Happy Christmas!
It’s Christmas and New Year’s is just a few days away. For the Friday’s list, we recap our 25 Indie Songs of Christmas beginning with our Christmas Indie single of the day – Hallelujah.
Since Christmas is indeed the time for covers, why not cap it off with one of most covered songs of all time? One of the best known songs by Leonard Cohen, this song is has been redone by Bob Dylan, Allison Crowe, Rufus Wainright, Bono and Jeff Buckley to name a few.
The version that we have here is indie in the sense that it hasn’t been released anywhere except to be included in the finale of a short lived teen drama show in Britain (which sadly, isn’t even out on DVD). It’s actually my favorite version, since it’s sung as a duet. And much like all the indie pop duets that I’ve been listening to, it has that you-don’t-have-to-sing-that-well-to-sing-it charm (referring to Talulah Riley’s part of course), accompanied by a beautiful arrangement done by Simon Boswell and Joe Boswell, the composer of the original songs used in the drama series.
Here’s Talulah Riley and Max Gell from Nearly Famous, with their version of Hallelujah –
To give you a background on where the song came from, here’s a clip from the series (after the jump), where Lila (Talulah Riley) and Cal (Max Gell) perform the song arranged by their friend Owen (Aaron Johnson) as he departs from being expelled from their Fame-esque performing arts school.
Too bad they’re never going to continue the story of Owen and Lila. We all know what happens next though – Lila goes on to marry a high profile entrepreneur and Owen, a director 22 years his senior. He also goes on to star in the 2010 movie Kick-Ass
Now to complete our 25 Indie songs of Christmas recap – here are the 25 songs we’ve featured over the past 25 days leading up to Christmas:
Hallelujah by Talulah Riley and Max Gell (Dec 25)
All I Want for Christmas is a Hoverboard by Machu Picchu (Dec 24)
Oh! What a Christmas by El Perro del Mar (Dec 23)
The Holidays Behind Us by Figurine (Dec 22)
Twinkle by Nina Hynes (Dec 21)
Christmas On The Beach by Irene (Dec 20)
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Oppenheimer (Dec 19)
Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight) by Asobi Seksu (Dec 18)
Lonely This Christmas by Lucky Soul (Dec 17)
It’s Christmas Time by Yo La Tengo (Dec 16)
Keep Me Warm and Safe This Winter by Creaky Boards (Dec 15)
Xmassacre by death + taxes (Dec 14)
That Was The Worst Christmas Ever! by Sufjan Stevens (Dec 13)
One Christmas Catalogue by Apple Orchard(Dec 12)
Flowers for Albion by Parenthetical Girls (Dec 11)
Little Drummer Boy by The Dandy Warhols (Dec 10)
Winter Song by Jaime Michaels (Dec 9)
Christmas TV by Slow Club (Dec 8)
George Bailey by Carolyn Sills (Dec 7)
Listen to the Choir Sing by Ian McGlynn (Dec 6)
Christmas Eve Nite by Danielson (Dec 5)
Tinsel Politics by Standard Fare (Dec 4)
December by Sugarspun (Dec 3)
Last Christmas (Wham! cover) by Oh, Atoms (Dec 2)
It’s Christmas Time by A Band Called Quinn (Dec 1)
