The Big Man is on his way. You can track his movements here.

And so to the Greatest Ever Christmas song ever made. Ever. The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York.

A most unusual love song - and despite the New York setting and Irish jig, there is something uniquely British about this song. Two drunk lovers who resent and verbally abuse each other, yet are desperately in love.

This song is not only my favourite Christmas song, but is one of my favourite songs from any genre and time of year of all time. The final verse is also one of my favourite verses in any song too:

HIM: I could have been someone,

HER: Well so could anyone, You took my dreams from me when I first found you

HIM: I kept them with me babe, I put them with my own,Can't make it all alone I've built my dreams around you.

Merry Christmas everybody!

"Fairytale of New York" is a Christmas song by Anglo-Irish folk-rock group The Pogues, and featuring the English singer Kirsty MacColl. The song is an Irish folk style ballad, written by Jem Finer and Shane MacGowan, and featured on The Pogues' album If I Should Fall from Grace with God. The song features string arrangements by Fiachra Trench. It is frequently voted the Number One Best Christmas song of all time in various television, radio and magazine related polls in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

The song takes the form of a drunken man's Christmas Eve reverie about holidays past while sleeping off a binge in a New York City drunk tank. After an inebriated old man also incarcerated in the jail cell sings a passage from the Irish drinking ballad "The Rare Old Mountain Dew", the drunken man (MacGowan) begins to dream about a failed relationship. The remainder of the song (which may be an internal monologue) takes the form of a call and response between two Irish immigrants, lovers or ex-lovers, their youthful hopes crushed by alcoholism and drug addiction, reminiscing and bickering on Christmas Eve in New York City. MacColl's melodious singing contrasts with the harsh sound of MacGowan's voice and the lyrics are sometimes bittersweet, sometimes plain bitter: "Happy Christmas your arse/ I pray God it's our last". The lyric "Sinatra was swinging" has been taken by some to suggest an unspecified period after World War II; however, it is possible that the song is actually set in the early 1980s, when one of Sinatra's last chart hits, his 1980 recording of John Kander and Fred Ebb's theme from the movie New York, New York, was a fixture of New York City airwaves and a standard singalong record in the city's many neighborhood bars. The title, taken from author J. P. Donleavy's novel A Fairy Tale of New York, was chosen after the song had been written and recorded.

Despite the lyrics "The boys of the NYPD choir still singing 'Galway Bay'", the New York Police Department does not have a choir.

MacGowan cannot play the piano, but in the video (at the urging of record company executives) James Fearnley reluctantly wore MacGowan's jacket and rings.

Is the favourite Christmas song of Cliff Richard, Matt Dillon, Dermot O'Leary, Karen Osborne, Pete Doherty, Peter Zimmerman, Ricky Olarenshaw, Carl Barat, Bob Geldof, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Chris Moyles, Tim Hames, Sue Johnstone, Chris Martin (who went as far as to say that if he could have written any song, "Fairytale of New York" would have been it) and The Office creators, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, with Gervais even going as far to say, when covering Jonathan Ross' BBC Radio 2 show on Christmas Eve 2005; "The best Christmas Song ever and one of the best songs ever - it's just brilliant".

I regard one and two on my Christmas countdown list as the two heavy weights of Christmas songs. There is not much between them and there are no songs that really make me feel in the Christmas mood quite as much as they do.

Narrowly at number two it is Band Aid and Do They Know It's Christmas Time?

I doubt there are too many hit singles with a more brilliant, heart wrenching, exciting and interesting story behind them than Band Aid's. There have been books written and TV shows made about this song. Of course, I have chosen the original and by far the best for the countdown. From the moment the heartbeat-esque drums start at the beginning of the record, through to the mass chorus at the end (via Bono's most famous line "thank God it's them...) this song has everything a Christmas number one needs, spawning a whole host of other charity records and saving a few lives too.

"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a song written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1984 specifically to raise money for relief of 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The original version was produced by Midge Ure, and released by Band Aid on November 29, 1984.

In late 1984, a BBC report by Michael Buerk was aired highlighting the famine that had hit the people of Ethiopia. Irish singer Bob Geldof had seen the report and, being a social person, wanted to raise money. Aware that he could do little on his own, he called Midge Ure from Ultravox and together they quickly co-wrote the song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".

Geldof kept a November appointment with BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner to appear on his show, but instead of discussing his new album (the original reason for his booking), he used his airtime to publicise the idea for the charity single, so by the time the musicians were recruited there was intense media interest in the subject.

Geldof put together a group called Band Aid, consisting of leading Irish and British musicians who were among the most popular and recognized of the era.

Respected producer Trevor Horn was approached by Geldof to produce the song, but he was unavailable. Instead, he gave use of his studio, Sarm West in London, free of charge to the project for 24 hours, which Geldof accepted, assigning Ure as the producer instead. So, on November 25, 1984, the song was recorded and mixed.

Geldof and Ure arrived first at dawn so that Ure could put the recorded backing tracks, put together at his home studio, on to the system at SARM. He also had vocals recorded by both Sting and Simon Le Bon of the song which he had acquired from the artists early in order to provide a guide for the other singers.

The world's media were in attendance as artists began arriving from 9am. Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Paul Young, Culture Club (without Boy George, initially), George Michael of Wham!, Kool and the Gang, Sting, Bono and Adam Clayton of U2, Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 (whom Ure personally ordered down) and his bandmate Martyn Ware, Phil Collins, Paul Weller of the Style Council, Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo, Jody Watley of Shalamar, Bananarama, Marilyn (who was not invited but arrived anyway) and some of Geldof's bandmates from the Boomtown Rats all arrived. Only one of Ure's Ultravox colleagues, Chris Cross, attended. Geldof, noticing Boy George's non-attendance (despite ringing him up in New York the day before demanding he sing on the record), went back to the phone to get the Culture Club frontman out of bed and on to Concorde.

The following morning Geldof appeared on Mike Read's BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show to promote the record and promised that every penny would go to the cause. This led to a stand-off with the British Government which refused to waive the VAT (sales tax) on the sales of the single. Geldof made the headlines by publicly standing up to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and, sensing the strength of public feeling, the government backed down and donated the tax back to the charity.

