HARKpodcast

The Tony Awards are this Sunday, so we're celebrating with a musical-theatre-themed request! At listener Emily's suggestion, we check out two Christmas songs from the not-Tony-nominated show "Songs for a New World." The first, "Surabaya Santa," is an intriguing idea that turns out upsetting, while the second, "Christmas Lullaby," mostly works? Mostly? Thanks again to Emily for the requests!

In honour (with a u) of National Biscuit Day in the UK, we're covering two tunes about cookies! These holiday songs are about cookies, and only about cookies, and definitely nothing else. "Christmas Cookies" by RuPaul, for example, is definitely about the baking of cookies and not about being extremely horny. And "The Cookie Song" by Amanda Duncan is about combining ingredients into dough and then...

This week, by request, we add some ska to our ever-growing list! "I Got This Neighbor" by MU330 is a charmingly short song that has us reminiscing about ska bands of our own youth, while "Big Ol' Drummer Bwoy" by Sons of Odin offers some mixed messages about the appeal of percussion instruments. Thank you to James for these requests!

This week, by request, we're covering two more of The Killers' many, many holiday releases! As you may remember from Episode 113 , Ian has a very special, very hateful relationship towards their non-holiday oeuvre. Yet we find ourselves in an unlikely disagreement about the surprisingly serious "Joseph, Better You Than Me", featuring Neil Tennant and Elton John, and in a sort of reluctant harmony...

This Sunday is Mother's Day, and we've got two Christmas songs about moms... well, at least, two songs that acknowledge motherhood as a concept. "The Christmas Song" as performed by Fantasia just barely qualifies but we wanted to talk about it so there , while "A Mother's Christmas Wish" by Olivia Newton-John is basically a floral-patterned Hallmark card of a holiday song.

It's International Workers' Day and we're celebrating with some holiday songs for solidarity! "We're Following the Wrong Star" by Billy Bragg is an evocative Christmas anthem for the working class, while "Stop the Cavalry" by Jona Lewie is a weird and almost whimsical holiday song about the horrors of war. Thank you to Liam for the requests! Here's a link to the article that we mentioned in this e...

Ok, we got the giggles out of our systems last week, and we're ready to talk about music like a couple of proper grown-ups. This week we reflect on Passover and Easter and listen to two more traditional holiday songs - "Mi Yimalel" as performed by Neal Katz, and "O Holy Night" as performed by David Phelps. It's serious stuff this week, y'all. Also: RJ performs a wee robot song. Thank you to Andrew...

You may be celebrating Passover or Easter this week, but here on HARK as per tradition, we're celebrating April the 20th. Join us as we try to invigorate our 4/20 spirit with two Christmas songs about the dank herb - "Santa Claus is Smoking Reefer" by Squirrel Nut Zippers and "Christmas Trees" by Major Lazer.

This week by request, we're looking at some old-school carols that are new to the list! "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman/We Three Kings" by Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan brings us comfort and joy, while "Good King Wenceslaus" by The Roches comes to us bearing charm, wine, and life lessons. Thank you to lettinggoisthehardestpart and Thom for the requests!

What is the sound of snow falling? Is it like one hand clapping, or is it like, a person playing with a big pile of buttons? We investigate this and other ethereal mysteries as we review "Listen, the Snow is Falling" by Galaxie 500 and its predecessor "Listen, the Snow is Falling" by Yoko Ono. Thank you to Neil for the request!

This week it's all elves, all the time! By request, we cover two songs about elf OCs. "An Elf Named Moe" by Carl Stuck is an earnest ode to a North Pole middle-manager, while "Barry the Elf" by Bucko & Champs cheerfully tells the tale of a rude, lewd, and crude layabout. Thank you Rachele for the requests!

Spring is nearly here! Whether you're desperate for sunshine or already wistfully missing those snowflakes, the two songs we cover this week - "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes and "Strawberry Snow" by Brenda Lee - will hopefully have some comfort to offer you through this seasonal change.

