KSLU Christmas '20: A Christmas Cornucopia

by Daniel Bernas

​I will die with my opinion that secular Christmas music is a heck of a lot more exciting than religious Christmas music. Nobody wants to hear “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” at an ugly sweater party, and I’d pick Bruce Springsteen singing “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” any day over a choral arrangement of “Silent Night.” There’s just something about it that doesn’t feel... christmassy? I don’t know, but every time I defend my stance on this, Annie Lennox’ 2010 album “A Christmas Cornucopia” comes back to haunt me, as if it exists to prove me wrong.
​

I didn’t initially understand my parents’ hype when they discovered this CD and had no idea who the hell the “Little Women” esc woman on the cover is, and even after finding out, I felt I had no reason to be excited to hear the “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This” chick singing church hymns. But boy did I grow to love this thing quickly.

It’s never truly Christmas season in my house until we dig it out and put it in the car, but its way of awakening the holiday spirit is uniquely transcendent. Her bold vocals soar over dense arrangements of traditional Christmas songs far removed from the sleigh bells and snowmen typically expected on holiday albums. As a result of Lennox’s attention to detail, lush arrangements and vocal prowess, it succeeds as music even before it succeeds as festivity, setting the emotion and beauty behind these religious celebrations as the primary focus.

It’s also abundant in highlights. “Angels In The Realm Of Glory” is the closest one can come to the excitement of being present at the birth of Jesus. “The Holly And The Ivy” is as cheerful as a traditional hymn can come, standing as a sharp contrast from the ominous “Lullay Lullay,” and “Silent Night” is, well, a choral arrangement on a par with the beauty of Springsteen’s “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.” But the album’s centerpiece is attached to a memory of my mom being driven to tears on the way home from the grocery store by Lennox's stunning rendition of “In The Bleak Midwinter,” whose middle verse is a crescendo of harmonies and droning chords that words cannot do justice for.

It may not be a first choice for most fans of Christmas music, but, to me, it represents all that is beautiful about the season. It carries with it memories of short drives in December to grocery stores and the doctor’s office and family members’ homes. It’s a celebration of life, love and family. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

Pre-order Lennox' 10th anniversary reissue here.