Silver Bells - Booker T and the M.G.s
Silver Bells is sort of the classic urban Christmas song-
city sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style- but is
usually played at a more contemplative tempo than any downtown December rush I've ever elbowed through.
Children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile? That does not sound like Toronto nor Waterloo nor Santiago nor Oakland. This version abandons the song's lyrics entirely and instead evokes a smooth anonymous groove, sounding like a successful bustling about city shops.