It's Hard Not to Love a Christmas Song with Two Kazoo Parts

December 5, 2012 8:35 AM

Jimmy Fallon, Mariah Carey, The Roots, and some guests peform All I Want for Christmas is You with classroom instruments (their Call Me Maybe previously).
posted by Copronymus (53 comments total)

Charming!
posted by dog food sugar at 8:46 AM on December 5, 2012

They should an entire album with the school room instruments, put it on iTunes, and give all the proceeds to charity. It would make a fortune, and be awesome.
posted by COD at 8:49 AM on December 5, 2012 [11 favorites]

I remember when everyone hated Fallon because he laughed at his own jokes on SNL. Now he has a venue in which his giddiness is an asset.
posted by roll truck roll at 8:51 AM on December 5, 2012 [15 favorites]

This is my favourite modern pop Christmas song, and this cover is adorable. The kids popping up at the bottom were charming.
posted by hepta at 8:52 AM on December 5, 2012 [7 favorites]

Aw hell, it might be my favourite Christmas song, no qualifiers.
posted by hepta at 8:53 AM on December 5, 2012 [3 favorites]

Say what you will about Mariah Carey, but damn if she doesn't make that look absolutely effortless. I can't understand how she sits and sings like that -- I get winded just watching it.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:58 AM on December 5, 2012 [3 favorites]

NBC can't get their act together about online video and the official clip's been yanked from Hulu, YouTube, and their own website, BUT did anyone catch Rashida Jones singing a holiday medley of parodies of current pop songs with Jimmy Fallon a few weeks ago?

Here's a really terrible quality video-recording-of-an-analog-TV video from YouTube that seems to be the only one that escaped the filters.
posted by Phire at 8:58 AM on December 5, 2012

That said, yeah, Fallon is totally tied with Ferguson for my favourite late-night-entertainment-person.
posted by Phire at 9:04 AM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

Does pointing up help you hit the high notes? Or is that just a diva thing?
posted by Egg Shen at 9:05 AM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

The kids are what hits this out of the park.
posted by drezdn at 9:08 AM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

The kids *popping up and down* is what makes it.
posted by DU at 9:15 AM on December 5, 2012 [9 favorites]

Stupid Mariah going and doing something that makes me stop hating on her for just a few minutes...
posted by kuanes at 9:18 AM on December 5, 2012 [3 favorites]

I agree, I love the kids popping their heads up. I love all of it. This made me happy this morning when I saw it.
posted by Tesseractive at 9:21 AM on December 5, 2012

According to the New Yorker profile on Questlove a couple weeks back, what makes Quest happy is order and planning. Based upon the goofy smile pasted on his face in this video, his planning paid off handsomely. A++ would watch again!
posted by msali at 9:23 AM on December 5, 2012

Way to (barely) hold it together there on the percussion, Jimmy! Fun video.
posted by BurntHombre at 9:34 AM on December 5, 2012

Okay fine, Mariah Carey and Jimmy Fallon, and adorable kids...I guess christmas isn't totally stupid. There, happy now?
posted by dry white toast at 9:38 AM on December 5, 2012 [3 favorites]

Way to (barely) hold it together there on the percussion, Jimmy!

And kazoo on the bridge!
posted by Jahaza at 9:41 AM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

That was nice. I wanted to see Carey's face at the end and how she interacted with the band and Fallon though, he turned it off too quickly!
posted by jamesonandwater at 9:41 AM on December 5, 2012

The kids *popping up and down* is what makes it.

I think it's a rule of comedy that things entering and leaving the shot are funny. Maybe especially with a musical cue. (The example I always think of.)
posted by stebulus at 10:09 AM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

Say what you will about Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey is incredible. She has something like a 7 octave range coupled with an effortless control that is basically unmatched in the pop and R&B worlds. She's one of those singers that it's easy to hate on for what the record companies have made her, easy to hate on the product of Mariah Carey, but if you saw her singing like at a local church you'd be like this is the most amazing vocalist I have ever seen.

Also, I've said it before, but I'll say it again: the melodica is NOT a classroom toy. It is a totally grown-up and legit instrument. I feel strongly about this.
posted by Lutoslawski at 10:22 AM on December 5, 2012 [16 favorites]

stebulus , I see your LA Story and raise you...this.
posted by pxe2000 at 10:37 AM on December 5, 2012

Take a good hard look, folks. This is the only song that will be accepted into the canon of mainstream holiday music during our lifetimes.

