Bonus Episode: Happy Xmas (War Is Over) and Other Great Music History Christmas Moments

This After Party features a very special announcement plus a look into the greatest Christmas moments from music history, your voicemails, texts, emails, and as always a whole lotta (Christmas) Rosie. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This is exactly right.

• 0:13Speaker 01

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 0:41Speaker 02

  Your business operates under pressure and you need control over your data. But IBM Research shows only 9% of companies have real oversight of their technology. IBM's Open Hybrid Cloud approach is designed to give you visibility with built-in governance tools, data sovereignty, and compliance reporting. It's another way IBM helps you stay in control of your data. Let's create smarter business. IBM. Visit ibm.com to learn more.

• 1:11Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 1:44Jake Brennan?

  Hey, Discos. Need a little more DisgraceLand in your life? Just a touch to get you through? Yeah, me too. This is the podcast that comes after the podcast. Welcome to DisgraceLand: The Afterparty.

• 2:10Jake Brennan?

  Welcome to the Disgrace Land bonus episode, a little thing we like to call the after-party. This is the show after the show, the party after the party, the bridge to get you from one full episode of Disgrace Land to the other, the backyard to dig into the dirt. Our mission, to uncover the truth, to confront the myth, to reclaim the story. On this bonus episode, we are discussing the biggest Christmas moments from music history, Phil Spector and John Lennon, a massive new announcement from myself and the folks here at Double Elvis, and we get into your emails, comments, DMs, and as always, a whole lot of Rosie. This is the podcast for the musically obsessed, the outsiders, the independent thinkers who know that the best history is the history that gets buried. Disgrace Land is where I tell the stories they didn't want told, the kind you'll end up telling someone else.

• 2:53Jake Brennan?

  All right, discos, let's get into it.

• 3:11Jake Brennan?

  Two days ago, I heard a Christmas song I'd never heard before, and it stopped me in my tracks. I was scrolling Instagram and up popped the reel with the performer singing his ass off and feeling every note of the song and every fiber of his being. I went immediately to Spotify to hear the full tune, and by the time the chorus hit, no joke, my eyes were tearing up. This song was "Christmas Must Be Tonight" by The Band. Rick Danko's voice in this tune, it's got so much emotion in it, just the effortless kind of emotion, not the contrived kind. And the story, the lyrics about a man witnessing the birth of Jesus, witnessing a miracle, it's gutting.

• 3:54Jake Brennan?

  And of course, it's The Band, so the feel that the song has is as powerful as the vocal in the lyrics. And when the tune ended, I had that great feeling that we're all very familiar with, the feeling of catharsis, of exhilaration, that feeling that only great music can provide. And that revelation, that holy shit moment, as soon as it faded, I felt something else. I felt stupidity.

• 4:20Jake Brennan?

  If this song was so great, how come I'd never heard it before? It's not like it was from some obscure artist I'm unfamiliar with. This is the band we're talking about. I just spent an entire week and a half blabbing about the band with you guys here and on Patreon and social during the Thanksgiving holiday. I don't have a reason other than to say that, you know, we can't be aware of everything. This song, "Christmas Must Be Tonight," it's on the band's last album with Robbie Robertson, a record called Islands. And, you know, this 1977 album, it's not that great. It's not really an album either. It's, it's a collection of previously recorded outtakes, of which "Christmas Must Be Tonight" is one.

• 5:05Jake Brennan?

  The tune is recorded as a single in 1975, and the brain trust at Capitol Records decided that it wasn't good enough to release. So the song didn't see the light until a couple of years later, when it was buried into the sequencing of the album called Islands at the end of Side One. An album released by a band that was over, okay? Islands comes out after The Last Waltz and, you know, after Robbie Robertson, the band's primary songwriter, had left and made it clear that he didn't want anything else to do with the band. Little side note, we've done a lot of band talk, like I just said, and we've never really dove into the beef between Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson and what it was that Levon

• 5:49Jake Brennan?

  accused Robbie of doing to him and the rest of the members of the band. It's ugly, murky, and I've always avoided this story because I like to keep these guys pure in my mind. But today, in the exclusive section of this after-party, I'm gonna have Zeph take me through these accusations and the ins and outs of this saga. And we're gonna look into what Levon said and what Robbie did or did not do. Hopefully, we learn a thing or two. That's coming up at the end of this episode. Go to graceampod.com to become an All-Access member if you're not one already, so they can hear this and more exclusive content every week, plus ad-free listening. All right, back to the excellent band holiday tune, "Christmas Must Be Tonight."

