Happy "A Long December" day to all who celebrate
maybe this year will be better than the last...
It’s that time again. That’s that me depresso (holiday edition). There’s just something about seeing those twinkling lights at night that plunge me (and maybe you) directly into the doldrums. But don’t worry, we have an anecdote, or at the very least an enabler. Some company for our misery. We have “A Long December.” What’s up my fellow Hillside Manor heads. Let’s fucking party.
Is “A Long December” a Christmas song? Brother, it is THE Christmas song as far as I am concerned (
agrees). Reflective, melancholy, spiritual, full of na na na’s. I supposed you could also call it a non-denominational holiday song if you wanted to get real specific and if you, unlike me, don’t low key consider Christmas non-denominational (I have some radical ideas about religion). Anyway you already know I cranked that bad boy at 630am as part of my holiday spiritual practice (not once not twice but six times in a row as god intended). Duritz really snapped with this one I must say. It’s hitting a bit harder than ever as I do really need this year to be better than the last (the smell of tiny violins in winter).This is what Duritz said about it on the Rolling Stone podcast (we won’t quibble here about the Eyes Wide Shut part):
“Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? It takes place during Christmas. And if it’s a Christmas movie to you, then it’s a Christmas movie. A friend of mine insists that that Eyes Wide Shut is too, and I think, no, it’s not! That’s not my Christmas feeling. There’s movies that are Christmas movies and there are movies that take place in late December. But ‘A Long December,’ though, it fits in with my feeling of songs that conjure up and resonate with this particular time of year. It’s cheery in a bittersweet way, in much the same way that ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ is — in the original lyrics, before Sinatra changed them.”
Why is this song perfect? I’m glad you asked.