42 weeks / 294 days until Christmas! ("I’ll Be Home for Christmas" Song Battle)

[00:00:02] This is a Bramble Jam Podcast.

[00:00:05] Live from the North Pole, it's time for Christmas Morning, the daily show where every day is

[00:00:21] Christmas.

[00:00:22] Here are your hosts, Bran and Scott.

[00:00:28] Well, hello everybody.

[00:00:35] It's your good friend Bran and I'm here with my good friend Scott to wish you a Merry Christmas.

[00:00:40] Scott, Merry Christmas.

[00:00:42] Merry Christmas, buddy.

[00:00:43] You sound a little under the weather.

[00:00:44] I'm fine.

[00:00:45] I have a little sniffle, but I feel perfectly fine.

[00:00:50] So I made the trip to the North Pole.

[00:00:52] Don't worry.

[00:00:53] Did you go to the North Pole COVID testing station?

[00:00:55] Yeah, of course I did.

[00:00:57] You know, Santa administers all those tests himself.

[00:01:00] I found that out this morning.

[00:01:01] He really sticks that swab up there.

[00:01:03] I think he's getting some aggression out.

[00:01:04] He really jams it up.

[00:01:06] I think it's a sick pleasure for him personally, but we're just happy to be here.

[00:01:11] We all have our things.

[00:01:12] The fact that we keep getting invited back up is honestly thrilling, a little inconvenient

[00:01:17] at this point, but maybe it hits a little bit different during the holiday season than

[00:01:22] it does here in March, but it's great to be here.

[00:01:24] I think we could do our job remotely, Bran.

[00:01:26] I think we 100% could.

[00:01:27] Some people might think that we do it remotely.

[00:01:29] We don't.

[00:01:30] Oh, this and that dang return to office policy.

[00:01:32] Anyway.

[00:01:33] I tell you what, it's great to be here today.

[00:01:36] The first Wednesday in March, which is exciting.

[00:01:41] Something about turning over the calendar, getting into a new month that kind of is exciting

[00:01:47] for the ... get the Christmas juices flowing a little bit.

[00:01:51] Spring has sprung as well.

[00:01:52] Yes.

[00:01:53] Is it warm out there?

[00:01:54] Because last week we got done recording and then it promptly snowed where you were.

[00:01:58] You got home and it snowed.

[00:01:59] Yeah, you know, we do 65 degrees one day, snow the next day.

[00:02:03] I love it.

[00:02:04] It's great for also for not getting sick.

[00:02:07] I hear that changing the temperatures like that really helps you stay healthy.

[00:02:11] Yeah, well my kid wants to run around in the lawn sprinkler and stuff too, so that doesn't

[00:02:16] help.

[00:02:17] You got to.

[00:02:18] You got to.

[00:02:19] It's slightly warm.

[00:02:20] Get out the sprinkler, Dad.

[00:02:21] That's right.

[00:02:22] Roll the windows down.

[00:02:23] I see the mailbox today looks like it's a little bit full, so I'd love to open it up

[00:02:25] if you don't mind.

[00:02:26] We've got some good ones.

[00:02:27] Letters.

[00:02:28] We get letters.

[00:02:29] We get stacks and stacks of letters.

[00:02:30] We get stacks and stacks of letters.

[00:02:35] The first email is a short one from Frank Napier.

[00:02:38] He says, are you guys getting my song submissions?

[00:02:40] I sent submissions the last few weeks, but I don't believe you're getting them as I haven't

[00:02:44] been mentioned as sending them in.

[00:02:45] So here's what I did, Bram.

[00:02:47] I went to the old spam folder.

[00:02:49] Boy, there was a big crop of emails from Frank Napier in there.

[00:02:53] Really?

[00:02:54] But that one came in, the one that asking what happened?

[00:02:58] I have a feeling there's something about just sending a link that trips a spam monitor.

[00:03:06] Also in there was Pondo's song submissions.

[00:03:10] So Frank, I am so sorry.

[00:03:12] Pondo, I'm very sorry.

[00:03:13] I have now made it part of my routine to just skim the old spam folder.

[00:03:19] When you do podcasts, you get about three dozen emails a week about, hey, would you

[00:03:23] like to promote your show?

[00:03:25] It's like, oh, come on.

[00:03:26] So I just haven't been looking at them, but I will now.

