Greetings and salutations Hivers. Today let’s go into another Three Tune Tuesday post.

As always, thanks to @ablaze for making this series. Lots of people participate in it, and following the tag is a great way to stumble into music you wouldn’t normally seek out.

This week — more Xmas songs! Well… kind of.

The Cog is Dead – Once Upon A December (cover)

For some reason I found myself in theaters watching Anastasia years who when it was new. I have no idea why. I must have been on a date, but honestly I don’t remember. I don’t remember anything about the movie so it must not have impressed me much, but this song has been bouncing around in my head ever since.

“Once Upon A December” is already a song soaked in nostalgia. It carries that slightly artificial, fairy-tale melancholy that works because it knows exactly what it is.

The Cog is Dead takes that mood and filters it through their usual steampunk-adjacent sensibility—mechanical, theatrical, and just a bit tongue-in-cheek. The song isn’t mocked or dismantled; rather, it’s reframed. The wistfulness survives, but now it feels knowingly performed rather than purely sentimental.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7x6Ntah_70

Postmodern Jukebox – Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer (ft. Sunny Holiday)

Last week I was writing about how there are only a few Xmas songs I enjoy. Well he’s another of them! This, by definition, ridiculous. A novelty Xmas song that somehow refuses to die. Most versions lean into the joke and stop there.

Postmodern Jukebox does what they always do best: they take something disposable and give it a level of musical polish that feels wildly disproportionate to the source material. Sunny Holiday sells it with complete commitment, which is really the only way this works. Irony alone wouldn’t be enough — you need sincerity layered on top of the absurdity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHqZQve0KWc

The Muppets – Beaker: Ode to Joy

“Ode to Joy” might be one of the most overexposed pieces of classical music in existence. It’s ceremonial, universal, and often treated with a kind of untouchable reverence.

Which is exactly why giving it to Beaker works so well. The Muppets have always understood something important: reverence and absurdity aren’t opposites. Beaker’s squeaks don’t diminish the music — they strip it down to pure enthusiasm. Somehow, the emotional lift of Beethoven’s melody still comes through, even when filtered through panic and joy in equal measure. And panic. Yes, we never get far from that when Beaker is involved!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnT7pT6zCcA

So what’s your favorite?

❦

David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky.

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