HARKpodcast

This week, by popular demand, we return to the nigh-inexhaustible subject of music about sex and Santa Claus. Fortunately, "Back Door Santa" by Clarence Carter is far from the worst song in this sub-genre we've covered, and we pair it with another tune that sounds better in execution than in concept, the sultry but sweet "Hanukkah Lovin'" by Michelle Citrin. Thanks to Matt, Alan, and anonymous for...

This week we get back into some Hanukkah songs! Grab your partner, do-si-do, and tune in to hear our thoughts on "Happy Joyous Hanukkah" by the Indigo Girls and "Hanukkah Dance" by Woody Guthrie!

In honor of three big calendar-changing holidays this week - Rosh Hashanah, the Islamic New Year, and the Autumnal Equinox - we're listening to two New Year songs! The lively tune of "Gonna Make It Through This Year" by Great Lake Swimmers disguises some darker lyrics, while the complexities of "New Year's Prayer" by Jeff Buckley are full of light.

HARK: hey HARK: this ep has 2 songs abt texting HARK: we listened to "Text Me Merry Christmas" by Straight No Chaser featuring Kristen Bell and "Merry Xmas (Says Your Text Message)" by Dragonette HARK: lol HARK: pls forgive me Thank you to John for the request!

This week we're covering a request to talk about the two musical highlights of the British Christmas rom-com that you may love to hate, hate to love, or in our case, calmly accept how much more you love it than it deserves. From Love Actually, we discuss "All I Want for Christmas is You" as performed by Olivia Olson and "Christmas is All Around" as performed by fictional character Billy Mack. Than...

We received a few requests for a song from "A Christmas Carol" (1951) and made the rare ruling that it is not Holiday Enough (or a complete enough performance) for us to rank. But in the spirit (get it) of those requests, we listen to two Dickens-related songs, "A Christmas Carol" by Tom Lehrer and "Ebeneezer" by The Wizards of Winter! Thanks to Douglas for requesting "A Christmas Carol" and to ca...

This week we tackle two songs about animal friends - but for once, none of them are pulling a sleigh. By request, we listen to the cheerful Nativity song "El Burrito De Belén" performed by La Rondallita and pair it with the surprisingly somber "The Friendly Beasts" as performed by Art Garfunkel and Amy Grant. Thank you to officialcomemierda for the request!

This week in the Yukon is Discovery Day, which celebrates(?) the Klondike Gold Rush - so we listen to two Christmas songs that have that gold fever! "Silver & Gold" by Burl Ives is a delightful classic, but a little unclear in its values -- while Kelly Clarkson's Santa-Baby-meets-surf-pop tune "4 Carats" knows exactly what it is about.

Inspired by an anonymous request, we listen to two songs featuring the UK edition of Santa Claus: Father Christmas. While paired for their shared nomenclature, these tracks I("I Believe in Father Christmas" by Greg Lake and "Father Christmas" by The Kinks) ended up sharing a bit more.

This week we get to some more requests from the Southern Hemisphere! Our listeners from Australia have tasked us with listening to two songs about Santa's less popular animal companions, "Six White Boomers" by notable terrible person Rolf Harris and "Fabian" by Tripod. Thank you to Moopot and our anonymous listener (who may or may not be a monotreme) for the requests!

It's hot here in the Northern Hemisphere, so we decide to cool off with music devoted to winter rather than any one holiday. Specifically, we listen to two takes on "Winter Wonderland", which we have gone 130 episodes without encountering! Both versions of this familiar song manage to catch us by surprise - the first recorded performance by Richard Himber and his Ritz-Carlton Hotel Orchestra, and...

This week, we're celebrating a very special birthday for a very special podcast boy. Ian is turning three decades old this week! And so is A Very Special Christmas, the 1987 holiday charity album that along with debuting "Christmas in Hollis", featured the two songs that Ian inexplicably chose for this week's episode. We listen to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by John Cougar Mellencamp and "Sa...

