Best And Worst Christmas Songs [Archive] - Straight Dope Message Board

DMark

12-02-2002, 02:24 AM

We were putting up our tree this weekend and had the digital cable network in the background...only Christmas music.

Wow. There is a LOT out there. It seems like every singer in the world has put out a Christmas album at one time or another.

However, I will go out on a limb here.

The best Christmas song of all time:
White Christmas by Bing Crosby
(The Christmas Song...."Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." is a close second...)

The worst Christmas song of all time:
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.

Your nominees?

Peanuthead

12-02-2002, 02:53 AM

Best : Merry Christmas Baby - Charles Brown

Worst: That freakin' 12 days of Christmas song. AAAAARRRRGH! I'll tell you where to put them golden rings!!!

Philosophocles

12-02-2002, 03:27 AM

Worst: Have a Very Menudo Christmas, by Menudo

Mycroft Holmes

12-02-2002, 05:28 AM

Originally posted by Philosophocles
Worst: Have a Very Menudo Christmas, by Menudo

I whole-heartedly agree with this.

As to the best: Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht, as sung by Leontyne Price. This is from this album (http://www.coolforever.com/html/lps/leontyneprice_achristmasoffering.html), which is the best collection of Christmas music ever!

gex gex

12-02-2002, 06:05 AM

Best: Millie Pulled a Pistol on Santa by De la Soul is always nice when you're all glurged up from too much Jingle Bell Rock.

Khadaji

12-02-2002, 08:29 AM

I'm with PeanutHead, 12 days of Christmas . I think a service to humanity would be to invent a time machine and go back in time and prevent this song from having ever been written. Then we wouldn't have all of the mindless spinoffs.

However, a close second is Grandma got run over by a reindeer.

Winnie

12-02-2002, 08:48 AM

There's a rarely-played Bing Crosby song called "How Lovely Is Christmas". It was on a children's Christmas album I had when I was a kid (still have the album!) and that song is one of the most gorgeous holiday tunes I can think of.

Coldfire

12-02-2002, 09:14 AM

Yes! No one beat me to it, yet. Must. Post. Fast.

The best Christmas song EVAH is Fairytale of New York by The Pogues ft. Kirsty Maccoll.

End. Of. Discussion.

cckerberos

12-02-2002, 09:18 AM

I've always loved The Carol of the Bells, maybe because it's one of the few traditional Christmas songs that isn't played all that often.

Jerrybear

12-02-2002, 09:18 AM

Best one is, without a doubt, "Happy Christmas/War Is Over" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

Chuck Berry's "Run, Run Rudolph" is pretty cool as well, especially the live versions by the Grateful Dead from their 1971 Ann Arbor, Michigan concerts.

Annie-Xmas

12-02-2002, 09:39 AM

We Need a Little Christmas is the best, if it's sung right and has all the verses. Also a little known Irving Berlin song called The Happy New Year Blues is excellent. Both on the CD "A Broadway Christmas."

Gee, if 12 Days of Xmas had never been written, then we'd never have The 12 Days of Phantom . Which I love. Or the Muppets version of the song, which is great. Ba-drumpa-bum-bop.

Lute Skywatcher

12-02-2002, 09:56 AM

Absolute worst Christmas song of all time: "I Am Santa Claus (http://www.towerrecords.com/product.asp?pfid=1048622&cc=USD)" (sung to the tune of "I Am Iron Man").

Best: Christmas Eve in Sarajevo (http://www.towerrecords.com/product.asp?pfid=1204044&cc=USD)" or just about any Christmas song off a Mannheim Steamroller cd.

Regarding "Run, Rudolph, Run", who the hell is Randalph?
lyrics link (http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/homealone/runrudolphrun.htm)
Out of all the reindeer you know you're the mastermind
Run, run Rudolph, Randalph's not too far behind

Lizard

12-02-2002, 10:17 AM

Best: "Tennessee Christmas" as sung by Amy Grant on her first Christmas Album (yes, she's had two.)

Worst: (tie) "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer," and "Jingle Bells," when it's done by barking dogs. Both are hackneyed, one-joke tunes that should've been forgotten by Dec. 26 the year they were written, but instead are played endlessly every year in my neck o' the woods.