Also, there's something about Carey's mannerisms in this clip that reminds me of Jenna Maroney from 30 Rock (but with actual singing talent). I can't quite put a finger on it but she's totally nailing the performance, and she knows it.
posted by schmod at 10:39 AM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

Mariah Carey is incredible. She has something like a 7 octave range

I've always heard that said, but is that actually true? Is there audio proof of this?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 10:41 AM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

How about getting every note of it attested from a studio track?
posted by persona at 10:54 AM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

When I marry both Questlove and Jimmy Fallon, I will make them play tiny xylophones around the house every day.

As much as I hate that song!!! I found this super charming. Cute kids definitely make it.
posted by peacrow at 10:56 AM on December 5, 2012

...there's something about Carey's mannerisms in this clip that reminds me of Jenna Maroney from 30 Rock...

I've wanted to be friends with Jane Krakowski and/or Tina Fey for a long time, but maybe never more than this moment. Both women are media savvy enough to never admit to that particular diva is a driving inspiration for Jenna Maroney, but what I wouldn't do to be able to ask them about it anyway.

That said, I barely feel like I have to do so. As someone who has watched, with fascination, the Mariah Carey episode of Cribs more times than I should admit*, I can't believe I've never seen that she must be a huge inspiration for many of Jenna's mannerisms.

* It was probably only 3 or 4, but that's still more than I wanted to admit.

(FYI, when I said, "Say what you still about Mariah Carey...", I was encouraging you all to say what you will and never meant to imply that I thought she was anything other than a talented, if sometimes troubled, powerhouse performer, even if some of her songs aren't always my cup of tea.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:09 AM on December 5, 2012

I like this way more than I like Jimmy Fallon and Mariah Carey combined.
posted by mazola at 11:19 AM on December 5, 2012 [3 favorites]

pxe2000: I see your LA Story and raise you...this.

Fold.

(I can never find video of that song because I can't remember how to spell it.)
posted by stebulus at 11:20 AM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've had as much fun at Mariah Carey's expense as anyone, but I vividly remember how blown away I was by her Unplugged episode, and specifically this clip. There are some gorgeous, gorgeous moments there, and she had a ton of vocal tools working for her, much more than just melisma and the high stuff.
posted by Linda_Holmes at 11:23 AM on December 5, 2012 [4 favorites]

I knew that was going to be the I'll Be There clip before I clicked. That is an amazing performance.
posted by COD at 11:24 AM on December 5, 2012

more Mariah-inspired madness
posted by roger ackroyd at 11:38 AM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

She has something like a 7 octave range

Now I want to hear her do doo-wop bass or bat-sonar vocals.
posted by iotic at 12:18 PM on December 5, 2012 [3 favorites]

This is the only good Christmas song out there for my money. It moves.

Also, I've said it before, but I'll say it again: the melodica is NOT a classroom toy. It is a totally grown-up and legit instrument. I feel strongly about this.

Six months ago I had never even heard of a melodica, but my son has one in his preschool lessons and damn if that thing can't export some serious sound. As in, it's loud. In a good way.
posted by zardoz at 12:18 PM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Mariah Carey earned my permanent respect for writing this song (along with co-writer Walter Afanasief). Its a Christmas song that doesn't appeal to a sentimental memory of time past. It is a joyful love song that just happens to be Christmas themed. Its maybe the one song I look forward to hearing every year at this time. One of her finest vocal performances - she sings it from the heart without a whole lot of distracting embellishments.

Someday, Mariah Carey is going to follow the Linda Ronstadt/Rod Stewart tradition of recording a bunch of pop standards without regard to creating a hit single and that album is going to be magnificent.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:31 PM on December 5, 2012 [7 favorites]

I've had as much fun at Mariah Carey's expense as anyone, but I vividly remember how blown away I was by her Unplugged episode, and specifically this clip. There are some gorgeous, gorgeous moments there, and she had a ton of vocal tools working for her, much more than just melisma and the high stuff.

I remember slow dancing to this song at a party in 7th grade (probably my first slow dance). Then this comment from that page made me feel very, very old.
posted by stltony at 12:34 PM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

Also, when I grow up, I want to be ?uestlove.
posted by Joey Michaels at 12:37 PM on December 5, 2012

95% of the time, I really hate Jimmy Fallon. I despise his total inability not to crack up at his own mediocre jokes. Trying to watch his Weekend Update bits literally made me angry.