This week, a listener request asks us to consider updated versions of two much-beloved Christmas tunes with well-documented problems - "Fairytale of New York" as performed by KT Tunstall and "Baby It's Cold Outside" as performed by Postmodern Jukebox. Thank you to Liam for the request!

This week we cover a listener request that lets us treat ourselves to some delightful jazz and captivating blues - and reveals, perhaps, how little we know about jazz and blues. Thank you to Paul for requesting "Christmas Night in Harlem" by Louis Armstrong and "Santa" by Lightnin' Hopkins!

Ian and RJ are back, and they are melting! This week we struggle through two novelty songs in which children make outlandish, and perhaps disturbing, demands - "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" by Gayla Peevey and "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" by Spike Jones and His City Slickers.

This week, our list grows to 250 songs, and we partake in our tradition of surprising each other with songs aimed at the top and the bottom of the list. Ian's pick for the top causes tears of joy to flow and hearts to swell with love, while RJ's pick for the bottom is all about hatred.

We did it, y'all. We made it half-way through 2017. Next Christmas is only 200 days away! To celebrate, we're looking back at the best and worst holiday albums of 2016. The charming "I'm Your Santa" by Chance the Rapper and Jeremih is our pick for best, and the incomprehensible "Drivin' the Pig (Manejando el Cerdo)" by the incomparable Jimmy Buffett is, well, you know.

We're celebrating National Doughnut Day with two songs celebrating doughnuts - specifically, sufganiyot, jelly doughnuts eaten at Hanukkah time! "Sufganiot" by A.K.A. Pella is a love song to this fried food while "A Land Called Sufganiyot" by Mama Doni Band is more of a sci-fi/horror journey.

We cover two Christmas duets with two different takes on love. An anonymous request introduces us to "Christmas TV" by Slow Club, a guileless song full of yearning and affirmation - we pair it with "Are You Coming Over for Christmas?" by Belle & Sebastian, which might be the audio equivalent of "Baby It's Cold Outside" cosplay.

This week, we made the ill-advised decision to theme an episode around Armed Forces Day! The strangeness of "Snoopy's Christmas" by The Royal Guardsmen is somewhat overwhelmed by nostalgia, but we have no such fond attachments to "Christmas in Fallujah" by Cass Dillon. Thanks to Chris and Matt* for the request!

This week, we're going back to basics. No gimmicks, no conspiracy theories, just straight-up rock 'n roll. An anonymous request leaves RJ and Ian pondering a pair of somewhat sleepy indie-rock songs: "It's a Lonely Christmas" by The Charters and "Come on Santa" by The Raveonettes. We discover a novel way to improve the latter, but find the former mostly unsalvageable.

In honor of the Kentucky Derby (and in the interest of listening to at least ONE good song to re-calibrate our sensibilities), we discuss two horse-themed Christmas tunes. "Sleigh Ride" by The Ronettes is a refreshing treat with way more horse stuff than we remembered. "Hang An Ornament" by Grandaddy and Band of Horses is a bit more meandering in comparison, but still pretty impressive for a band...

We lose a joke into the ether, discuss the fate of the project after we die in the post-podcast future, and reveal STARTLING new information that will change the holiday romcom world... forever. What does Administrative Professionals Day and two Christmas novelty songs from the UK have to do with all this? We're connecting the dots this week. Wake up, sheeple. Thanks to Russell for the request!

4/20 nice nice nice it's the fucking weed day man fuck This week we listened to "Be Claus I Got High" by Bob Rivers and "I'll Be Stoned for Christmas" by Dent May. Did you think we were out of weed holiday songs after last year? We are not even out of weed holiday songs *by Bob Rivers*.

We're typically more of a Santa show (on the Santa/Jesus Christmas spectrum) but this week to celebrate Easter we discuss two modern religious Christmas songs. As far as that description goes, we could have done much worse, but we still end up scratching our heads as we discuss "Mary Did You Know" by Pentatonix and "Who Would Imagine a King" by Whitney Houston. Thanks to Dylan for the request!