Funniest: "Walking Round in Women's Underwear" to the tune of "Walkin' In A Winter Wonderland"
sample lyric:

In the store -- there's a teddy,
Little straps -- like spaghetti,
It holds me so tight,
Like handcuffs at night,
Walkin' 'round in women's underwear.

In the office there's a guy named Melvin,
He pretends that I am Murphy Brown.
He'll say, "Are you ready?" I'll say,"Whoa, Man!"
"Let's wait until our wives are out of town!"

Lute Skywatcher

12-02-2002, 10:17 AM

Originally posted by DMark
The best Christmas song of all time:
White Christmas by Bing Crosby Did you know that Irving Berlin's original first verse is usually not sung?
lyrics link (http://www.kcmetro.cc.mo.us/pennvalley/biology/lewis/crosby/wxmas.html)
The sun is shining
The grass is green
The orange and palm trees sway.
I've never seen such a day
In Beverly Hills LA.
But it's December the 24th
And I am longing to be up North.

Additional info about the Guinness record holding* single can be found in the December issue of Reader's Digest.

*Best-selling single of all time. Elton John's tribute to Princess Di also held the #1 spot but White Christmas has regained its stature.

Telemark

12-02-2002, 10:47 AM

Best: Off the Phil Spector Christmas Album, Winter Wonderland, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Thos are the only versions of those songs I can stand.

Also, Christmas Rapping by the Waitresses, I think. It's the one about going to the store to get cranberries.

And the entire "It's Christmas Charlie Brown" soundtrack by Vince Guiraldi.

astorian

12-02-2002, 10:59 AM

The worst and most bizarre Christmas song of all time? It's not even close: Tiny Tim's "Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year."

I heard him sing this one on Howard Stern's show not long before he died... and I while I knew Tiny Tim was a genuine weirdo, I had no idea he was so hopelessly out to lunch.

The guy didn't seem malicious- just really STUPID! I don't THINK he intended the song as a joke, either. I think he honestly believed he was making some sort of social commentary by giving Santa Claus AIDS... but the lyrics make it clear that Tiny didn't grasp the nature of AIDS in the least. His lyrics made it sound like AIDS was a bad cold that Santa would get over in a few months... so don't worry kiddies, Sanata will be back, good as new, next year.

This is just one of those songs that's so bad, you WANT to laugh (a la MST3K), only it's so sick, so wrong-headed, you CAN'T laugh. You can't do much except sit there in a stupor, wondering, "What the heck could he POSSIBLY have been thinking?"

Lute Skywatcher

12-02-2002, 12:06 PM

Just remembered something I saw over the weekend, it was an Oak Ridge Boys concert titled "An Inconvenient Chrsistmas". The fact that it was recorded in Branson should have been a tipoff. Yeesh, what dreck! If it hadn't been for the interminable pleas for $14* to feed starving American children I would have kept watching just for the amusement value (e.g.: the audience cheering every time Richard (http://www.oakridgeboys.com/Pages/richard.html) had a solo. WTF?) but instead I changed the channel after 15 minutes.

*a $14 donation buys 100 pounds of food? Exactly how does that work? 100 pounds of what, canned beans? And how much of that $14 goes toward overhead?

Legomancer

12-02-2002, 12:10 PM

I have a soft spot in my heart for "Do They Know It's Christmas". for some reason my glurge-rejection system totally fails on this one, even though it definitelly qualifies.

For traditional songs, I like a lot of the ones mentioned. For novelty songs, I always enjoy "Blue Christmas" by Porky Pig and, although I'm not a South Park fan in general, I love Cartman singing "O Holy Night".

Telemark

12-02-2002, 12:17 PM

Also from South Park, "A Lonely Jew at Christmas"

Max Torque

12-02-2002, 12:23 PM

Well, I'm reluctant to call it the absolute best, but I have a real soft spot for "Good King Wenceslas".

