Playlist: Just my totally favorite moments from this past year.

Just my personal faves, anyway. And by "favorites," I don't really mean favorite Beatles songs-- I really, no matter how hard I try, can't limit myself there. I more just mean songs that proved fun to write about even if I didn't think the songs would be that great, or songs that just struck as particularly amazing on that particular day in a nice bit of kismet, or songs that seemed to resonate with people, or something. So here they are. Maybe this is, like, the best of A Year in the Life. Anyway, enjoy! Hope everyone has a fun last night of the year... as usual, the Beatles are making it better for me.

I Want to Hold Your Hand

Hey Bulldog

Penny Lane

All I've Got to Do

Why Don't We Do It In the Road?

She Said She Said

Golden Slumbers

Yer Blues

Long, Long, Long

I Feel Fine

I've Just Seen a Face

I'll Be Back

Nowhere Man

Come Together

Beatles spoils, et cetera.

After having slightly bullied my mom about it (as was very unbecoming for someone who's as old as I am, I'd be the first to admit), I was unsurprised to receive the remastered stereo box set for Christmas-- though still terribly excited. Yay!

I was, however, pleasantly surprised to also receive Beatles Trivial Pursuit from my parents. And then my husband up and gave me a wicked sexy Revolver messenger bag, no doubt purchased from the good people at The Fest. So it was a very merry Christmas for me, so much so that I just had to snuggle up with my Beatle gifts for a while on my parents' living room floor.

So far, I haven't had time in the bustle of this time of year to listen to the box set. And everyone I've suggested a game of Trivial Pursuit to has turned me down. Boo.

Anyway, if you celebrated, hope you had a good Christmas with all the gifts, Beatley and otherwise, you hoped for. Here's a Boxing Day gift for you. I have never known exactly when this aired or what it was for, but I imagine it was some sort of Christmas pantomime. It's the play-within-a-play from A Midsummer Night's Dream, so it's written badly on purpose, but funnier than ever in the Beatles' version.

The Beatles' Christmas Message: 1963

Here's a Christmas message you might be a little more familiar with than the others, at least if you've played Beatles Rock Band on story mode and unlocked some of the delightful prizes they've hidden for you. Because this is one of them.

1963 was the Beatles' first big year, and what a year it was-- as they indicate here, the year prior they'd been a band with the one minor hit "Love Me Do," and just a year later they'd released Please Please Me, played the Royal Variety Show, and become a gigantic phenomenon throughout Britain and Europe. This one's a cute message-- they sing several silly versions of "Good King Wenceslas," Ringo admits to still feeling like the new guy, George very sweetly remembers to thank the Fan Club secretaries, and John and Paul both thank the fans for sending all the gifts at their birthdays. Oh, and Paul, amusingly enough, tries to get the girls to stop throwing jelly babies at them: "We've gone right off jelly babies," he explains.

This was the first message, so this concludes the Beatley Christmasy countdown. They're exactly the kind of thing that make the Beatles more than just a band for me-- they're more like the coolest friends you could ever hope to have. Hope you liked it, and that you have a terrific day!

The Beatles' Christmas Message: 1964

The 1964 message was only the second Beatles Fan Club Christmas record, and it basically follows the model of the first one the year prior-- it's just a recorded prepared statement. These early ones are fairly hilarious without being insane, as the later ones became. Much as I like ALL these Christmas messages, the later ones sometimes come across as something that your friends made while high as kites, something that's never as funny to you as it was to them.

Anyway, the Beatles are reading off of a sheet of paper that seems to have been handwritten badly, because they keep reading words wrong. It's funny. George thanks everyone for going to see A Hard Day's Night and notes that in February they'll begin filming the next movie, which will be in color and should be another laugh. Ringo lists all the places they've gone during the year, and John and Paul reminisce about recording "Love Me Do" right there in studio 2 all those many years ago (two).

And no, I don't know who's breaking dishes in the background.

The Beatles' Christmas Message: 1965

You know what was a really big deal in 1965? Well, besides, the band's second movie, Shea Stadium, and Rubber Soul, that is? "Yesterday," of course. The 1965 Christmas message--the last message to be more of a true message rather than a pantomime, which is what the later messages sort of evolved into-- features the Beatles gleefully lampooning Paul's masterpiece several times, which is a large part of what makes it great.

Also funny: the band launching into the first bit of "Just the Same Old Song," until George realizes there's a copyright issue if they continue.

The Beatles' Christmas Message: 1966

This one is fun for its sketch about Podgy the Bear. That's still the way I remember things when I'm too lazy to find a piece of paper and make a shopping list. 1966 might have been a year in which the band released music so mind-blowing, so mature, that it changed pop music forever, but they're clearly still messing around like a bunch of kids.

Oh, plus there's the song called "Please Don't Bring Your Banjo Back."

Feeling Christmasy yet? I am, slightly, and it's not just the Beatles getting me there-- tonight I fly off to Norfolk (Virginia), where I guess I mostly grew up, to do the holidays with my folks. It's several hours before I leave, but according to the airline's website, my flight's already quite a bit delayed. Hurray! Looks like I'll be listening to a lot of Beatles on the iPod in the airport to keep myself reasonably cheerful. These Christmas messages are pretty good for cheer, though.

The Beatles' Christmas Message: 1967

The 1967 Christmas message is more cohesive than what was to come later, though it's still pleasantly anarchic. It's like a deranged sketch comedy special that devolves into a psychedelic nightmare-- up until the moment that John reads his sweet little nonsense poem that sends us off to bed. My favorite bit is the song "Plenty of Jam Jars" by a band called The Ravellers ("plenty of jam jars for yoooooooou!" is fun to sing around the house, especially on a day like today when we're basically snowed in and my husband can't escape). But perhaps you'll have a different favorite. It's a good one to close off the year that encompassed the excess of Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour, not to mention "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)."

You know, none of these messages have much to do with Christmas at all. Maybe that's why I like them so much. No treacle here, and nothing at all heartwarming. Thank God.