THE STORY BEHIND THE MUSIC: JOHN YOUNGREN'S 2002 CHRISTMAS CD

By JOHN YOUNGREN

[Editor's Note: This column won't make much sense to some website fans … but rest assured, we'll have a new entry for everyone in the next few days.]
Behind-the-scenes stories of the Christmas CD, for those of you in the know…
First of all, what is my general approach to a musical mix tape? Basically, I'm a commercial fool – meaning I go for songs by artists who are known and popular. The pace of the mix is also crucial to me; I like to vary songs by tempo and theme. I try to avoid too many slow ones in a row, or whatever. When I'm making a mix, I like to think of it as me broadcasting live. So, even though I keep many ideas for songs written down throughout the year and I have a general sense of what I want to put on the mix, I'm constantly changing it up and adding or pulling something at the last minute.
That was certainly the case on this one. Two or three or four songs were mid-mix audibles, thrown in more for feel and tempo than months of planning and predisposition.
Unlike many other years, when I had a list of "secret meanings" that went along with the main list of songs, that list doesn't exist this year. Truth is, I had gotten somewhat tired of the whole thing. And trying to justify the latest Matthew Sweet song by making a cryptic reference to an unrequited love in my life just got a little old.
But I do understand that some of you may wonder where some of these songs came from and why they're in the order they're in. So, for those of you smart enough to link from the CD to the website, I offer some random thoughts on the selected songs below:
1. "Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by John Lennon. I gave it a different subtitle on the back of the Christmas CD, because for the first year ever I decided to actually include a Christmas song on the Christmas mix. In previous years, I had always avoided making this obvious choice because I wanted people to play the mix throughout the year. But on the 10th anniversary, I felt it was time – and I put it at No. 1 so people could click by fast after the holidays. Plus, "Happy Christmas" has always been the theme of the disc, and this is the song that inspired that title.
2. "Dig In" by Lenny Kravitz. This could be considered the opening song of the "real" mix. For the past few years, I've always tried to lead off with a bouncing, tough opener, to lure people in. "Dig In" certainly works this year. Plus, it's "Dig In" to the music, dig in to the mix, dig in to the year.
3. "Song for the Lonely," by Cher. Just a great song. I loved the video. Sometimes, that's about all that's behind one of these choices – nothing cryptic. Plus, Cher has universal appeal, spanning all age demos.
4. "Tiny Dancer," by Tim McGraw. This has always been one of my favorite Elton John songs, though it's never made a Christmas mix before. Plus, I always like to find covers by contemporary artists of rock classics, so Tim McGraw made the cut this year. It's just a perfect song, and his rendition is terrific.
5. "Big Yellow Taxi," by the Counting Crows. See No. 4, above. This is a Joni Mitchell classic. I love the song and to sing along, and that's another Christmas mix application. The Counting Crows have this as kind of a hidden track on their new "Hard Candy" album, but I wanted to bring it front and center here (which was somewhat selfish, so I wouldn't have to surf through a track to find it on their real album).
6. "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera. This was the latest addition to the Christmas mix – and it only made version three. It was a pure audible. I had no reason to even think about it, other than I just really liked the performance and sentiment of the song on the final night I was putting things together.
7. "Summer in the City" by the Lovin' Spoonful. Another truly fun, pop song. That's it. It's almost made the mix about five years running. This year, there it is.
8. "Whitewash" by Gin Blossoms. I thought I'd run my course of Gin Blossoms songs, but I wanted to include something this year, because they're always such a great pop band to include. The electronic feedback sound that leads off the song is kind of a fun touch. Plus, if I was doing my cryptic references, "Whitewash" could be construed as being representative of an incident or three in my life.
9. "Beast of Burden" by the Rolling Stones. I like to include Stones' songs. They're classic, and get people moving. This is one I'd throw on the player at a party at Tom and Liz Carlson's house. Sometimes, especially mid-disc, that's what you go for, if nothing else than to wake people up.
10. "Hole In My Pocket" by Sheryl Crow. I love the 2002 Sheryl Crow album, "C'Mon, C'Mon." It's been a favorite all year. The hits so far from it have been "Soak Up The Sun," "Steve McQueen" and, to a lesser extent, "C'mon, C'mon" and "Abilene." Sometimes, if a new album has an obvious hit, I'll ignore it and throw a fun track from somewhere else on the album on the mix instead. "Hole In My Pocket" is one of the best album songs.
11. "Just Between You and Me" by April Wine. When I was in high school in 1982-83, I did the announcements. I would mix news of the day with music of the era. On many of the Christmas mixes, I've included what I call "announcement" songs. This is a classic announcements song.
