Your Daily Dose of Christmas

You don't often hear straight performances of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" these days, do you? It seems that every take on that song has to introduce at least some sort of comedic element, like the Johnny Carson version I offered the other day. But then it occurred to me that except for caroling singalongs, nobody ever does a straight-up version of "Twelve Days" anymore!

Examples include, of course, this one by Straight No Chaser, which gets tons of airplay every year:


And then there's the Canadian Brass, with a version that should appeal to classical music lovers (especially brass players):


I heard this rendition -- actually pretty much a new song, based on the original, with a dark twist -- just last night on the radio:


Of course, you have John Denver and the Muppets, who don't do much to "comedify" the song other than play up the personalities of every single muppet who participates. I appreciate this minimalistic approach to being funny!


It wasn't always like this, though. For nice, straight renditions of Christmas songs, the go-to is almost always Mr. Crosby:


And finally, the mighty forces of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and friends.