This morning, I once again set aside the usual “Talking Animals” format to present my Annual Christmas Animal Song special—that is, a show entirely devoted to Christmas-oriented animal tunes. 
Sure, as in the past, to pull off this slightly shaky conceit, I fashioned the program with a liberal sprinkling of “Rudolph” songs, from The Brian Setzer Orchestera’s peppy new offering, “Rockabilly Rudolph” to Keith Richards’ classic fiery take on “Run Rudolph Run.” 
I also played some far less obvious nuggets and possible future classics. My new favorites in that category this year include the swinging “Jingles The Christmas Cat” by Freddy Cole backed by the Pittsburgh Jazz Symphony…Thanks to a hot tip from WMNF Music Director Lee Courtney–—we call him Flee, though this time of year, he’s known as “Flee Navidad”–I included a new offering from The Both,“You’re A Gift.” Technically, it may not be an animal song, but it’s certainly open enough to interpretation that it could be a pet paean, especially given that both of The Both (Aimee Mann & Ted Leo), are huge animal lovers…The Big Cheese Band’s “The 
Christmas Crocodile,” in some ways a companion piece to the bouncy gem we introduced last year and reprised today, Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas’ bouncy “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas.” We always work in something from EELS, and this year was no exception: “Christmas Is Going To The Dogs.” And so on. We extended another tradition when I took a brief break from playing the yuletide animal songs to read what I refer to as the Dorothy Strauss Christmas Message. Happy Holidays to you and yours.
Listen Online Now:
