HARKpodcast

This week by request, we're listening to DMX's 2017 cover of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", which - hey! You know what! Could have been much worse! Then we treat ourselves to another rendition of this classic as performed by The Temptations. Thanks to Anna for the request!

It's almost Leif Erikson Day, and so this week we're covering songs from the land of fire and ice, Iceland! Perhaps predictably, we listen to a song by Bjork, whose rendition of "Jólakötturinn" is the perfect spooky song to kick off October. Then we revisit a Christmas standard with an Icelandic twist - "Ég fæ jólagjöf" by Katla María.

This week's episode falls on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, so we're marking this occasion by adding two new Hanukkah songs to our ever-growing list of winter holiday music. "Pass the Candle" by Michelle Citrin is an upbeat little tune perfectly suited for a Hanukkah montage, while "Not By Might, Not By Power" by Debbie Friedman brings a powerful performance and a message of peace.

This week by request, we're covering two holiday songs hailing from the Ozarks - and more specifically, from Alligator Records' Genuine Houserockin' Christmas! We're charmed by Koko Taylor's enthusiasm in "Have You Heard The News?", but put off by Shemekia Copeland's "Stay A Little Longer, Santa", both for its unreasonable demands on Santa's schedule and its... y'know. Thank you again to Caleb for...

Coinciding with the coming new year on the Jewish and Islamic calendars this week, we're talking New Year's songs! "Bringing In a Brand New Year" by Charles Brown brings us a charming, festive holiday anthem, while "Champagne (I'm Ready)" by Lisa Loeb delivers something slightly different than we were expecting from the iconic 90s glasses-wearer.

In this very jet-lagged edition of HARK, we cover two songs auf Deutsch, by German artists! "O du fröhliche" performed by Michelle strikes a familiar note, while "Holz (Weihnachtslied)" by the 257ers is a strange new experience. Prepare yourself for plenty of poor pronunciation and a lot of meta-conversation about dick humor!

As we pass through the final dog days of summer, HARK takes on two dog-centric holiday songs! On her 2017 Christmas album Sia gave us the beautiful gift of "Puppies Are Forever", the catchiest jingle about responsible pet ownership we've ever heard. "Lonely Pup (In A Christmas Shop)" by Adam Faith is a more melancholy tale, unless you presuppose that Santa gives presents to dogs - which of course,...

This week's requests have us hitting some highs and lows on our list! "A House Or Maybe a Boat" by Hawksley Workman feels like a pleasant dream, while "Rudolph Chewed Off" by Dragon Boy Suede feels exactly like listening to a comedy rap about a guy getting his privates mutilated by Santa's reindeer. Also RJ gets like, just super heated bout ranch dressing. Thank you to Richard for these requests!

We get back into our requests backlog, covering two songs that sound very much of their time - 1937's "The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot" by Vera Lynn and 1996's "Merry Christmas Eve" by Better than Ezra. Thanks to Brian for these requests!

In honor of British Columbia Day, we listen to holiday songs by two bands from here in beautiful BC! "Christmas Day In the Sun" by Hot Hot Heat sounds like your typical California-obsessed garage rock despite its Canadian origins, while "Puddleglum" by Said the Whale is unmistakably a Vancouverite creation.

This week we're beating the heat with two Hanukkah songs in musical styles from the Caribbean...  theoretically.  "Hanu-calypso" by Kenny Ellis offers a bounty of calypso instrumentation, as well as questionable wordplay and problematic accents. "Hanukkah Mambo" by the Yule Logs swings to another extreme, offering a pretty catchy tune with absolutely no resemblance to anything approaching mambo.

BIRTHDAY BOY'S CHOICE!! Our beloved co-host Ian has completed another year of this thing called life, and in this episode he receives the gift of picking this week's songs! He selects two songs from an album that caught his eye - "A Winter Romance" by Dean Martin. We cover the title track in addition to the intriguing "Canadian Sunset" and speculate about just how much swinging is going on. HAPPY...

Performers go head-to-head in this week's back-to-back listener requests! First up, Liza Minnelli and Alan Cumming perform a cheeky, maybe-subversive rendition of "Baby It's Cold Outside" - then Cyndi Lauper joins The Hives for "A Christmas Duel", a surprisingly spectacular song about spouses tearing their marriage to shreds. Thanks to Stuart and anonymous for these requests!

