Dolly Parton - "Hard Candy Christmas"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

Even the literal best human on earth knows what it’s like to go through rough times during the holidays.

Hold on tight to each other. We’ll make it.

Hard Candy Christmas" is a song originally written by composer-lyricist Carol Hall for the musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Near the end of the original play, individual girls of the brothel sing lines of the verses as they are preparing to leave; they join together on the refrains. This pattern was adopted for the film version of the musical, except that Dolly Parton (who played Miss Mona) is featured as soloist on the refrains, with the girls accompanying her. A further alteration can be found on the soundtrack album for the film in which Parton alone sings the verses.

Parton's version of the song was released as a single in October 1982, reaching number 8 on the U.S. country singles chart in January 1983. In 1998, the song re-entered the country charts and peaked at number 73 based on unsolicited airplay. Though not expressly a "Christmas song", Parton's recording received some airplay on country stations around the holiday seasons during the 1980s and 1990s; Parton also performed the song on Bob Hope's Christmas Special in 1988. During the late 1990s, when RCA reissued Parton's 1984 holiday album with Kenny Rogers, Once Upon a Christmas, Parton's recording of "Hard Candy Christmas" was added to the track list.

So today, taking this carefully, I choose Dolly Parton’s version of “Hard Candy Christmas” as my, you’ll get through, more to do, give more than you thought, song for a, break open candy jar, remember the things worth saving, let go of the lost, Tuesday.

Chuck Berry - "Run Run Rudolph"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

Some days you just need to keep running! Let your nose get to glowing and get those hooves moving because time is running out!

Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958). Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a music style that included guitar solos and showmanship, Berry was a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of the blues musician T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955 and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. With Chess, he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazine's rhythm and blues chart.

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star, with several hit records and film appearances and a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand. He was sentenced to three years in prison in January 1962 for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines. After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits, including "No Particular Place to Go", "You Never Can Tell", and "Nadine". But these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s songs, and by the 1970s he was more in demand as a nostalgic performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality. In 1972 he reached a new level of achievement when a rendition of "My Ding-a-Ling" became his only record to top the charts. His insistence on being paid in cash led in 1979 to a four-month jail sentence and community service, for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986; he was cited for having "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance." Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazine's "greatest of all time" lists; he was ranked fifth on its 2004 and 2011 lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berry's: "Johnny B. Goode", "Maybellene", and "Rock and Roll Music". Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.

So today, doing my best to shine, I choose Chuck Berry’s "Run Run Rudolph" as my, get to gettin’, run on, kick up those heels, song for a, jingle jangle, all tuckered out, tangled in the lights, Monday.

Amy Grant - "Breath of Heaven"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

She is the Queen of Christian Pop, she was one of the only successful Christian Pop artists to have a crossover career, and she’s married to one of the biggest country stars of all time. Her life and career could be a master class on tastefully surviving success.

Amy Lee Grant (born November 25, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, author and media personality. She is known for performing contemporary Christian music (CCM) and for a successful crossover to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop".

As of 2009, she had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, won six Grammy Awards and 22 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, and had the first Christian album to go Platinum. She was honored with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 for her contributions to the entertainment industry. She made her debut as a teenager, and gained fame in Christian music during the 1980s with such hits as "Father's Eyes", "El Shaddai", and "Angels". In the mid-1980s, she began broadening her audience and soon became one of the first CCM artists to cross over into mainstream pop on the heels of her successful albums Unguarded and Lead Me On. In 1986, she scored her first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song in a duet with Peter Cetera, "The Next Time I Fall". In 1991, she released the blockbuster album Heart in Motion which became her best-selling album to date, topping the Billboard Christian album chart for 32 weeks, selling five million copies in the U.S., and producing her second No. 1 pop single "Baby Baby". She is the author of several books, including a memoir, Mosaic: Pieces of My Life So Far, and a book based on the popular Christmas song "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)" which she co-wrote.

So today, teaching the children, I chose Amy Grant’s “Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)” as my, find the strength inside, hope held by a thread, one voice in the silence, song for a, look to the light, find the secrets in their eyes, one smile like a lantern, Friday.