[00:03:30] So sorry about that, Frank.

[00:03:32] There's no way to give you posthumous song submission credit, but everyone please know

[00:03:37] that Frank was sending in some really good stuff.

[00:03:42] I bet Frank would have really sent in...

[00:03:45] I bet he would have won a few.

[00:03:47] Probably.

[00:03:48] It'd be a whole different ballgame.

[00:03:50] Maybe when you send in the band...

[00:03:51] The lesson here is say something when you send the link.

[00:03:56] I don't know.

[00:03:57] I don't control the spam filters, but sorry about that.

[00:03:59] Things have been fixed.

[00:04:00] Good.

[00:04:01] I'm glad to hear that.

[00:04:02] I'm glad to hear that.

[00:04:03] Is there anything else you got for us?

[00:04:04] Yeah, I got an email from Joe C. He says, hello, Brian, Scott, and friends.

[00:04:08] Hello.

[00:04:09] First, I want to thank you for your very entertaining podcast that I just discovered recently.

[00:04:13] Wow.

[00:04:14] I wanted to comment on the Rankin Bass audio issues that were brought to you by listener

[00:04:18] Jessica.

[00:04:19] That was in the last party episode.

[00:04:20] I remember that.

[00:04:21] Particularly the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer one with the suddenly squeaky voice for,

[00:04:26] one line by the head elf.

[00:04:27] I always took notice of that too.

[00:04:29] I should point out this is one of my favorite Christmas programs that I watched as a child

[00:04:33] when it was broadcast for the first time in the mid-60s.

[00:04:36] It triggers massive nostalgia feels, and I have seen it more times than I could guess.

[00:04:40] I do not remember that different voice for the elf ever not being there.

[00:04:44] I always thought the squeaky voice was what Santa heard, but the elves all hear the deep

[00:04:49] gruff voice.

[00:04:50] Does anyone else have theories?

[00:04:52] I never thought it was unintentional.

[00:04:54] Keep up the great work with the podcast.

[00:04:56] Well, first Joe, thanks for the email.

[00:04:58] Glad you found us recently.

[00:04:59] That's interesting, Brian, when people say it's March and I found you recently.

[00:05:03] Those are our type of people, Scotty.

[00:05:05] Those are our type of people.

[00:05:07] They really are.

[00:05:08] Honestly, I think that that theory is as good as any other theory that you could come up

[00:05:11] with.

[00:05:12] Like the Santa hears ... Because Santa being full-sized, obviously maybe would hear it

[00:05:20] differently than the elves that are similar in size would hear it.

[00:05:23] I think that's a fair thought process there.

[00:05:27] That makes sense to me.

[00:05:28] I like this one also because I have a movie theory that's similar to this.

[00:05:33] You know the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie sits on Santa's lap and he's, you'll

[00:05:37] shoot your eye out, kid, and uses his boot and kicks him down the slide?

[00:05:41] If you watch after Ralphie goes down the slide, you can still see and hear Santa up in the

[00:05:48] background and he's being really sweet and nice to this little girl.

[00:05:54] My theory there is Ralphie remembers it differently than what it really was.

[00:05:59] I liked this one a lot.

[00:06:00] Thank you, Joe.

[00:06:01] I appreciate you emailing in and welcome.

[00:06:03] You found your people.

[00:06:04] Very smart.

[00:06:05] You guys are thinking above the room there.

[00:06:08] I got a review for you.

[00:06:10] I don't have any new ones and I do want everyone to know we're at 239.

[00:06:13] We've been there for a little bit.

[00:06:15] I only have two more left to read after this one, I know.

[00:06:19] So maybe help a brother out maybe.

[00:06:24] This is from Kate and Bubz.

[00:06:27] Kate and Bubz.

[00:06:28] Hit a Christmas home run.

[00:06:31] I can never get enough Christmas and these guys never fail to deliver great Christmas

[00:06:36] entertainment and news.

[00:06:39] They are added to my permanent following list of Christmas podcasts.

[00:06:44] Thanks for the hard work and effort.

[00:06:46] Thank you, Kate and Bubz.

[00:06:48] I like that.

[00:06:49] I like the thought of me being on a permanent list of something that's not a bad one, like

[00:06:53] Do Not Fly or something.

[00:06:55] I like the idea of there being something that is a Christmas home run.

[00:06:58] I don't really know.

