Hey. So, uh. It sure has been a year. We're about to take some time off, but before we do, here's a few new year's songs intended to inspire some hope that 2017 might be more bearable: "This New Year Will Be For You and Me" by Lacrosse and "My Dear Acquaintance (Happy New Year)" by Regina Spektor. Hang in there.

This coming Tuesday is November 8th, a very important day! Yes, it is RJ's birthday, and absolutely nothing else! NOPE. That means birthday boi's choice, and RJ decides to use this occasion to return to two Christmas favorites who have been featured on the show previously: the Muppets and Sufjan Stevens. If RJ's crying on the podcast, tell them you said Happy Birthday. (Also: vote please.)

Are you excited about Halloween? Chances are you're more excited than our resident Halloween Grinch, Ian. He is literally complaining about Halloween again as I type this episode description. Anyway, this week we covered two Christmas songs best suited to this spookiest of seasons: "Monster's Holiday" by Bobby Pickett and "All I Want for Christmas is Halloween" by Happy Fangs.

In this sort-of prequel to our Halloween episode, we listen to two metal holiday songs that conjure images ranging from kinda spooky to fairly upsetting to downright awesome - "I Am Santa Claus" by Bob Rivers and "Hanukkah Gone Metal" by Gods of Fire. Thanks to Jeri & Corey for the request!

This week we discuss an anonymous request and a beautiful baffling miracle which both feature NPR personalities performing songs about being dominated by robots at Christmastime. "Chiron Beta Prime" by Jonathan Coulton and "Toymageddon" by Yo La Tengo, Ira Glass, and Eugene Mirman spin two captivating Christmas tales/post-apocalyptic visions. Alternate episode title: Wait Wait Don't Kill Me With Robots

It's another week of Hanukkah tunes on HARK! As Yom Kippur approaches, we're listening to some more somber Hanukkah music - "Light One Candle" by Peter, Paul and Mary and "Feast of Lights" by They Might Be Giants - two songs which couldn't be more different, but both offer complexity in a simple package.

Happy Rosh Hashanah! In honor of the new year, this week we listened to two Hanukkah songs released in the past year. The result was some smooth and chilled-out holiday delights: "8 Days (of Hanukkah)" by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and "Outside of December" by The Leeves and Matisyahu. Shanah tovah!

Hey, remember the 90s? If you're roughly our age and were required to line dance in gym class or ever attended a wedding, you're about to. We're covering two Christmas versions of dance craze songs: "Macarena Christmas" by Los del Rio and "XMas Slide" by Xpress Band. Thank you to Sarah for the request!

This week, we cover two songs in a language new to the list - but pulled from albums we've visited many times before. "O Tannenbaum" and "Stille Nacht" mark our first songs in German, just in time for Oktoberfest. Hear Nat King Cole, a chorus of Muppets, and one of HARK's co-hosts attempt to pronounce and sing this beautiful language. (No. sarcasm. intended.)

There's a door at the back of your mind. Do you open it? A strange little boy approaches you to tell you he sleeps in cars because he's bad. How quickly do you phone for help? These and other questions asked and, more or less, answered in this spoken word episode of HARK, featuring "Faith In Santa" performed by Hermann Lammers Meyer and "The Train" by Celestial Navigations. In case you can't tell, this one was kind of a trip.