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 ( Steven Hyden 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.
Originally released as a single on December 2nd, 1996 (perfect), “A Long December” is a song both rooted in specific personal events and also broad, sweeping emotions that anyone can cozily occupy (ideal). The origin story is that a friend of Duritz’s had been in a bad car accident - “I can’t remember the last thing that you said as you were leaving” is about seeing her just before it happened, “the smell of hospitals in winter” inspired by visiting her. At some point he drove up to Hillside Manor! Sometime after 2am! To talk. A little while. About the year. (Duritz was living, or at least recording, in the hills in LA - Beachwood Canyon - at that time).
There is romance! (“All at once you look across a crowded room/To see the way that light attaches to a girl”). There is is romantic despair! (“If you think that I could be forgiven/I wish you would”). There is an aching awareness of the steady march of time (“I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself/To hold on to these moments as they pass”) and a gesture towards presence and healing (“It’s been so long since I’ve seen the ocean/I guess I should”). But most importantly there is (soft, tentative) hope: Maybe this year will be better than the last.
I could go on (who amongst us has not felt that it’s all a lot of oysters but no pearls?) but the point is this song is fucking everything and I for one am going to let it rip through my tender, ragged, merry, weary heart every single day this month ((na na na na na na na na na na na).
What else:
Chris Ryan put me onto this band Home Front from Edmonton of all places which I guess is where Ian Curtis’s spirit likes to vacation because many of the tracks on their album (especially this one) are giving Canadian Joy Divish redux (in a great way).
There’s a new Pavement song (sort of). It features the late Gary Young singing and “began as a loose idea Gary Young improvised during filming for the 2023 documentary Louder Than You Think. The fragment was later expanded into a full track by Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg, who built a swirling instrumental around Young’s original spark, while Stephen Malkmus added bursts of feedback that give the song its raw edge.”
We need to talk about it the Chase Sapphire presents Geese cover songs concert (or do we?) but we’re going to save that for the pod.
Greg Ginn rebooted Black Flag with three people under the age of 23 who live near him in Texas. Okay!
As always all the songs mentioned in this post live in the Fast & Loose playlist HERE
See you next time with a gift guide!?!? (maybe)
Thank you for the introduction to Home Front. I think they’re my new obsession now.
I put this song on repeat on my morning commute and if you don’t like me singing at the top of my lungs as I drive through your neighborhood, then move.