Clad in a button-down flannel and fedora, Santa Claus came early this year in the form of Neil Young’s Christmas 2024 playlist on YouTube. Young dropped the nearly two-hour playlist on the video-sharing platform on December 5, ushering in the holiday season with an incredible collection of seasonal tunes and a few smash hits in between. The video imagery features a peaceful, crackling fireplace that lets you relax and hone in on the music.
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From Christmas covers to his original tunes, the playlist is a perfect soundtrack to the holiday season. Here are some of our favorite festive selections in order of appearance.
“Greensleeves” from ‘Archives Volume II: 1972-1976’
Neil Young’s Christmas playlist begins with the Canadian folk-rock legend’s rendition of “Greensleeves,” a centuries-old melody that has been put to countless lyrics, from the Christmas hymn “What Child Is This” to Andrew Bird’s perfectly sad Christmas song, “Greenwine.” Young put his spin on the 1928 Ralph Vaughan Williams’ version, “Alas, My Love, You Do Me Wrong.”
Young’s gentle vocal delivery and nimble guitar playing are the two highlights of this sparse track, which he recorded in May 1974 on Broken Arrow Ranch in California. (Timestamp: 0:00-2:00)
“Winter Winds” from ‘Archives Volume III: 1976-1987’
Earlier this year, Neil Young released Neil Young Archives Volume III: 1976-1987, which he excerpted for his 2024 Christmas playlist. One of the tracks he included on his two-hour holiday collection is “Winter Winds,” a bouncy song that contradicts the bitter cold of the song title. It’s a perfect antidote to the summer-lovers who lament the beginning of the frigid holiday season—and who better to put a positive spin on the cold than a Canadian?
Young recorded “Winter Winds” at Broken Arrow Ranch in 1980. The track features Ben Keith, Rufus Thibodeaux, Dennis Belfield, Greg Thomas, and Anne Hillary O’Brien. (Timestamp: 12:30-15:35)
“Ave Maria” from ‘Seven Gates: A Christmas Album’
Further into the Christmas playlist, Neil Young pulls from a compilation he helped create with lap steel player Ben Keith. Seven Gates: A Christmas Album features 11 seasonal covers, including a gorgeous rendition of Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria” from 1825. Keith reimages the classic melody on lap steel, highlighting the soaring leaps and beautiful sustains of the original composition.
Seriously, as someone who has performed and listened to countless versions of “Ave Maria,” this writer believes Keith’s version of this traditional Christmas tune sings like it’s never sung before on a lap steel. (Timestamp: 26:04-32:05)
“Les Trois Cloches” from ‘Seven Gates: A Christmas Album’
Another selection from Seven Gates, Ben Keith’s lap steel rendition of “Les Trois Cloches” brings a pseudo-island flair to the classic Swiss song Edith Piaf made famous in the mid-1940s. The original song details the life of Jean-François Nicot and the church bells that rang during his birth, marriage, and death. It isn’t necessarily the Christmas-iest song on the list, but it sounds that way, and that’s all that counts when it comes to an instrumental tune.
American country music trio The Browns also have a great English cover of this, by the way, called “The Three Bells,” which changes Jean-François’ name to an Americanized “Little Jimmy Brown.” (Timestamp: 37:10-40:00)
Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images
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