• 6:30Jake Brennan?

  The fact that the song was released after the band was done is unfortunate because...

• 6:37Jake Brennan?

  I can see an alternate reality where Christmas Must Be Tonight is a massive hit. It's that great. And when you, when you listen to it, you can easily imagine it being released as a single and hitting as a single and working its way into the zeitgeist of late 70s rock and roll music and culture and ultimately becoming a cultural touchpoint that we return to every holiday season, like we do with Mariah Carey or Wham! and Sir Paul and so many others. But Christmas Must Be Tonight, it never had its moment. And so it remains buried in the basement of music history. But the song got me thinking about other great Christmas moments from music history. And it's a fun topic because there are many. There's the release of this week's full episode subject, Phil Spector's

• 7:20Jake Brennan?

  genius Christmas album, A Christmas Gift For You, released on November 22nd, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was shot. We talk about this, obviously, in this week's full episode on Phil. It's a crazy story. Phil's album ended up giving birth to another great music history moment that would come much later, Christmas moment, I should say. And that was the tradition of singer Darlene Love, the tradition she created by performing her great version of the Spector-produced Merry Christmas Baby, Please Come Home, every year on David Letterman Show here in the United States. A tradition that I gotta say,

• 8:01Jake Brennan?

  I really miss. It was great. I loved it. I looked forward to it every year. It's fantastic. There's also John Lennon and Yoko Ono's excellent protest song, Happy Christmas War Is Over, released on December 1st, 1971. Now, that was a moment for sure. The song came with billboards and it came with a bunch of blowback and consternation from American radio stations who refused to play the song, at first anyways, because they thought it was too political. You know, but eventually it wormed its way into the zeitgeist and now it returns to us every holiday season and the lyrics are quite humbling and pretty, pretty great still to this day. And then, of course, there's the granddaddy of weird Christmas music history

• 8:44Jake Brennan?

  moments from 1977, where David Bowie appeared with Bing Crosby to duet on The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth, a moment that I think a lot of us are still trying to figure out. Anyways, these great Christmas moments, holiday moments, whatever you want to call them, from music history. They help shape how we all experience the holiday season to this day. And I'm grateful for it, even if I don't wake up every December clamoring to hear Bowie and Bing's version of a tune that I never really liked that much to begin with. But nonetheless, I am, like most people, a creature of habit. And I get nostalgic, just like you guys. And also, like most people, I'm a fan of our cultural traditions. So it's interesting to think about how much music influences those traditions.

• 9:29Jake Brennan?

  Now, it's too bad that the band's Christmas Must Be Tonight never had its moment. And that this great song, but it's not part of our larger cultural tradition every holiday season. But who knows, maybe the internet is about to do its thing and shine a new light on this tune. Maybe, maybe its moment is coming. Maybe we're part of the beginning of it right now. I don't know. But I highly recommend that you guys give this band tune a spin this holiday season, whether you've heard it or not. If you've heard it before, go check it out. If you have not heard it, check it out. You won't be disappointed. Okay, so speaking of John and Yoko, this week, December 8th, is the anniversary of John Lennon's death, which is in part why we're featuring our Lennon episodes in the Rewind Spot coming up right after this bonus episode.

• 10:13Jake Brennan?

  We also chose these Rewind episodes because of John's connection to Phil Spector, this week's full episode subject of Disgraceland. Next week, we're featuring Shane McGowan in the Feed. And well, that's obviously because of the Pogues' excellent Christmas tune, one of, if not the greatest Christmas tune of all, Fairy Tale of New York. When you guys are listening to this story, be thinking about which Christmas songs recorded by musicians from the rock, or punk, or funk, or country, or rap genres. You know, the genres we deal with the most. Which songs from these artists move you the most? Is it the Pogues' Fairy Tale of New York? Or any of the others that I mentioned so far? Is it something a bit more esoteric, like James Brown's Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto?

