A very Merry Christmas to all of the SOFREP readers out there! I was going to do the regular news roundup, but everything has pretty much shut down for the week, so there wasn’t much in the way of news anyway. Even the social justice warriors have all gone home to lecture grandma about their preferred gender pronouns over the Christmas ham while grandpa silently prays for death to come and offer its sweet embrace. Not for him, but for the grandkid. And God knows you don’t need me to bring you down with another news roundup offering the best in corruption, incompetence, and nudity that the American society has to offer, so let’s just listen to some music this week.

Like I said on the podcast, I’m a big fan of Christmas music. And even thought I’m not a religious man, I lean towards the non-secular classics, especially when delivered in a powerful way. So, in no particular order, here are ten of my favorite classic Christmas song covers.

ManOWar: Stille Nacht (Silent Night)

Some of the metal bands have the most unbelievable singers. American-born singer Eric Adams nails the german version, and, known for his ability to sing convincingly in other languages,  also does a killer version of the operatic classic  “Nessun Dorma” and absolutely kills it.

Allison Krauss: What Child is This

Allison Krauss could stand in front of me wearing full MOPP gear singing away and I’d still be hypnotized by her voice. Call me, boo.

10,000 Asians: Ode to Joy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBlQZyTF_LY

I have no idea which orchestra this is, which is a shame, because they absolutely slay this Beethoven classic. And they do it in a full frickin’ stadium with 10,000 singers, which is epic. Bonus points: Next time your liberal Asian friend bitches about the General Tso’s chicken being culturally appropriation by the evil White Devil, you can shove this in his face. Seriously, this is great. The conductor is a madman, too.

Josh Groban: Ave Maria

The Grobes is not only an accomplished pop artist, but the dude has operatic chops for days. He puts them on full display in this great cover of “Ave Maria,” doing full justice to the song that, I would argue, Luciano Pavarotti made famous. (More on him in a minute.)

Elvis Presley: O Little Town of Bethlehem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvOluzGeCwA

The King. The legend. His voice was so good, it made an entire generation of women, including your mother, want to drop her panties. And that voice still holds that power today. I mean, his other songs. It might be weird to make love to “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” But I’m not judging. Do people have sex on Christmas?

Ronnie James Dio: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

I miss Dio. I saw him with Iron Maiden and Moorhead in the San Diego Sports Arena. He was already pretty old in rock star years, but his voice hadn’t lost an ounce of it’s energy and amazing range.

Frank Sinatra: The First Noel

The original smooth operator. One of my favorites.

Enya: O Come O Come Emmanuel

Enya is one of those guilty pleasures I have, that I would never let anyone know about. (Until now, I guess.) Sometimes, in the gym while deployed, we take turns hooking our music devices to the surround system. Obviously, the preferred genres are metal and heavy hip hop. So I have to take a quick moment to make sure I’ve deleted all the Enya off of my playlist, lest I be publicly shamed. But I don’t care. I love her.

Luciano Pavarotti & Placido Domingo: O Holy Night

Placido Doming is great in this version of “O Holy Night,” and then promptly gets upstaged by the unmatched Luciano Pavarotti, who crushes the high note at the end. Doming probably hated his guts for that. I’ve always been amazed at the sheer power and effortlessness of male operatic singers to hit those notes. For an infamous example of the power of the legendary tenor, check out Pavarotti belting out the famous aria “Ah! Mes Amis” in the opera, “La fille du regiment,” where the performer has to hit nine high Cs… it’s insane. I bet you didn’t think a savage knuckle-dragging Air Commando like BK knew his opera, did ya? DID YA???  You can skip ahead to 5:40 in the clip if you’re a complete animal, but the whole thing is amazing. Here’s American Lawrence Brownlee with it on video. 

NUMBER ONE: Bob Seger: Little Drummer Boy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOe6REmAf8g

I lied. The others were sort of in no particular order, except this one, which is obviously the best. It’s BOB SEGER, after all. The guy’s voice is all whiskey and cigarettes and he nails this version of the Little Drummer Boy. I could have done without the plaintive wail of the sax in the second verse, but that’s a Seger staple. (See: Turn the Page.)

Let me know what I missed in the comments. Merry Christmas, everyone. Remember all of our brothers and sisters deployed. @BKactual

Image courtesy of Saturday Night Live