We're celebrating St. Joseph's Day with two Italian Christmas songs! Well, Christmas songs in Italian, at least. Weeell... Christmas songs in Italian, or about Italy, or at least, sort of Italy-adjacent. We did our best. "Bianco Natale" by legendary Italian musician Mina transports us to the Italy of the 1960s, while "Buon Natale" by Nat King Cole transports us to, I dunno, some kind of weird fant...

This week, one of the calendar's most somber holidays befalls us again. No, not Ash Wednesday - we're talking about the return of Daylight Savings Time and the loss of that precious, precious hour. If you're like us and you need every second you can get, maybe you'll appreciate the short songs we chose for this week - "Holly Jolly Christmas" as performed by Michael Bublé is consistently Bublé, whi...

This week, we celebrate Mardi Gras en français with a pair of songs hailing from the province of Quebec. "Fa la la" by Bündock is strange but charming, while "Le temps d'une dinde" by Roland Hi! Ha! Tremblay is ... stranger and less charming? If you're from Quebec and/or a French speaker who would like to explain the context we're surely missing in this episode, please email us.

Valentine's Day is upon us once again, and this year we're tackling some holiday songs about love and romance that also turned out to be kind of spooky? By request, we listen to "Dear Santa (Bring me a Man this Christmas)" by The Weather Girls, which is weird but mostly charming. We pair it with "Christmas Eve" by Justin Bieber, which somehow manages to be even weirder, and also charmless. Thank y...

A polarizing holiday classic is finally making its way onto our list! By request(s), we take a long, hard look at "Last Christmas" by Wham! and wash it down with George Michael's "December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)". Thank you to Patricia for the requests!

For Groundhog Day, we're celebrating the 90s way, with a little déjà vu! We cover requests from some of our repeat-requesters, digging into "Home Once a Year" by Marshall Burns and "Christmas C'mon" by Lindsey Stirling and Becky G. Thanks to Listener Jenny and Captain McGloo for these requests!

This week we listen to two more Christmas songs from the southern hemisphere - "Aussie Jingle Bells" by Bucko & Champs, which is exactly what you would expect, and "Santa Never Made It Into Darwin" by Bill & Boyd, which is maybe more of a bummer than you would expect. FYI, this one is Ian's fault.

It's our first requests of 2019 (submitted in 2018)! We cover two songs destined for the "mushy middle" of the list, but each one brings us some joy along the way. "Santa Says Relax" by Joe Innes and the Cavalcade is a post-ironic indie tune that makes us wish it was Christmas, while "Christmas in New Orleans" by Rickie Lee Jones is a sad, complex song that merits a second listen. Thanks to Jenny...

RJ and Ian are back from their international holiday travels, and they are SLEEPY. In this first episode of HARK recorded on this side of 2019, Ian explains the Julian calendar, RJ coins some new idioms, and we cover two new year songs - "Same Old Land Syne" by Dan Fogelberg and "New Year's Day" by U2. Yeah.

We have been informed that we do not cover enough songs from the 1980s, and for our first episode of 2019, we are taking decisive action. Unfortunately for 80s fans, that action does not involve covering songs from that decade. Instead, we're talking about two songs that remind us of the 1980s - "Christmas was Better in the Eighties" by The Futureheads and "Merry Something to You" by Devo. Matthew...

Hanukkah and Christmas are done and past for another year, and on this December the 26th we're celebrating Kwanzaa! We add two new Kwanzaa songs to the list: Teddy Pendergrass' smooth, catchy, and a little bit corny anthem "Happy Kwanzaa" and Lovely Hoffman's - well, lovely - "A Kwanzaa Song".

Our 200th episode is here, and RJ and Ian are once again trying to beat out the best and worst songs on the list! We begin by discussing the safe, reliable picks that we both settled on weeks ago - and then instead present the riskier choices that surprised us in the eleventh hour. Listen in to hear which unique tune by the smooth-voiced June Christy charmed us and what hellish nonsense by Ray Ste...

With Christmas less than two weeks away, we're trying something novel and only listening to extremely good music in this episode. These two songs - "Mary's Baby" by Charles Bradley and "Christmas is a Feeling In Your Heart" as performed by Love Colony featuring Six - may not be the greatest holiday songs of all time, but they are definitely honorable mentions.