Super Awesome Runner
Hi, I'm Sam! Running has taught me a lot of things -- how motivation is not a permanent state, how difficult it is to get yourself out of bed and move, and how our brains do their best to keep us comfortable and limited in our action (they have good intentions but often miss the mark).
Each week we'll dive into a lesson learned from running, and sometimes cover a song I'm currently listening to help me get out there and move. Some weeks will have a guest runner on the show talking about their path and what helps them when things are tough.
I (Sam) hold a degree in Neurobiology and have been obsessed with motivation, goals and psychology for nearly a decade now. I am a former spin instructor, a current runner & marathoner, an entrepreneur, and podcaster. It's great to meet you!
Super Awesome Runner
Cross Post: “What are you listening to” with Matt, Jenn, and Sam, and our favorite Christmas music
This week, since I’m off for the holiday, please enjoy this episode from a sister show on our network: What are you listening to? with host Jenn. I’m on the show with Matt from the mixtape podcast, and we all enjoy some laughs talking about our favorite Christmas music!
stay safe and warm everyone! will be back next week with a new episode! Happy holidays!
You can find the song of the week on the weekly playlist here on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wxmDClsiebNBJ2B3Jut5u?si=5edd46976ddc4630
Hey Matt, hey Sam, hey Jen, hey Jen, what are you listening to this week? Welcome to Season 5 of what Are you Listening To, the weekly podcast created to foster community through music by sharing the stories behind the songs that soundtrack our lives. Some of the songs are old, some new. All good, I'm Jen Tully, and this week I'm joined by Matt Sithome and Sam Abusabi. They are the co-founders of the Super Awesome Mix podcasting network and co-hosts of the Super Awesome Mix podcast and co-hosts of the Super Awesome Mix podcast, and this week they are here to help me create a 2025 holiday playlist.
Speaker 1:To wrap up season five of what Are you Listening To this week, we'll finish the show and the season with a six-song playlist of some of our holiday favorites. Which songs do you think we're going to discuss? Tune into our conversation to find out and, in case our song picks are new to you, we'll publish a playlist with the episode so you don't miss a beat. You guys, I'm so excited to have you both on the show and this is my favorite time of year, so let's get started. Matt, sam, what are you listening to this week?
Speaker 2:I mean just so much great music. We just did our best of episodes. So you know, we were just going through all the great music in 2024. And you know, one of the bands that stood out to me in 2024 that I just discovered and became one of my new favorites was Fantastic Cat. So I was so excited that they put out a version of Holiday Road, and so that's my first pick. The original is by Lindsey Buckingham and famously featured in National Lampoon's Vacation. It's not really directly about holidays or Christmas or anything like that, but they had put out this little EP with this song and a version of Feliz Navidad and because I love Fantastic Cat and it was kind of a big year for me discovering them, I was like I've got to include this on my holiday playlist.
Speaker 1:Yes, this was definitely like a dark horse pick. I will say and I was chatting with Sam before we started recording that there are two movies that kick off my holiday season every year, and one of them is when Harry Met Sally and the other is National Lampoon's Christmas.
Speaker 3:Vacation Same for that one. Yeah, it can't be Christmas without me watching that movie, and I have yet to get tired of it.
Speaker 1:I love it every single year.
Speaker 3:It's so good.
Speaker 2:You can jump in at any point and kind of finish it off. That's a good point.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like there's not a lot of movies where you can do that right, where you're like, oh, now I'm lost, you know, like you can just join halfway through and like you've picked up the plot immediately. I think it's just so familiar.
Speaker 2:Hold on When's Christmas in this one. When is that?
Speaker 1:Well, if you are lost, you get the little advent calendar. You know that they slowly open in vignettes and for some reason, I mean I don't always forget, but I'm always pleasantly surprised too to see Julia.
Speaker 3:Louis-Dreyfus I don't think of her immediately as one of the cast members even though she's one of my favorite characters in that movie, but I'm always so happy to see her too yeah, no, I agree, she, her little cameo there, is fantastic and I'm reminded by she's such a great actress and so good I absolutely loved everything she's done since, but yeah, um, this song definitely like that's.
Speaker 3:That's where I went. I went to national lampoon's christmas. I just played the credit, the opening credits, in my head as the song was playing and I think they did a good job with this cover. They were like true to the song. You know they didn't like do something too weird, but then added their like flavor to it. So kudos to to Fantastic Cat uh for for doing a nice little cover of this Christmas song yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 1:All right, what's your second pick?
Speaker 2:All right, I probably went with something people have heard of. With the second pick, this is what Christmas Means to Me, by Stevie Wonder. Yeah, just an amazing. Just from the first couple notes he kind of just sucks you in. It reminds me of his version of we Can Work it Out, you know, by the Beatles, when he did a cover of that and, like you know, it's hard to top the Beatles and plenty of people have covered their song.
Speaker 2:But that was one where I declared like, yeah, stevie did it better, right, like that's Stevie's song now, and this is not a cover, but just like when he gets into this one and the energy he brings and all of it, like I, I just love this one. I've heard it a million times and you know I think you know we all have those radio stations, whether you're on Sirius XM or just your local radio that you know, come November 1st they're like we're doing Christmas music for the next eight weeks, right, and some of the songs on there I just get beaten down by. But this is one that every time it comes on I'm in, gets me fired up for Christmas. I just love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, same. The one note I wrote about this song is classic period. I just love this one and this whole album. Actually it's from the Someday at Christmas album from 1967, I think, and this one's always a crowd pleaser too, to all the families that are gathering this year. If you're looking for music that everyone can listen to, that Stevie Wonder Someday at Christmas album always delivers. It's a crowd pleaser every time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, this one is so good, I agree. You just hit play on it and you're smiling. You're just instantly smiling. I think he does such a great job with that and pretty much most of his music, right. I just feel like that's the energy that Stevie Wonder brings to a room.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just, it's positive, it's upbeat, like I. Just it's one of those two that, like you said, I don't get. I never get tired of this one either, and there are plenty that I get tired of. I'm looking at you.
Speaker 2:I still get into that song. No.
Speaker 1:I still love it. I can't.
Speaker 3:I know I might be on team Matt. Here too it's terrible.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, because I'm I know it's played a zillion times this time of year, but man, when she comes in right at the beginning, I'm like God, this is so good, this is so good.
Speaker 1:I call timeout on that one. I can't. But here's my weird one that everybody has that feeling about and I don't. It's wham I some, like last christmas, I will listen to over and over until I die.
Speaker 3:That's like a skip for me.
Speaker 2:I think no way okay, no way, here's where I'm at with this one. Okay, I'm a little bit in between the two of you, okay.
Speaker 1:You're going to like the glee version, or something.
Speaker 2:No, no, no. What I was going to say, and we just had a texturing about this, it's a. It goes on a little too long. Okay, we can wrap up a little bit earlier, and then I think we might be able to bring Sam over. I think if we could wrap it up a little bit earlier, and then I think we might be able to bring sam over. I think if we could wrap it up a little earlier, there's just too many last christmases, you know.
Speaker 3:No, that's fair, it's true. You know what? As we were talking about, yeah, this whole playlist. We've got six songs in here. It's 16 minutes long and I was laughing like that's like one tool song you know, like I, the first six minutes of any tool song is just them warming up their instruments. I, I saw that meme recently and that just killed me because that's a hundred percent accurate.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's true. Can you imagine a tool?
Speaker 3:christmas album wow, that would be awesome hours I could definitely imagine him doing that main or doing that I feel like that's right up his alley a very festive man
Speaker 1:well, and since we don't have a tool Christmas album just yet, sam, please transition us out of this conversation and tell us what your first pick was for the holiday playlist yeah, this one is um, it's actually my all-time favorite christmas song.
Speaker 3:I think it is the christmas song um by this one is sung by nat king cole. You know it's been covered a million times, but this classic one, oh, this just gets me every time. Whenever I hear it, I'm just instantly transported to the holiday season. I think it's um, it's just so calming, you know, and I I love that.
Speaker 3:I think that I say this a lot on you, you know, anytime I'm talking about Christmas. But I think, like wintertime is a really nice time to slow down and be with friends and be with family and kind of just reflect and take it all in that's. You know that's the season in nature, right, it's like trees kind of go internal and shed their flowers and just go deeper into the roots, and I think humans can benefit from a lot of that same thing of just slowing down. So this song just kind of slows me down, sets that mood, and it's just, it's so beautiful. I'm also a huge fan of chestnuts and I make them every year because, like you can just pop them in the oven and so I'm like, yeah, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, I'm there.
Speaker 2:I tell you what you, what Sam, and obviously you're married now so it wouldn't matter, but I bet you'd have a pretty unique dating profile. It was like loves chestnuts. You know that would be a good hook, yeah that would be a good hook wow, they're either in or out, right there yeah, exactly decision made.
Speaker 1:I, I, I didn't even really know that chestnuts were a thing like. I'm glad to know that, that that is something and that you enjoy that. Do they have a smell like? Does it smell nice? I imagine that they would be something.
Speaker 3:They're like smell lovely roasting yeah, no, I don't know if it's like the smell for me, but I just love their taste, like you like, and so I lived for two years in paris when I was a kid, because my dad needed to go there for work and they would have street vendors during christmas time that would sell um chestnuts. That they're literally doing like in a little like cart with a with a flame, and they, you know, you kind of score them, you put them over the heat and then they just crack open and you peel the outsides and eat the chestnut on the inside and they just taste so good I can pop like 100 of them, no problem.
Speaker 2:Sure, we all remember those winters in Paris, gromit. Okay, real, relatable story Paris Texas that's where my family's from, so I was actually. It's about as far as we got.
Speaker 1:Well, Matt, I feel like that's an open invitation, though, to Sam's house next holiday season. So we can experience this chestnut magic.
Speaker 2:No kidding, no kidding.
Speaker 3:If you can brave the New York City cold. I know that any time it dips below 70, y'all are hitting the heat, turning that up at home it's true.
Speaker 2:It's going to be 56 today. I've got gloves on indoors.
Speaker 1:We've got a fire in the fireplace. It's just how we roll right now we're burning furniture.
Speaker 3:In the front yard. We'll pop some chestnuts on top of that fire, right, yeah.
Speaker 1:Just like the Parisians do. We're on it. All right, tell us about your second pick, sam.
Speaker 3:Yes, Okay, so it is the Nutcracker Classic Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. So recently Sarah and I had a chance to go and watch the New York Philharmonic perform Sounds of the Season, which was an amazing concert where they did a lot of, you know, just songs of Christmas songs, Hanukkah ones, winter ones and all that, and they performed a version of this one that I absolutely loved. I tried to find it. I could not find it, but it started very classically, and I also learned that the instrument that opens up this song, I believe, is called a Celeste. It's like an amazing little weird piano variation. It's incredible. But then the conductor had it kind of transform into a jazz band version of it and it was so seamless and it sounded so cool. So ever since then I've been kind of obsessed and so I really want to try to find that version of it because I think it was so well done.
Speaker 3:But yeah, going to the NY Phil, as it's known here, was also a side note. I always think of Andy Bernard. There's a random scene where he's like yeah, I went to Cornell, have you heard of it? And I always do that with New York, you know like I live in New York City. Have you heard of it? So it was awesome. It was such a nice little thing. So if you have a chance to you know again, slow down, like, listen to a musical concert like this, like a classical musical concert. It was very relaxing and calming and quite beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love this too. I'm not, uh, here we go again with like songs that I don't love, which is not really the point of the show. But, um, I'm not a big like trans Siberian orchestra gal either, like I never really got into that, and so, um, whenever I was like, please, nobody put one of those on the playlist this week, please, please. So I was really happy that we got some Tchaikovsky and we got the Nutcracker and we did have like this really beautiful instrumental without it being the Philippine Trans-Siberian Orchestra plus, they're very anti-trans in siberia oh my goodness you, you can't help yourself over there.
Speaker 1:Um well, I also too, because I love the ballet of this like I love the nutcracker performed, and so I feel like I can see them dancing when I hear this song. It's one of my favorite parts of the show yes, um and then I don't know if this resonates with anyone either, but the song sounds like it's snowing to me. Like I don't know if it's like the ding ding ding ding.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it might be that instrument. Yeah, it has that kind of feel to it. Yeah, yeah, I can see that.
Speaker 1:So I always love that too, because it immediately makes me think like, oh, it's snowing outside, and even though, yeah, it's probably 78 degrees here in Austin, but a girl can dream. A girl can dream.
Speaker 2:I've got to confess here, I've never actually seen the Nutcracker.
Speaker 1:Oh no.
Speaker 2:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 1:And a surprise revelation to no one.
Speaker 3:All right, well, you've got homework. If you're gonna tell me to go watch all these terrible 80s movies all the time, you gotta make it. You gotta add some culture to your life. Matt, I know culture. Yeah, I think culture scares you a little bit song.
Speaker 2:A compliment is that, even if you're not familiar with the story and even if you're not familiar with with the show like it's, you know this song like I think that's pretty impressive that it transcends even the direct knowledge of it. You have to be into theater in some way, shape or form. It's like no everyone knows this song. It's completely reminiscent of Winter. Jen, I think you nailed it when you said it sounds like it's snowing. But yeah, I know, I think it's perfect, but yeah, I have never seen the Nutcracker.
Speaker 1:You don't have to be into theater or ballet, since it's actually a ballet not a play, but okay, I don't even know.
Speaker 2:It just shows you how far removed I am from this right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to get chestnuts at Sammer's in the Parisian style and we're going to make Matt. We're going to all go see the Nutcracker.
Speaker 2:It's going to happen. It's going to happen. We're all leveling up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we're growing as people. That's what we aspire to do.
Speaker 1:And 2025 is going to be our year for culture. Big culture in 2025, everyone. Going to be our year for culture, big culture in 2025, everyone. Well, I'm going to take the reins now and start with my first pick. This is a song called the Merriest, by June Christie.
Speaker 1:This is an old song. The song is from 1961, but I just discovered it. I think it was last year that it was the first time that I heard it, and I was surprised, because we always had a lot of you know, classic Christmas music on in my house. When I was a kid growing up, my parents were big music lovers and so lots of records were played. Even my grandparents same thing. Like everywhere we went, music was on, and so I was surprised that I hadn't heard this, and I think I remember when I discovered it, I was like wait, is this an old song or is this a song that's new, that's made to sound old? And so when I found out that it really was from 1961, I was like, oh, I like that, and this one is just.
Speaker 1:You know, again, I'm a lyrics gal. I love the lyrics to this one. It's so positive, it's upbeat, it's kind of silly, and I just I love this one. Had you guys heard this one? Was this new for you? Is this an old classic? Tell me what you thought of this one.
Speaker 2:This was new for me, I think. Yeah, I mean, but I loved it, just the horns, right at the beginning and it was so like jazzy and kind of fun, and I also like the kind of lower register of her voice Because, like nowadays, all you see, I feel like you know, going back to our friend Mariah Carey, who we referenced earlier, like since she started coming out and hitting a lot of high notes and in her singing, that just became a thing among singers, right, and I think back in the 60s you had some female voices that were a little lower and I mean she sounds fantastic, right. Like I love the sound of the song and I was with you, jen, I immediately, immediately, was like did I just miss this one? And it came out like a year ago or, and, yeah, it was like 60 years old instead, but yeah, I loved it yeah, I had not heard it either and I really liked it and just instantly again, it just has that, that sound.
Speaker 3:it's uh, I like the lyrics a lot too. I think they're clever and they're fun and just wishing everyone, you know, and if you're down at they're like wishing you to be up yes, and I really like that. I like that theme throughout. So really nice find. I can't believe that neither of us had heard this before.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:Say I couldn't either.
Speaker 1:When I found it, I was like, how have I missed this song? And like little small holiday tip, you have to find the album cover of this. Uh, the album that it's on, um, I think it's. I think it's just like a june christie holiday, classics or something. But it's just this beautiful old school, like she's throwing a snowball wearing this like lovely 60s pantsuit to get in a coat, like I'm like I want to frame this album cover and use it as holiday decor. It's so like my vision of like this vintage Christmas vibe.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's really nice. Yeah, this time of year I'm looking at it now. I agree, those pants are awesome.
Speaker 1:Right, those red pants. They're like red cigarette pants. I'm there all day for those.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What's the name of the album? Samer this Time of Year, yes, this Time of Year, thank you. So definitely check that out. And then my second pick to round out our holiday playlist is right back to where we started with Christmas Vacation. It's here Comes Santa Claus, and it's the Gene Autry version, so it's specific to this version. This is on my. It's Not not Christmas until I hear this song, this version playlist.
