Let's make Ebenezer's Carol No.1 this Christmas!

The plan:

To get Ebenezer's Carol, by The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, to No. 1 in time for Christmas. A proper steampunk Christmas song for Christmas No. 1!

What we need to do to achieve this:

1) For Ebenezer's Carol to chart it needs to sell roughly 8,000 copies. The single needs be downloaded as a single, and not as part of the A Very Steampunk Christmas EP. It's available now from iTunes, eMusic and Amazon.

2) So, forward this message to all your friends (be they steampunks or otherwise) but remind them that they must buy the song by itself for it to get into the singles chart.

3) Blog about this, post a link on your Facebook page, Tweet about it, but most importantly - buy the single Ebenezer's Carol!

4) Arrange events themed around this, call the local press, use your contacts - whatever you've got - and we could really make this happen!

This is a chance for steampunk fans to really make themselves heard and make a difference for the future of Christmas. The fate of Ebenezer's Carol and Christmas music itself is in your hands! Let's make Christmas 2010 a Very Merry Steampunk Christmas!

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, eight unseasonal Christmas Number Ones!

2009 - Rage Against the Machine - Killing in The Name

2006 - Leona Lewis - A Moment Like This

2005 - Shayne Ward - That's My Goal

2003 - Michael Andrews featuring Gary Jules - Mad World

2002 - Girls Aloud - Sound of the Underground

2000 - Bob the Builder - Can We Fix It?

1999 - Westlife - I Have a Dream

1993 - Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby

The X-mas Factor

Four weeks today is Christmas Day, so it's time to wheel out those favourite Christmas songs of yesteryear, like this one from 2008...

Christmas in the Trenches

At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918, the guns fell silent...

For many serving in the trenches during the First World War, Christmas was spent in the trenches as well. On Christmas Day 1914 a legendary football match is supposed to have taken place in the middle of No-Man's-Land between the Allies and the Germans, but no one knows what the final score was as no one bothered to keep count.

The legend became immortalised in the video for Paul McCartney's Pipes Of Peace.



In truth, some said the Germans won 3-2, but whatever the facts of the matter, the truce gradually came to an end in the same way it had begun - by mutual consent. It never happened again.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

Stop the Cavalry!

Heard this for the first time this year today and as far as I'm concerned, it's never too soon for a bit of Jona Lewie.

Jona Lewie - Stop the Cavalry

This has to be one of the strangest, least festive Christmas classics, but it is a classic nonetheless. Enjoy!



Did you know?
The song peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart in December 1980, at one point only being kept from number one by two re-issued songs by John Lennon, who had been murdered on 8 December.

The song was never intended as a Christmas hit, but the line 'Wish I was at home for Christmas' as well as the brass band arrangements made it an appropriately styled song to play around Christmas time.

19 December - Christmas Wrapping

Just like Christmas cards and manufactured decorations, Christmas wrapping paper rose to prominence during the 19th century, at a time of growing industrialisation and the development of a consumer culture.

Before the mid-1800s Christmas presents had usually only been given to children and were small things that might be placed inside stockings on Christmas Eve. However, by the 1880s, the purchase of manufactured goods had increased, as had the production of boxes in which to store them. From there it was only a small step to create special paper to wrap it all up in.

In the late 19th century presents were wrapped in white tissue or brown paper, with a gift tag or token sprig of holly attached. From there people started using coloured tissue paper. Joyce Hall (who would later found Hallmark Cards) started producing wrapping paper in 1918, with the designs becoming more elaborate as the years went on.

And then, of course, there's this sort of Christmas Wrapping (with more of those wonderful lights!).

4 December - Dom and Danny Do Christmas (early)

I spent a rather surreal afternoon yesterday, enjoying an early Christmas in the company of Dom Joly and Danny Wallace.

I was at BBC Bush House for the recording of Dom and Danny Do Christmas for Radio 5 Live in my capacity as a Christmologist (or expert on Christmas, for the uninitiated) having written What is Myrrh Anyway? Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Christmas.

It was an afternoon of mirth, merriment and mayhem, spent in the company of a couple of comics and included a live phone call from Roy Wood of Wizard fame and the arrival of a proper a capella choir.

Highlights included the call to Major Reddish of NORAD, who is responsible for tracking Santa as he flies around the world on Christmas Eve and the moment when Dom Joly forced me into eating a mince pie, and breaking the law at the same time. (You'll have to listen for yourself to find out what that was all about.)

And then there was the moment when we were told that it was the choir who sang on the Darkness's 'Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)' who were coming into the studio. I said, 'Oh, from Haberdasher Askes' and Dom Joly turned to me, with a look of amazement, and said, 'You really do know everything about Christmas!'

Dom and Danny Do Christmas will be broadcast at 12 noon on Christmas day on Radio 5 Live and will also be available online via the BBC's listen again facility, but in the meantime, here's some music...

3 December - Jingle all the way

A perennial favourite of the Christmas season is the world renowned 'Jingle Bells' - originally called 'One Horse Open Sleigh' - but did you know that the song is over 150 years old?

It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) in 1857 and, at the time, it had a different chorus melody, which was more classical in character. The 1857 lyrics also differed slightly from those we know today.

The song has been translated into many languages and was also the first song broadcast from outer space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, on December 16, 1965.