Worst is a tough call, but I've always thought "The Holly And The Ivy" was pretty stupid.

edbenson

12-02-2002, 12:42 PM

Jeff Olsen:

Here's what they had at that Lyric's link:

Out of all the reindeer you know you're the mastermind
Run, run Rudolph, Randalph's not too far behind
Run, run Rudolph, Santa's got to make it to town
Randalph he can hurry, he can take the freeway down
And away went Rudolph a whizzing like a merry-go-round

I don't know where they got "Randalph" from, maybe it's their generic way of saying "we can't figure out what he's singing here," but what's the point of having a lyrics website if you don't know all the lyrics? Oh yeah, those horrible pop-ups.
At any rate, here's how I hear it:

Out of all the reindeer you know you're the mastermind
Run, run Rudolph, Santa's way too far behind
Run, run Rudolph, Santa's got to make it to town
Tell him if he's in a hurry, he can take the freeway down
And away went Rudolph a whizzing like a merry-go-round

And yes, this is my favorite Christmas song, also check out versions by Dave Edmunds and Keith Richards (the one I have is an mp3 I downloaded that I think is one of those fanclub exclusive deals.)

Close second to Elvis' Santa Claus Is Back In Town.

Lute Skywatcher

12-02-2002, 12:55 PM

Originally posted by edbenson
I don't know where they got "Randalph" from, maybe it's their generic way of saying "we can't figure out what he's singing here" I agree with you on "Tell him if he's in a hurry" and "Santa's way" might be what Chuck is supposed to be singing but it does sound like "Randolph" to me. Hell, all versions sound like that to me unless properly enunciated.

voguevixen

12-02-2002, 12:57 PM

I used to really hate Little St. Nick by the Beach Boys, but I've revised my stance and now think it's good cheezy fun. I also like the Andy Williams Holiday Season/Happy Holidays quazi-medly. It's so freakishly manic.

For worst I have to go with any song sung by a child. :GAG:

Manatee

12-02-2002, 01:55 PM

This far in and no one has mentioned that gawd-awful "Christmas Shoes"?!"

Aw crap, I did it to myself! Now it's playing in my head again....

Winnie

12-02-2002, 02:33 PM

I thought of some others... I really love the old John Denver Christmas songs, and particularly Aspenglow and Christmas for Cowboys. Even the Beach Boys songs like the aforementioned Little Saint Nick, and The Man With All The Toys.

Truth Seeker

12-02-2002, 03:54 PM

"Best" is hard to say as it really depends on your mood. But if you want something a bit unusual that deserves to be far more popular than it is, try some collections of "carribean" Christmas music.

A lot of reggae Christmas collections are really awful, especially the generic ones. As a quick test of quality, look for two particular songs, A party for Santa Claus by Lord Nelson and Soca Santa by Machel (aka Machel Montana)

You'll be glad you did!

Skammer

12-02-2002, 04:04 PM

There are too many good ones to choose a best, and too many bad ones to choose a worst, so I have a nomination for both: Winter Wonderland sung by Steve Taylor. You haven't heard Winter Wonderland until you've heard it sung in Spanish by a mariachi band.

Lute Skywatcher

12-02-2002, 04:05 PM

Truth, I've heard a few Christmas songs by Jimmy Buffett which have a reggae feel. His version of Jingle Bells, for example.

a35362

12-02-2002, 04:07 PM

"The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...") as sung by Nat King Cole is my all-time fave, although the Muppet Christmas album with John Denver has a song called "It's in Every One of Us" (I think that's the name) that makes me tear up every year.

I have a special loathing for that "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" song, because I used to listen to a radio station that played it EVERY SINGLE DAY between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

Lute Skywatcher

12-02-2002, 04:13 PM

Not a bad song but how (and when) did "My Favorite Things" become a Christmas song? Sure, it mentions snow & winter but I don't think it conveys the same emotion as, say, "Baby, it's Cold Outside" or "Winter Wonderland" or "Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow."

Fish42

12-02-2002, 04:22 PM

Best: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love

ruadh

12-02-2002, 04:28 PM

Coldie nailed the best one. As for the worst, "Silver Bells" makes me want to puke!

Dewey Cheatem Undhow

12-02-2002, 04:38 PM

The best Christmas song of all time is Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." etc).

