Mann and her producer Paul Bryan used the Peanuts Christmas special as one jumping-off point, with both the jazz-inflected Vince Guaraldi Trio soundtrack and comic melancholy of Charlie Brown as influences.
Mann also cites the Johnny Mathis record she heard every year in her house as a kid as another major influence and archetypical Christmas record. "That's why I wanted to make sure at least half of the songs on the record were classic Christmas standards that everybody knows."
The album is also sprinkled with some lesser-known but no-less-classic songs: the Jimmy Webb song "Whatever Happened to Christmas," which opens the record; "Christmastime" written by Michael Penn; the brilliant "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from the Dr. Seuss cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," featuring Grant Lee Phillips' inspired narration; and an original song, co-written with producer Paul Bryan, "Calling on Mary."
Track Listing:
1. Whatever Happened To Christmas
2. Christmas Song
3. Christmastime
4. I'll Be Home For Christmas
5. You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch
6. Winter Wonderland
7. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
8. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
9. White Christmas
10. Calling On Mary
Preview and Purchase Aimee Mann CDs
On the Blue: New Horizons Cruise Days 4 & 5: Starship Lands on the Pearl, Alan Parsons Takes It Home
Kandace Springs - Run Your Race
On the Blue: New Horizons Cruise Day 1: Marbin Gets the Fun Started
Hot In The City: Prog Band Tu-Ner Coming to Phoenix
Pink Floyd's David Gilmour Reveals Song From First New Album In Nine Years
AC/DC Launching High Voltage Dive Bar At Stops On Power Up Tour
Vince Neil Says Motley Crue's New Song 'Dogs of War' Old School Meets New School
Watch Twenty One Pilots' New 'Backslide' Video
Billy Idol Goes Behind The Scenes Of Classic Hit 'Eyes Without A Face'
Ringo Starr Reunited with John Lennon's Lost 1965 Help! Guitar Found in an Attic After 50 Years
Hear Say Anything's New Song 'ON CUM'
Metal Supergroup Leviathan Project Deliver 'MCMLXXXII'