Christmas is widely considered to be a time of joy and peace on Earth, goodwill towards men, blah blah blassity blah. However, there’s a ton of people out there who HATE the holidays. Could be for one of a million different reasons-some people hate the cold weather, some people don’t have families (or don’t like their families), and some people have to contend with traumatic events that happened during the holidays and are doomed to be reminded of those events every time Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” comes on the radio or plays over the PA at the mall.
This post is for you guys.
While not a holiday song per se, Breathe’s “Does She Love That Man” is set during Christmas. It was also a hit at the very end of 1990, so I’ll always associate it with the Christmas season. David Glasper sings of running into an old flame during the holidays. She’s found love with another man, and David can’t help but wonder whether she’s happier with the new guy than she was with him. I’m a sucker for sappy stories like this, and because of that defect, “Does She Love That Man” is one of my favorite songs that no one knows ever.
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In the midst of “Purple Rain”‘s success in 1984, one might have expected Prince to come out with a Christmas song. However, in typical Prince fashion, he didn’t come up with a jolly carol or a sentimental mushy song. “Another Lonely Christmas” (which was the B-side of “I Would Die 4 U”) is a pretty depressing jam in which Prince mourns his lady friend who didn’t just leave him, she up and died while they were still together. Prince tries his best to cope by drinking banana daquiries (yummy!), but even though he drinks them until he’s blind, they can’t erase the memories of his beloved.
Because I’m strange, “Another Lonely Christmas” is one of my favorite holidays songs of all time, and although I couldn’t find a YouTube clip of the actual song, someone has put up a very clean rip from Prince’s only live performance of the song, which I’d imagine came from the Purple Rain tour in ’84.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETbXkTqUzpg
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Have a good cry for now, and I promise next week’s Hump Day Flashback will bring holiday cheer instead of holiday tears.