And only the Nat King Cole version. All others are at best pale imitations and at worst serious heresies (N'Sync, I'm looking at you).

Damn that song is smooth.

I can't believe that's butter!

12-02-2002, 04:40 PM

Originally posted by Jeff Olsen
Just remembered something I saw over the weekend, it was an Oak Ridge Boys concert titled "An Inconvenient Chrsistmas". The fact that it was recorded in Branson should have been a tipoff. Yeesh, what dreck! If it hadn't been for the interminable pleas for $14* to feed starving American children I would have kept watching just for the amusement value (e.g.: the audience cheering every time Richard (http://www.oakridgeboys.com/Pages/richard.html) had a solo. WTF?) but instead I changed the channel after 15 minutes.

*a $14 donation buys 100 pounds of food? Exactly how does that work? 100 pounds of what, canned beans? And how much of that $14 goes toward overhead?

Many people are enchanted with bass voices, for some odd reason.

I think the one of the best/worst Christmas songs ever is "Hippopatumus for Christmas" by Gayla Peevey (Recorded here in Oklahoma City way back in 1953 to promote the buying of a hippopatumus for the OKC zoo; it died a few years ago, IIRC). Mind, I think the arrangement of the music is excellent with it's reminiscent "old-time-popular-song" feel, it's just that the character in the song sounds like a snot, which, OTOH, is probably the original intent of the song (actually written in 1951), to poke fun at little kids who "want the moon".

kevlaw

12-02-2002, 04:40 PM

Just reading the title of Fairy Tale of New York gives me goosebumps. Best ever. No question.

Nat King Cole singing Mary's Boy Child could be a close second.

As an englishman living in the US, I really miss hearing Christmas Carols in stores. I can't stand all those cheesy songs about the christmas season that somehow neglect the first syllable of the word Christmas. I detest the phrase "Happy Holidays".

Worst offender - Jingle Bell Rock.

MovieMogul

12-02-2002, 05:02 PM

Worst: Streisand's version of Jingle Bells. Horrible.

Best: I've got a soft spot for Little Drummer Boy. As for more modern songs, I very rarely hear Jethro Tull's Another Christmas Song mentioned though it stands up to the other rock versions mentioned here.

kevja

12-02-2002, 05:10 PM

Originally posted by Fish42
Best: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by Darlene Love

Oh yes! It rules.

"Happy Christmas/The War Is Over" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono is a close second.

Kaitlyn

12-02-2002, 05:11 PM

"A Merry Christmas at Grandmothers" by The Andrews Sisters (with an uncredited Danny Kaye singing lead).

Legomancer

12-02-2002, 05:15 PM

All of you Doctor Who fans should look for a song called "I'm Going to Spend My Christmas With a Dalek".

You will know pain.

UWmite

12-02-2002, 05:43 PM

I must second the selections of It's In Every One of Us for best (gosh, makes me cry even more now that Jim Henson & John Denver are no longer with us) and The Christmas Shoes for worst.

But, second choices would be the song the ghost of christmas present sings in the Muppet Christmas Carol for best (yes, I like the muppets). Worst: anything from Stan & Doug's "Oh I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas" album. Nothing worse than two guys with fake Scandahoovian accents singing mock christmas carols.

I can't believe that's butter!

12-02-2002, 05:48 PM

Originally posted by Joe K
Many people are enchanted with bass voices, for some odd reason.

I think the one of the best/worst Christmas songs ever is "Hippopatumus for Christmas" by Gayla Peevey (Recorded here in Oklahoma City way back in 1953 to promote the buying of a hippopatumus for the OKC zoo; it died a few years ago, IIRC). Mind, I think the arrangement of the music is excellent with it's reminiscent "old-time-popular-song" feel, it's just that the character in the song sounds like a snot, which, OTOH, is probably the original intent of the song (actually written in 1951), to poke fun at little kids who "want the moon".

Couple corrections, if I may: First, I took a wrongful stab at "hippopotamus". Secondly, the song was actually written in 1950. Sorry about that.

Apollyon

12-02-2002, 06:15 PM

Originally posted by ArchiveGuy
Best: I've got a soft spot for Little Drummer Boy.
For unknown reasons (though no doubt odd and subconcious) that one has always been a favourite of mine (and caused goosebumps).

