“Tis the Season to be jolly!” Christmas is a tough time for many of us – what should be a time of joy having other associations overlaid through loss and other hardships. However, I know that the right music at the right time can help us shift up a gear in our emotional state.

The music that works for me won’t necessarily work for you – each sound, song, and tune being rich in its own personal associations. Yet there’s often enough overlap for us to enjoy one another’s choices.

With this is in mind, I thought I’d dedicate the Boxing Day Breakfast Show to choices from members of Moodscope. Each Tuesday, I do a ‘live’ Breakfast broadcast for Purbeck Coast FM – between 8am-10am.  However, the studio closes over Christmas and so we need to prerecord our shows. This is the ideal opportunity for me to do a show for us – as long as it is full of uplifting songs with a Winter or Christmas Theme. Almost anything goes.

If you do not want to listen to the show or aren’t around, we’d still like to know what seasonal songs make moments magical for you. Then we can have a collective playlist to enjoy at any time.

To give you some examples, I’ve been running a “Five-a-Day to Make Your Day,” feature with 5 tracks that flow easily into one another. For this Tuesday’s ‘live’ show, I’ve taken a Christmas theme and am planning to play the following six tracks back-to-back. The only reason there are six this week is that I’m sharing two versions of one song – “All Around My Hat.”

The songs, in order, will be:

·      Mike Oldfield - In Dulci Jubilo https://youtu.be/VCvz7uflMIU?si=sXoMgip5_0n6ofx4

·      Blackmore’s Night – I Saw Three Ships https://youtu.be/GD7a0g9uODg?si=rxJLLchyJLgt5NS6

·      Jethro Tull – Ring Out, Solstice Bells https://youtu.be/XJS9TjjHxx8?si=jZ4eSpM6oMUal-iu

·      Status Quo – All Around My Hat https://youtu.be/cVsEJytTP2U?si=OVmIbmiI6evHCbNC

·      Steeleye Span – All Around My Hat https://youtu.be/QUw59M8dTBg?si=_hjSmg6-QWpBzZPe

·      Patty Gurdy feat. Fiddler's Green - The Yule Fiddler (Christmas Time Is Coming 'Round Today) https://youtu.be/ZqesZeoiE6I?si=BAISI8j2EVaQ5vbQ

And you can hear the medley here: https://www.mixcloud.com/lexmckee/5-a-day-to-make-your-day-episode-4-christmas-mix-medley-number-1/

Over to you. Would you share a song that lifts your spirit during this season? I’ll then weave the choices together for our show.

Until then, I wish you the compliments of the season, peace, and good mental health.

Lex

A Moodscope member