songs & singles Happy New Year

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There have been several relatively hip songs called Happy New Year, though none of them could be considered classics - and none of them came even close to being a hit. They are, to put it mildly, three very different songs.

Perhaps the best known of the bunch is ABBA's "Happy New Year," a track from their penultimate studio album Super Trouper (1980). As such, it's pretty typical of latter day ABBA - a bittersweet, grandiose ballad more akin to the melancholy "Winner Takes It All" (from the same album) than the effervescent "Waterloo" (1974). Nearly 20 years later - as the end of the 20th century drew near - "Happy New Year" was finally released as a single (in at least two different covers) but failed to make much of a splash beyond the group's slavishly devoted following.

The other two tracks, while lesser known, are much hipper than ABBA's. Nat King Cole's "Happy New Year" (1962) was written and arranged by Gordon Jenkins who produced some of Cole's best work. It's a lush, starkly beautiful track that, contrary to its title, is an intensely melancholy, even bitter song. It sat around unreleased, however, until Capitol Records dug it out for the posthumous LP Nat Cole Sings The Great Songs! (1966) and was largely forgotten until they added it as a bonus track to the 2005 reissue of Cole's classic album, The Christmas Song (1963)

The final version of "Happy New Year" that we'll consider is by venerable bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins, whose gritty, acrobatic guitar style was a key building block of rock 'n' roll but who rose to his greatest fame during the folk/blues revival of the 1960's. Quite logically, Hopkins' "Happy New Year" was originally the b-side of his Decca single "Merry Christmas" (1953). Among several holiday tracks he waxed, "Happy New Year" is the most lively, pumping along in an energetic boogie that provides ample support for some stellar fretwork. Lyrically, however, I suspect that (as was often the case) Hopkins made it up on the spot in the studio. "This is Happy New Year, ain't gon' worry me to death," he announces. " Don't think about Christmas, 'cause Christmas just now left." You don't say!

Hopkins' "Happy Hew Year" has been anthologized a number of times, most notably on Rhino's Blue Yule: Christmas Blues And R&B Classics (1991). But, the best sounding version I've heard is on Document Records' tremendous collection Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 1 (2005). Highly recommended.

Performances Of Version... written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus

• buyABBA (1980)
  • Super Trouper (1980)
  • CD single (1999)

Performances Of Version... written by Gordon Jenkins

• buyNat King Cole (1962)
  • The Christmas Song (1963, bonus track on 2005 CD reissue)
  • Nat Cole Sings The Great Songs! (1964)
  • The Very Thought Of You (1958, bonus track on 2008 CD reissue)

Performances Of Version... written by Lightnin' Hopkins

• buyLightnin' Hopkins (1953)
  • b-side of Decca single "Merry Christmas" (1953)
  • Blue Yule: Christmas Blues And R&B Classics (1991)
  • Blues, Blues Christmas Vol. 1 (2005)

= Recommended
The Christmas music in Hip Christmas is by no means the only Christmas music out there - it represents only the best or most notable among literally millions of holiday recordings spanning roughly the past century. The checked albums and songs are the ones I recommend - the hippest holiday selections among the thousands I list and/or review. Of course, nothing's perfect - especially me and my crazy website. Please send additions, corrections, criticisms, and suggestions via email.

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