Beastie Boys
A cartoonish spaghetti-Western pastiche in which the three Beastie Boys members appear as characters in their own tall tale,…
mythmaking and self-invention outlaw fantasy adolescent bravado
Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton's rendition of the traditional African American spiritual carol is a straightforward proclamation of the Nativity…
proclamation of good news communal celebration awe and reverence
George Michael
A cover of Ewan MacColl's 1957 folk standard, rendered here as a slow, orchestral torch ballad. George Michael strips the song…
first love devotion transcendence through intimacy
Mariah Carey
This is Mariah Carey's rendition of the 19th-century Christmas carol, treated less as a historical text than as a vehicle for…
religious redemption hope after despair reverence
Johnny Cash
This is Johnny Cash's straightforward reading of the traditional carol, sung without irony or reinterpretation. The interest…
nativity reverence light versus darkness
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings imagines a barroom conversation with Hank Williams Jr. about his late father, using it as a vehicle to reckon…
musical inheritance/legacy myth-making around dead legends fatherhood and absence
The Temptations
This is a Motown vocal group's reworking of the classic carol, wrapped in a spoken-word frame borrowed from 'Twas the Night…
communal peace holiday tradition spiritual reverence
Maxwell
A neo-soul love song built almost entirely from negation and comparison: the singer catalogs firsts and never-had-befores to…
gratitude romantic awe transformation through love
Daft Punk
Contact strips away song-form entirely, opening with a found-audio transmission of a wide-eyed astronaut describing an…
scientific awe the unknown distance and perspective
Rodney Crowell
Rodney Crowell builds a memory song around a childhood car ride and the moment he first heard Johnny Cash's classic, using the…
nostalgia musical inheritance family and rural childhood
Brian Eno
Deep Blue Day is a slow, pedal-steel-laced instrumental from Eno's soundtrack to a documentary about the Apollo moon missions.…
weightlessness nostalgia Americana in space
Aretha Franklin
A late-career Aretha Franklin love song built almost entirely on the sensation of new romantic disbelief, sung as direct address…
new love disbelief and wonder vulnerability
Seal
Seal's version of the Curtis Mayfield gospel-soul standard is a faithful, reverent cover that leans into the song's spiritual…
salvation and grace spiritual readiness judgment and mercy
An instrumental ambient piece built from slowly rising synthesizer chords and a wordless choral pad, composed for a documentary…
space and vastness transcendence mourning and elevation
Peter Gabriel
This is a cover of the Magnetic Fields song, and Gabriel's version strips away Stephin Merritt's deadpan irony in favor of a…
romantic convention vs. lived intimacy tedium redeemed by love marriage and commitment
Public Enemy
This track is Public Enemy's roll call of unofficial Black history, built around a single stubborn refrain: the people Chuck D…
erasure of Black radical history official vs. lived memory self-mythology and hip-hop lineage