On the side of a building in the center of Medford Square in Medford, Massachusetts, USA, there is a plaque commemorating the birthplace of 'Jingle Bells'. However, in Savannah, Georgia, there is a marker commemorating the composition of 'Jingle Bells' in a church there where Pierpont served as music director.

And here, for your delectation, is Crazy Frog's version of 'Jingle Bells' with some more of those crazy Christmas lights so beloved of this blog. Enjoy!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

In honour of this morning's half an hour of snow flurries over West London.

Countdown to publication - 1 day to go

It wouldn't be Christmas without Raymond Briggs' The Snowman appearing in the TV schedules at some point during the festive season. And the most memorable piece of music from it is Walking in the Air, sung by Aled Jones - right?

Wrong! Aled Jones made the song famous after he recorded it for a subsequent single release. The record reached number five in the UK pop charts, and Jones became a celebrity off the back of it.

However, for the TV programme, Walking in the Air was actually sung by St. Paul's Cathedral choirboy Peter Auty who is still singing but now as an operatic tenor. You can remind yourself of Peter's performance again by clicking on the video clip below.

Christmas number 1 challenger!

Some of you have already started having your say as regards your favourite Christmas songs and, funnily enough, they're not necessaruly the tunes that made it to the top slot in any one year.

A strong undercurrent have it that 'I Believe in Father Christmas' by Greg Lake, from 1975, should actually be remembered as the number one Chritmas song of all time (partly thanks to the inspired use of Prokofiev's 'Lieutenant Kije Suite'), even though it only made it to number 2.



So, which song do you think should be the number one Christmas song of all time, regardless of whether it made number one, or not?

What's your number one Number 1?

Everyone has their favourite Christmas song and every year, popstars release more of the things, the more memorable of which will ultimately end up on some Christmas compilation CD. But many of those much-cherished pop ditties never actually made it to Number 1 in the charts. In fact the songs which did were often far from festive in nature.

For a start, there have only actually been 56 Christmas Number 1s, since records began (excuse the unintentional pun) in 1952. And here they all are (arranged by year, artist, song and then weeks at #1):

1952 - Al Martino - Here in My Heart - 9
1953 - Frankie Laine - Answer Me - 8
1954 - Winifred Atwell - Let's Have Another Party - 5
1955 - Dickie Valentine - Christmas Alphabet - 3
1956 - Johnnie Ray - Just Walkin' in the Rain - 7
1957 - Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child - 7
1958 - Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe - 5
1959 - Emile Ford & The Checkmates - What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For? - 6
1960 - Cliff Richard & The Shadows - I Love You - 2
1961 - Danny Williams - Moon River - 2
1962 - Elvis Presley - Return to Sender - 3
1963 - The Beatles - I Want to Hold Your Hand - 5
1964 - The Beatles - I Feel Fine - 5
1965 - The Beatles - Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out - 5
1966 - Tom Jones - Green Green Grass of Home - 7
1967 - The Beatles - Hello, Goodbye - 7
1968 - The Scaffold - Lily the Pink - 3
1969 - Rolf Harris - Two Little Boys - 6
1970 - Dave Edmunds - I Hear You Knocking - 6
1971 - Benny Hill - Ernie (The Fastest Milkman in the West) - 4
1972 - Little Jimmy Osmond - Long Haired Lover From Liverpool - 5
1973 - Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody - 5
1974 - Mud - Lonely This Christmas - 4
1975 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody - 9
1976 - Johnny Mathis - When A Child Is Born (Soleado) - 3
1977 - Wings - Mull of Kintyre / Girls' School - 9
1978 - Boney M - Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord - 4
1979 - Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) - 5
1980 - St Winifred's School Choir - There's No-one Quite Like Grandma - 2
1981 - The Human League - Don't You Want Me - 5
1982 - Renée and Renato - Save Your Love - 4
1983 - The Flying Pickets - Only You - 5
1984 - Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas? - 5
1985 - Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone - 2
1986 - Jackie Wilson - Reet Petite - 4
1987 - Pet Shop Boys - Always on My Mind - 4
1988 - Cliff Richard - Mistletoe and Wine - 4
1989 - Band Aid II - Do They Know It's Christmas? - 3
1990 - Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day - 1
1991 - Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody / These Are the Days of Our Lives - 5
1992 - Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You - 10
1993 - Mr Blobby - Mr Blobby - 2
1994 - East 17 - Stay Another Day - 5
1995 - Michael Jackson - Earth Song - 6
1996 - Spice Girls - 2 Become 1 - 3
1997 - Spice Girls - Too Much - 2
1998 - Spice Girls - Goodbye - 2
1999 - Westlife - I Have A Dream / Seasons in the Sun - 1
2000 - Bob The Builder - Can We Fix It? - 3
2001 - Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman - Somethin' Stupid - 3
2002 - Girls Aloud - Sound Of The Underground - 4
2003 - Michael Andrews & Gary Jules - Mad World - 3
2004 - Band Aid 20 - Do They Know It's Christmas? - 4
2005 - Shayne Ward - That's My Goal - 4
2006 - Leona Lewis - A Moment Like This - 4
2007 - Leon Jackson - When You Believe - 3

So, what’s your favourite Christmas Number 1? Let’s carry out an online poll, right here. Simply post which of the above is your favourite and we’ll find out which Number 1 is at the top of the chart (as it were).