But every goddamn time he comes near music, I'm an unabashed gleeful fan. His musician-impressions are terrifyingly spot-on, and this is really quite stellar. And coming from a Jimmy Fallon-hating Jew, I like to think that's saying something.
posted by Tomorrowful at 1:45 PM on December 5, 2012

Mariah Carey makes me want to be a record producer.
posted by KingEdRa at 1:53 PM on December 5, 2012

There is a clip somewhere on YouTube of Mariah singing with her mother who is an opera singer and vocal coach. It's pretty cool. But it really makes me want to hear her sing without all tics and affectations.
posted by fshgrl at 4:03 PM on December 5, 2012

Take a good hard look, folks. This is the only song that will be accepted into the canon of mainstream holiday music during our lifetimes.

Mariah Carey earned my permanent respect for writing this song (along with co-writer Walter Afanasief).

Yeah, that's the thing. MARIAH CAREY WROTE THIS SONG. It is one of those songs which seems like it's been around forever, and has enough of a timeless retro feel to it that it could have happened anytime since, say, 1962 or so. But it's from 1994! It had a beginning, within memory that is just barely old enough to vote.

On the other hand -- it's from 1994! It's nearly 20 years old! Holy christ I'm old!
posted by hippybear at 5:57 PM on December 5, 2012 [10 favorites]

This is GOOD.
posted by Miko at 6:02 PM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

She has something like a 7 octave range

It's a fair question, TPS - this kind of thing has been said of her since her debut. It's a little bit hyperbole added to a perfectly good reality. This site breaks down what she's doing to hit the extreme notes - it's not counted as part of range in vocal circles - and this one also attacks the often-quoted idea. but she still has a 4-octave plus range. This video tries to demonstrate what notes she can cover, but certainly does include notes that you can't really call "sung" ones. This one is pretty fun too - man, vocal-junkie sites! One of the great things about her voice is that she's not afraid to push and use her entire physical range, which a lot of people are - so she's developed a control and impact on the extreme ends that are unusually impressive.
posted by Miko at 6:16 PM on December 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

it's from 1994! It's nearly 20 years old!

Yeah, I was going say "what's this WILL BE accepted"? It's been a Christmas staple for like a decade already.
posted by DU at 6:27 PM on December 5, 2012

This washed out the Olivia Newton-John Travolta trainwreck y'all inflicted on me. The sun came out at night, unicorns flew on the wing and my dog finally has enough cheeze. Truly, MC and JF are magically delicious!
posted by Bill Peschel at 6:35 PM on December 5, 2012

It's been a Christmas staple for like a decade already.

It was probably already part of the canon by the time it was part of 2003's Love Actually.

Hey, whatever happened to that actor, anyway?
posted by hippybear at 6:37 PM on December 5, 2012

As an elementary school music teacher, this warms my heart deeply. So many great things.
posted by rossination at 7:27 PM on December 5, 2012

I can't stand 99.9% of Christmas music, but this song often makes appearances in my playlist year-round. I'm glad I'm not alone in this.
posted by Fig at 7:34 PM on December 5, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I didn't realize there was such a consensus on this issue, but "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is pretty much the only Christmas radio song that makes me kind of happy instead of annoyed.
posted by threeants at 2:40 AM on December 6, 2012

On a year-round note, I feel like she somehow nailed the exact same vibe with "Always Be My Baby," which somehow never seems to get stale.
posted by threeants at 2:43 AM on December 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

I avoided this for a while, because of a certain "you", but goddamn if those kids didn't make me grin.
posted by flaterik at 2:46 AM on December 6, 2012

hippybear: "On the other hand -- it's from 1994! It's nearly 20 years old! Holy christ I'm old!"

This freaks me out a little bit. She doesn't appear to have aged since 1998.
posted by schmod at 10:15 AM on December 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

She doesn't appear to have aged since 1998.

Money and self-care do wonders.
posted by Miko at 11:27 AM on December 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Take a good hard look, folks. This is the only song that will be accepted into the canon of mainstream holiday music during our lifetimes.

It needs to hang on a little longer and get a little more mainstream, but I think "Christmas Shoes" has a good chance.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 1:07 PM on December 6, 2012