The single was released just before Christmas with the aim of raising money for the relief of the famine. Geldof's somewhat cautious hope was for £70,000. Ultimately, however, the song raised many millions of pounds and became the biggest-selling single in UK chart history.

Eventually, the American band Foreigner displaced the song at #1 in the UK with their rock ballad "I Want to Know What Love Is" at the beginning of 1985. During Band Aid's tenure at the top, Wham! had stayed at #2 with their double A-side "Last Christmas"/"Everything She Wants", which became the biggest selling single (at over a million) not to reach #1 in the UK. George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley donated their royalties from this record to Band Aid.

At number three is Slade and Merry Christmas Everybody. This song is more Chrismassy than Christmas itself. It is unimaginable to think that prior to 1973 this song was never heard during the most wonderful time of the year.

It's Chriiiiiiist-maaaaaaaaaaas!!

"Merry Xmas Everybody" is a single by the English glam-rock band Slade. Written by Noddy Holder and Jim Lea, and produced by Chas Chandler, it was the band's sixth and final number one single in the UK. It held the coveted UK Christmas Number One slot in December 1973, beating Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" into fourth place, and was still number one in mid-January. In fact, it did not leave the top 40 until after Valentine's Day. It is affectionately held in similar regard by UK residents as Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" is by Americans. The song is particularly memorable for frontman Noddy Holder's typically screeching delivery of the line “It's Chriiiiiiist-maaaaaaaaaaas" towards the song's close.

The song was first written in 1967 with different lyrics. Its original title was "Buy Me a Rocking Chair". In a 2003 article by Chris Hunt of Q magazine, Noddy Holder described the genesis of the song: “It was one of the first bits of melody I ever wrote, dating back to 1967. We’d written it in the psychedelic days – the original lyrics were ‘Buy me a rocking chair to watch the world go by/won’t you buy me a looking glass to look you in the eye’. Six years later we used the melody and changed the lyric.” The lyric was completed by Holder in a writing session through the night at his mother's house.

Despite the song's association with British working class Christmases it was actually recorded in New York in mid 1973. The band initially had trouble capturing the right feel for the song. In an adjoining studio, John Lennon was working on his album Mind Games. The ex-Beatle had recorded his own Christmas single in 1971, and had contributed to 7 Beatles Christmas records. Slade manager/producer Chas Chandler: "We just couldn't get the sound right. Then John Lennon turned up with a harmonium he was about to use in the studio next door. It was just the sound we wanted.

Noel Gallagher (of Oasis) performed an acoustic cover called Merry Christmas Everyone for The Royle Family's Christmas Special, and the song was later released.

Number Four is Wizard and I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday. There are few songs more Christmassy than this classic, a real sing-a-long... OK you lot, take it!

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" is a popular Christmas song in the UK, first released in 1973 by Wizzard, when it reached #4 in the singles chart, famously beaten to #1 by Slade's "Merry Xmas Everybody" which remained there for five consecutive weeks. As with the vast majoritry of Wizzard songs, it was penned and produced by Roy Wood, who played most (if not all) of the instruments too.

The song features the lead vocals of frontman Roy Wood but also contains backing vocals by The Suedettes as well as The Stockland Green Bilateral School First Year, with additional noises being produced by "Miss Snob and Class 3C", as credited on the sleeve.

Many children actually thought that Roy Wood was indeed Santa Claus as he had the white hair and beard in the music video.

The first issue of the single was on Warner Brothers, as they had signed with them at the end of 1973, but this single proved to be the last EMI single, so the single was immediately issued on Harvest with the same picture sleeve. The Warner Brothers singles are quite rare.

Apologies for the radio silence over the weekend - I was getting in the Christmas party spirit to the full. I will countdown numbers 5 to 3 today to make up for it.

At number five is another effort from Mariah Cary - All I Want for Christmas Is You



"All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a song by American singer Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff, and recorded for Carey's fifth album Merry Christmas (1994). Its protagonist declares that she does not care about Christmas presents or lights; all she wants for Christmas is to be with her lover.

It is Carey's most successful song worldwide, having sold over 8 million cds, digital downloads, and ringtones worldwide. It sold over 1 million in Japan and remains one of her most successful today. It became the first holiday ringtone to go gold and platinum and its history of breaking records only start from there. Every Christmas it peaks inside the top 10 in most charts it enters. According to The New Yorker, it is "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon".

In 2008 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' was voted the UK's favourite Christmas song.

With only six days to go, at number six is Jona Lewie and Stop the Cavalry.

Dub a dub a dum dum, Dub a dub a dum, Dub a dum dum dub a dub, Dub a dub a dum!

"Stop The Cavalry" is a song written and performed by the musician, Jona Lewie.

The song peaked at number three in the UK Singles Chart in December 1980, at one point only being kept from number one by two re-issued songs by John Lennon, who had been murdered on 8 December.

The song was never intended as a Christmas hit, but the line 'Wish I was at home for Christmas' as well as the brass band arrangements made it an appropriately styled song to play around Christmas time.

The song appears to be set at the front during a war in which the UK participated, although references to a "nuclear fallout zone" mean that its exact chronology is uncertain. Lewie himself has described the song's protagonist as being "a bit like the eternal soldier at the Arc de Triomphe" - in other words, representing all soldiers in all wars (as evidenced by the line "I have had to fight, almost every night, down throughout these centuries") rather than any specific conflict. However, the song's promotional video is set in the trenches of the First World War.

The song's melody is loosely based on a theme from Swedish Rhapsody No. 1 by Hugo Alfvén, and its major musical elements copied directly from Mozart's Rondo in D Major, K382. "Stop the Cavalry" reached #2 in Australia behind Slim Dusty's 'Duncan'.

Jona Lewie's version was issued by Stiff Records (catalogue number Buy 104). In 1981, Stiff Records brought together the Gwalia Singers (Swansea) - a Welsh male voice choir - and the Cory Band to record a new arrangement of the song (catalogue number Buy 133). This version remains one of the most requested of all holiday songs in parts of the USA and it has been suggested that it is "probably the most popular song ever by an artist who never had a charted recording".

