A Baker's Dozen Of "Santa Baby" Renditions

Since my last post like this one garnered a grand total of one "vote" (oh, I'm not bitter!), I've pulled 13 different versions of ANOTHER great holiday song for your listening pleasure. As before, it's up to you to decide which one you like best. I have my favorites – more than just one this time, actually. But I'd LIKE to hear your take on it too. Enjoy?  ~  JH

1)  Madonna  (Madonna, in her younger days, had the vocal chops and sex appeal to pull off this song with aplomb – this is an iconic version of a classic song!)

2)  Kylie Minogue  (What I said about Madonna just then, that goes double for this lady – except Kylie's not well past her prime, like Madonna is now)

3)  Ariana Grande ft. Liz Gillies  (Ariana's got a great voice, but the modernized instrumentation here takes away a lot of the charm and classic feel of the song.)

4)  Megan Nicole  (Self-made YouTube star Megan Nicole captures the essence and the sassiness of the song while keeping it sounding fresh and modern – well-done!)

5)  Kellie Pickler  (Some songs simply don't sound as good with a massively overblown country twang – I think this is one of them.)

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LVffa5UDSQ

6)  Colbie Caillat  (I love, love, love Colbie Caillat, but…she's just too sweet for a song this sassy. When she croons, "I've been an angel this year," you actually believe her!)

7)  Taylor Swift  (She's plucky, spunky, and quite pretty, but – like Colbie Caillat – Taylor just seems too innocent for this song. Plus, the country-pop instrumentation on this one lacks the jazzy feel of the original.) 

8)  Glee Cast  (With her exotic good looks and sultry vocals, Naya Rivera is the perfect GLEE cast member to tackle this classic song!)

9)  Miss Piggy  (Everyone's favorite porcine diva is just right in this doo-wop-inspired rendition of a holiday classic. And it's awfully funny, too!)

10)  Shakira  (This is definitely one of the best modern versions of this song I've ever heard. Her voice, her look, that slight hint of an accent – it's just perfect!)

11)  Pussycat Dolls  (If anyone could wring all the subtle double entendres out of this song's lyrics and bring them to the forefront, it would be the Pussycat Dolls. The fact that they're singing the song to Snoopy Doggy Dogg dressed as Santa Claus – whom they refer to in the song as "Santa Bizzle" – just ramps up the weird factor that much more! #smh)

12)  Jenna Sousa  (If seeing and hearing a 12-year-old girl sing this decidedly adult-oriented holiday song doesn't make you more than a little uncomfortable, you might be a pedophile. Also, she kind of sucks at singing it.)

13)  Eartha Kitt  (Of all the excellent versions of this song that have been recorded in the ensuing years, none quite surpasses Kitt's original recording. This has gotta be – hands down – my favorite one.)

A Baker's Dozen Of "White Christmas" Renditions

So, I've pulled 13 different versions of the same song for your holiday listening pleasure. Now it's up to you to decide which one you like best. I have my favorites among these – and ultimately, my single favorite – as I've noted here. But I'd love to hear your take on it too. Get used to this idea, by the way. I'm likely to do a couple more of these posts – all Christmas songs, of course! Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Rod Stewart  (Nice traditional take on a classic – isn't that David Foster on piano?)

2)  Michael Bublé & Kellie Pickler  (Classy cool with a dash of raucous redneck – not bad at all!)

3)  Cee-Lo Green  (Somehow Cee-Lo seems to make this song his own – well-done!)

4)  Lady Gaga  (Surprisingly subdued – plus, she wrote a new verse to it…and it's actually NOT nasty!)

5)  Tony Bennett  (Crooners and Christmas just seem to go together for some reason – a masterful jazz rendition.)

6)  Garth Brooks  (Hey, I found Garth Brooks on YouTube! I thought that was impossible! Nice version, too!)

Video wouldn't load properly –

 of course! – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYfgWSF81TE

7)  Michael Bolton  (I'm not a huge fan of Bolton – I think he tries too hard at that blue-eyed soul thing – but I suppose this one isn't too bad.)

8)  Martina McBride  (I've always loved Martina's voice/music, and she doesn't disappoint here either – surprise, surprise!)

9)  Il Divo  (A little too slow for my tastes, but there's no denying that these guys are mega-talented.)

10)  Kelly Clarkson  (I wish this were an actual video, but whatevs… Kelly is, as always, fantastic on this song.)

11)  Glee Cast  (Not surprisingly, Darren Criss and Chris Colfer knock this one out of the park!)

12)  The Drifters  (Often-copied, never-duplicated – this is the group that originally recorded the doo-wop, Motown-style version of the song made über-famous on the Home Alone soundtrack.)

13)  Bing Crosby  (For my money, Crosby's is the quintessential version of what is truly a quintessential Christmas song. Many have performed it well, but no one does it better than Bing!)

Songs With "See" In The Title

Yesterday, I posted a collection of songs with "Wait" in the title. Here you have a collection of songs with "See" in the title. They were supposed to be gathered into one post. But I liked too many songs in the "Wait" category – and, as it turns out, I liked too many songs in the "See" category – to put them all together. So here's part two of two. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Scotty McCreery  ~  "See You Tonight"

2)  Glee Cast  ~  "Come See About Me"

3)  Tonic  ~  "If You Could Only See"

4)  KT Tunstall  ~  "Suddenly I See"  (Due to 8 repetitions of a mild expletive in the chorus of this song, parental discretion is advised – it's still a good song, though)

5)  Marshall Tucker Band  ~  "Can't You See?"