• 10:57Jake Brennan?

  Or Pretty Paper by Willie Nelson? Or maybe even that great collab between Dolomite and Eazy-E entitled Merry Motherfucking Xmas? You know, like, I was just thinking. We talk about this every year. We talk about great Christmas, Christmas music. But I want to know what the songs are that just got you, the Christmas songs. Like, I'm telling you, man, that, that band song, it's like, it opened a vein. I was trying to, I sit there, my wife and my, my oldest son, and I was trying not to cry. It was so fucking emotional. It's just incredible. Rick Danko, man. Whew. So what are those songs? Christmas is a super emotional time and I feel like it's, it's, the emotion is heightened by the music. What are those songs that really,

• 11:42Jake Brennan?

  you know, I guess if you want, you want to hit me back and, you know, talk about Irving Berlin or Bing Crosby or whatever, that's fine, or Sinatra. But, you know, what are, what are the ones that we may not be familiar with, you know, like, like the ones I mentioned, like the Dolomite, Eazy-E thing, the James Brown, Santa Claus goes straight to the ghetto, Pretty Paper by Willie Nelson, just kind of the obscure ones by rock and classic rock and country and hip hop artists that, that really resonate and mean something to you. All right, let's get into it. Hit me up, 617-906-6638. Voicemail, text, email me, [email protected]. Hit me on socials, at disgracelandpod, and let me know your answers.

• 12:24Jake Brennan?

  We'll talk about it next week and next week's after party. In the meantime, I'll be back right after this, not only with your voicemails and texts, but with a very special announcement that you're not going to want to miss.

• 12:47Speaker 04

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 13:18Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 13:49Speaker 02

  Your business operates under pressure and you need control over your data, but IBM research shows only 9% of companies have real oversight of their technology. IBM's open hybrid cloud approach is designed to give you visibility with built-in governance tools, data sovereignty, and compliance reporting. It's another way IBM helps you stay in control of your data. Let's create smarter business. IBM. Visit ibm.com to learn more.

• 14:26Jake Brennan?

  All right, guys, welcome back. So today, today is the day. Today, we are announcing the launch of a new podcast here at Double Elvis, a video podcast, co-hosted by myself and Dr. Zeth Lundie, called This Film Should Be Played Loud. This Film Should Be Played Loud features Zeth and me combining our love of music, disgraceland, and film, Hollywoodland, in a discussion about what else, the great music from the films we love, the best soundtracks, the best scores, the best needle drops, performances, et cetera. We kicked off this series today with what is quite possibly the most incredible movie soundtrack of all

• 15:05Jake Brennan?

  time, The Goodfellas soundtrack. All right. This is a video podcast, a first for us here at Double Elvis, and it's also a chat podcast, which is a first for yours truly. Normally, I'm reading from a script in our full episodes, or I'm talking to you guys solo here in the after-party. Zeth and I love movies and music, clearly, and we talk about them all the time. Both on and off the mic. And now we've got a way to focus that conversation around the convergence of music and film and to do it in front of the cameras. We're super excited for you guys to watch this film should be played loud. Guys, seriously, this might be my favorite thing in the world. The convergence of great music and great film. It's so exhilarating

• 15:46Jake Brennan?

  to me. You know this. I've talked to you about this before. Talked about that moment when De Niro walks into the bar in Mean Streets. Talked to you about the, you know, the tides turning and boogie nights on New Year's Eve. When everything goes to shit and the music that's responsible for these incredible moments in film history. That's what we're getting into. That's what we're unpacking. That's what we're deep diving. And we're doing it one movie at a time. Okay? Can't wait for you guys to watch. Now, here's the thing about this show. It's available exclusively for our all access members in Patreon. Episodes are going to be around 40, 45 minutes, maybe longer, depending on the subject. And they're going to be released every month. This first episode is available right now for all Patreon members. Okay. Even those who are following

• 16:31Jake Brennan?