Fanta is a brand of fruit-flavored soft drink from the Coca-Cola Company, introduced for the first time in Germany in 1940.

Fanta was devised during World War II in Nazi Germany by the German Coca Cola (GmbH) bottling company. Due to restrictions on shipping between Nazi Germany and the United States during hostilities, the German bottling plant could no longer get Coca Cola syrup. The CEO of the plant, Max Keith, needed to do something to keep the plant in operation and came up with a fruit flavored drink made from whatever he could find. Using apple fiber left over from cider presses and whey, a byproduct from cheese manufacture, Fanta was created and became quite popular. The original German Fanta had a yellow color and a different flavor from that of Fanta Orange; the exact flavor varied throughout the war, depending on the availability of ingredients. It became very popular in Germany, mainly because of it's fruity tang, but also because of the pictures of Jews being mauled by tigers that were printed on the packaging.

The name 'Fanta' came during an employee contest to name the new beverage. Keith told them to let their Fantasie (German for imagination) run wild. On hearing that, salesman Joe Knipp spontaneously arrived upon the name Fanta.

After World War II, Fanta was introduced to the United States by Coca-Cola, and in 1960 they bought the trademark. Fanta Orange is the most popular Fanta flavor, available in 180 countries. In terms of volume, Brazil is the largest consumer of Fanta in the world. Fanta remains more popular in Europe and South America than in the United States.

There are over 70 flavors world-wide; however, most of them are only available by region in some countries. For example, in Romania (and some other countries), there is "Fanta Shokata" based on the traditional Romanian drink "Socată" made from elderflower. In Switzerland and previously the Netherlands the local fruit, blackcurrant is used to produce Fanta as well. Some identical flavors have different names in different markets. The classic orange, for example, was rebranded "Fanta Funky Orange" in 2003 for the Nordic countries and Belgium, while other countries retain the older "Fanta Orange" brand. As of the year 2005, the Fanta brand has been connected with the word Bambaacha (or Bamboocha), which is often seen in the Fanta commercials. TaB diet Cola was originally produced by the Fanta division of Coca-cola and was, at one time, available in a variety of non-cola flavors as well. Later in 2005, Fanta branched out into new Fanta zero varieties in Great Britain.

At number seven is a real little belter - Christmas(baby please come home). Perhaps controversially I have chosen the Mariah Carey version... if you fancy the original by Darlene Love more then click here (also Mariah Carey I would). Both are brilliant versions.

"Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is a song by Darlene Love from the 1963 Christmas compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. The song was written by Phil Spector, along with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, with the intentions of being sung by Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes. According to Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector was not able to put as much emotion into the song as needed. Instead, Love was brought into the studio to record the song which became a big success over time and one of Darlene Love's signature tunes.

The song was not widely recognized after its initial release; however, it has since been covered many times by different artists over the years. The first cover was recorded by Quiet Jungle in 1968 for "The Story Of Snoopy's Christmas" LP. The second most widely known was recorded by U2 in July 1987 during a soundcheck at a stop during their Joshua Tree Tour in Glasgow, Scotland. Darlene Love provided backing vocals for U2, and the song was eventually released on the A Very Special Christmas compilation album in 1987, and later on the Unreleased & Rare album on "The Complete U2" digital box set in 2004. Bruce Springsteen covered the song at many of his Christmas shows in New Jersey, however none of the concerts have officially been released.

Pretty clever stuff...

This is my favourite Christmas carol of them all. The First Noel performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, simply beautiful:

"The First Nowell" is a traditional English Christmas carol, most likely from the 16th or 17th century, but possibly dating from as early as the 13th century. In its current form it is of Cornish origin, and it was first published in Some Ancient Christmas Carols (1823) and Gilbert and Sandys Christmas Carols (1833), edited by William B. Sandys and arranged, edited and extra lyrics written by Davies Gilbert. The melody is unusual among English folk melodies in that it consists of one musical phrase repeated twice, followed by a minor variation on that phrase. All three phrases end on the third of the scale. It is thought to be a corruption of an earlier melody sung in a church gallery setting; a conjectural reconstruction of the earlier version can be found in the New Oxford Book of Carols (1992, ISBN 0193533235).

An orchestral arrangement, by Victor Hely-Hutchinson from his Carol Symphony, was memorably used as the theme to the BBC adaptation of John Masefield's seasonal fantasy adventure, The Box of Delights.

The word Nowell comes from the French word Noël meaning "Christmas", from the Latin word natalis ("birth"). It may also be from the Gaulish words "noio" or "neu" meaning "new" and "helle" meaning "light" referring to the winter solstice when sunlight begins overtaking darkness.

This is the ultimate crooning Christmas song at number nine. I actually do a very good rendition of it myself. Oh how I wish it snows this Christmas... Dean Martin and Let it Snow:

"Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!", also known as "Let It Snow", is a song written by lyricist Sammy Cahn and composer Jule Styne in 1945.

First recorded by Vaughn Monroe, it became a popular hit, reaching number one on the Billboard music chart the following year. One of the best-selling songs of all time, "Let It Snow!" has been covered countless times.

Frank Sinatra's performance of the song was the 25,000,000th download from Apple's popular online music service iTunes.

Jessica Simpson's version, recorded for her Rejoyce: The Christmas Album in 2004 (see 2004 in music) and produced by Billy Mann, was the album's first single, and made the top twenty of the Adult Contemporary chart.

Only ten days to go and at Number 10 it is the song that sounds best when you are coming home after work on Christmas Eve. Chris Rea and Driving Home for Christmas: a real classic, though it never really did any damage to the charts...

"Driving Home for Christmas" originally reached number 53 in the UK charts when first released in 1988, and re-entered at number 33 nineteen years later in December 2007, making it the first time the song had made the UK Top 40.

At number eleven it's Mr Elton John and Step into Christmas!