[00:06:59] It's like a Christmas version of baseball.

[00:07:02] It's a mixed metaphor.

[00:07:03] Yeah.

[00:07:04] Yes.

[00:07:05] I don't know, but I'm here for it.

[00:07:06] I like that idea.

[00:07:07] I'm here for it as well.

[00:07:08] You got a joke for us today by chance?

[00:07:09] I do.

[00:07:10] I have a good one too.

[00:07:11] And this one was brought to me by the Amazon Echo.

[00:07:14] Okay, great.

[00:07:15] Well, but remember how I don't like to turn and get the book?

[00:07:18] Yes, I remember.

[00:07:19] Well, all I have to do is bellow out loud and say, tell me a Christmas joke.

[00:07:24] And I had to do it about 30 or 40 times before I got a good one.

[00:07:27] So you did it 30 or 40 times?

[00:07:30] I mean, maybe it wasn't that much.

[00:07:31] So that seems way harder than just turning and grabbing the book, Scotty.

[00:07:35] Don't tell me how to live my life, Brandon.

[00:07:36] Oh no, I would never.

[00:07:39] Why do dinosaurs hide from Santa's reindeer?

[00:07:42] Um...

[00:07:43] I'll be surprised if you get this one.

[00:07:45] Something about antlers, man?

[00:07:47] I don't know.

[00:07:48] They're afraid of comet.

[00:07:49] Waka waka!

[00:07:50] All right.

[00:07:51] That's a thinking one right there.

[00:07:53] That's not bad.

[00:07:54] That's not terrible, is it?

[00:07:55] That's not bad.

[00:07:56] I like that one.

[00:07:57] Let's do the countdown.

[00:08:02] 294 days until Christmas!

[00:08:07] 294, Scott?

[00:08:10] We broke the 300 barrier.

[00:08:12] I did think of you on Friday because I have a Christmas countdown clock on my desk and

[00:08:17] when it hit 300, I thought, oh wow, that's really cool.

[00:08:20] But then I didn't text you.

[00:08:21] I apologize.

[00:08:22] That's okay.

[00:08:23] I have a Christmas app on my phone, which is nice.

[00:08:27] It keeps like in the corner of it, if you can see that.

[00:08:30] Keeps it up there so it's like always just right there.

[00:08:32] I don't really have to think about it all that much.

[00:08:34] That's nice.

[00:08:35] Yeah, but it looks like an unread count.

[00:08:36] It does.

[00:08:37] Well, that's how it operates.

[00:08:39] Yeah, it's as if it's an unread notification.

[00:08:42] I can't have any unread counts on anything.

[00:08:45] My email, anything.

[00:08:46] I typically don't like it either, Scotty.

[00:08:48] But it's Christmas!

[00:08:49] There's something about that that I appreciate.

[00:08:51] Just the ease of it.

[00:08:52] I don't really got to open up an app or anything.

[00:08:55] It's just right there.

[00:08:56] Oh, I should also mention that it's only 209 days until October 1st.

[00:09:00] Baseball!

[00:09:01] Yeah!

[00:09:02] Let's go!

[00:09:03] 42 weeks till Christmas, 29 weeks until October 1st.

[00:09:09] We can do it, Bran!

[00:09:10] We can do it!

[00:09:11] I can do it, you can do it, we all can do it.

[00:09:13] Let's do the news.

[00:09:14] How about that?

[00:09:19] Today is Wednesday, March 6th.

[00:09:23] Here's the news!

[00:09:26] Sounded good today.

[00:09:27] Scotty, I am not a Harry Potter head.

[00:09:33] A pothead, if you will.

[00:09:34] I thought you were going to say I'm not hairy and I was going to say your beard tells me

[00:09:38] otherwise.

[00:09:39] No, I'm very hairy, yes.

[00:09:40] You're Hersweet, as they say.

[00:09:41] No, I'm not a pothead.

[00:09:42] I'm not a big Harry Potter guy.

[00:09:45] I've never read the books.

[00:09:47] I've only seen the movies one time.

[00:09:50] I'm not crazy about it.

[00:09:52] I read the first two books, I think, or listened to them on Audible.

[00:09:54] I enjoyed it, but I wasn't that into it.