  us as free members. But starting next month, future episodes of this film should be played loud will be available only for members who sign up for the new Love It Loud $10 tier. Okay. That's right. We've now got additional tiers in Patreon. You can become a member for just a dollar now, just one buck. And that'll get you into the Patreon community, into the chat where you can talk Disgrace Land and all things, music and movies and true crime and grime with me and your fellow discos and Zeth, of course, too. And you can still obviously become a member for just five bucks a month, like we've been doing since we launched our Patreon and we launched our Apple subscription service. And you're going to get exclusive content like the bonus after party segment that we do each week,

• 17:13Jake Brennan?

  including the conversation you're about to get today on Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm. And at the $5 level, you also get three exclusive mini episodes per month and ad free listening on all Disgrace Land and Hollywood Land episodes. And of course, you get to be a part of the Disgrace Land community and you get access to the chat. Okay. That's all for five bucks. And, and I've been teasing this out for about two months now. That $5 tier is going up once and for all next week and will then be $5.99. So now is your time to sign up and save money. And now, as I just mentioned, we have a new $10 tier that'll get you everything I just talked about. Plus, the new This Film Should Be Played Loud video podcast along with the after party exclusive content in video form every week.

• 17:57Jake Brennan?

  And, and, and you, me and your other disgraced and community members who support at the $10 tier level, we're going to meet over Zoom twice a year to discuss and determine which subjects that we're going to cover in our full episodes. That's right. At the $10 tier, you're going to get direct input into what topics we cover and produce for our flagship show. Plus, like I said, this film should be played loud video podcast. All right. This is turning into an infomercial and I apologize for that, but it's a lot of information and it's important. Patreon is proving itself to be a valuable tool for us all to build this community and I'm super proud of what we've built together thus far. The conversations we have over on

• 18:40Jake Brennan?

  Patreon and the community we've built are meaningful and in part, it's what motivates me to get up every morning to bust my ass to write and to make content. I can't wait to see how this continues to grow in the new year, guys. Sign up and become a disgraced and all access member and support our mission to uncover the truth buried in the cracks of music history and celebrate the music and the films that helped make us who we are. Go to disgracedpod.com. And without further ado, here is a clip from our new video podcast, This Film Should Be Played Loud.

• 19:12Jake Brennan?

  The helicopter scene, I went back and I looked. It's, it's the best mixtape inside of a movie that I, that I've ever come across. And it's, it feels like it's a long tape when you think of the impact of it, but it's actually pretty short. It's Jump in the Fire by Harry Nilson. Then it goes to Memo from Turner, the Mick Jagger version, however, incorrectly credited in the soundtrack as a Rolling Stones song. It's actually not. It's Mick Jagger version. Then it goes into like a couple of seconds of the live version of Magic Bus by The Who. And then it goes into Monkey Man. And then What Is Life by George Harrison. You kind of feel like he's getting away with it, like he's getting away with it. And then Manish Boy by Muddy Waters. And then of course, the writings on the wall for Henry Hill.

• 19:57Speaker 05

  But, but hang on. The best part about that whole stretch, for me at least, my favorite part is in between Monkey Man and What Is Life, there's just the briefest clip of Muddy Waters, the beginning of Manish Boy going, "Everything, everything's gonna be alright this morning." That's it.

• 20:22Speaker 05

  And then it cuts right into What Is Life and you're like, what the fuck is going on here?

• 20:25Jake Brennan?

  You're absolutely right. And you know, in that, okay, so we, we need to talk about Scorsese's approach here. Before Goodfellas, Scorsese is famously the guy, because of Mean Streets, he's famously the guy who uses rock and roll to express emotion, to use rock and roll songs, pop songs, to express emotion in film as opposed to using score. There's, okay, so by the time he gets to Goodfellas, you know, he's already gone through and he's worked up the script with Nicholas Pellegrini and he's got like, he's, he's indicating in the margins what songs he wants. And I read an interview with the, the music editor for the film where he said that Scorsese knew two years in advance what songs exactly he wanted playing in which frames of the film.

• 21:07Speaker 05

  He was putting it in the script. He was like, put cream sunshine to your love here.

• 21:11Jake Brennan?

  Right, exactly. Pellegrini's rereading the script and he's, it didn't say sunshine to your love, it just said, add cream. And Pellegrini's like, what the fuck do you mean, add cream? He's like, dun dun dun dun.

• 21:30Jake Brennan?

  You know, it's interesting, when I read this thing about the music editor from Goodfellas making a big deal of the fact that Scorsese knew exactly what songs he wanted in the film two years in advance, it didn't strike me as being strange. Not, I was just like, well, yeah, that's how you fucking do it, dude. Right? Right? But it's not how you do it. I mean, I've actually, I've worked on indie films and stuff, I've music supervised stuff and did music for, for a film, a Parker Posey film. And the director, who was a friend, he, he was basically like, I don't know shit about music, you figure it out. And I feel like that's an approach that a lot of directors have.

• 22:06Speaker 05

  I think you're right. But remember that Scorsese started, I mean, one of his first major gigs was The Woodstock Movie, which he's credited for now as an editor, but I believe at the time, this was in that, that Mr. Scorsese documentary that was on Apple recently, he was like the second director of that movie. So like, he's, he's creating that movie, he's cutting that movie with music at the forefront of his mind, right?

• 22:32Jake Brennan?

  Exactly, exactly. And he's, and obviously he's surrounded by great live music, Santana, Sliced Stone, all that stuff. But this is after he grows up. And, and this is the good thing about Goodfellas. It really feels like, like, um... I don't know. It was growing up in my small town. It was very much like this where, you know, we all hung out on this main drag, right?

• 22:51Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 22:52Jake Brennan?

  And you would just hear, there'd just be this soundtrack constantly, cars driving by, people still carried boom boxes around. I'm not trying to make it sound like I grew up in the Bronx. I didn't. But music was kind of like, it was more in the air than, than it is now. Now everyone's got, you know, ear pods on and they're in their little pods in their cars and whatever. It just, it was, it was different then. And, and I feel like it was much different and a much more extreme version of what I just explained in a tiny little sort of, you know, two block stretch of downtown New York where Martin Scorsese grew up in the 1960s and that sort of like jukebox system that he was living in.

• 23:32Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 23:32Jake Brennan?

  And that's what that movie feels like all the way throughout the beginning. I mean, the first, you know, the opening is, you know, by the time he blows up the cars, you've already whipped through like, your, your ears are just on fire from all the incredible sound tracking that's going on.

• 23:47Speaker 05

  Yeah. It's like a radio station, you know, it's just like switching the channels. It's doo-wop, it's girl groups. It's, it's Italian. It's, it's, it's all over the place.

• 23:56Jake Brennan?

  But it's what he would have heard.

• 23:58Speaker 05

  Right. Exactly.

• 23:59Jake Brennan?

  And he's, he's so fearless with his music choices.

• 24:04Jake Brennan?

  All right, guys. That is This Film Should Be Played Loud, a new video podcast from Double Elvis. Go to disgracypod.com to sign up to become an All Access member today so that you can watch. I will be back after this with your voicemails, texts, and more.

• 24:26Speaker 01

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 24:54Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 25:26Speaker 02

  Your team is on a deadline, but moving all your enterprise data will take time your business simply doesn't have. IBM technology lets AI work with your data where it already lives with an open hybrid cloud approach designed to build on your existing investments. It's another way IBM helps you put your data to work. Let's create smarter business. IBM. Visit ibm.com to learn more.

• 26:02Jake Brennan?

  All right, we got Christmas music on the brain this month. As always, every December, let's hear from Mr. Taylor from North Carolina. Matt, play the 916.

