Ranking Phoebe Bridgers’ annual Christmas songs
Every year since 2017, Phoebe Bridgers has added a sprinkling of darkness into the festive season with her annual Christmas cover. Not only are these a yearly treat to look forward to, but more importantly, Bridgers has raised critical funds for charity with the series.
This year, Bridgers elected to cover The Handsome Family’s ‘So Much Wine’ in aid of the LGBT Center in Los Angeles. The health centre specialises in helping those from the LGBTQ+ community who are fighting substance abuse problems, as well as those who have HIV.
Meanwhile, last year, the singer-songwriter raised funds for The International Institute of Los Angeles – The Local Integration & Family Empowerment Division. The charity provides refugees, immigrants, and survivors of human trafficking with the skills, abilities, and resources they need to become self-sufficient and start their new lives in Southern California.
Bridgers told NME: “I like fucked up holiday songs. I always have. I remember being so inspired when I went to Nashville and saw where Elvis had done his Christmas album and because he’s a crazy person, he had to make it feel like Christmas in July. It’s also a cool thing to do for charity every year, and it’s fun. I like tradition.”
Below, Far Out ranks Bridgers’ Christmas covers in order of greatness, and if you can, please donate here to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
Ranking Phoebe Bridgers’ annual Christmas songs:
6. ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’
‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ was the inaugural cover by Bridgers in 2017, shortly after the release of her magnificent debut album, Stranger In The Alps. Few Christmas songs have been covered as often as ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’, which has been tackled by everyone from The Pretenders to Michael Buble, and Bridgers’ sombre take on the classic is delightful.
The main reason why it’s placed lowly in the ranking is that ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’ is such an overplayed Christmas anthem, and not even Bridgers can save it. Still, she does add an eerieness to the original, which brings it into her realm, but since the release, Bridgers has continued to outdo her first cover in the series.
5. ‘7 O’Clock News / Silent Night’
For her 2019 cover, Bridgers sought assistance from Fiona Apple and The National frontman Matt Berninger for an updated version of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘7 O’Clock news / Silent Night’. Similarly to their 1966 version, it features a news report, but one from the present day, highlighting the horrors of the Trump regime.
“Happy Holidays to everyone whose family has been literally or figuratively torn apart by Donald Trump,” Bridgers said in a statement upon the track’s release. “And to my racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, hypocritical family members, fuck you. Thanks, Fiona, Matt, Simon and Garfunkel.”
4. ‘Christmas Song’
In 2018, for the second instalment in her series, Bridgers linked up with Jackson Browne to take on McCarthy Trenching’s appropriately named, ‘Christmas Song’. The track is a hidden gem in the category, and Bridgers helped the original find a whole new audience by shining a light on the 2008 effort.
In a statement, Bridgers explained the choice of cover and why it made perfect sense for Browne to feature on the track. She wrote: “The first time I heard this song, it hit me like a ton of bricks. A lot of McCarthy Trenching songs do that. It’s not that often that I hear a Christmas song that doesn’t make me want to quit music. I played a show in L.A. around the holidays last year where I covered it for the first time.”
Bridgers added: “Jackson Browne was there, and he came up to me after the show to tell me how much he loved the song. A couple days later, Dan got a Bandcamp notification on his desktop computer that someone paid 50 bucks for his record and wrote a nice note and signed it Jackson Browne. He thought someone was fucking with him. So when I decided to record a version of the song, I knew who I wanted to sing on it. Plus, I have wanted to make music with Jackson as long as I’ve wanted to make music.”
3. ‘If We Get Through December’
In 2020, Bridgers went back to 1973 for her Christmas cover when she chose to cover Merle Haggard’s haunting ‘If We Get Through December’. In the heartbreaking song, Bridgers highlights the fears which run through many families’ heads during this costly time of year. The release was also during the pandemic when many didn’t truly celebrate Christmas, and Bridgers’ sombre effort perfectly captured the tone.
On the track, Bridgers hopefully sings: “If we make it through December, Everything’s going to be alright, I know, It’s the coldest time of winter, And I shiver when I see the falling snow, If we make it through December, Got plans to be in a warmer town come summer time, Maybe even California, If we make it through December, we’ll be fine”.
2. ‘So Much Wine’
The cover placed in the second position is Bridgers’ most recent festive offering, ‘So Much Wine’, a cover of a track by The Handsome Family. The track’s arrangement was handed to collaborator Andrew Bird, repaying his end of the bargain for having Bridgers appear on his ‘I Felt a Funeral In My Brain’.
If you’re seeking an uplifting Christmas song that all the family can enjoy, you wouldn’t be this far into reading this article in the first place, and Bridgers’ latest creation is undoubtedly much more to your taste. While she pays homage to the original Americana theme, Bridgers adds emo to the mix, which makes ‘So Much Wine’ the perfect accompaniment for a festive cry in the corner.
1. ‘Day After Tomorrow’
There was no other choice in the top spot but Bridgers’ take on Tom Waits’ beautiful ‘Day After Tomorrow’. As much as the original, from 2004’s Real Gone, holds a place in my heart, the grip held by Bridgers’ cover is even tighter, who breathed new life into Waits’ offering.
Waits’ song is from the perspective of a soldier writing home to their family, who is on the verge of finally returning to Illinois. If ‘Day After Tomorrow’ doesn’t tug on your heartstrings, I’d advise seeing a doctor. Bridgers’ version is a Christmas classic in waiting, which deserves to be on everybody’s festive playlist this season. Most importantly, it captures what truly matters at this time of year.