Speaker 1:I love this whole album. Again, this one is the original. Jean Autry sings Rudolph the Rez knows reindeer and other Christmas favorites. My grandparents played this, my parents played this. I have this album now. It is not Christmas for me until this gets played. And then this song is one of my favorites on it. It was my favorite when I was a kid. It's my favorite now. It's from 1957. And then, to make it the perfect song for me, it is the song that plays in the background and the immediate SWAT, the amazing SWAT team scene in Christmas Vacation when they're coming to rescue the boss that took away the Christmas bonuses. And it's just this insane amount of police activity to get to this one guy and you see policemen flying through windows and the SWAT team vans. And I mean it's insanity and I love it. It's what. It's probably my favorite part of the movie, and just having this song in the background it makes it that much more epic.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the juxtaposition between those two things is hilarious and wonderful, it's so good, so good. I think the cousin in that movie is like so he's great, like he's such a foil to that film and like makes it so much better. I used to be really annoyed by his character, but as I've grown older I just think he's hilarious.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, randy Quaid.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so good. Like just genius in that film.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I mean, and there was a whole, there was a year where everybody got got Merry Christmas shitters full ornaments from me, because that's one of my favorites. I just think it's so. Yes, cousin Eddie is a classic in all of the Well, at least the first two. Those are the ones I acknowledge, the first two National Lampoon's vacation films.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Sam Rae, have you seen the original National Lampoon's vacation?
Speaker 3:I have, yeah, yeah. I have you seen the original national lampoon's vacation? I have, yeah, yeah. I have, yeah, yeah, because and eddie also really takes a star turn in that one.
Speaker 1:Yes, no, definitely. Oh, they're great, very good. I will say the remake too is good, the ed helms.
Speaker 2:I liked it too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's actually really good, that's really good, but matt, what were you?
Speaker 2:in a way in oh, I was just as far as the song goes. I was gonna going to say, like you know, June Christie's voice in the previous song, like just just like wow, what an amazing voice, Gene Autry. Not a conventionally like just oh, wow, what an amazing voice. But I think just the whole like arrangement here kind of comes together nicely around his voice and it kind of reminded me of the fact that they used to record songs with like all the voices in the room and all the instruments in the room and everything, and we're going to play this together and here we go. You know, and it's just not done that way now, but you can really hear it on some of these older tracks and I think it lends itself, it kind of it kind of picks up his voice that is not just conventionally, just like a great singing voice yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 3:It's like a very organic, uh like sound which works really well for christmas music, because, you know, you kind of just envision, like the, the gathering in the, in the quad area or something of everyone singing these carols and and whatever it is.
Speaker 1:So it works really nicely well, and again, my, my childhood was not as glamorous as Sam's, but I do also like that you can hear his accent Like it's Santa Claus, you know like. That's how my grandparents said it too. Like Santa Claus, it wasn't Santa Claus, you know like. Or Bush, noel, or like anything beautiful Like I'm sure Samerar got to hear literally to. My grandparents are from paris, texas, I'm not making that up, and so, um, that is where we spent a lot of christmases and so I love that.
Speaker 1:I get like that little piece of texas in there too. When I hear this um, I hear like the cowboy, um, in gene autry's voice, and so that makes me happy as well. And another reason that I think it's so funny against that, you know, the backdrop of of Christmas vacation, where you know they're in Chicago or the suburbs of, and you know you've got Gene Autry singing while this SWAT team's like busting in Super funny. Well, I'm so glad you guys joined me here on the last season of the episode. Thank you. The last season of the episode.
Speaker 2:The last episode of the season there we go let's try it again, that's okay.
Speaker 1:I know.
Speaker 2:You don't have to text me about this edit, I'll remember.
Speaker 1:I know Usually that's me. Hey, can you make this part go away? Yeah, it's been a long season. It's been a long season, but I'm really glad that we finished it out this way. Again, this is one of my favorite times of year. I love listening to Christmas music. I don't love listening to it in November 1st, but I do love listening to it at the appropriate time, and so I'm glad we were all able to come together and make this playlist. So thank you to both of you for joining me, thank you for being great producers of the show, and happy holidays. I can't wait to see what 2025 brings for all of the shows on the super awesome mix network.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having us, jen. This was so much fun.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you having us, jen, this was so much fun. Yes, thank you, and happy holidays to you and everyone else out there.
Speaker 1:Excellent Listeners. You know where to find Matt and Sam on the super awesome mix podcast. You can also find Sam on the super awesome you podcast, and Matt and I are just wrapping up season two of the battle, so you can catch seasons one and two of the Battle. We'd love it if you'd make a New Year's resolution to check out all of the shows on our network in the new year and please be sure to follow, download and share one or all of them this holiday season. And, if you love listening, drop a review on Apple or Spotify for us. Last but not least, to stay informed on all things Super Awesome Mix and what Are you Listening To, and to stay in touch with Matt, sam and me, be sure to follow us on Instagram at Super Awesome Mix. Thanks for listening and please join me on January 20th of 2025 for the season six premiere of what Are you Listening To. From all of us, we wish you a happy holiday and all the best for the new year.