"Step into Christmas" is a Christmas song by Elton John (Music by Elton John,Lyrics by Bernie Taupin) released in 1973. Though it was originally released as a stand-alone single in 1973 with the B-Side "Ho! Ho! Ho! (Who'd Be a Turkey at Christmas)", peaking at #23 in the UK. Due to Billboard magazine editorial policy it was held off the Hot 100. It did, however, make #1 on a specially designated Christmas chart, and it appeared in the Cashbox Top 100 charts. It was later included as a bonus track on the 1995 remastered reissue of the album Caribou, even though it was released in the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road days. It also appears on the albums Elton John's Christmas Party, Rare Masters, To Be Continued, and The Best Christmas Album In The World...Ever!.

It was covered by the band The Wedding Present on their 1992 album Hit Parade II, and also covered by The Business for the Bollocks to Christmas EP.

If you watch this short film (about 15 minutes) I gurantee you will be in a better mood at the end of it than you are right now.

At twelve is an old christmas classic sung by a crooner of legendary status - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Bing Crosby. Now get the coco, mince pies and huddle round the fireplace...

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a Christmas song introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me In St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics, which has become more common than the original. The song was credited to Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, although during a December 21, 2006 NPR interview, Martin said that Blane had encouraged him to write the song but had not had anything more to do with writing it. In 2007,ASCAP ranked "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" the third most performed Christmas song of the past five years.

WWF wrestling is the biggest load of tosh about. However, how can a fight with Mr T, Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper and some other chap, with Muhammad Ali as the Ref and Liberace on the bell all in the most classic of 80s setting not be entertainment?

This truly is as good as WWF gets and I have to say there are few camper things on planet earth.



Continued here - watch for the bitch slapping.

Number 13 is a beautiful carol - it was my Granddad's favourite, so holds a special place for me. Once in Royal David's City, a real winter warmer. This version includes Mr Christmas Carol himself, Aled Jones:

Once In Royal David's City is a Christmas carol, which was originally a poem written by Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander, who in 1848 married an Anglican clergyman, and in 1867, upon her husband's consecration, thereby became a bishop's wife.

Since 1919, the King's College Chapel (King's College, Cambridge) has begun its Christmas Eve service, the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, with "Once in Royal David's City" as the processional. The first verse is sung by a boy chorister of the Choir of King's Chapel as a solo. The second verse is sung by the choir, and the congregation joins in the third verse. Excluding the first verse, the hymn is accompanied by the organ. The arrangement, by A H Mann, is slightly different in harmony from the setting in Hymns Ancient and Modern. As the service is broadcast live on the BBC World Service, it is estimated that there are millions of listeners worldwide who tune in to this service.

The city that the song speaks of is Bethlehem, which the New Testament records as the historical birthplace of Jesus and also of his ancestor King David.

They don't talk enough in songs these days... At 14 it is a song that only gets away with it because it is Christmas, but is a great sing a long all the same. It'll be Lonely this Christmas by Mud. Elvis had nothing on these guys.

Written and produced by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, "Lonely This Christmas" was Mud's second number one single in the UK, spending four weeks at the top in December 1974 and January 1975. It was the third number one single that year for the ChinniChap writing and production team, and was performed in the style of Elvis Presley's slower songs from his later career.

The song is noted for a memorable performance on Top of the Pops in which guitarist Rob Davis was covered in tinsel and wore Christmas baubles as earrings, while vocalist Les Gray sang to a ventriloquist's dummy. The song has been covered by Lucky Soul, Blue, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (fan club limited edition Xmas 7 inch) and KT Tunstall.

Number 15 is John Lennon and Merry Christmas (War is Over).

"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is a song by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the The Plastic Ono Band. It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October of 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. It features soaring, heavily echoed vocals, and a sing-along chorus. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir and are credited on the song's single. This song was John Lennon's reaction to the war in Vietnam.

Although the song is a protest song about the Vietnam War, it has become a Christmas standard and has appeared on several Christmas albums.

The lyric is based on a campaign in late 1969 by John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, who rented billboards and posters in eleven cities around the world that read: "WAR IS OVER! (If You Want It) Happy Christmas from John and Yoko". The cities included New York, Tokyo, Rome, Athens, Amsterdam, London, Paris, Toronto, and some others. At the time the US was deeply entrenched in the unpopular Vietnam War. The line "War is over, if you want it, war is over, now!", as sung by the background vocals, was taken directly from the billboards.

The single was released on December 6, 1971 in the US, reaching #3 on the Billboard charts; the UK release was delayed until the following November due to a publishing dispute. Upon release, it reached #4 in the UK Singles Chart. Directly following John Lennon's death on December 8, 1980, the song was re-released in the UK on December 20, 1980. It is known as the "secret number one", as it featured top in the UK Singles Chart for the week ending January 3, 1981, which was unpublished, as was usual for the Christmas week at that time. Thus, it is rarely, if ever, credited as a number one single.

Wikipedia

There is a history of superb beer adverts on British television. This is one of them. The Heineken "Water in Majorca" is another. One I can't find on YouTube is from the late 1980's with the screen split into 9 and the story unfolding in each screen, a bit like on CCTV. Can anyone remember what lager it was for?

The Carol of Bells is my 16th favourite Christmas song. Not the best video, but this is the best version...

"Carol of the Bells" (also known as the "Ukrainian Bell Carol") is a choral miniature work originally composed by the Ukrainian composer and Ukrainian autocephalic orthodox priest Mykola Dmytrovych Leontovych. Throughout the piece, a 4 note motif is used as an ostinato and was taken from an ancient pagan Ukrainian New Year's chant known in Ukrainian as "Shchedryk". The original work was intended to be sung a cappella.

The composition was premiered in December 1916 by students at Kiev University and was introduced to Western audiences by the Ukrainian National Chorus during its concert tour of Europe and the Americas. It premiered in the United States on October 5, 1921, at Carnegie Hall and was later adapted into English language version by Peter Wilhousky in the 1930s. An alternate version ("Ring, Christmas Bells") with words written by Minna Louise Hohman in 1947 is also widely performed.

The original Ukrainian text tells the tale of a swallow flying into a household to proclaim the plentiful and bountiful year that the family will have." The title is derived from the Ukrainian word for "bountiful."

In Ukraine, the carol is currently sung on the eve of the Julian New Year (January 13).

The first of the English language lyrics below were written in 1936 by Peter Wilhousky of NBC Radio. The song reminded Wilhousky of beautiful ringing bells and he captured that imagery in his lyrics.

