Blue Friday: It's Christmas and I'm Crying

I don't do the Christmas indie advent calendars any more, because they're a lot of effort for very little reward (though the old ones are still all here if you need alt.festive music). But if I had done a calendar for this year, It's Christmas and I'm Crying by Du Blonde would have been on it. It's terrific, even if it does leave you scratching your head thinking, hmm, those melodies are familiar, what does that sound like? Well, I'll save you the head-scratch - the verse evokes a bit of All The Young Dudes by Mott the Hoople, and the pre-chorus brings Basket Case by Green Day to mind. My mind, at least. There's even a tiny bit of Dear Prudence by The Beatles in the middle eight. It's the chord changes, you see. But everyone's a product of their influences, and there's nothing new under the sun, so let's not hold any of those references against Newcastle's Beth Jeans Houghton, aka Du Blonde, for this is rather good, I reckon. Besides, there are only so many ways of arranging a finite number of chords. And notwithstanding the melodic appropriation, this has some great lyrics. Listen carefully.

And in case you think I made a typo, yes, it is Beth Jeans, not Beth Jean. I know, I know...