I like songs that make me think, that take an ironic, cynical, or just a unique step away from the norm. Here are a couple of my favorites for the holidays:

Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis by Tom Waits

Tom Waits is probably my favorite musician and lyricist. There is a beautiful melancholy feeling that he captures about lost love and lost time in this song…

“Hey Charley I think about you
everytime I pass a fillin’ station
on account of all the grease
you used to wear in your hair”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12qBoy2rhVw

White Wine in The Sun by Tim Minchin

A  political man giving in to the simplicity of family and holiday spirit…

“And yes, I have all of the usual objections to consumerism
The commercialization of an ancient religion
And the westernization of a dead Palestinian
Press-ganged into selling Playstations and beer
But I still really like it”