Listen to this story: If you’re in the car, or cooking, or just lazy… you can listen to me read this story for you, in the audio file below.
When I owned retail stores between 2011 and 2020, I listened to a lot of Holiday music. Leading up to that first December in 2011 I hadn’t thought much about the genre. Then after Thanksgiving, an employee with far more retail experience than me, just started playing it. I soon realized why almost every shop in the world does; it works.
Something about those old tunes just gets people in the spending mood. Which is probably why you now see big box stores switching to Holiday mode right around Halloween. The more days they can subtlety brainwash their customers, the better! Because people don’t just spend on gifts during the Holidays, I observed, they shop more for themselves, too.
Closing up shop was one of my favorite things to do while working in retail. During business hours you never know who might walk through the door, or when. Everyone from a celebrity to a hobo could either make or ruin your day, in an instant. Even on a quiet day, the noise of a public space and anticipation of what’s next could be taxing. As I locked the door and switched off all the lights, I often played music that I liked, loudly, until it was time to turn that off, too. In that moment the silence was wonderful, especially under low light. There was a sense that even the bulbs had been making a racket.
At no other time of the year was the contrast between the shop being open (hectic, unpredictable, noisy) and closed (still, solitary, quiet) more vast. Every Christmas Eve I would scramble to serve the frantic very-last-minute shoppers - often coughing and spluttering, out of their sick beds for the things it was too late to have delivered, always gifting myself and the other staff miserable new viruses just in time for a family gathering - before our harvest season drew to its end. Exhausted I would close up shop a little early, ready to finally focus on my loved ones, and at long last quiet the madness by turning off that infernal Holiday music.
As tedious as those songs grew to be, over time the staff and I found a lot of great additions to the canon. Now that I’m out of the game, I’ve come to appreciate Holiday music again and can enjoy it, despite a mild case of PTSD.
So before I check out for the Holidays myself this year, I thought I’d share my favorites from home. First some I have on vinyl, which is how I like to listen to music whenever possible. I’ll list a some others I’ve only found on streaming, too. I hope they’re helpful.
Happy Holidays and thanks for reading this year!
Jacob Miller and Ray I - Natty Christmas
Is their any musical genre more fun than reggae? Put it together with Christmas joy and there’s a party I’d trek through snow for.James Brown - The Complete James Brown Christmas
Mostly he grunts and screams “It’s Christmas!” combined with classic Brown-isms like “America!” and “Baby!” and I love it.Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas
I know it’s on everyone’s list, all the time, but goddamnit there’s a reason. Manages to sound and feel like Christmas even though it’s almost entirely instrumental. I don’t even like jazz.
I will have that "Natty Christmas" by Jacob Miller and Ray I going full bore tomorrow. Thanks for the tip,
Loved the one last week on neighbours. Have a merry Christmas all of you. Jim