Mumba vs Carey - It's all about the kettle drums

It was very early in November, maybe even still in October, when I heard the first Christmas song on the radio. Played by Scott Mills on Radio 1, it was Mariah Carey singing All I want for Christmas.

Now, don't get me wrong - this particular tune is certainly my favourite Christmas tune, but when it was still 20 degrees outside and I hadn't even dug out my scarf and mittens, it just seemed wrong.

Especially as this particular version is not the best recording out there.

"Ooooh! Controversial", I hear you cry - well in my opinion, Samantha Mumba made a far superior version with excellent kettle drum usage and a far more bouncy feel to it.

And how did I come across the Mumba cover, you may well ask. Well, a couple of years ago I asked my partner to buy me a Christmas music CD, as the old compilation I had on tape did not have the Mariah Carey track on it. So, on a late night shopping expedition, deep in December, he braved the twenty minute queue in HMV (other CD stockists are available) and got me a three CD collection of all the Christmas ditties I could ever wish for - except for the Mariah Carey song.

When I opened the gift on Christmas morning and ran straight to my CD player with the express intent of playing All I want… I searched the track list for Ms Carey's name, but it wasn't there. I searched again and found the track, but, horror of horror, it was sung by Samantha Mumba and I was devastated.

"Didn't you check it?" I said, a bit too melodramatically, as if my world were about to collapse.

"Yeah, but I couldn't remember whose version you wanted," he answered.

And at this moment, the track came on. I listened, we all listened; the entire Christmas day household of mums, dads, children, grandchildren, aunties, uncles, grandparents and the woman from next door to Auntie Win all listened. And thankfully, I liked it and the more I listened to it, the more I liked it.

Now… it is my favourite Christmas song - but I still don't want to hear it in October.

Image © shekay, via Flickr under Creative Commons Licence