Anti-Holiday Cheer Mixtape

Yesterday, I was held against my will in a dentist chair and tortured for a full hour by the sounds of the most heinous Christmas carols out there, and it was only December first. I am not prepared for the onslaught of songs about joy, peace on earth, or the Muppets singing 12 days of Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I like the occasional carol from about the 22nd-25th of December, but that's all I can take.

By the time I escaped Christmas carol hell I was overwhelmed with urges to:

• 1. Drink lots of bourbon with a splash of eggnog 
• 2. To listen to Elliot Smith for the next 24 hours. 

I desperately needed to balance out the Christmas carols with something more...somber. In the likely event that the Christmas carols will start grating on our nerves (if they haven't already), I made you this mixtape. I selected the most anti-holiday cheer lyrics from each song as well. So here you still have the December/Winter theme but with a healthy dose of heartache, depression, and reality. Happy Holidays! (Click the album art to download the ZIP) Warning: This is not a mix for those with seasonal depression disorder.

1. The Decemberists - Down By the Water "The season rubs me wrong"
2. Said The Whale - This Winter I retire "The snow begins just like I remember/ Looks like it's going to be another cold, long December."
3. Lost In The Trees - Fireplace "So I take true love and I cut it up with scissors/ and I'll throw it in the fireplace."
4. Peggy Sue - February Snow "Hit me with the cold"
5. Frightened Rabbit - Keep Yourself Warm "It takes more than fucking someone you don't know to keep warm."
6. Mumford & Sons - Winter Winds "Was it love or fear of the cold that led us through the night?"
7. Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal "you would fall and turn the white snow red as strawberries."
8. Nina Simone - Gin House Blues "I don't want no pork chops and green / just give me gin instead"
9. Meiko - Maybe Next Year (Christmas Song) "I don't think Santa is coming this year cause I've been a bad, a bad girl."
10. Balmorhea - The Winter Instrumental Interlude
11. Rachael Yamagata - The River "They're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace / Oh I wish I had a river to skate away on."
12. Bill Ricchini - A Cold Wind Will Blow Through Your Door "I wrote in a small note, put on your winter coat a cold wind will blow through your door."
13. Slow Club - Christmas TV "Hoping something might grow out of this mistletoe."
14. Belle & Sebastian - I Want The World to Stop "I'm wrapped in sheets of milky winter disorder."
15. Noah and the Whale - Blue Skies "This is a song for anyone with a broken heart."
16. Brooke Waggoner - Hush if you Must "Not very adequate, not very merry, oh I try."
17. Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson "This is my winter song. December never felt so wrong / cause you're not where you belong."
18. Sufjan Stevens - Did I Make You Cry On Christmas Day? (Well You Deserved It)
19. Say Hi - November Was White, December Was Grey "I'll feel better when winter's gone."
20. Emancipator - First Snow

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*lyrics are transcribed by me and may not be 100% accurate