[00:09:56] I don't know if you remember, I think they've taken this out of rotation now, but I felt

[00:10:02] like about 10 years ago for some reason ABC Family's countdown to Christmas that they do

[00:10:10] or 25 Days of Christmas, whatever it's called, they would play the Harry Potter movies as

[00:10:16] if it's a Christmas movie because there's one scene where it's Christmas at Hogwarts.

[00:10:22] It's like, okay, a bit of a stretch there, everybody.

[00:10:25] Just having one scene doesn't make it a Christmas movie.

[00:10:27] That is until now.

[00:10:29] Well, this isn't a movie, but it is getting across my point here.

[00:10:35] They are putting out a book called Christmas at Hogwarts.

[00:10:40] And what it does is it takes the chapter, I believe, from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's

[00:10:46] Stone and illustrates it.

[00:10:49] So it's going to bring to life all those Christmas feels that you've maybe imagined while reading

[00:10:57] Harry Potter.

[00:10:58] So instead of having one scene from a bunch of movies that kind of is like, oh, I do like

[00:11:04] the Christmas, you can now have a beautifully illustrated book that takes you into Hogwarts

[00:11:11] and gives you all those Christmas vibes.

[00:11:14] This is going to be 48 pages of illustrations taking you into what it would be like to spend

[00:11:20] Christmas at Hogwarts.

[00:11:22] I like the idea of basically this is a coffee table book and it's just pretty pictures.

[00:11:29] I like the idea of that.

[00:11:31] My concern would be, I hope that these are actually all real illustrations.

[00:11:38] This says that it is, but illustrated by Ziyi Gao.

[00:11:44] I don't know if I'm saying it correctly, but you could have easily maybe put this into

[00:11:48] some sort of AI thing and generated Christmas Hogwarts pictures.

[00:11:53] I hope that's not what's happening here.

[00:11:55] I would be interested in checking this out even though I'm not a Harry Potter fan.

[00:12:00] But anytime I'm getting Christmas scenery vibes, I'm kind of here for it.

[00:12:04] So I like the general idea of this despite not being a fan.

[00:12:08] Does this do anything for you, Scotty?

[00:12:10] I get the draw of fantasy type stuff.

[00:12:14] It's not really my thing, but if I saw this book sitting on your table, I would absolutely

[00:12:19] pick it up and flip through it.

[00:12:22] I wouldn't buy it, I'll be honest with you.

[00:12:23] But it says it's published by Scholastic.

[00:12:26] My kid's right in the middle of a Scholastic book fair right now, and that brings the feels.

[00:12:32] My wife has two kids when the Scholastic book fair comes around.

[00:12:36] It's like, honey, can I have $20 please?

[00:12:38] Growing up, I loved the book fair even though I didn't read, but it's just the idea of it.

[00:12:43] The cover's very nice.

[00:12:44] So it's like Christmas trees all throughout the...

[00:12:46] Hold on a second.

[00:12:49] All throughout the Hogwarts...

[00:12:50] I see Santa in the background with a swamp.

[00:12:54] You see three Christmas trees on the cover inside the Hogwarts ballroom or whatever,

[00:12:59] and Harry and his friends are looking up at the tree.

[00:13:02] It's nice.

[00:13:03] The cover is the reason why I'd be interested in this book, because the cover alone gives

[00:13:09] me Christmas feels.

[00:13:10] So I'm intrigued by this, but I know there's a lot of people out there that love Harry

[00:13:14] Potter, so I thought I would bring this news for them because I'm sure it's exciting.

[00:13:18] I think you said it best when you said, it's nice.

[00:13:20] It's nothing I'm going gaga for, but oh, that's nice.

[00:13:24] It looks really cool.

[00:13:25] But I know there's a lot of people that anytime there's anything Star...

[00:13:28] Not Star Wars, anything Harry...

[00:13:30] Now Christmas and Star Wars, we tried mixing that once.

[00:13:32] It did not go well.

[00:13:33] Yes, we did.

[00:13:35] Any Harry Potter stuff, they're going to just eat up.

[00:13:38] So I know that this is for a lot of people, maybe not necessarily for me, but I'm intrigued

[00:13:43] at least.

[00:13:44] That's what I got today, Scotty.

[00:13:46] How about we take a break?

[00:13:47] We'll come back.

[00:13:48] We'll get you some TV listings.

[00:13:50] We'll do our Christmas music battle and of course battling.

[00:13:54] Just I still, I've taken the...

[00:13:56] I will get into it.