6)  Ed Sheeran  ~  "I See Fire"

7)  Carrie Underwood  ~  "See You Again"

8)  John Fogerty  ~  "Long As I Can See The Light"

9)  Johnny Nash  ~  "I Can See Clearly Now"

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahb7kQoLTTA

10)  Texas  ~  "I'll See It Through"

11)  Coldplay  ~  "See You Soon"

12)  Jimi Hendrix  ~  "Can You See Me?"

13)  Krista Siegfrids  ~  "Can You See Me?"

14)  The Dave Clark Five  ~  "Can't You See That She's Mine?"

15)  Brandon Heath  ~  "Wait And See"

BONUS TRACK:  Sara Bareilles  ~  "Brave"  (I really like this song and have been unsuccessfully looking for a way to integrate it into a post for awhile now. Well, the song's chorus repeats the phrase "I wanna SEE you be brave."  That's close enough for me!)

"Start" & "Stop" Songs

Another "Opposites" song post. Because I feel like it, THAT's why! Enjoy?  ~  JH

1)  No Other Name  ~  "Let It Start With Me"

2)  Sam Brown  ~  "Stop"

3)  A Fine Frenzy  ~  "Now Is The Start"

4)  Red Hot Chili Peppers  ~  "Can't Stop"

5)  Miley Cyrus  ~  "Start All Over"  (I refuse to post Miley's newer, trashier song – "We Can't Stop" – which also would have fit with this theme)

6)  The Pipettes  ~  "Stop The Music"

7)  Gogol Bordello  ~  "Start Wearing Purple"  (Weird song, but oddly appropriate considering the town I live in)

8)  Angelique Sabrina ft. Shontelle  ~  "Stop Sign"

9)  Editors  ~  "An End Has A Start"

10)  Glee Cast  ~  "Don't Stop Believing"  (R.I.P. Cory Monteith: Another young talent who went too soon)

11)  Billy Joel  ~  "We Didn't Start The Fire"

12)  Queen  ~  "Don't Stop Me Now"

Video wouldn't load properly – click link to view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM

13)  Arcade Fire  ~  "Ready To Start"

14)  Foster The People  ~  "Don't Stop (Color On The Walls)"

15)  Sara Evans  ~  "A Real Fine Place To Start"

16)  John Fogerty (of Creedence Clearwater Revival)  ~  "Who'll Stop The Rain?"

17)  Maria Taylor  ~  "A Good Start"

18)  James Morrison  ~  "Please Don't Stop The Rain"

19)  The Trews  ~  "If You Wanna Start Again"

20)  Spice Girls  ~  "Stop"

A Baker's Dozen Of "Bad" Songs

In case the title of this post isn't obvious (and it probably isn't what you thought at first), this is a collection of songs with "Bad" somewhere in their titles. That doesn't mean the songs are, in and of themselves, "bad" songs. Some of them might be, some of them might not, depending on your (or my) tastes. You probably have guessed this already, but there will be a follow-up to this post, featuring – you guessed it! – a collection of "Good" songs. Enjoy!  ~  JH

1)  Michael Jackson  ~  "Bad"  (you knew this one would be here, right?)

2)  Glee Cast  ~  "Bad Romance"  (this "Glee" cover of Lady Gaga's song is cleaned up a fair bit, and far less racy than the original song/video)

3)  George Thorogood And The Destroyers  ~  "Bad To The Bone"  (Whether or not George is actually bad to the bone is irrelevant; one thing's for sure – this dude is UGLY!)

4)  U2  ~  "Bad"  (There's no "official" music video for this one, but this live version is AMAZING!)

5)  Bad Company  ~  "Bad Company"  (Culled from the files of the Department of Redundancy Department)

6)  Daniel Powter ~  "Bad Day"  (Powter had a bad day when he realized he'd never again have a song as successful as this one)

7)  Bon Jovi  ~  "You Give Love A Bad Name"  (This song is brought to you by my wife, who's always been a big Bon Jovi fan – it's gotta be the hair...)

8)  Meat Loaf  ~  "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad"  (In baseball, two out of three is fantastic – and impossible to maintain throughout the course of a long season)

9)  Dominique Pruitt  ~  "He's Got It Bad"  (For you country music fans out there – or country/rock, or rockabilly, or whatever this is)

10)  Creedence Clearwater Revival  ~  "Bad Moon Rising"  (To those of you who thought they were singing: "There's a bathroom on the right" – they weren't!)

11)  Inner Circle  ~  "Bad Boys"  (Whatchu gonna do when they come for you?)

12)  Meiko  ~  "Bad Things"  (Apparently, this song was recently featured on one of the Real Housewives series on Bravo; Meiko's a terrific singer, and she deserves better than that)

13)  Jim Croce  ~  "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown"  (For those of  you with "virgin ears," Croce does use "the D word" five times in this song – but it's a classic, so I'm still posting it)