“I Don’t Need No Santa Claus” by Fiction Family, Monday, December 26, 2022

 

Fiction Family was a side project found by  Christian Rock band Switchfoot's Jon Foreman and bluegrass band Nickel Creek's Sean Watkins. Eventual Switchfoot, Tyson Motensbocker producer Tyler Chester and Aaron Redfield also joined the group. The band produced several folk rock recordings and a free Holiday EP on NoiseTrade (now Paste).  The album is not available on streaming sites, so besides my YouTube playlist, I will include "California Christmas" from Switchfoot's latest release this is our Christmas album.  But I will include "I Don't Need No Santa Claus" because I think it nails the meaning of Christmas that I've been appreciating this holiday season.

I DON'T NEED NO CHRISTMAS SONGS.  Christmas this year feels unfinished. There are some years that I'm in a holiday spirit from September to February. Other years I'm just glad that Christmas ended. But this year I feel as if Christmas didn't actually happen. For me location often plays a big role in how Christmasy I feel. In Korea, Christmas is a couple holiday, and because it was on a weekend, it was back to work right after Christmas. And some countries Christmas isn't even a public holiday. And everyone has localized traditions. In Korea, it's a couple's holiday and couples go out and buy a cake--not a fruitcake, but a chocolate or a strawberry cake--and share it together. It's kind of exhibitionist holiday showing off who's together. When my family moved to North Carolina, I had to adjust to feeling a Christmas feeling without snow because when I lived in New York we had had a white Christmas every year. But this year, I realized something about Christmas. If I don't actively try to celebrate it, I'm going to lose a part of my culture. The culture of Christmas is based on family traditions passed down from generation to generation. I also wonder what the importance of celebrating Christmas is without having a family. 

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY BABY HERE WITH ME. But without family what else is there? Couple Christmases. Friends' Christmases. My first Christmas in Korea I spent with friends/coworkers who were planning on leaving Korea the coming March. They were missing home and so we watched Back to the Future because it all reminded us of home. The following year, I cocked up by not making plans. I felt lonely until I started watching a Korean drama called Reply 1997  (응답하러 1997), and I was glued to TV, eating chicken and snacks. I was so moved by the loneliness in Joon Hee's (준희) story--portrayed by singer Hoya--that I vowed that the next year I would start dating guys secretly. But then I got my heart broken by the next Christmas in Korea. This is my eleventh Christmas in Korea and every year has been different. Most have been without a tree. Most have been last minute changes and plans, and when I try to recreate a Christmas that is similar to my memories and expectations, I only get disappointed. I guess if Christmas is that important to me, I need to start planning at least by September what I should order or find in order to recreate Christmas traditions. Otherwise, I should decide that the most important thing about Christmas is family, and family now includes my partner. Spending time together is good enough. Everything else is just a bonus.






Alternate song: 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Photograph" Ed Sheeran, Saturday, February 3, 2024 (updated repost)

Image
  Before " Shape of You ," Ed Sheeran was known primarily as a singer-songwriter. His albums + and X took clear influence from The Beatles , Carole King , Elton John , James Taylor , and the ballad writers of yesteryear. But he had a knack for throwing in a few rap bars along the way. With every record, Sheeran gained more acclaim. His sophomore record produced the mega Billboard #2 hit , " Thinking Out Loud ," which won two Grammys including Song of the Year. The final single from the album, " Photograph " was written in collaboration with Snow Patrol 's Johnny McDaid . Sheeran drew inspiration from his long distance relationship with singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt (the featured musician on Kodaline ’s acoustic version of “Brand New Day” ). The two spent five months apart. They would eventually break up, but the song remains a gem on Sheeran's second best-selling record.  LOVING CAN HURT . "Photograph" was the song that introduced m
Read more

“Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry (reworked post), Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Image
When I was a Christian teenager, a book started circulating in my church youth group. Joshua Harris wrote about youth with wisdom and authority that seemed logical and categorical for every situation to the young women who read I Kissed Dating Goodbye . The book’s thesis argued that dating was a worldly alternative to the more purposeful Christian concept of courtship. Dating fueled erotic passions, which must be saved for a heterosexual marriage. Dating is casual, even preteens dates. Courtship was about vetting a marriage partner and would happen in the late teen years or early adulthood.  YOU THINK I'M PRETTY WITHOUT ANY MAKEUP ON .  Josh Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye was part of a movement I’ve written about a lot: purity culture. How much this movement influenced young Katy Hudson, a pastor’s daughter in Southern California, touring with a slew of Christian rockers on the heels of her debut, self-titled album , I can only speculate what went through the 17-year-old star’s
Read more

"All of Me Wants All of You" (Helado Negro Remix) by Sufjan Stevens, Sunday, February 27, 2022

Image
I've talked about how Carrie & Lowell , Sufjan Steven 's 2015 masterpiece, is a quintessential portrait of dealing with grief and forgiveness when I wrote about the first two tracks, " Death with Dignity ," and " Should Have Known Better ." By the third track on the record, " All of Me Wants All of You ," explores grief in a different way from the previous two tracks. As with most songs on the album, "All of Me" appears to be deeply personal to the artist. But being personal doesn't stop this track's language from being the most obscured with allusions to geography and possibly an allegory from a little-known Spanish play. ALL OF ME THINKS LESS OF YOU.  There's a debate   on Lyrics Genius about the meaning of this song, especially surrounding the identity of the only other character mentioned by name in this song, Manelich. Is he the one the song is about? Stevens has written vaguely about homosexual attraction throughout
Read more