My other nomination for best (perhaps just from happy childhood memories) is Snoopy's Christmas (http://www.enischool.com/htmls/menu/song/carol_119.htm).

Worst: Most of the Christmas drek that gets pumped through the malls... although there is something amusing about sweltering heat and people in summer clothes thinking of beaches and BBQs and in the background they're playing "Let it snow" or "Winter Wonderland". :)

Larry Mudd

12-02-2002, 06:36 PM

Madonna's Wanna-be-Marilyn take on Santa Baby (http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~kennyz/madonna_lyrics/_santa_baby.html)

Whenever I hear it, it makes me thankful, in retrospect, that there was no molten lead handy to pour into my ears to make it stop!!

I'm a big Eartha Kitt fan, FWIW-- it's not the song, it's that voice of Madonna's. You know, the one that utterly convinces you there's no God.

Kat

12-02-2002, 10:12 PM

Best traditional songs: Angels We Have Heard on High, especially by a choir, and Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful. Carol of the Bells is up there, too. Also O Holy Night.

Best original contemporary songs: Til Santa's Gone (Milk and Cookies and Slow as Christmas from Clint Black's Looking for Christmas CD. All the songs on that album, in fact, but those are my top two.

K364

12-02-2002, 11:15 PM

Best: The John Lennon one.

Worst: The Paul McCartney one.

K364

12-02-2002, 11:21 PM

I also like "When a Child is Born" by Boney M.

And many others from their Christmas album.

RexDart

12-02-2002, 11:42 PM

The absolute worst is "Simply Having a Wonderful Christmastime" by Paul McCartney. The dang song is just empty and repetitive, drab droll and monotonous, nauseating and horrifically plain. It wears away at your brain until there's nothing left, like that carnivorous ear thing from Star Trek 2.

I swear, McCartney must have been braindead when he wrote that. Or, more likely, he let Linda write it and didn't have the heart to tell her how GOD-FRICKIN' AWFUL it was. You know, like her tamborine playing.

lee

12-03-2002, 12:44 AM

Good King Wenceslas is my favorite. Great tune, Great message. Go out and do something for the poor, and do it yourself, don't sit at home in your comfy castle and send others out.

Worst is Rudolf the red nose reindeer. Message:It is ok to make fun of those who are different and if you are different, just make yourself useful. Like telling a story about a kid who needs those metal crutches and leg braces, and he is made fun of and excluded and that it is ok because eventually he is accepted because he can serve as their TV antenna because of all the metal.

RexDart

12-03-2002, 01:15 AM

Originally posted by lee

Worst is Rudolf the red nose reindeer. Message:It is ok to make fun of those who are different and if you are different, just make yourself useful. Like telling a story about a kid who needs those metal crutches and leg braces, and he is made fun of and excluded and that it is ok because eventually he is accepted because he can serve as their TV antenna because of all the metal.

I think you've got this one wrong. Those other reindeer mocked Rudolph, but in the end they were humbled because they realized they needed him. It's not that their tauntings weren't wrong in the first place, it's that they didn't realize it until they saw the value of Rudolph's individuality. They needed that lesson, because they wouldn't have realized it otherwise.

The message of the song is that our differences and unique features are not inferior, but rather that this diversity is beneficial. Sure, the other reindeer shouldn't have laughed and called Rudolph names, and their behaviour was wrong even had it turned out that Rudy's nose was utterly useless. But the song goes a step further and actually shows Rudolph's difference as making him superior in some situations, and rubbing that fact in the other reindeers' noses, so to speak ;)

Would you have liked it better had Rudolph shunned the acceptance of his peers gained by the song's end, because they had been mean to him before? Should he have held himself aloof and hold the other reindeer retroactively to his standards of behaviour? I suppose he could have, and perhaps those naughty reindeer would have been taught an even better lesson....but would that have made Rudolph happy? In the long run, probably not. The song teaches that being different or unique can be a special thing, not a badge of shame. Isn't that a good enough lesson in your opinion?

partly_warmer

12-03-2002, 01:35 AM

Interesting responses. It appears that even songs that are widely disliked are nonetheless liked by others. Am I mistaken, or is there a more varied response to "what's good" than in standard vocals?

