virtual advent 2020: songs for these times

This Virtual Advent post will be short and sweet (or will it?).

As we all know, 2020 has been a lot. The good news has been rare. The bad news has been plentiful. Our lives have been disrupted on so many levels that it’s hard to know what “normal” is.

During the holiday season things are proving especially trying. Times of gathering and community are being put on hold so we, as a society, can keep a deadly pandemic in check. Humans are social creatures at some level (most of us, anyway) and being apart from our family and friends is a cruel way to live.

So thank you, Lapwing, for writing and recording a song that perfectly sums up the hope of this 2020 Christmas.

It’s a heavy but honestly sweet song. If you need a tissue or six after listening, I totally understand.

It’s been hard to find joy. Travel isn’t happening for me or for many of my friends. I did just fly back from Utah, but that trip was anything but fun and had me socially isolated from all but my mom and a few of her helpers. And now I await my own COVID test results after flying back as the December wave of the pandemic approaches a crest.

Music can help. Lapwing’s lovely song is one that’s full of hope. Yes, it’s melancholy (as is my favorite version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”), but it’s also showing optimism that there will be something better, even if it’s not right now.

So the music can be healing. And sometimes a quiet song is just the needed tonic.

Of course, maybe you just want to let it all out in a cathartic, barbaric yawp. If so, there’s always My Chemical Romance to bash out your frustrations.

Or maybe you want to have a bit of fun and revisit a controversial classic…

And it’s been a tough year. COVID-19 wreaked havoc on, well, everything. But hey, there must be some upside to all of the distancing… right?

Plans? Who needs plans this year?

And Malinda (from the above video reworking “Baby It’s Cold Outside”) also did “An Honest 2020” holiday song. It’s a wee bit over-processed for me (she multi-tracks and does some effects tricks with her voice to create harmonies) but overall it works well.

And sprite turned me on to this catchy song by Crocodiles:

In the end, though, sometimes you just want to enjoy a new version of an old nugget. In this case Bono, The Edge, Glen Hansard and friends have you covered:

Happy Festivus. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays to one and all.

This post is an unofficial part of sprite’s Virtual Advent Tour. Want to participate? Click here!