[00:13:57] I've taken the week though and I'm still surprised.

[00:13:59] Anyway, we'll be right back here on Christmas morning.

[00:14:06] Welcome back everybody.

[00:14:08] We're talking about some Christmas TV.

[00:14:12] We're going to open up that TV guide, put on some cozy music and TV Scotty's going to

[00:14:18] read all those Christmas listings.

[00:14:21] TV Scotty?

[00:14:22] I think they wrote in and said they liked NPR Scotty, so we're not going to do that

[00:14:24] again.

[00:14:25] No, I think that's fair.

[00:14:26] I would take no news as not good news.

[00:14:30] Very much so.

[00:14:31] There aren't a whole lot of listings today.

[00:14:33] Boy, it's a feast or famine over there at mostlychristmas.com.

[00:14:37] So here are your Christmas TV specials for the next couple of days, courtesy of mostlychristmas.com.

[00:14:42] Wednesday, 9am on Hallmark Drama, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Mike's Dream, A Christmas Tale,

[00:14:48] 7.30am on VH1, The Wayans Brothers, A Country Christmas, 2pm on Antenna, The Facts of Life,

[00:14:54] The Christmas Show, 3pm on Cozy, Monk, Mr. Monk and the Miracle, 7pm on CMT, Mama's Family,

[00:15:00] Santa Mama, and 9pm on E! Modern Family, White Christmas.

[00:15:04] Tuesday, 12.30am on Antenna, Becker, The Ghost of Christmas Presents, 5.30am on MeTV, Dragnet,

[00:15:10] The Christmas Story, 6am on USA, NCIS Los Angeles, Higher Power, 11.30am on Antenna,

[00:15:17] Hazel, Hazel's Christmas Shopping, 5.30pm on Antenna, Family Ties, Miracle in Columbus,

[00:15:22] 9pm on CMT, The King of Queens, Santa Claustrophobia, and 9.30pm on Cozy, Frasier, Merry Christmas,

[00:15:29] Mrs. Moskowitz.

[00:15:30] Finally, Friday, 2.30pm on VH1, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Christmas Show, 4pm on

[00:15:35] Hallmark Drama, The Waltons, Day of Infamy, 4pm on TV One, A Different World, White Christmas,

[00:15:40] 8pm on Hallmark, A Veteran's Christmas from 2018, 9pm on Sundance, NCIS Newborn King,

[00:15:47] and 10pm on Hallmark, Time for Her to Come Home for Christmas.

[00:15:50] Oh boy.

[00:15:51] And those are your Christmas TV specials for the next couple of days, courtesy of MostlyChristmas.com.

[00:15:58] Thank you, TV Scotty!

[00:16:00] It is time for the Christmas Music Battle.

[00:16:04] Last week we battled the Kinks classic, Father Christmas, as many will remember.

[00:16:11] And I have the results, Scotty.

[00:16:12] Are you ready for them?

[00:16:13] Hit me with the results, Brandon.

[00:16:15] In last place, with a pretty sad showing, I must say, we got Father Christmas by Jordan

[00:16:22] D. White.

[00:16:23] And I gotta say, Scotty, I'm not surprised by this particular showing from this song.

[00:16:29] It was a little on the...

[00:16:32] It was a little squeaky.

[00:16:33] A little squeaky.

[00:16:35] And while we were playing it, Brian asked me, did you really bring this?

[00:16:39] Like, is this a joke?

[00:16:41] I knew it wasn't going to win, but it did that thing that I like where it was a very

[00:16:46] different take on the song.

[00:16:48] That's why I picked it.

[00:16:49] It's okay.

[00:16:50] I got nine pity votes on there.

[00:16:51] There, more than fair.

[00:16:53] In second place is Father Christmas by a Keola.

[00:16:59] Shocked that Brian didn't just stuff the ballot box here with how he was talking last week.

[00:17:04] Yeah, I think Brian put his browser in incognito mode and just kept voting for Father Christmas

[00:17:09] by Keola.

[00:17:10] Still couldn't win.

[00:17:11] Oh yeah, that's Jordan, all right.

[00:17:12] Yeah, that's right.

[00:17:15] In first place is Father Christmas by Matt Nathanson.

[00:17:20] This is just fine to me.

[00:17:22] I was surprised to find out, and I know this is going to be shocking to a lot of people,

[00:17:26] but I don't know everyone.