The song is the basis of an infamous internet meme popularly known as "Ding Fries are Done," in which a Burger King employee uses the tune to sing a song about how he works at Burger King, makes French fries and wears paper hats. This parody itself was parodied in the Family Guy episode "Deep Throats" during a cutaway scene in which Peter Griffin sings the song himself, apparently as a Burger King employee.

This is a good effort by the Ishmel sisters! The small girl on the right sums up how I feel when I listen to this song (especially at 44 seconds)

At number 17, it's the song that inspired a thousand football chants: Winter Wonderland

"Winter Wonderland" is a pop standard written in 1934 by Felix Bernard (composer) and Richard B. Smith (lyricist). It has been recorded many different times by such artists as Tony Bennett ,Frank Sinatra, Dolly Parton, Tom Astor, Annie Lennox, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Karen Carpenter, Cyndi Lauper, Stryper and the Cocteau Twins.

Smith, a native of Honesdale, Pennsylvania, was reportedly inspired to write the song after seeing Honesdale's Central Park covered in snow.

The original recording was by Richard Himber and his Hotel Carelton Orchestra on RCA Bluebird in 1934. At the end of a recording session with time to spare, it was suggested that this new tune be tried with an arrangement provided by the publisher. This excellent "studio" orchestra included many great New York studio musicians including the legendary Artie Shaw. The biggest chart hit at the time of introduction was Guy Lombardo's orchestra, a top ten hit. Singer-songwriter Johnny Mercer took the song to #4 in Billboard's airplay chart in 1946. The same season, Perry Como hit the retail top ten. Como would record a new version for his 1959 Christmas album.

Due to its seasonal theme, "Winter Wonderland" is often regarded as a Christmas song on the Northern Hemisphere, although the holiday itself is never mentioned in the lyrics. There is a mention of "sleigh-bells" several times, implying that this song refers to the Christmas period.

This song has commonly been misquoted as "In the winter we can build a snowman," instead of "in the meadow we can build a snowman."

At number 18 it's the master of the knitted jumper, the man who could just not keep his hips still: Mr Shakin' Stevens and Merry Christmas Everyone!! Shoop shoop Shoopidy wop!

Written by Bob Heatlie and produced by Dave Edmunds, this was Shakin' Stevens fourth, and most recent, number one on the UK singles chart. It was originally going to be released in 1984 but was postponed a year because of the release of Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas.

It was Christmas number 1 in 1985; ever since it has been included on many top-selling Christmas collections and received airplay every Christmas. In 2007 the song re entered the UK top 30 and reached number 22 on the Christmas chart . This was due to the fact downloads now make up the UK singles chart

However, it was these little nuggets of information that amazed me most:

Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" (born Michael Barrett, 4 March 1948, in Ely, Cardiff, Wales), is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter, who has the distinction of being the top selling male UK singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw commercial success in his native land. In the UK alone, Stevens has charted no fewer than 33 top 40 hit singles in the sales charts, making him one of the most charted (and biggest selling) acts of all-time.

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

If this doesn't put the true Christmas Spirit in you, nothing will. It is number nineteen "Oh Come All Ye Faithful".

This arrangement is sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra and is a real belter.

"Adeste Fideles" is the name of a hymn tune written by John Francis Wade in 1743 and the first line of the Latin text for which the tune was written. The text itself has unclear beginnings, and may have been written in the 13th century, though it has been concluded that Wade was probably the author. The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a total of eight, and these have been translated into many languages many times, though the English O Come All Ye Faithful translation by Frederick Oakeley is particularly widespread.

In performance verses are often omitted, either because the hymn is too long in its entirety or because the words are unsuitable for the day on which they are sung. For example the eighth anonymous verse is only sung on Epiphany, if at all; while the last verse of the original is normally reserved for Christmas day or midnight Mass.

In the United Kingdom it is most often sung today in an arrangement by Sir David Willcocks, which was originally published in 1961 by Oxford University Press in the first book in the Carols for Choirs series. This arrangement makes use of the basic harmonisation from The English Hymnal but adds a soprano descant in verse 6 (verse 3 in the original) and a reharmonised organ accompaniment in verse 7 (verse 4 in the original), which is sung in unison.

Wikipedia

With just twenty days to go until the greatest day of the year, I will be counting down my top 20 greatest ever Christmas songs - one a day. The only rule is that is has to be Christmassy (i.e. have the odd Christmas bell ring in it or the like!)- so from pop songs to carols, they all count.

It is a lot harder than I first thought and I will reveal to you today some classics that regretfully did not make the list (in no particular order):

White Christmas - Bing Crosby
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year - Johnny Mathis
Rudolph The Rednosed Reindeer - Gene Autry
Little Drummer Boy - David Bowie/Bing Crosby
Away In A Manger - Mannheim Steamroller
Last Christmas - George Michael
Walking In The Air - Aled Jones
Jingle Bells - Various
Deck The Hall - Various
The Twelve Days of Christmas - Various
We Wish You A Merry Christmas - Various
Ding Dong Merrily on High - Various

BUT, without further a do here is Number twenty: Stay Another Day by the founders of Chav, East 17.

Stay Another Day is East 17's first and only number-one single, released in 1994. It was their first ballad, written by the band's lead singer Tony Mortimer about his brother Ollie, who committed suicide. It was 1994 Christmas number-one and the third best selling single of that year.

"Stay Another Day" included Christmas bells towards the end of the song to give it a Christmassy feel and appeal to the lucrative Christmas singles market. The most familiar arrangement is unusual among pop records in that it features almost no drums, apart from some timpani toward the end of the track.

It was the song played when Wellard the dog was put down on the BBC soap opera Eastenders.

Wikipedia

Yesterday I asked, which human being has appeared on television for the most number of hours in the world?

The answer is... Carole Hersee!

Who, you might ask. Carole Hersee has appeared on television for a combined total of over 70,000 hours - the equivalent of nearly 8 years on the tv uninterrupted.

She is, of course, the girl from the Telly Test Card that used to be on every afternoon and during the night on the BBC.

