A few years ago our family had our usual Christmas contest to come up with great songs in the past where a song was covered and the cover was better than the original.  Interesting evening because we held the party at the Masonic lodge in Nanton and with all the guests we must have had 30 or more people.

The contest went on regardless of the guests and everyone took part in the voting including German relatives that did not necessarily understand what was going on.  Democracy ruled.

For those that were there and forget, the winning combination was “Lovers in a Dangerous Time” original done by Bruce Cockburn and well covered by Bare Naked Ladies.  The winner in the family was Jorg who was so bashful for the victory that he claimed he did not recall even entering the contest but still got his name on the trophy.  A great night….

Anyway Pat and I were listening to nice music tonight at dinner and I was again thinking of great songs that had been covered many times.  I was contemplating this that might make a future contest for our family Christmas (we are nothing if not competitive)  I thought of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen or Try a little Tenderness by Otis Redding, Yesterday by Paul McCartney

I went on-line and realized that there is no way you could have this contest.  First of all you have to eliminate all national anthems,  then eliminate Happy Birthday,  For He is a Jolly good Fellow and For Auld Lang Syne plus every Christmas Carol ever recorded.

So this will not be a suitable subject for a future family contest.

Still, in my research I did watch the video of Marilyn Monroe singing Happy Birthday to President Kennedy, which made my time spent in the endeavor worth while……