[00:17:29] And so there were a lot of people that were like, I can't believe Matt Nathanson was even eligible.

[00:17:33] He's like a big-ish artist.

[00:17:35] And I was like, I've never heard of him, first of all.

[00:17:37] But second of all, Bandcamp, if you're an artist and you're putting your stuff on Bandcamp,

[00:17:44] it is eligible.

[00:17:45] So I, but I apologize.

[00:17:48] There were a lot of people on the Deck the Hallmark Facebook group who were like, I can't

[00:17:52] believe you don't know this guy.

[00:17:54] And I'm like, I don't know him, and nor did this really want me to search.

[00:18:01] I don't, I wasn't crazy about it, but it did win.

[00:18:05] And I understand why it won.

[00:18:07] I thought it was nice.

[00:18:08] Yeah, I didn't know Matt Nathanson either.

[00:18:10] This has come up several times with artists like Matt Dust.

[00:18:13] Yeah, she and him.

[00:18:15] Yeah.

[00:18:16] Well, okay.

[00:18:17] We do try to lean toward the independent artist, but occasionally things happen.

[00:18:22] And this was a great version.

[00:18:23] It was good.

[00:18:24] Yeah, it was good.

[00:18:25] But yeah, I mean, there's been times where I've brought artists that I actually didn't

[00:18:29] know before, but they also happen to be on Bandcamp.

[00:18:31] So sometimes, you know, if it's on there, it's fair game, I believe.

[00:18:35] Unless it's somebody pirating music.

[00:18:38] Like if some people have put like Frank Sinatra on there, that is where we draw the line.

[00:18:43] Yeah, exactly.

[00:18:44] And it's like an ad for like Bob's Muffler Service or something.

[00:18:46] And they put Frank Sinatra on there.

[00:18:48] Don't do that.

[00:18:49] Very scummy.

[00:18:50] If you don't like that we put Matt Nathanson on, you can bring it up with Drew Basic.

[00:18:53] He's the listener that brought it to us.

[00:18:55] Thank you, Drew.

[00:18:56] There you go.

[00:18:57] Take it up with Drew.

[00:18:58] And who's going to take it up with Drew?

[00:18:59] Nobody.

[00:19:00] Nobody.

[00:19:01] That's who.

[00:19:02] This week, I mentioned it last week.

[00:19:03] I've mentioned it already today.

[00:19:05] Still shocked that we've never battled I'll Be Home for Christmas.

[00:19:09] But alas, we have not.

[00:19:10] And we are here today to finally right that wrong and battle one of the best Christmas

[00:19:16] songs of all time.

[00:19:17] Scott, do you have a fun fact for us?

[00:19:19] I do.

[00:19:20] I have some trivia about I'll Be Home for Christmas.

[00:19:22] Okay.

[00:19:23] I've written this song from the point of view of a soldier stationed overseas during World

[00:19:26] War II writing a letter home to his family.

[00:19:28] We all knew that.

[00:19:29] I didn't know this part though, Brian.

[00:19:31] Despite the song's popularity with Americans at the front and at home, in the UK, the BBC

[00:19:36] banned the song from broadcast as management felt the lyrics might lower morale among British

[00:19:43] troops.

[00:19:44] Interesting.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:46] Yeah.

[00:19:47] But that's a thing.

[00:19:48] Like try and not bum out the troops.

[00:19:49] I get it.

[00:19:51] This song, obviously I'm not in war and we're on the other side of that.

[00:19:56] But I hear this song and it makes me feel so warm.

[00:19:59] Like I know that you can think about home and get homesick or it can just cheer you

[00:20:05] up.

[00:20:06] And so this song does that for me.

[00:20:08] But I get it.

[00:20:09] Like that makes sense.

[00:20:10] I'm not surprised to hear that.

[00:20:11] Yeah, exactly.

[00:20:12] We're privileged enough never to have had to experience that.

[00:20:15] So who are we to say?

[00:20:16] We do have three versions, Scotty.

[00:20:19] I'm excited to hear what we have.

[00:20:21] This is a classic.

[00:20:23] Did we find anybody who was willing to mess with near perfection?

[00:20:28] Let's find out.

[00:20:29] I think we can actually say that we did mess with near perfection here because these are

[00:20:32] all very different versions.

[00:20:34] I was so happy to hear wildly different takes.