The card was developed by her late father George Hersee, an engineer for the BBC in 1967 and used on television in the UK and elsewhere for more than four decades, usually while no programmes were being broadcast. According to Keith Hamer, a collector of test cards, Carole is in the Guinness Book Of Records as the person who has appeared on television for more hours than anyone else - an estimated total of 70,000 hours, equivalent to nearly eight years. She was paid only £100 for this by the BBC.

She was eight years old at the time, though was 50 years old last month. Hence, I doubt very much any of you would recognise her if you walked past her in the street.

Wikipedia

Which human being has appeared on television for the most number of hours in the world?

Clue:
It is a women who we have all seen and know of well, but if she walked down the street not one of us would recognise her.

No googling or cheating, please.

Answer tomorrow.

A vicar attended hospital with a potato stuck up his bottom - and claimed it got there after he fell on to the vegetable while naked.

The clergyman, in his 50s, told nurses he had been hanging curtains when he fell backwards on to his kitchen table.

He happened to be nude at the time of the mishap, said the vicar, who insisted he had not been playing a sex game.

The vicar had to undergo a delicate operation to extract the vegetable, one of a range of odd items medics in Sheffield have had to remove from people's backsides or genitals.

Others include a can of deodorant, a cucumber, a Russian doll – and a carnation.

Speaking of the vicar, A & E nurse Trudi Watson, of Sheffield's Northern General Hospital, said: "He explained to me, quite sincerely, he had been hanging curtains naked in the kitchen when he fell backwards on to the kitchen table and on to a potato.

"But it's not for me to question his story. He had to undergo surgery to have it removed."

She advised anyone tempted to use such objects in sex games to think again.

"It can be very dangerous and potentially life-threatening," she said.

"Surgery can lead to infection, nasty scarring, and it could possibly end up with the person having to use a colostomy bag as a result."

A hospital trust spokeswoman in Sheffield said: "Like all busy hospitals we do see some unusual accidents.

"But our staff deal with them in a discreet, professional and kind way."

The Telegraph

For no reason other than I can, I am posting a picture of The Bill's Tosh.

Amiable DC Alfred Lines, known simply as 'Tosh', was the heroic failure of Sun Hill. He was an instinctual copper, a decent man who understood human weakness because his home life was a happy, difficult, muddle-and-make-do existence. But no superintendent would ever dream of transferring him. He could smell a liar, and his clear-up rate was the best in CID.

When Tosh arrived at Sun Hill in 1988 from a station in Essex he already had problems that weighed him down. He was in his late thirties, unlikely to be promoted because he never seemed to care that much about his career progress. He didn’t look like a tough crime-buster. He stood at just 5 feet 7 inches tall, was a little on the chubby side – probably because he was always munching snacks on the job. And he was, frankly, scruffy. He seemed to have one suit, one shirt (which he wore Monday to Friday), one tatty old raincoat. It all matched his car, an ancient Volvo which kept breaking down. More to the point, he had a wife, Muriel, too large a mortgage, caused by too many children – three girls and two boys – for a constable’s pay. He was however a good copper - and always had a ready smile that went right up into his eyes. He was second to none when it came to solving cases, which was why the likes of Burnside were happy to overlook his sartorial shortcomings and to protect him from any flak from above. He reacted strongly when accused of lacking ambition: he did care about his work - but he also cared deeply about his family. He was once offered the chance to go work in Northern Ireland. Burnside had put him up for it because he thought Tosh needed the money. Tosh turned it down – it would have put him at risk and then where would his family have been?

At one stage, to ease his money problems, Tosh took in a student lodger, which was against Met. rules. The young man got into trouble. Sergeant Penny, Custody Officer at the time, discovered this and, rather than turn a blind eye to it, sent a report ‘upstairs’ as a result of which Tosh was carpeted. He survived, of course. He was far too good at sniffing out villains for a sniffy little man like Penny to put down.

In the end, Tosh left Sun Hill in 1998, accepting a position in the Coroner's Office.

Link

There are so many things I love about this clip.

1. The human cell contains 75 MB of genetic information
2. A sperm 37.5 MB.
3. In a millilitre, we have 100 million sperms.

On average, one ejaculation releases 2.25 ml in 5 seconds.

Using basic math we can compute the bandwidth of the human male penis as:

(37.5MB x 100M x 2.25)/5 = (37,500,000 bytes/sperm x 100,000,000 sperm/ml x 2.25 ml) / 5 seconds = 1,687,500,000,000,000 bytes/sec = 1,687.5 TerraBytes/sec

That's a lot of data.

Two teenage nerds, Gary and Wyatt, unpopular and unable to meet girls on their own, use Wyatt's computer to design the perfect woman. They feed various data into the computer. Lacking sufficient processing power, they hack into a US Government mainframe and use its power to create a computer simulation of "the perfect woman" in order to place her in "real life sexual situations" and see how she reacts. A bizarre electrical storm follows, and they find themselves unable to shut the computer off.

Mysteriously, the result is "Lisa", a real-life woman, who emerges from a red fog in the bathroom. She is a sexed-up but kind-hearted "80's babe" with Einstein's IQ, David Lee Roth's attitude and inexplicable supernatural powers.

How about this for a world record?

When you have to visit a public toilet, you usually find a line of women, soyou smile politely and take your place. Once it's your turn, you check forfeet under the cubicle doors. Every cubicle is occupied.Finally, a door opens and you dash in, nearly knocking down the woman leaving thecubicle. You get in to find the door won't latch. It doesn'tmatter, the wait has been so long you are about to wet your pants!

The dispenser for the modern 'seat covers' (invented by someone's Mum, nodoubt) is handy, but empty. You would hang your bag on the door hook, ifthere was one, so you carefully, but quickly drape it around your neck,(Mum would turn over in her grave if you put it on the FLOOR!) down withyour pants and assume ' The Stance.In this position, your aging, toneless, thigh muscles begin to shake. You'dlove to sit down, but having not taken time to wipe the seat or to laytoilet paper on it, you hold 'The Stance.'

To take your mind off your trembling thighs, you reach for what youdiscover to be the empty toilet paper dispenser.In your mind, you can hear your mother's voice saying, 'Dear, if you hadtried to clean the seat, you would have KNOWNthere was no toilet paper!' Your thighs shake more.

