The Art of the Holiday Jingles Road Trip

Travel Blog  •  Joanna Kakissis  •  12.18.07 | 4:27 PM ET

imagePhoto by Nina Hale via Flickr (Creative Commons).

NPR’s Stephen Thompson recently drove 1,000 miles to see his family for Thanksgiving and, en route, listened to hours and hours of Christmas music, both cool and corny. Think Eileen Ivers and Carnie Wilson, Josh Groban and Michael Bolton, and even “A Twismas Story” by the late country crooner Conway Twitty. Would I be a loser if the idea of Mr. Thompson’s roadtrip soundtrack made me weepy with jealousy?

As a kid in North Dakota, I never listened to Conway or even a chorus of barking dogs and meowing cats “singing” a rendition of “Jingle Bells.” I couldn’t. My immigrant parents used to sing strange and mournful old Greek songs on our winter road trips from snow-blind Williston, North Dakota to the prairie metropolis of Regina, Saskatchewan, where more mournful Greek songs awaited us at the home of another Greek immigrant family.

At least the family had a teenage son with a driver’s license who cranked up Wham!‘s Last Christmas in his father’s sedan when we escaped to the mall.

When I grew up and got to control the holiday road trip programming in my own car, I overdosed on Celtic and Motown Christmas compilations as well as the Mediaeval Baebes, Diana Krall and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Now I am bitterly stranded in traffic-destroyed and overpriced Athens and shopping by metro, cranking up Ice Cold Ice on my iPod. (Husker Du, alas, never made a Christmas album.) No Alvin or Conway or Chieftains or barking dogs and meowing cats. That seems to sounds better in the privacy of a car.

So people, indulge the lonely expat in me. What’s on your road trip playlist this holiday season?

 

Tags: Music, Pop Culture Travel, Road Trips, News and Briefs

Joanna Kakissis's writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe and The Washington Post, among other publications. A contributor to the World Hum blog, she's currently a Ted Scripps fellow in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado in Boulder.


15 Comments for The Art of the Holiday Jingles Road Trip

Eva Holland 12.18.07 | 11:17 PM ET

I’m with you on Wham! and Alvin and Co, Joanna. They brought the world two of my favourite Christmas songs… I’ll also be listening to Bob and Doug McKenzie’s 12 Days of Christmas, a hoser classic. And I never get tired of the How The Grinch Stole Christmas soundtrack.

When I was a kid I had a great tape called “A Merry Rockin’ Christmas” that had Elvis Presley doing Here Comes Santa Claus, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire (whatever that one’s actually called) by Little Eva and Big Dee, The Platters and The Cadillacs were in there too.

Corny Christmas music is the only way to go! Sorry to hear you’re feeling deprived in Athens…

Nina 12.19.07 | 12:13 AM ET

My husband (the original owner of most of the records in the photo) recommends trying to put together “The Baby Song” from “Flip your Wig” (re: Jesus) and “Too Much Spice” from “Warehouse” (re: the wise men) if you’re dying to connect Husker Du to a xmas playlist. Cheers! Thanks so much for the photo credit - and to Google alerts.

Michael Yessis 12.19.07 | 10:07 AM ET

At the top of my list: The David Bowie/Bing Crosby rendition of “Little Drummer Boy.”

Funny story in the Washington Post today from John Deiner, who loves him some Christmas songs. He’s been tuned into a radio station that’s been playing Christmas songs 24/7 since before Thanksgiving. He can’t bring himself to turn it off, though, so to get a break he takes a road trip out of range of the station.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/18/AR2007121801730.html

Jim Benning 12.19.07 | 10:57 AM ET

I love me some Vince Guaraldi Trio “Charlie Brown Christmas” album. I’m a big “The Little Drummer Boy” fan, too. The Sufjan Stevens version is pretty solid, and I confess to enjoying Bob Seger’s rendition. Oh, and on holiday road trips involving major cities, I have to crank up John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things.”

TambourineMan 12.19.07 | 12:27 PM ET

Der Bingle and Bowie is great for its weirdness.

I love Blue Christmas. Tons of good covers out there, but I gotta go with The King’s version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUyuGFoiWJ0

TambourineMan 12.19.07 | 12:35 PM ET

Sorry. Just realized the audio on that was the studio version. Weird. Anyway, here’s the live version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DjV9caCsIQ

Chopper 03.02.08 | 9:35 AM ET

TambourineMan, thanks for the live version!

Mandarina 03.26.08 | 4:11 PM ET

Thanks too, TambourineMan!

I’ve been looking for that live version for an hour now.

Mike 04.06.08 | 8:28 PM ET

Thanks too! Really nice to listen to. :)

Ringtone Fan 04.10.08 | 12:05 PM ET

I have been searching everywhere for this. Thanks so much!!

Jermaine N Wieland 05.01.08 | 7:18 PM ET

Sorry for a dumb question, but I really can’t get, what NPR is?...

Matthias Franke 07.17.08 | 2:06 PM ET

Very nice live version at youtube. I vote for it :-)

Travel Travis 07.21.08 | 4:56 AM ET

Sounds like fun. Great idea for coming Chrstmas

fairings 08.26.08 | 9:32 PM ET

Classic Christmas songs are always the best. I love playing these songs over and over again especially during long drives. Little Drummer Boy and Jingle Bells are my favorites.

norfolk broads boating holidays 10.07.08 | 10:29 PM ET

I’m really impressed with your article, I’m looking forward to see your future posts.

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