Self Released
Buy: Bandcamp
I swear. I will stop talking about how I always burn out at the end of the season, and will no longer begin every post with an apology for not posting it sooner. But.. especially when songs are topical, and (HOPEFULLY) very specifically attached to one particular year, it does feel like a missed opportunity (so… sorry). Los Angeles’ YACHT have been on my radar for years, and I do recall their fun, oddball electro-pop track “Christmas Alone” from that inaugural Indie for the Holidays playlist that Amazon released back in 2015. That first version was mainly about how much they love spending time home alone on Christmas – having fun grabbing takeout and going to the movies and such. Well, this past Christmas had its own unique circumstances, and they rewrote the song for our 2020 COVID Christmas. The fun imagery is gone, replaced by these truly beautiful lines, disguised inside this bouncy, Waitresses’ evoking track.
Mom and Dad are vexed we’re spending Christmas far away,
But love is not a test, love is opening to change
We don’t need a Christmas tree and we don’t need a chimney
We just need each other and to stay home watching TV
Remember the days before money ate the mission
Maybe now’s the time to make some new traditions
This year we’re just happy we can celebrate our luck
We made this far and that should be enough
Everybody has to stay at home
This Christmas it’s you and me alone
All we need is love to make a home
So this Christmas it’s you and me alone
Hope is a relation tween the future & the past
Time is so short but dreaming helps it last
Give a little this year to the ones who need it best
lost a lotta living but we’re grateful for what’s left
Gear up for another year you think is gonna break ya
Keep holding up the ones you love and keep each other safer
Doesn’t even matter if it’s Christmas Day today
When we have each other, every day’s a holiday
Everybody has to stay at home
So next Christmas we won’t be on our own
All we need is love to make a home
So this Christmas it’s you and me alone
I’ve been looking for those bits of hope, those bits of love. Those are the songs I gravitated to last year. So… even though I’m a bit late to the post, and even though this song may not have as much potency beyond last Christmas (PLLLLEEEAAASSEEE be so), it is still a worthy song.
Bottom Line: YACHT converted this fun, poppy song into a poignant, yet still fun, poppy song. All money goes to the Los Angeles Food Bank, so don’t be scared off that $5 price tag.
Christmas Underground 