You remember the tiny tissue that you blew your nose on yesterday - the one that's still in your bag (the bag around your neck, that now you have tohold up trying not to strangle yourself at the same time). That would haveto do, so you crumple it in the puffiest way possible. It's still smallerthan your thumbnail.

Someone pushes your door open because the latch doesn't work.The door hits your bag, which is hanging around your neck in front of yourchest and you and your bag topple backward against the tank of the toilet.

'Occupied!' you scream, as you reach for the door, dropping your precious, tiny,crumpled tissue in a puddle on the floor, while losing your footingaltogether and sliding down directly onto the TOILET SEAT.It is wet of course. You bolt up, knowing all too well that it's too late.Your bare bottom has made contact with every imaginable germ and life formon the uncovered seat because YOU never laid down toilet paper - not thatthere was any, You know that your mother would be utterly appalled if she knew, becauseyou're certain her bare bottom never touched a public toilet seatbecause, frankly, dear, 'You just don't KNOW what kind of diseases you could get.

By this time, the automatic sensor on the back of the toilet is soconfused that it flushes, propelling a stream of water like a fire hoseagainst the inside of the bowl and spraying a fine mist of water thatcovers your bum and runs down your legs and into your shoes.The flush somehow sucks everything down with such force and you grab onto theempty toilet paper dispenser for fear of being dragged in too.

At this point, you give up. You're soaked by the spewing water and the wettoilet seat. You're exhausted. You try to wipe with a sweet wrapper youfound in your pocket and then slink out inconspicuously to the sinks.You can't figure out how to operate the taps with the automatic sensors, soyou wipe your hands with spit and a dry paper towel and walk past the lineof women still waiting.

You are no longer able to smile politely to them. A kind soul at the very endof the line points out a piece of toilet paper trailing from your shoe.(Where was that when you NEEDED it?)You yank the paper from your shoe, plunk it in the woman's hand and tell herwarmly, 'Here, you just might need this.

As you exit, you spot your hubby/boyfriend, who has long since entered, used and leftthe men's toilet. Annoyed, he asks, 'What took you so long and why is yourbag hanging around your neck?

This is dedicated to women everywhere who deal with any public restrooms/toilets (rest??? you've GOT to be kidding!!). It finally explains tothe men what really does take us so long. It also answers that othercommonly asked question about why women go to the toilets in pairs. It'sso the other gal can hold the door, hang onto your bag and hand you Kleenex under the door.

Friday night was chilli night. The standard of entries was seriously high this year. Entries varied from chilli and crab pate to chilli jelly with all sorts of curries in between. The eventual winner was Mr H Stogdon of Earlsfield with his Lamb Hydrabaddy. Winner of the home grown raw chilli round was Mrs J Edmondson of Knockholt with her Chinese Four Colour variety. The 3rd annual chilli competition is planned for November 2009. Get growing!

Untitled from defyingdarwin on Vimeo.

John McCain receives a present from Orange County Choppers. One problem: he can't reach the handlebars!

I'm watching the BBC for news of the US Election. By the time you read this, we'll know who the next president will be.

Some thoughts about the campaign: George W. Bush has been 100% absent. He's toxic. It's therefore amazing that John McCain is doing as well as he has. I believe McCain's major mistake was choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate: there might've been an increase in popularity from women and traditionally conservative voters but he has suffered tremendously now that he can't use his "more experienced" line and it's become clear Palin is not up to the job.

I was in Florida two weeks ago. It was fascinating being in the middle of the action. The media was plastered with adverts. John McCain's adverts even started with him saying "The last eight years haven't been good, have they?" This from a Republican candidate! I was impressed by the organisation of the Obama campaign in Florida - it completely neutered any work by McCain - there were more rallies, more car stickers, more flags, more garden posters. The Republicans seemed to be silent.

It's amazing what is allowed to be broadcast on US television. All sorts of groups are putting out adverts for and against each candidate. There was a lot of crap flying around. Because of this, many of the news stations (I flicked between CNN, MSNBC and FOX) were spending a lot of time separating fact from fiction.

Who will win? It must be Obama (though watching the BBC, you'd think it was a one horse race!). With the #1 issue moving from Iraq to the economy over the last few months, the American public are keen for a change in how the economy is run, and think Obama will deliver that. But I'm not sure how. To me they're voting for the personality and charisma of Obama and the dreams, hopes and aspirations that personality brings, rather than any particular policy.

I'm just putting the finishing touches to my entry into this Friday's chilli cookoff. I've put together a bean chilli with a "modest" amount of habaneros. I'm a little worried: just from cutting the chillies, my right hand feels like I've pushed it into a school of Portuguese Men o' War. I'm having to write this with my left hand only.

Let the games begin.

Frank is enjoying a pint in the pub one afternoon with a friend.

"My wife will be on the plane now" he says with a wistful smile.

"Really?" his friend says. "Where's she off to then?"

"Oh nowhere" says Frank. "I've left her at home taking a couple of inches off the kitchen door"

One morning, a stud farm owner receives a visit from a midget wanting to buy a horse. It soon becomes obvious that the dwarf has a bad speech impediment. "Can I view the female horth?" he asks.

Dutifully, the owner leads one out, and shows the midget the hoofs and legs.

"That'th a thtrong looking beatht, for thure" says the gnomic breeder, nodding his head. "Can I thee her mouf?"

Confused as to how the tiny man will ride the animal, the farmer still picks up the midget by his braces and shows him the horses mouth.

"Nith healthy-looking horth" agrees the midget. "Now move me awouwnd to her eerth..."

Now getting annoyed, the owner lifts up the midget one more time to look at the ears.

"Finally "says the Lilliputian, "can I see her twat?"

With that, the fed-up owner picks up the midget and shoves his head in to the horse's vagina. He pulls him out after a minute, and the tiny man stumbles around, dazed.

"Perhapth I thould rephrathe that"says the midget, shaking his head. "Can I thee her wun awownd?"

