FIFTY3FRIDAYS: BOXING DAY PLAYLIST
- tonyhardy2
- 31 minutes ago
- 2 min read
In last Friday’s column, I shared seven songs that stood out for me in 2025. I’ve added another 35 to create my Boxing Day Playlist 2025: 42 songs that particularly caught my ear this year chiefly, but not exclusively, from independent artists. In a year in which I published very little, this is not an exhaustive or definitive list. Hope you like my choices. Some will hit home instantly - others may require a spin or two. As all Hitchhiker’s Guide fans will know, 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. The 42 songs from 40 acts – two get in twice – conclude with one from a musical hero of mine who has sadly passed away this week.
Photo of Chris Rea from official Facebook page
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST – BOXING DAY 2025
You’ll find me on Spotify @TonyHardy53 where you can locate this playlist and more than 42 other ones, curated from stuff I have written about here.
CHRIS REA - R.I.P
People you love always die at Christmas. The news that Middlesborough maestro, Chris Rea, had passed away after a short illness aged 74 was met with great sadness. Chris was a wonderful guitar player and singer. As a songwriter, he was responsible for some of my favourite tunes of all time. In homage to the great man, I close the Boxing Day Playlist with “Wired To The Moon”; one of my favourite Chris Rea songs and one which really resonated with me. I used to play it in the car to remind me of my baby daughter sleeping while I worked stupid hours and didn't see enough of her, her sister and my wife. We should all try to stay wired to that moon.
CHRISTMAS CRACKERS
You will note that there are no Christmas songs in my Boxing Day list. If these are what ye seek, might I point you in the direction of Fresh On The Net’s Christmas Crackers – a huge, goodly selection of indie Christmas tunes of all genres, nicely presented by Marina Florance, and an antidote to those wall-to-wall mainstream seasonal songs. So, if you think the writers of Kylie’s “Xmas” should be given custodial sentences and that Elton John’s “Step Into Christmas” (#9 this week) should be consigned the concrete boot, hit that FOTN link.
If that isn’t quite enough Christmas music, my aged and less than woke list of 10 Alternative Christmas Songs is still available online. You can revisit gems such as The Vandals’ “My First Christmas (As a Woman)” or “I Want an Alien for Christmas” by Fountains of Wayne by clicking on the link above. Reprising this old list is given added poignancy as Chris Rea’s classic, “Driving Home For Christmas”, is featured in it.
With an appreciative nod to The Disappointment Choir, have yourselves a Pretty Good Christmas, everyone x