[00:20:38] So let's do it.

[00:20:39] First, we have I'll Be Home for Christmas by the Astronautics.

[00:21:43] A little grittier version of I'll Be Home for Christmas.

[00:21:46] Not bad.

[00:21:47] Maybe like if Weezer did this song, it might sound a little bit like that.

[00:21:52] Up next, we have I'll Be Home for Christmas by Zimba.

[00:22:56] That was not what I was expecting.

[00:22:58] Especially from a Zumba class.

[00:23:00] Talking about creative liberties there.

[00:23:03] The only thing that relates that song to the classic is the lyrics.

[00:23:10] Everything else is different.

[00:23:11] I liked it.

[00:23:12] I thought it was nice.

[00:23:13] Yeah, it was nice.

[00:23:14] Yeah, very cool.

[00:23:15] Last but not least, we have I'll Be Home for Christmas by Mervin Budram?

[00:23:20] Boodrom?

[00:23:21] Boodrom!

[00:23:22] We'll go with Boodrom.

[00:23:23] Yeah, hold on to your butts for this one.

[00:23:34] Leaves and snow, mistletoes and presents under the tree.

[00:23:47] Christmas Eve will find me, where the love light gleams.

[00:23:58] Not for Christmas, if only in my dreams.

[00:24:09] A merry merry Christmas, a leisurely merry Christmas.

[00:24:14] A merry merry Christmas, a leisurely merry Christmas.

[00:24:19] Sing I'll Be Home for Christmas.

[00:24:23] Brian, why do we even have a contest some weeks, huh?

[00:24:26] Well, listen.

[00:24:27] I think this still has the potential to be close.

[00:24:32] Okay, I don't.

[00:24:33] I won't be surprised if it's not, but I think there's definitely three good versions here.

[00:24:40] And so this is one of those classics, like what's it going to come down to?

[00:24:44] Is it going to come down to style?

[00:24:46] Like maybe some people just don't like island music and they're going to gravitate towards something else.

[00:24:52] I don't know.

[00:24:53] We're going to find out.

[00:24:54] That's why we do this.

[00:24:55] There's a taste for everybody here.

[00:24:56] This is not like going to Chick-fil-A, you know?

[00:24:58] That's just chicken.

[00:24:59] What is this like going to a cheesecake factory?

[00:25:01] Yeah, there you go.

[00:25:02] Choice after choice.

[00:25:03] Just have at it, whatever you want.

[00:25:04] Even Grandma will be happy.

[00:25:06] I do want to mention that we got listener submissions this week from Frank Napier.

[00:25:09] Frank, we got you this time.

[00:25:10] Elizabeth Nelson, John Rice, Lenora Gilbert, Brad Adams, Lance Garman, Parker Hallett, and Drew Basic.

[00:25:16] Wow.

[00:25:17] Brian, this is one of the most submitted weeks that we've ever had.

[00:25:21] Everybody else was also equally a surprise.

[00:25:24] We had never done this song apparently because they're like, oh, let's get after it.

[00:25:28] Next week is the second Wednesday of the month and so therefore it is original music week, which is always fun.

[00:25:37] Always a challenge, but always fun.

[00:25:40] You know, I'm starting to like it more because as I go through songs and find people's albums that I like,

[00:25:46] if I see one in there that's an original, I'll add it to my wish list right away

[00:25:50] so at least I have a better crop and I'm not just searching from scratch each week.

[00:25:54] So it's growing on me.

[00:25:55] 100%.

[00:25:56] And here's the good news, everybody.

[00:25:58] We're going to be back next week, of course.

[00:26:00] To give you some Christmas cheer hopefully, feel free to email in christmasmorningpodcasts at gmail.com.

[00:26:05] Oh yeah.

[00:26:06] And we are already accepting stuff for this month's Christmas party.

[00:26:10] I know that's not for a few weeks now, but bring it on.

[00:26:14] Whatever you have to say, we'd love to hear it.

[00:26:17] And you can vote right now.

[00:26:18] Link is in the description for this week's Christmas Music Battle.

[00:26:21] Scotty, did I miss anything?

[00:26:22] You didn't miss a single thing, Bran.

[00:26:24] Wowzers!

[00:26:25] Well guess what?

[00:26:26] There's a chance for me to mess it up next week.

[00:26:28] Until then, Merry Christmas!