This week we're celebrating summer blockbuster season with two holiday songs by or pertaining to America's favorite Will Smith, Will Smith! By request, we begin with a twangy plea from Scott Aukerman and Paul F. Tompkins to show a little kindness this holiday season, titled "Please Don't Joke About 'I, Robot' This Christmas". Then things get wild as "Will 2k" takes us on a journey through time wit...

Get ready for double the Dion! We celebrate Canada Day (and Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, kinda) with two songs performed by French-Canada's favorite diva: "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day", a sentimental original that Celine co-wrote, and "Promenade En Traineau", a francophone version of Sleigh Ride from the very first year of her professional singing career. Joyeuses fêtes!

Hark, Herald Angels! It's milestone time! For our latest experiment in extremes, Ian tries to claim the highest spot with a special recording by an artist who you may be shocked is not yet on our list. Then RJ runs some calculations to decide which of the world's worst holiday songs we're going to expose ourselves to this year and lands on a toxic family drama. Thanks for listening and be nice to...

It's World Oceans Day, and in honor of that big blue sea we listen to "Christmas Under the Sea" by The Aqua Kids, which is impressively heavy on sea creature references but pretty light on non-magical ocean conservation tips. Then we contemplate H20 in a different state of matter with a wildly different winter song - "01 Have You Seen It In the Snow?" by The Magnetic Fields. Thank you again to Joe...

National Doughnut Day seems to get earlier every year, eh? This year, instead of celebrating with those delicious sufganiyot, we kick of the episode with a different Hanukkah treat: "My Baby Eats All the Hanukkah Gelt" by Alexis Fishman. Then it's a another sugary indulgence: "Christmas Cookies" by George Strait, who definitely knows what cookies are but is maybe less clear on sprinkles and also s...

We learn a lot in this episode - about music, about ourselves, and about New Kids on the Block. I guess mostly that last thing. We are, for reasons that are not quite clear even to us, covering two songs on the basis of their inclusion of the word "funky": "Funky New Year" by The Eagles and "Funky Funky Xmas" by New Kids On the Block. We're dreaming of a white, funky Christmas.

This week we're back to requests! "The Atheist Christmas Carol" by Vienna Teng delights us with its beauty and complexity, while "Snow in Los Angeles" by Dead Sara delivers some mixed messages. The post by Benito Cereno that RJ mentions in this episode can be found here:  http://benito-cereno.tumblr.com/post/153180841583/it-will-probably-come-as-no-surprise-to-anyone-who Thank you to Emily for req...

This Sunday is Mother's Day, so we're listen to two songs about Mother Christmas! The first - "Mother Christmas" by J.S. Ondara - uses the right nomenclature, but is actually a sincere, transcendent lament about missing one's mom (if Mother's Day is a tough day for you, maybe skip this one!). "Mrs. Santa Claus" by Nat King Cole, however, offers a saccharine salute to Father Christmas's put-upon wi...

This week is MAY the FOURTH, so you know what that means! That's right, it's Rhode Island Independence Day!! We celebrate with holiday songs by two bands from our beloved little home state, "Holy Shit It's Christmas" by Deer Tick and "All I Want for Xmas" by Draco and the Malfoys.

This week, we cover two requests for songs about Christmas wishes - mature, adult Christmas wishes. "My Grown Up Christmas List" by Amy Grant is a sentimental classic that doesn't quite pull our heartstrings, while "I Want a Boob Job for Christmas" by Virginia Kegel is a theatrical romp exemplifying the immature version of "mature" content. Thank you to anonymous and Dylan for the requests!

OK, look. We've run out of funny things to say about April 20th, the weed holiday, here in the episode description. But we will never, ever run out of winter holiday songs about weed: for 4/20/2018, we listen to "Weed (All I Want for Christmas)" by Nellie McKay and "Have a Willie Nice Christmas" by Kacey Musgraves featuring Willie Nelson.

This week on HARK, we cover two songs by request: the haunting reverie of Loreena McKennitt's "In Praise of Christmas" and the playful brevity of the Squirrel Nut Zipper's "Winter Weather". We also have our biggest disagreement about a song since covering Ian's sworn enemies The Killers! Thank you to merikus for the requests!