Kacey Musgraves - "Glittery (Feat. Troye Sivan)"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

On a day when love is something that seems to flow out of me line wine, I am grateful for this holiday love song. Simple, sweet, and shimmering with feeling, this songs lights up a room like a smile lights up a face.

Kacey Lee Musgraves (born August 21, 1988) is an American singer and songwriter. She has won six Grammy Awards (including the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2019), six Country Music Association Awards, and three Academy of Country Music Awards. Musgraves self-released three solo albums and one more as Texas Two Bits, before appearing on the fifth season of the USA Network's singing competition Nashville Star in 2007, where she placed seventh.

She later signed to Mercury Nashville in 2012 and released her critically acclaimed debut album Same Trailer Different Park in 2013. Her debut won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album. The album's lead single "Merry Go 'Round" won her the Grammy Award for Best Country Song. It also featured the platinum certified single "Follow Your Arrow" which won her the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year. In 2015, she released her second studio album Pageant Material (2015). Her sophomore effort also received critical acclaim and a Best Country Album Grammy nomination. Musgraves also released a Christmas-themed album, A Very Kacey Christmas, in 2016.

Her fourth studio album Golden Hour (2018) was released to widespread critical acclaim and won all four of its nominated Grammy Awards categories, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album.[7] The album's first two singles, "Butterflies" and "Space Cowboy", won Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song, respectively. Golden Hour also won the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year, making Musgraves only the fifth artist to win all three major Album of the Year (Grammy, CMA and ACM) awards for the same album as well as the second artist to win the Grammy, CMA, ACM and all-genre Grammy Album of the Year.

Musgraves is known for her progressive lyrics in the conservative country music genre. Her music has tackled controversial topics such as LGBT acceptance, safe sexual intercourse, recreational marijuana use, and questioning religious sentiment. Something that has cemented the LGBTQIA+ community’s love for her, giving her a seat in the pantheon of Women of Country Music that the gays adore, right next to Dolly Parton.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Musgraves talked about criticism she faced for her rebellious lyrics. "I think throwing the rebel card out there is really cheap," she said. "The things I'm singing about are not controversial to me, I don't push buttons to push buttons. I talk about things that have made an impression on me that a lot of people everywhere are going through."

So today, shimmering with the season’s love, I choose Kacey Musgraves’ "Glittery (Feat. Troye Sivan)" as my, shine on, shine out, shine up, song for a, let love be your light, lift your heart like a lantern, hold fast to the things you know to be true, Thursday.

Kristin Chenoweth - "Come On, Ring Those Bells"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

It’s a bit hokey, but it’s also really fun. In a year when things are rife with fear, and anger, and sadness, sometimes you have to choose to be happy, and that is exactly what this song does. I may not 100% subscribe to the ideology, but the sheer spunk of the song is enough to make it memorable.

Kristin Dawn Chenoweth  is an American actress and singer, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. In 1999, she won a Tony Award for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown on Broadway. In 2003, Chenoweth received wide notice for originating the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked, including a nomination for another Tony. Her television roles have included Annabeth Schott in NBC's The West Wing and Olive Snook on the ABC comedy-drama Pushing Daisies, for which she won a 2009 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also starred in the ABC TV series GCB in 2012.

Chenoweth sang gospel music as a child in Oklahoma and studied opera before deciding to pursue a career in musical theatre. In 1997, she made her Broadway debut in Steel Pier, winning a Theatre World Award, before appearing in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Wicked. Her other Broadway roles were in The Apple Tree in 2006, Promises, Promises in 2010 and On the Twentieth Century in 2015, for which she received another Tony Award nomination. She has also appeared in five City Center Encores!, Off-Broadway and regional theatre productions.

Chenoweth had her own sitcom, Kristin, in 2001, and has guest-starred on many shows, including Sesame Street and Glee, for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards in 2010 and 2011. In films, she has played mostly character roles, such as in Bewitched (2005), The Pink Panther (2006) and RV (2006). She has played roles in made-for-TV movies, such as Descendants (2015); done voice work in animated films such as Rio 2 (2014) and The Peanuts Movie (2015) along with the animated TV series Sit Down, Shut Up; hosted several award shows; and released several albums of songs, including A Lovely Way to Spend Christmas (2008), Some Lessons Learned (2011), Coming Home (2014), The Art of Elegance (2016) and For the Girls (2019). Chenoweth also penned a 2009 memoir, A Little Bit Wicked.

