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The best Christmas gift, according to Calexico (and, really, common-sense), is love – and that’s one present you can give yourself.
Depression and Christmas don’t always go together well. This 2000 track addresses somebody who is not in a happy frame of mind. The might be trying to bounce back from some sort of trauma of rejection, or perhaps suffers from some form of depression. “The spirit is broken, the path is overrun; you can’t move forward and now nothing gets done. I hope you find some inner peace along the way... What would it take to hear you say the gift you give is love.”
The track was recorded for a charity album, titled It’s Cool Cool Christmas, for The Big Issue in Britain, which produces magazines which homeless people sell on the streets to create an income. The album, now out of print and something of a collector’s item, also features the likes of Saint Etienne, Teenage Fanclub, Snow Patrol, Belle & Sebastian, Eels, Flaming Lips and El Vez (with his great version of Feliz Navidad).
The Big Issue project also operates in South Africa, Ireland, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Namibia, Kenya and Malawi.