Myself, I moderately like "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer". It's a family favorite.

And I don't find the Lennon/Ono Christmas songs much better than the McCartney: they're both all right.

"Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer" I always thought was a little artificial, but not objectionable.

"Santa Baby" is kinda cute -- and I loathe Madonna.

The negative comment about "Silver Bells" kinda floors me. True, it's very modern, but it seems honest nonetheless.

Least favs are: Beach Boys "Little Saint Nick" -- lame, and out of the holiday spirit. "Feed the World" -- is that what it's called? The most stupid, Hollywood, culturally insensitive song ever written -- "Do they know it's Christmas time at all"? No, you zombies, they mostly AREN'T Christian. That song REALLY irritates me. Gag a Hollywood star today and make the world a better place. Remind me that there are idiots who think we can solve world hunger by shipping central Africa our surplus grain one year.

From the traditional stuff the song that goes -- I'm trying not to bring it to mind -- "So to honor him, rat-a-pan-pan, me and my drum".

Favorite songs? White Christmas ain't hay. O Holy Night. A good part of "The Messiah", or does that count? Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing still gets me sometimes, even after innumerable repetitions.

Legomancer

12-03-2002, 08:31 AM

Originally posted by partly_warmer
"Feed the World" -- is that what it's called? The most stupid, Hollywood, culturally insensitive song ever written -- "Do they know it's Christmas time at all"? No, you zombies, they mostly AREN'T Christian. That song REALLY irritates me. Gag a Hollywood star today and make the world a better place.

I can't really defend the song too much, but a couple of things. Hollywood had nothing to do with it - the 'Band Aid' (and later 'Live Aid') record was started by Irish musician Bob Geldof (of the Boomtown Rats) and the song was recorded by primarily UK artists. American artists then did a similar project with USA for Africa.

The song itself has a LOT of irony and sarcasm in it, especially the line about "Do they know it's Christmas". It's Bob Geldolf, after all, and he's a pretty sharp tack. I think he's aware that the people in question weren't Christian. I think he's also aware of how the people who were Christians didn't give a damn about them, and felt that doing nothing was okay because the problem couldn't be solved. They didn't end world hunger, but they gave some hungry people some food, which is more than I did.

Obviously I have a soft spot for the song.

plnnr

12-03-2002, 09:04 AM

"The best Christmas song of all time is Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." etc).

And only the Nat King Cole version. All others are at best pale imitations and at worst serious heresies (N'Sync, I'm looking at you).

Damn that song is smooth."

I vote for Mel Torme's original version as he wrote the song, but Nat King Cole's version will do in a pinch.

I also can listen to all of Ella Fitzgerald's "Ella Wishes You A Swingin' Christmas" repeatedly.

My least favorite is Barbara Streisand's version of "Jingle Bells." It is at a really fast pace and sounds like she's on cocaine.

Telemark

12-03-2002, 09:39 AM

The Roches did a Christmas Album with a great version of Winter Wonderland, done with some nice NYC accents.

cichlidiot

12-03-2002, 11:00 AM

Best: Cool Yule by Louis Armstrong

I liked this song so much the first time I heard it, I bought a Louis Armstrong Christmas cd a few years ago and this song is on it. It's impossible for me to hear it and not break out in a huge grin.

"...and you're gonna flip when old St. Nick, plays a lick on a peppermint stick."

Worst: Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who hates it. I'll also add as close runners up, any of the Christmas songs with dogs barking or cats meowing. Though I don't mind the cat one so much now, as I saw a video of three ladies meowing along to Jingle Bells and being attacked by a Siamese cat for their troubles. Good times.:p

quarx

12-03-2002, 11:21 AM

My picks for the best?

I found the brains of Santa Clause (http://members.tripod.com/~BPlusChords/guitar/brainssc.htm)

I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Clause (http://www.mikestrickland.net/christmas/xmaslyrc.htm#I%20Saw%20Daddy%20Kissing%20Santa%20Clause)

Pretty much ever other Christmas Carol is tied for worst in my book.

