Well isn’t this a treat! The kind and spunky Greta Larson sent us an exclusive sneak peak at her new cover video for Last Christmas, which “officially” is released tomorrow. After you’re done checking it out, head on over to Sonictribe to grab a copy of your very own.

I’m a huge fan of bands releasing holiday singles, even if only online for their fans to grab. I’ve got a soft spot for Rooney’s pop/rock sound, so you can imagine how tickled I was to find they are offering three holiday tracks with any purchase from their online shop! Hurry over and get a Rooney cd for a friend who doesn’t know them or a shirt for yourself and then enjoy the free tracks! Oh, and of course one of those tracks is “Last Christmas!” Personally, I favor their version of “Little Saint Nick” because it’s more suited to their sound, but all the offerings are superb inclusions on your holiday mixes.

Rooney – Last Christmas

You can also buy their new release, Eureka, from Amazon MP3.

We have gotten a number of emails regarding this version from the Puppini Sisters and for good reason. It’s awesome! This cover has already been circulating around music blogs pretty heavily over any other track off their recent holiday album, Christmas with the Puppini Sisters. Their sound has been described as part of retro’s futuristic vanguard (not sure what that means) but it’s a great sound for Christmas, to be sure. Be sure to grab the whole album on amazon.

The Puppini Sisters – Last Christmas

Lastly, we have LA’s recently defunct Metro Station. If you think you haven’t heard Metro Station, quit kidding yourself, you know that song “Shake It,” sure you do. Don’t lie to me! Well it’s those guys. I really wish they had done something similar with this version, you know a poppy-rocky-gyrate-your-body-dance version, but they take the safe route and deliver a decent, yet traditional, cover.

Metro Station – Last Christmas

Check out the video below:

Happy December!

Welcome back to our vast and ridiculous archive of “Last Christmas” cover songs. For some crazy reason, every year when it comes time to preheat the oven and gather our ingredients, the previous year’s total count never jibes with our local playlist. So please bear with us while we calculate and tabulate and contemplate what in the elf we’re doing; we’ll get it all squared away soon. And once that is squared away, we’ll get you the 2009 collection in one nice little neat package along with all the previous years as well. All the individual song link from years past will go down at that point, so you’ll only be able to snag them in the complete set once that is available. The artist lists are also in need of a little house cleaning, so much to do!

But in the mean time, let’s get things going strong with two stellar covers to kick start your 2010 playlists.

Every year we get a new a version that is certain to be in Christmas playlists for the next few years. Erlend Øye, Minuteman and Das Palast Orchester come to mind. And this year, Danish fivesome the Kissaway Trail look to be a top contender for that crown already. For me, their version is equal parts Travis, any current pop rock band doing an acoustic song and Tom Petty (I know, right?) Their most recent album is available on Amazon, and you can even snag a free copy of their single “SDP” there! It’s pretty good stuff, check it out.

The Kissaway Trail – Last Christmas

Secondly, we have the simultaneously unsettling and oddly charming version by Pental Menis. If you wish some 90s alt-rock bands had tried their hand at our namesake Wham! jam during a drunken karaoke session, then you may enjoy this one! Otherwise, I dunno. You may still anyways, who’s to say really unless you try it out?

Pental Menis – Last Christmas

Unfortunately, we have no other information about this version other than it exists.

And as always, if YOU have covered “Last Christmas” with your own signature blend of seasonings, send it our way! We’d love to have you featured in the archive and get your music out there. We’d also like to get the featured songs podcast going again, so there’s another opportunity to be heard as well.

Half of us feels like we should be apologizing for not banging out these updates a little more quickly. But the other half of us just keeps wondering why 403 versions of “Last Christmas” just isn’t enough for you and you can’t just let us take a little breather here and there, after all this is a marathon and we need to pace ourselves so why don’t you just get off our back already. Sheesh. Now, let’s get down to business:

Those Germans are at it again! German-rapping wunderkind Sentino has put together this thoroughly enjoyable hip-hop version. And while I have no idea what he’s saying, I know better than to insult a rapping German so I’ll just say this: I love it!

Sentino – Last Christmas

I couldn’t find an official site for him, but I did find his German Wikipedia page. If you can read German, I’m sure this will clearly establish his street cred in the German rap community.


Who here likes The Cardigans? Remember that “Love me, love me, say that you love me” song that came out like 15 years ago? That’s them. Well imagine the girl from The Cardigans is out at a karaoke bar one winter night and her friends egg her on to get up on stage. So she picks her old favorite from the boys in Wham! but once it starts she realizes she isn’t 100% sure how it goes. So she gives it her best, her friends cheer her on, and the bartender buys everyone another round. Good times. Now, replace the girl from The Cardigans with famous Thai songbird Lula and you’re good to go.

Lula – Last Christmas


There’s not a lot to say about this version by The Violet Burning. It’s a pretty straightforward middle-of-the-road pop version. The singer is little whispery for my tastes (I think he might be trying to seduce me), but the guitarist does some nice work starting around the 1:33 mark.

The Violet Burning – Last Christmas

The track appears on their Christmas album, Divine, which has pretty awesome cover photography and is available by donation here.


In the tradition of Where the Wild Things Are and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Sweetheart Brigade takes a familiar classic and really goes to town fleshing out the story. A lot of the details are cleared up. For instance he didn’t just give his “heart,” he gave a nice ring. And the very next day she didn’t just “give it away,” she fellated the jewelry salesman. We never get to find out who is the new “someone special” that he found this year, but they’re probably just setting us up for a sequel.

The Sweetheart Brigade – Last Christmas