• 26:10Speaker 06

  Jake, this is Mr. Taylor from North Carolina calling to answer the question of the best Christmas songs. Look, you already said it. Darlene loves Christmas, baby, please come home. It is the best Christmas song of all time. Christmas music aside, it's just an excellent, excellent masterpiece of a song. Bonus points for its use in Goodfellas. So that's my answer. But I will say, as a kid growing up in the 90s, man, Christmas music was bad, really bad. Mariah Carey, I'm pretty sure, is playing on repeat in the waiting room in hell. The 90s featured a bunch of really great artists whose careers

• 26:51Speaker 06

  had stalled out, all trying to get one last cash grab by doing Christmas songs and trying to get on. Now, that's what I call Christmas 26. So I eschewed Christmas music for a very long time, but as a father of four, I know now that Christmas music is a requirement. So I took it upon myself to try and go out and find Christmas music that I liked, Christmas music that I felt was of the quality that I required. Um, so I mean, look, there's a lot of good music out there. Um, I will say I've stretched the definition a little bit. Um, you know, songs that include sleigh bells, I, I think are Christmas music, right? God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, uh, Ben Fold's Five. Um, that,

• 27:33Speaker 06

  that, those are like, that sounds like a Vince Guaraldi Christmas song. Uh, songs that even include references to Christmas. Leave On by Elton John. Uh, he was born on a Christmas day. Um, another Ben Fold's Five song, Brick, starts with, you know, 6:00 AM, day after Christmas. Um, or, or even just songs like Jeff Buckley's Hallelujah. Man, if that isn't Christmas, I don't know what is. So I curated a playlist for my family. It plays on, repeats all December long, and hopefully my kids will have a better view as they grow up of Christmas music, but, but that's up to them to figure out. That's all I got. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all the discos. Rock and roll to you, Jake. Santa Claus wants some lovin'. Thank you.

• 28:17Jake Brennan?

  You know, um, I've never really thought about Christmas use music by decade. That's interesting. I can't say for certain whether the nineties were as bad as you, as you say. Uh, just in thinking about it quickly, nothing's coming to mind from the nineties that really blows me away. I guess, I guess there's a lot of good stuff from the eighties. Uh, you might be on to something here. Um, and I love the broadening of the Christmas music definition, just including sleigh bells. Yeah, I can see God Only Knows as a, uh, as a Christmas song and, and Leave On and Hallelujah as well. I kinda like what you're doing here, man. You're kinda opening up this topic of songs that aren't Christmas songs, but are Christmas songs. What are the diehards of Christmas songs?

• 29:02Jake Brennan?

  I love this. That might be a question of the week for next week. I don't know. We shall see. Thanks for the call. I appreciate it. Thanks for the voicemail. All right, let's check out, uh, this one from the eight one five. Hey Jake, this is Matt calling from the eight one five. Finished Phil Spector episode and you had asked for recommendations, uh, for Christmas music. Um, one of my all time favorite Christmas songs. It's a 15 minute song.

• 29:27Speaker 07

  By Sufjan Stevens called "The Christmas Unicorn." And the first half of the song is actually "The Christmas Unicorn." But the second half, he covers "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division. Please check it out. You will not be disappointed. All right. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Rock-a-roller.

• 29:46Jake Brennan?

  815, I've never heard this song. You've got me very excited to hear it. Um, yeah. Joy Division, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is a Christmas song? Uh, yeah. I don't know how, but I'm excited to check it out. I'll report back next week. Thank you. 617-906-6638. Appreciate the recommendations, guys. Appreciate the voicemails. Appreciate the texts. Let's do some texts here. Let's check out, uh, what do we got here? Back in my neck of the woods, the 978. 978 writes in, "Non-human intelligence? These days, it's hard to believe in human intelligence."

• 30:27Jake Brennan?

  Great episode, as always. Brother 978 is referring to our Blink 182 episode, which if you have not heard that, check it out and check out the documentary, "The Age of Disclosure," that we were talking about last week as well, in connection with that Blink episode. 617-906-6638. You guys want to get at me about anything? You can also email me, [email protected], like Victoria Annabelle, who writes in, "Hello, I came across your profile and I wanted to ask if your books are currently available for reading or purchase during this festive season." Well, yeah, Victoria, they are. You can find Disgraceland, musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. Wherever you get your fine books, finer books, any books, really. I don't know about wherever, but you can just go to Amazon, get it there.

• 31:12Jake Brennan?

