It’s December again, and for those who want to liven up the holidays with some inappropriate Christmas carols, I have eight I have written starting from back in 2009.
hippopotamus
Favourite Songs I Heard for the First Time in 2009
What were your favourite pieces of music that you heard for the first time last year?
I don’t necessarily mean music that came out last year, just that you heard it for the first time last year because it was new to you. If you care to share, you can put it in the comments following the post. I’d love to know to expand my musical horizons.
Below are a list of favourite songs I heard for the first time in 2009, enough that would fit on CD were I to have made one. Most were from musicals as I really got into them in 2009 after my classic jazz year in 2008. A few were one-off takes on television events, though, so I’ll start with one that was both. It was available on YouTube like most of my selections so I have included the videos to have the music right here for you. I also linked the songs to blog posts I did inspired by them, where I did one.
Someone Like You
from Jekyll & Hyde
Linda Eder & Frank Wildhorn on 2000 PBS Special
Linda Eder delivers a loving performance of this gorgeous song with touching lyrics, accompanied by husband Frank Wildhorn, who had composed the song. (blog post)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Upload of this video sometimes seems a bit slow so please be patient.
If You Were Gay
from Avenue Q
Rick Lyon and John Tartaglia
Love and humour, not just in song but also video spoof. (blog post)
The Internet is for Porn
from Avenue Q
Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Rick Lyon & the Guys
Possibly the funniest song I have ever heard! (blog post)
Mix Tape
from Avenue Q
Stephanie D’Abruzzo and John Tartaglia
A song that dragged my emotions up and down, enhanced by Stephanie’s nuances of acting while singing this song. (blog post)
As Long as You’re Mine
from Wicked
Idina Menzel and Norbert Leo Butz
An often overlooked song from Wicked that I only heard once I saw the musical, rather than hearing the more popular songs from it. However, I loved it immediately, especially the soft-spoken ending.
Academy Awards 2009 Introduction
Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway
This number was both brilliant and unexpected in being clever, funny and spectacularly performed. My intro to the full talents of Hugh Jackman. (blog post)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Monologue Song
from Saturday Night Live November 7, 2009
Taylor Swift
How to trash everybody you want to with class and humour while being really cute about it. (blog post)
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Dark Eyes
by Bob Dylan
Judy Collins
Judy Collins gives this sad Dylan song a haunting rendition. (blog post)
Better Angels
Lesley Gore
The original It’s My Party girl seriously grows up with this beautiful tune I first heard on CSI Miami (compilation video of episode shown below).
I Got a Feeling
Black Eyed Peas
Just an awesome dance song, ’nuff said cause I’m getting dancing! Best 2009 song in my opinion. (I chose the flash mob version shown on Oprah for the video cause it’s also so awesome!)
Wake-up
The Arcade Fire
I heard this song via the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are and thought they had made a pretty good choice for a theme song.
The Closest Thing to Crazy
by Mike Batt
Katie Melua
Pretty much describes what feeling in love feels like to me. (blog post)
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
Gayla Peevey
I heard it on a Telus commercial and loved it immediately, a bit surprised I had never heard this 1950s seasonal classic until now. (blog post)
You’ve Gotta Have a Gimmick
from There’s No Business Like Show Business
Bernadette Peters, Julia McKenzie, Ruthie Henshall
This is probably the ultimate example of my claim that girls have all the fun songs in musicals, and the video only emphasizes the point.
Married
from Cabaret
Ron Rifkin, Michelle Pawk
A charming little song about marriage. A compact version is shown below.
Mystery
performed on the show Inside the Actor’s Studio
Hugh Laurie
A hilarious and charming example of how lyric writing sometimes feels like to me, trying to find desperate rhymes and more desperate words that conform with desperate rhymes. (blog post)
Love, Look in my Window
from Hello Dolly!
Ethel Merman
There isn’t a video for this one but the piece was written for Ethel Merman when she joined Hello Dolly! If you hear her perform it with the emotions she does, you’ll know why it was written for her. I can hardly keep from crying at points in it. Probably good I don’t have the music for that reason!
I Want A Hypothalamus For Christmas (parody lyrics for I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas)
This could be a tricky carol to get a whole group to be able to sing. The video is below if you’ve never heard it or need a refresher to try singing the lyrics.
I got the idea for this song from the only thing I can think of to rhyme with hippopotamus, which was hypothalamus, a portion of the brain that contains a number of small nuclei with a variety of functions. Then I just had to make sure a few other things “made sense”, like how you don’t bring a hypothalamus through the door (last line, second verse or original lyrics), and I had my song.
The topic of this carol spoof is insensitive, I know, to those with hypothalamus disorders, but you can’t live life never insulting anybody. It’s not like I’m choosing to do this as part of a caroling set at a hospital or something, you know! So let’s go, queue the brass band needed and let’s sing!
My other Christmas carol parody lyrics:
- Jingle Bells for Tiger Woods
- 12 Days of (Vietnamese) Christmas
- Noisy Night
- Bad Christmas
- Have Yourself a Bummer Little Christmas
I want a hypothalamus for Christmas
Only a hypothalamus will do
Don’t want no doll, nor Cranium nor toy
I want a hypothalamus that works well to enjoy
.
I want a hypothalamus for Christmas
I don’t think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won’t have to put it in with paper glue
Just ask a neurosurgeon, that’s the easy thing to do
.
I can see me now on Christmas morning, stomping down the stairs
Bitchy, grumpy but surprised when I open up my eyes
To see a hypo-thala-mus right there
.
I want a hypothalamus for Christmas
Only a hypothalamus will do
No frontal lobes, left/right thalamuses
I only like hypothalamuses
And hypothalamuses like me too!
.
Mom says the hypo, would mess me up but then
Teacher says a hypo controls my circadian
.
There’s lots of room for it in my half-empty brain
I’d house it there, protect it there, and be the same again
I can see me now on Christmas morning, stomping down the stairs
Bitchy, grumpy but surprised when I open up my eyes
To see a hypo-thala-mus right there
.
I want a hypothalamus for Christmas
Only a hypothalamus will do
No frontal lobes, left/right thalamuses
I only like hypothalamuses
And hypothalamuses like me too!
Dogs and Other Animals Facebook Picture Tagging Memes
I did not create these three Facebook picture tagging memes, but I adopted a picture of canine behaviour for Facebook tagging and I improved the quality of the animals tagging meme for Facebook picture tagging use. I also optimized both’s make-up for Facebook usage. I do not know from where the latter comes originally so there is no source link. As for the former, it’s for the dog lovers, not implying one’s friends are dogs. And, of course, you can also use this for other things as the original poster was created to do. I apologize I no longer have that link because I had found that original poster a long time ago, emailed it to someone and still had it in my Inbox.
To use any of these for your Facebook tagging fun:
- Click on the picture to get it at full size.
- Right click on that picture and save to your computer.
- Upload it to your Facebook profile.
- Tag your friends!
Please click here for a complete list of Facebook picture tagging memes on this site with which you can use for fun with your friends.
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- Animals
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- Dogs
p.s. I did not correct spelling mistakes on the animals tagging meme because it was difficult to find the right font, size and all.
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