Watch more LiveLeak videos on AOL Video

Last month I wrote about Denny's in Pennsylvania. Well a new landmark has been reached at the world famous diner (from Sky News):

Brad Sciullo, who works at an Italian restaurant in Pennsylvania, has become the first person to conquer the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser.

The mammoth meal weighs 15lbs (6.8kg) and has 5.2lbs (2.3kg) of toppings.

The gastronomic adventurer completed his mission in four hours and 39 minutes.

Dennis Leigey, owner of Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, said Mr Sciullo, of Uniontown, was the first person to finish the meal.

Asked what possessed him to tackle the burger, Mr Sciullo said simply: "I wanted to see if I could."

The Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser includes a bun, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mild banana peppers and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and relish.

While I have the utmost admiration for Mr Sciullo for pushing back the boundaries of human achievement, mankind still has a long way to before it can demolish Denny's 123lbs burger.

Weapons used by Matrix in Commando:
- Valmet M78 assault rifle
- Desert Eagle handgun
- M202A1 FLASH multi-shot rocket launcher
- Remington 870 12-gauge shotgun
- M16A1 battle rifle
- Combat knife
- M60E3 machine gun
- M67 fragmentation grenade
- IMI Uzi submachine gun
- Heckler & Koch G3 assault rifle
- M18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mine
- Mêlée weapons (a Pitchfork, Machete, Axe)
- Improvised weapons (a Circular saw blade, steel pipe, metal furnace door)

(You may have to watch a couple of times to work out what is going on...)

This one, on the other hand, has been photoshopped.

EDIT: I should probably add, this is a genuine photo from last night's debate. It's from the BBC and they never photoshop or lie.

The Huffington Post

In 1959, Walt Disney Productions, under the leadership of Walt Disney, began looking for land for a second resort to supplement Disneyland, which had opened in Anaheim, California in 1955. Walt Disney disliked the businesses that had sprung up around Disneyland and wanted control of a much larger area of land for the new project.

To avoid a burst of land speculation, Disney used various dummy corporations and cooperative individuals to acquire 27,400 acres (110 km², 43 mi²) of land. The first five-acre (20,000 m², 217400 ft²) lot was bought on October 23, 1964, by the Ayefour Corporation (a pun on Interstate 4). Others were also used with a second or secret meanings which add to the lore of the Florida Project, including M.T. Lott Real Estate Investments (pronounced empty lot).

After most of the land had been bought, the truth of the property's owner was leaked to the Orlando Sentinel on October 20, 1965. A press conference soon was organized for November 15. At the presentation, Walt Disney explained the plans for the site.

Look at this hilarious, smug chap at a Republican convention holding a monkey... with Obama's name written on it. Scumbag.



Though haven't I seen his face somewhere before..?

Kevin Michael "GG" Allin was a punk rock singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded with many groups during his career.

Allin is best remembered for his notorious live performances that typically featured wildly transgressive acts such as Allin defecating and urinating onstage, rolling in feces and often consuming excrement, committing self-injury, performing naked, taunting people to perform fellatio on him, and committing violent actions toward the audience—often doing many of these things more or less simultaneously. Although more notorious for his stage antics than for his wide body of music, he recorded prolifically, not only in the punk rock genre, but also in spoken word, country and Rolling Stones-influenced rock. Though he has a small, devoted cult following, Allin's music, often poorly recorded, has received mostly negative reviews from critics.

One of my all time favourite songs. I love the spoken lines (only in the long version):

1756 Salzburg janauy 27th wolfgang amadeus was born
1761 at the age of 5 amadeus began composing
1773 he writes his first piano concetto
1782 wolfgang amadeus Mozart marry's Constanze Weber
1784 wolfgang amadeus Mozart becomes a free mason
1791 Mozart composes the magic flute on december 5 the same year Mozart dies
1985 Austrian rock singer Falco records...ROCK ME AMADEUS!

I've Never Met a Nice South African is a satirical song originating in a sketch on the British television series Spitting Image. It was written by John Lloyd and Peter Brewis and was sung by Andy Roberts. In 1986 it was commercially released as the B-side of the chart-topping The Chicken Song. When the song was recorded, South Africa was considered a pariah state because of the white supremacist regime that was in power.

The BBC reports the "Guns N' Roses long-awaited new album, Chinese Democracy, is to be released in the US on 23 November."

This album has been in the making since recording began in 1994!! The small matter of Slash and the rest of the band leaving in 1996 in revolt against Axl Rose caused the initial delay.

Rose replaced all the band members and started recording again in 1998. Geffen paid Rose $1m to get the album finished by the end of 1999 and promised a further $1m if he did finish it. He didn't.

More members left the band and were replaced, including the rather bizarre new guitarist Buckethead, who always performed with a KFC bucket on his head. By 2001 things were on the go again, with Gn'R playing their first live gig for seven years in Vegas. A European tour was also planned, but was then cancelled... because Buckethead was ill. They did manage a few dates in 2002, including England. Various gigs had to be cancelled at the last moment because Rose failed to show up, despite the rest of the band being at the venue. This resulted in riots in Vancouver and Philadelphia.

All this trouble put things back once again and the band went their seperate ways... with Chinese Democracy no closer to being finished than it was in 1994.

The band got back together in 2006 and started touring again. Though touring was abruptly stopped by Rose, who cancelled the remaining dates... because the band needed some time to finish recording Chinese Democracy.

Finally, in 2007 the album was complete according to Gn'R's management. All that remained to be done was the mixing phase. By the end of 2007 there was still no release.

By now becoming a joke, Dr Pepper publically stated that they would offer a free can of Dr Pepper to everyone in America — excluding former Guns N' Roses guitarists Buckethead and Slash — if the band releases Chinese Democracy in 2008.

Later on March 26, Rose replied to Dr Pepper on Guns N' Roses' official website and spoke of his surprise at Dr Pepper's support. Rose also said he would share his Dr Pepper with Buckethead as "some of Buckethead's performances are on [Chinese Democracy]".

It is said that so much money has been spent on this record over the past 14 years, that it will be impossible for it to be profitable.

Still, if you are in America and like Dr Pepper you're luck is in come 23 November ... though, judging by past from I wouldn't hold your breath.

(source - wikipedia)