12. "Big Machine" by Goo Goo Dolls. Nothing too cryptic. I got the new Goos' album a few months ago and this song just stuck in my head. I knew it'd be on the mix before they even released it as the second single.
13. "Near Wild Heaven" by R.E.M. This is one of those brilliant R.E.M. songs from the "Losin' My Religion" period, and one that's sometimes hard to place. I heard it in a store while Christmas shopping right around Thanksgiving and knew it had to be there.
14. "Unwell" by Matchbox 20. The new Matchbox 20 album came out right around the time I was doing the first cut of the mix. I liked a number of the songs, but this one just spoke to me. I'll let you take it from there.
15. "Get Over Yourself" by SHeDAISY. SHeDAISY is from Utah. The three Osborn sisters are very talented and beautiful and have had much success with their two albums. They're country with a real pop tinge. "Pop Stew" readers know I met them personally in July of 2001 and loved their new album, "Knock On The Sky," which came out this year. I could have picked a number of songs from the album to include on the mix but chose the hit (see? Totally different logic from the Sheryl Crow situation. That's what makes it fun.) I also used to have a rule that if I saw a band live during the year in question, I'd include a song they performed when I saw them on the mix. So that counts here, too, for I saw SHeDAISY play live on Nov. 27, 2002 at Kingsbury Hall.
16. "Burning Love" by Elvis Presley. I knew I'd do some Elvis, because he's been so big this year (no pun intended). I thought about "A Little Less Conversation," but it just seemed too predictable. So the two candidates were "Kentucky Rain" and "Burning Love." "Burning Love" just seemed to fit better. And Elvis is always for my Mom, who loves the King.
17. "And Your Bird Can Sing" by the Beatles. Who can follow Elvis? What's a song that's short enough that it won't throw off my master plan? And what's a fun Beatles' song that isn't so overused it will serve as something of a surprise?
18. "Salt Lake City" by the Beach Boys. Five years ago when Harris & Love got the Lagoon account, Andy Cier and I started talking about finding this song because of its reference to Lagoon. We didn't know what we'd do with it, but we needed it. Surprisingly, it was impossible to find – I finally tracked it down on some obscure Beach Boys collection from Amazon.com. I put it on the mix mainly because I found it. And also because it's my salute to Salt Lake City for successfully hosting the 2002 Winter Olympics, tying in as you'll see from the cover and graphics of my CD.
19. "Stuck In The Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel. This has been a candidate for the mix for the past four years. I finally put it on for Joe Evans, my colleague at Love Communications. He came up with a new phrase this year: "Ass Clowns." I thought it would make a great adaptation to the lyrics of the real song.
20. "The Good Stuff" by Kenny Chesney. It would have been easy for me to go even further into the country stuff this year, as I'm listening to a lot of SHeDAISY, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, etc. But this was one that had to make it – it caught me with the video and remains stuck in my head, indelibly.
21. "Nothing from Nothing" by Billy Preston. For Kelli Fratto at Love Communications, who was singing it nearly every day this fall after it was in that commercial for Burger King.
22. "Anything Goes" by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra traditionally has a slot near the end of every Christmas mix. This year's song is a fun choice, because it's very familiar but not as predictable as some of his bigger hits.
23. "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" by the Beatles. I had a few conclusion ideas, but this one came to the top. It's another great, somewhat-obscure Beatles' song from the early days. The theme, "so I'll go," says "goodbye" to the audience for the disc.
24. "Going Through The Motions" by Sarah Michelle Gellar. Very obscure, but most of you know of my "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" fixation. This is from the musical episode that drew such accolades last year. When the musical soundtrack came out this summer, I knew something would make the mix. The novelty aspect of it mandated I put it last, however, as a coda to the mix and another click-by alternative. I figured people could view the body of the 2002 Christmas Mix as tracks No. 2-23, if they preferred.
That's the story. Those of you interested enough to get this far deserve congratulations. The cross-branding from disc to website is something new.
I want to thank, as I did on the disc cover, Craig Lee from Love Communications, who did all the art on the disc and always makes it look so incredible. This year he really outdid himself. I came up with the beret idea and he took it from there. He also created the morphed image of Buffy and me on the back.
My brother-in-law, Craig Watson, took the other pictures of me on the back. They were great, and very handy for a disc or two now. And my company, Love Communications, has been terrific – Preston Wood gave me permission to have Craig print the paper inserts that go in the CD cases. Palmer Pattison of PalmerSound, Inc., who gave me a great price, duplicated the discs.
I hope you all enjoy this year's production.
Merry Christmas!