8 Alternative Christmas Songs For Alternative Folk
3. Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat
"It's four in the morning - the end of December. I'm writing you now just to see if you're better."
The Godfather of Gloom opens this somber little masterpiece in the style of a love letter from his days of living in the infamous Chelsea Hotel, and although the usual tropes of gifts and gaudy tinsel are never mentioned throughout the apprehensive ballad, it's certainly based around the potentially lonely month of lovers and could-have-beens.
House recommendation would suggest that such a foreboding waltz should be paired, ideally, with a glass of mulled wine - one of which has been left to sit on the counter long enough to cool to a tepid bitter slosh of lemony cloves.