  It's available, I think. If not, Barnes & Noble's got it. At least it did last time. Sold out on Amazon, but then they, they, they're good about restocking it. Should be there. And, uh, you know, make a good little, good little gift under the tree for your loved one or for yourself. Thanks for writing in, Victoria. [email protected]. You guys want to hit us up about anything related to music, true crime, Christmas? I'm digging this, uh, this new, this new potential question. Christmas songs that aren't Christmas songs. I like this. I like this angle. If you want to get ahead of next week's question of the week, you can hit me up with, uh, your answers to that. [email protected]. Listen, earlier I was talking about Robbie Robertson,

• 31:55Jake Brennan?

  Levon Helm, and some wild criminal accusations being hurled about the band's camp, which is not the same as band camp. And, you know, Zeth and I are going to get into that in the exclusive section of this after-party right about now. You want to be a member to hear that exclusive content and to get access to our new video podcast. This video should be played loud. You got to become a member. Go to disgracempod.com to sign up now.

• 32:39Jake Brennan?

  All right, we are back. This is about it for this after-party. Thanks for listening. Appreciate you guys. Talked about Beach Boys today, or we mentioned them anyhow. Mentioned David Bowie as well. And we did not mention Dimebag Darrell, whose death date was this week, same day John Lennon passed, same date, I should say, December 8. But we have a great episode on Dime and Pantera, and also on Bowie and the Beach Boys. Check those out if you haven't heard them already, or you just want to give them a spin. Go for that. Give them a little rewind. All right, let's recap, shall we? Number one, this week's new episode on Phil Spector is available for you right now. There's also a new mini-episode available right now. Number

• 33:22Jake Brennan?

  two, new mini-episode for All-Access members on Phil and John Lennon's Mad Influence. Go check that out. Number three, rewind episodes on John Lennon and the Assassination of John Lennon, Parts 1 and 2. Those are hitting your feed tomorrow. Number four, next week, we start celebrating the Christmas season for real with our Shane McGowan episode. Five, Zeth gives you those Hollywoodland crime vibes in the Hollywoodland feed, so make sure you're subscribed. Also,

• 33:49Jake Brennan?

  We've got Christmas and New Year's movie specials coming your way in the Hollywood Land feed for the rest of the month. Head over there, check those out. 617-906-6638. Your voice keeps us digging into the dark corners of music history. So keep calling, texting with your answers to this week's question of the week, or with whatever else you want to talk about. And don't forget, Discos, this isn't just content, it's a community, a community of the obsessed. No one cares about music books, records, and the crime and grime. It ties them all together like you do. And well, that's a disgrace. Go sign up to become an All-Access member and check out this film should be played loud. All right. November 22nd, 1963. That's the day JFK died. It's also the day Phil Spector released his Christmas album. And here's what America was listening to on

• 34:33Jake Brennan?

  that day. Number one, I'm Leaving It Up To You, Dale and Grace, last week, four weeks on chart, eight, peak position, one. Number two, Sugar Shack, Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, last week, two, weeks on chart, not applicable, peak position, one. Number three, Washington Square, The Village Sommers, last week, six, peak position, two. Number four, Dominique, The Singer None, last week, eight, peak position, one. Number five, It's All Right, The Impressions,

• 35:14Jake Brennan?

  last week, one, peak position, three, The Six.

• 35:32Jake Brennan?

  Quit talking and start mixing. Cut it. Hey guys, time to dust off your detective skills while unwinding in the Caribbean on Virgin Voyages' second true crime voyage. It's back by popular demand. This five-night, adults-only escape sets sail March 20th, 2027, to Grand Turk in the Beach Club at Bimini. The difference between this year and last will be that I will be on the cruise. This year, along with Zeth, and he and I will be taping a live version of DisgraceLand, along with podcast hosts from Exactly Right's Buried Bones, Podcast of the Year Award winners, Wisecrack, and other fan favorites. Get on this cruise with us, guys, and enjoy live podcast

• 36:13Jake Brennan?

  recordings, behind-the-scenes storytelling, exclusive meet-and-greets, and immersive true crime programming throughout this one-of-a-kind voyage. Head over to www.virginvoyages.com/truecrime to secure your spot. I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 36:58Speaker 04

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