Fifty by Two

Episode 13.5 – Christmas Special – Bells on a Stick

Welcome to Fifty by Two, a podcast about music where two friends with very different tastes count down their top fifty albums.

It’s Christmas, and we fulfil seasonal obligation (or, as James would have it, celebrate the most wonderful time of the year) by talking about six Christmas songs.

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Episode 13.5 – Bells on a Stick

Transcript coming soon.

Content warnings: some mild explicit language.

See below for show notes, and further listening and watching recommendations. Note that this will contain spoilers, and we’d recommend reading on after listening to the episode.

Recommendations

Bill Nighy as Billy Mack in Love Actually reworking Love Is All Around for Christmas (explicit language).

I Rewatched Love Actually and Am Here to Ruin it for all of You.

Cliff Richard’s Sleigh Ride.
That Mariah Carey song in Love Actually.

Have you not seen Game of Thrones mate?

Duke Special percussionist Chip Bailey gives a tour of his Stumpf Fiddle/Jingling Johnny.
Because we promised a Death Metal rendition of Hark the Herald Angels Sing. It’s not great. But at least it’s short.
Bob Dylan, Must be Santa, official video.

Wikipedia page on Cumulative Songs.

Rammstein’s Du Hast.
Clip from South Park: Cartman sings O Holy Night (explicit language and content).
O Holy Night as featured in The West Wing Season 4 Christmas episode.

O Holy Night on The Yale Whiffenpoofs’ Bandcamp page.

August Burns Red covering Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time for the Punk Goes Pop 2 compilation.
The Darkness, Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End), official video.
The Darkness covering Radiohead’s Street Spirit live.
Glen singing I Believe in a Thing Called Love at a university performance. No, really.
Brand New’s Degausser – the only ever non-cheesy use of a children’s choir?
The piracy warning advert cold open from an episode of The IT Crowd (content warnings: blood, violence, firearms).
A good explanation of 7/8 time signature, if Glen’s demonstration wasn’t enough.
Jethro Tull very obviously miming Ring Out Solstice Bells on Top of the Pops in the 70s.
Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody on Top of the Pops. Featuring the knob haircut.
Oasis cover Merry Christmas Everyone.

3 billion have suffered Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’.

The Band Aid scene in Gavin & Stacey.
First Honourable Mention from the end.
Second Honourable Mention from the end.
A Christmas offering from Richard Cheese. Holiday playlist available here.
Chris Kamara can actually sing.

Songs Discussed in this Episode

Full playlist: (Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube)

  1. Glen’s choice 1: The Rend Collective – Hark the Herald Angels Sing (Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube).
  2. James’ choice 1: Bob Dylan – Must Be Santa (Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube).
  3. G2: August Burns Red – O Holy Night (Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube).
  4. J2: The Darkness – Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End) (Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube).
  5. G3: Jethro Tull – Ring Out Solstice Bells (Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube).
  6. J3: Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody (Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube).

Our current theme is an arrangement of Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin (written by John Bonham, Willie Dixon, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant) using (at James’ request) harpsichord, bassoon, and triangle, made by Glen.

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