‘And so this is Christmas’, as the mawkish song would have it. It’s a
time of year when we are bombarded by terrible music; in shops and
cafes, lifts and train stations. And mostly it exhorts us to have a
high old time, to be of good cheer, or to remember a homeless baby who
was born in a stable (in times before foot and mouth, swine flu and
health and safety legislation, clearly).

But for every song that heigh-hos, there’s another that takes on a
less festive hue. In today’s Christmas podcast, James Brown languidly
lambasts us for neglecting those worse off than ourselves, The
Youngsters warn us of the pitfalls of over-indulging, the lovely El
Perro Del Mar may be sighing ‘Oh, What a Christmas’, but in a voice
that simply cries out ‘Bonjour, tristesse’. And finally, when the
quixotic Mary Margaret O’Hara sings that it’ll be a blue Christmas
without you, one knows, that for her, it truly will be.

So if you are, during this festive period, paper hat on head, feeling
like a character in a Bergman film, while all around you sit sunny
people who long to be in Friends, remember you’re not alone. This too
will pass. So buy yourself a present, unpop a cork, and have Christmas
on your own terms. And if your mood clears and your spirits cheer,
join me on 23 December for the other side of the coin in the plum
pudding, a show made up of songs that celebrate Christmas.