A Very Special Christmas

The "Very Special Christmas" album series began in 1987 when superproducer Jimmy Iovine decided to honor the memory of his father by getting his famous musician friends together to record original or cover versions of Christmas songs for charity. The albums raise money for the Special Olympics and famously feature cover art by Keith Haring. Last year marked the 25th anniversary of the series, which was celebrated with an album featuring Train, Amy Grant, Jordin Sparks, and Jason Mraz.

"A Very Special Christmas" wasn't always mind-bendingly awful, though. Yes, forgettable tracks like Chris Cornell's "Ave Maria", Wyclef Jean's "Little Drummer Boy/Hot Hot Hot" medley, and Kellie Pickler's "Santa Baby" have dominated the series over its 8-album run, but if you have a holiday favorite that was recorded after 1968, it was probably from one of these records. Here are some of my favorites:

One might say that the "A Very Special Christmas", like M. Night Shamylan, peaked right out of the gate. And one would probably be right. The first album is chock full of classics like Run DMC's "Christmas in Hollis", the song that is perhaps most commonly associated with the series. Among other memorable phrases, it includes "the hawk is out", which apparently is a Chicago slang term for "it is uncomfortably windy and cold". Check out the video, which has an intro featuring a classic Simon game and the creepiest goddamn elf you'll ever see.

Bruce "The Boss" Springsteen just seems like a great guy to party with. And what better time to party than Christmas? I don't know about you, but his songs (at least the more upbeat ones) are filled with an infectious joy that translates perfectly to the holiday season. More people are familiar with his ass-kicking version of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" (which I will almost certainly write about later), but his cover of the R&B classic "Merry Christmas Baby" is no slouch either. Here's a video of him performing the song during a 2002 appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien with E Street drummer Max Weinberg, Conan (kind of) on guitar, and the late, great Clarence "Big Man" Clemons (on the bells?).

Christmas is awesome. Tom Petty is awesome. Therefore, using some sort of equation, a Tom Petty Christmas song must be doubly awesome. And yes, it looks like the math checks out. I wonder if Tom ever got that Chuck Berry songbook he wanted? This song was the opening track on "A Very Special Christmas 2", and yeah, it was kind of all downhill from there (for the series, not Tom Petty. Although "The Last DJ" was pretty lame).