AllShookDown

12-03-2002, 12:40 PM

Best: Father Christmas - The Kinks

Worst: The Little Drummer Boy

MaxTheVool

12-03-2002, 02:31 PM

Best serious Christmas music:
Oh Come, All Ye Faithful
Oh Holy Night
Large sections of The Nutcracker

I also have a fondness for Weird Al's Christmas at Ground Zero

Soup_du_jour

12-03-2002, 03:10 PM

Best Christmas song ever:
Oh, Holy Night! N*Sync does a pretty good job a capella, but I still enjoy the operatic-tenor-solo style best.

Close seconds are Coventry Carol, Riu Riu Chiu, Once in Royal David's City, and Zither Carol. What can I say? I love carols!

Worst would have to be Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You, or whatever it's called.

The worst traditional song is The 12 Days of Christmas for the reasons mentioned above. The song reeks of major suckitude.

SpartanDC

12-03-2002, 03:48 PM

Favorite religious Christmas song: O Holy Night. I think I almost cry just about everytime I hear it.

Favorite secular Christmas song: Happy Christmas/War Is Over. It's the only Christmas song I can listen to outside of December. It will seem especially poingnant this year, and even moreso next year, the way things seem to be going.

Worst Christmas song: Joe K, thank you for telling me the origins of Hippopotomus For Christmas. Now, when I get around to inventing my time machine, I will know how to prevent its existence. My mom has tortured me with that song every. single. year.

Also, anything off the Carpenters' Christmas album is dreck. Utter dreck.

rowrrbazzle

12-03-2002, 09:11 PM

My favorites are traditional carols done in traditional choral arrangements. I don't have any particular overriding favorite. Some have a bit of a special interest for me, such as "Good King Wenceslas" and "O Little Town of Bethlehem". I also like "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen". Although its origin is unknown, it sounds like a good Welsh hymn tune.

I have a few exceptions to the traditional arrangements. On one album Joan Sutherland sings "What Child Is This" exquisitely to a beautiful ochestral accompaniment. Another carol she sings is "The 12 Days of Christmas", done to a light and funny orchestral arrangement. I think even the people who say they hate it might like her version.

I have a CD of the Robert Shaw Chorale's excellent second volume of Christmas carols. Many of the arrangements are not traditional, but the entire CD is excellent.

The best novelty songs are "The Pretty Little Dolly" by Jim Fisk (sung by Mona Abboud), and Weird Al's "The Night Santa Went Crazy". I also love the singing dogs and the hippopotamus song. :D (I hope nobody minds if I mention that Gayla Peevy is the big-voiced kid who sings the hippopotamus song. The composer is John Rox.)

Some Christmas songs I hate: Anything repeated a zillion times. South Park's "O Holy Night". It's fantastically ugly and utterly, completely vile. I simply can't listen to it when it shows up on Dr. Demento.

Treviathan

12-03-2002, 10:14 PM

I tend to spontaneously break into renditions of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" without warning. Often in April. In highschool concert plan I got to play the melody (which was a rarity, playing french horn and all) and it's just stuck with me.

"Carol of the Bells" is hauntingly beautiful.

And who can deny the transcendent emotional resonance of Bob & Doug MacKenzie's version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas"?

Treviathan

12-03-2002, 10:16 PM

Oh, that should be "concert band," by the way. I have no idea where "plan" came from. If it's Freudian, I guess I have a fairly mundane subconscious.

Lissla Lissar

12-03-2002, 10:54 PM

"On the first day of Christmas/
My true love gave to me... a beer".

Thanks, Treviathan. I'm working in retail right now, so I hate almost all Christmas music, but particularly "Santa Honey", and "Jingle Bell Rock".

Is anyone else familiar with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and their great pieces "Christmas Eve in Sarajevo" and "Revenge of the Sugar Plum Fairy"? I love those. I'm listening to "Christmas.." right now.

For traditional pieces, the only ones I really still like are the Huron Carol and "O Come Emmanuel", although they played some wonderful medieval ones at church on Sunday- all unfamiliar and cool. Okay, "Silent Night", too.