So today, choosing joy, I chose Kristen Chenoweth’s version of “Come On, Ring Those Bells” as my, look for the joy, find your light, stand strong, song for a, even in the darkness, a little more love, like a bellwether in a storm, Wednesday.

Olivia Olson - "All I Want For Christmas"

As every Holiday Season, this month I’ll be choosing only Holiday Songs from as many holidays as I can.

During the holidays the Mariah version of this song is inescapable. However, it is this version that always gets me in the spirit. Love, Actually, for all it’s flaws, did a lovely job of showing audiences that love is where you look for it, and in this season, I choose to look for it everywhere I can.

Olivia Rose Olson (born May 21, 1992) is an American actress and singer-songwriter, mostly known for her voice roles as Vanessa Doofenshmirtz in Phineas and Ferb and Marceline the Vampire Queen in Adventure Time. She also played the character of Joanna in the 2003 film Love Actually and its 2017 short sequel Red Nose Day Actually.

Olson is also a writer, contributing a section to the best-seller Adventure Time Encyclopedia and an upcoming book for Cartoon Network.

So today, looking for love, I choose Olivia Olson’s version of “All I Want For Christmas” as my, may you find it everywhere, inside you, flowing like a fountain, song for a, remember the reason, look to the light, gift yourself the gift of hope, Tuesday.

Brandi Carlile - "Throw It All Away"

I’ve written about Brandi Carlile and her haunting, gripping, raw, powerful magnetism before. She has the quality that other musicians respect and lesser musicians try to emulate. Authenticity. You believe every single word she sings, and that connects with people. Her words finds a way to wiggle into your heart and hide themselves away until needed.

So today, with papers thrown up in the air, I choose Brandi Carlile’s "Throw It All Away" as my, it’s never too late to start over, see yourself as you dream to be, find your forgotten magic, song for a, step away from other’s perceptions of you, their lenses are reflections of themself, yours is the only truth you need.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give It Away"

Some days you’ve got to give it away. Let others take up the mantle and yolk that have been weighing you down. Let your shoulders rise. It’s time to shake off your dusty wings, Bluebird, and fly.

Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk, punk rock and psychedelic rock. The band consists of vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. With over 80 million records sold worldwide, Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the best-selling bands of all time. They are the most successful band in the history of alternative rock, with the records for most number-one singles (13), most cumulative weeks at number one (85) and most top-ten songs (25) on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart.[1] They have won six Grammy Awards, and in 2012 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Red Hot Chili Peppers were formed in Los Angeles by Kiedis, Flea, guitarist Hillel Slovak and drummer Jack Irons. Because of commitments to other bands, Slovak and Irons did not play on the band's 1984 self-titled debut album, which instead featured guitarist Jack Sherman and drummer Cliff Martinez. Slovak rejoined in time for their second album, Freaky Styley (1985), and Irons rejoined for their third, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987). Slovak died of a drug overdose on June 25, 1988; Irons, devastated, left the band.

With new recruits Frusciante and Smith, Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded Mother's Milk (1989) and their first major commercial success, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991). Frusciante was uncomfortable with their newfound popularity and left abruptly on tour in 1992; he was replaced by Dave Navarro, who appeared on the group's sixth album, One Hot Minute (1995). Although successful, the album failed to match the critical or popular acclaim of its predecessor. Frusciante and Kiedis struggled with drug addiction throughout the 1990s.

In 1998, following Navarro's dismissal, Frusciante rejoined the band. Their seventh album, Californication (1999), became their biggest commercial success, with 16 million copies sold worldwide. Their next albums, By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006), were also successful; Stadium Arcadium was their first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Frusciante left again in 2009 to focus on his solo career; he was replaced by Josh Klinghoffer, who appeared on I'm with You (2011) and The Getaway (2016), before Frusciante rejoined in 2019.

So today, with baggage dropped at the door, I choose the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ "Give It Away" as my, rusted wings weary and unused, remember the feel of freedom, there are far better things ahead, song for a, let go of the ownership, hold on to the lessons, remember the good things, Tuesday.

Be Kind.