HARKpodcast

This week we discuss an anonymous request and a beautiful baffling miracle which both feature NPR personalities performing songs about being dominated by robots at Christmastime. "Chiron Beta Prime" by Jonathan Coulton and "Toymageddon" by Yo La Tengo, Ira Glass, and Eugene Mirman spin two captivating Christmas tales/post-apocalyptic visions. Alternate episode title: Wait Wait Don't Kill Me With R...

It's another week of Hanukkah tunes on HARK! As Yom Kippur approaches, we're listening to some more somber Hanukkah music - "Light One Candle" by Peter, Paul and Mary and "Feast of Lights" by They Might Be Giants - two songs which couldn't be more different, but both offer complexity in a simple package.

Happy Rosh Hashanah! In honor of the new year, this week we listened to two Hanukkah songs released in the past year. The result was some smooth and chilled-out holiday delights: "8 Days (of Hanukkah)" by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and "Outside of December" by The Leeves and Matisyahu. Shanah tovah!

Hey, remember the 90s? If you're roughly our age and were required to line dance in gym class or ever attended a wedding, you're about to. We're covering two Christmas versions of dance craze songs: "Macarena Christmas" by Los del Rio and "XMas Slide" by Xpress Band. Thank you to Sarah for the request!

This week, we cover two songs in a language new to the list - but pulled from albums we've visited many times before. "O Tannenbaum" and "Stille Nacht" mark our first songs in German, just in time for Oktoberfest. Hear Nat King Cole, a chorus of Muppets, and one of HARK's co-hosts attempt to pronounce and sing this beautiful language. (No. sarcasm. intended.)

There's a door at the back of your mind. Do you open it? A strange little boy approaches you to tell you he sleeps in cars because he's bad. How quickly do you phone for help? These and other questions asked and, more or less, answered in this spoken word episode of HARK, featuring "Faith In Santa" performed by Hermann Lammers Meyer and "The Train" by Celestial Navigations. In case you can't tell,...

We missed National Dog Day, but every week is a good week to celebrate our furry friends. Right? Come with us on this. We listened to two songs about pets, "Christmas Is Going to the Dogs" by Eels and "It's Hard to Be a Cat On Christmas" by Cats Across America, and it, you know, could have gone worse. It didn't go great.

With one week left until September, it's back to school season! Hear us stroll down memory lane with Christmas songs by bands that bring us back to our own school days, "Christmas at the Zoo" by The Flaming Lips and "It's Christmas Time" by Yo La Tengo.

Friend of the show Andy has served us with another request - this time for what could be the worst of all versions of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah": a Nativity/Good Friday centric cover by The Osmonds, recorded in the Year of our Lord 2015. To cleanse our palates, we then listened to Rufus Wainwright's "Spotlight on Christmas". Hallelujah.

This week on HARK we return to a musical genre we haven't heard in a while - hip-hop - and do we even have to tell you at this point that the results were mixed? RJ adores the lollygagging "Landy In my Eggnog" by Bad Lucc enough for the both of us, while our opinions are more united on the brief but baffling "Hanukkah (My Favorite Time of the Year)" by Too $hort,

This week we take a request from a dear friend who wanted us to suffer through two poorly-told musical tales of Christmas disillusionment: "Where Are You Christmas?" by Faith Hill and "Silver Bells" by Kathie Lee Gifford featuring Regis Philbin. Join us on this journey through talk show banter and music video hairstyles of yesteryear. Thank you to Mindy for the request!

It's a hot one here on HARK when we cover two Christmas songs about sunshine and fun times. Also about being selfish and rubbing oil on a country music star. We listened to "Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum" by Jimmy Buffett and "All I Want For Christmas Is a Real Good Tan" by Kenny Chesney, and we're still mad about it. This is the MBMBAM bit that partially inspired this episode: https://www.youtube....

This week on HARK, we're not celebrating a holiday... we're celebrating a Holliday. It's Ian's birthday! When the birthday boy is given free reign over song selection, he puts forth two familiar Christmas tunes from his childhood, the always-classic "Let It Snow" by Dean Martin and the never-classic "Christmas Dinner Country Style" by Bing Crosby.

This week, we add another language to our list - we're celebrating holiday songs in French in honor of Bastille Day! While we're not able to shed too much light on the cultural context (and our mastery of the language is... it's just the worst), join us for two very enjoyable chansons en français, "Un Flambeau, Jeanette, Isabella" as performed by Diane Taraz and "Petit Papa Noel" by Tino Rossi.

This week we cover two requests from our # 1 fan timemachine, who followed up on the theme of a previous episode which... well... you'll know which one. We discuss the genre-ruining "Santa Stole My Girlfriend" by The Maine and the surprisingly less surreal but still slightly off "Santa's Beard" by They Might Be Giants. Thanks again to timemachine for the requests!

It's Canada Day and Nickelback still doesn't have a holiday album, so we're covering two original Christmas songs by previously-featured Canadian pop stars, Carly Rae Jepsen and Justin Bieber. RJ has accepted the gospel of Carly into their heart, but Ian is skeptical. We resolve our differences and learn a valuable lesson about sneaking into people's bedrooms to leave them clothing(don't do it).

After 75 episodes and 150 songs, we're finally opening the seal on an unforgettable album: A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector. By request, we discuss Darlene Love's "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", an actual-factual top-of-the-list contender. We pair it with Death Cab For Cutie's more subdued version of the same song, what may be the least terrible of cover versions. Your mileage may v...

This week we cover our 150th song, and you know what that means! Ian & RJ surprise each other with their picks for the top and bottom of the list. Ian goes for number one with a simple but evocative indie tune. RJ looks for the worst of the worst and lands on a little ditty sponsored by the Koch brothers.

It's the second week of our fortnight celebration of the 1960s! We cover two classics from The Beach Boys' Christmas Album, "Little Saint Nick" and "The Man With All The Toys". Revelations follow.

For the next two weeks we'll be addressing one of the more neglected decades on our list - the 1960s. This week we cover two songs that you might call Christmas music cult classics - "Close Your Mouth It's Christmas" by The Free Design and "Rudolph Pouts" by Israfel's Son.

By listener request, we tackle two Christmas songs from cartoon characters: "When the Saints Go Marching In" performed by the voice of Sailor Moon, Kotono Mitsuishi, and the novelty standard "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" performed by Ross Bagdasarian Sr. as The Chipmunks. Whether you find these tunes cute or cloying may depend on your level of nostalgia - listen in to hear which on...

Join us, herald angels, for a sequel of sorts - our second Beatles-themed episode, this time featuring holiday songs written and performed by George and Ringo. If you want knowledgeable analysis of music greats, look elsewhere. If you want more Hogwarts house chatter and at least one sick McCartney burn, tune in.

Multiple people, or possibly one persistent person, requested this week's first song, "It's Called Christmas with a Capital C" by Go Fish. Because they hate us and our happiness, I guess? After suffering through it, we seek an antidote in the form of Eric Idle's extremely rude "Fuck Christmas".

May the... well, you know. This episode is all about Star Wars Day, which means we listened to some truly terrible holiday music - "What Do You Get a Wookiee For Christmas (When He Already Owns a Comb)" by some nobody droids that no one cares about, and "A Day To Celebrate" by Carrie Fisher, which is a shining beacon of Life Day spirit in comparison.

This week we cover a request for a familiar song in a new context: "When You Wish Upon a Star", performed by Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket, which has apparently gained Christmas classic status because of its inclusion in a Disney special aired annually in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. We also listen to a song by Disney Channel Original Series star Kyle Massey which involves someone yellin...