in the double digits. I'm packin' shorts! While purists and Pogues fanatics may roll their eyes at this track's Bends-era Radiohead melodrama, I think Pilate's version of Fairytale of New York is a beautiful cover. They stay true to Shane McGowan's melody while making it more of a slow waltz. While the original gets going into something of an Irish reel, this one keeps its sway, and you can almost picture it all. It works. You can find this track on the Maybe This Christmas Tree compilation, which also has that Deathcab track I posted a couple weeks ago. This comp also has the Raveonettes track The Christmas Song, which is not the Nat King Cole description of chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but a Scandinavian garage rock lament about having to leave a Christmas party. Aw. You can buy Maybe This Christmas Tree, a surprisingly decent compilation with bands such as Deathcab, Polyphonic Spree and Pedro the Lion, here, or (parts of it) on iTunes here. Anyway, I'm off. Have a good holiday, kids.