# Best Christmas Carols (songs, that is) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315 "2005-11-30T02:07:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/21 "2005-12-01T23:10:19Z")
I like traditional, but lately [Christmas Cookies](http://www.inlyrics.com/lyrics/G/George%20Strait/151680.html) by George Strait has been stuck in my head. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/22 "2005-12-01T23:53:55Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Marilyn Monroe had a _Santa Baby_? Are you sure it wasn’t Eartha Kitt? No, I’ve also got the (fabulous) Kitt version. Still, turns out you’re right and it’s really [Cynthia Basinet](http://www.cynthiabasinet.com/PRWeb-NoNotMarilyn.htm) ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/23 "2005-12-02T00:05:13Z")
I guess I’m kind of a freak because I really like Christmas music/carols. These are among my favorites. Blue Christmas/Elvis Presley Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)/Darlene Love or U2 Christmas All Over Again/Tom Petty Happy Christmas (War Is Over)/John Lennon and Yoko Ono I’ll Be Home for Christmas/Donna Summer Little Saint Nick/Beach Boys Merry Christmas Darling/Carpenters Rocking Around the Christmas Tree/Brenda Lee The Christmas Song/Doris Day The Secret of Christmas/SheDaisy ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/24 "2005-12-02T00:51:04Z")
This thread reminds me to hunt up my Mel Torme CD, for the express purpose of listening to my favorite, the definitive **The Christmas Song** , by the guy who wrote it. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/25 "2005-12-02T01:25:39Z")
[Gaudete](http://steeleye.freeservers.com/gaudete.htm) always seems incredably beautiful to me. (but needs to be sung professionally) ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/26 "2005-12-02T02:30:59Z")
Some of my favourite songs ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’ - Emerson Lake and Palmer ‘The Christmas Traveller’ and ‘The Christmas Wish’- The Rovers (Actually, I love the whole ‘It Was A Night Like This’ album). I also really enjoy the traditional carols, I had this wonderful version of O Holy Night I can’t recall who it was by though, except that it’s not in English. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/27 "2005-12-02T02:36:28Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton. I don’t care if it’s really a Christmas carol, I want to hear it! Caught it on the radio this afternoon. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/28 "2005-12-02T03:21:27Z")
“Veni, Veni” (O Come All ye Faithful sung in Latin) by Mannheim Steamroller. Not a big fan of electric music, but this rendition, with a choir, is gorgeous. “Silent Night” (in Celtic) by Enya. Her voice is earth shatteringly beautiful. Also “Silent Night” by Jewel. She sings it simply and sweetly. “O Holy Night” by 98 degrees (seriously) Not a perfect rendition, but the best I’ve heard. Harmonies are good, they don’t muck it up with extraneous nonsense, but Lachey falls just short on that last note. Mariah Carey’s version starts out great until she flips on the vocal acrobatics. “(Breath of Heaven) Mary’s Song” by Amy Grant. Simple and moving. Amy Grant does the best overall Xmas albums, IMO, because she sings them simply. “Let There Be Peace on Earth” by Vince Gill - Gill sings this with his daughter. “What Child is This?” instrumental “Nutcracker Suite” instrumental George Winston’s (Windham Hill) “Winter Solstice” David Lanz’s “Christmas” and “Christmas Eve” are also great instrumentals ---
**Author:** ![inkleberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f17d59/32.png) [@inkleberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inkleberry)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/29 "2005-12-02T03:28:36Z")
Father Christmas by The Kinks Dominic the Donkey (no idea who sings it) Walking 'Round in Women’s Underwear ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/30 "2005-12-02T04:35:03Z")
“'Zat You Santa Claus?” - The Brian Setzer Orchestra\* “A Christmas Long Ago (Jingle Jingle)” - The Echelons “A Marshmallow World” - Dean Martin “Blue Christmas” - Johnny Cash or the one that sounds like Porky Pig “Carol of the Birds” - Mannheim Steamroller\* “Children Go Where I Send Thee” - Natalie Merchant\* “Christmas Blues” - John Popper with Eric Clapton\* “Christmas Eve in My Home Town” - Bobby Vinton “Christmas in Dixie” - Alabama “Christmas in Hollis” - Run-DMC\* “Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You” - SR-71\* “Christmas Tears” - Eric Clapton\* “Christmas Time Again” - Extreme\* “December Snow” - The Moody Blues\* “Deck the Hall” - Nat King Cole “Dominick the Donkey” - Lou Monte “Don’t Need a Reindeer” - The Moody Blues\* “Even Santa Gets the Blues” - Marty Stuart “Frosty the Snowman” - Michael Keaton & The Jack Frost Band\* “Gloria” - Jewel\* “Go Tell It on the Mountain” - Jim Nabors “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” - Rosemary Clooney “Here Comes Santa Claus” - Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters\* “I’d Like to Hitch a Ride With Santa Claus” - The Andrews Sisters\* “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” - Tift Merritt\* “I Pray on Christmas” - Harry Connick, Jr.\* “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” - The Drifters “I Saw Three Ships” - Sting\* “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” - Bing Crosby “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” - Toni Braxton\* “Jing-a-Ling, Jing-a-Ling” - The Andrews Sisters\* “Jingle Bell Rock” - Randy Travis\* “Jingle Bells” - Earl Scruggs\* or Big Bad Voodoo Daddy\* “Jolly Old St. Nick” - Canadian Brass\* “Joy to the World” - Mannheim Steamroller\* “Last Night I Saw Santa Claus” - New Kids on the Block “Leroy the Redneck Reindeer” - Joe Diffie “Little Drummer Boy” - The Tokens, Ray Charles, or Johnny Cash “Little Red Rooster” - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers\* “Los Peces en el Rio” - Mannheim Steamroller\* “Love for Christmas” - The Gems “Merry Christmas Baby” - Dion, Bruce Springsteen\*, or Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra with vocals by Sonny Parker “Merry, Merry Christmas Baby” - Dodie Stevens “Mr. Heatmiser” - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy\* “O Christmas Tree” - Aretha Franklin\* “O Holy Night” - Tracy Chapman\* “Please Come Home for Christmas” - Jon Bon Jovi\* “Pretty Paper” - Roy Orbison or Willie Nelson “Rockabilly Christmas” - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy\* “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” - Jewel\* or The Cadillacs “Santa Claus Is Back in Town” - The Brian Setzer Orchestra\* “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” - Dolly Parton, Frank Sinatra (with Cyndi Lauper\* or without), The Pointer Sisters\*, or the Supremes “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy” - Buck Owens “Silent Night” - The Music City Brass, Canadian Brass, or Ray Charles “Silver Bells” - Elvis “Sleigh Ride” - Debbie Gibson\*, Harry Connick, Jr._, The Ventures, or Leroy Anderson “Sleigh Runners” - Canadian Brass_ “Snoopy’s Christmas” - The Royal Guardsmen “The Christmas Song” - Ray Charles “The First Noel” - Pat Boone “The Happy Elf” - Harry Connick, Jr.\* “The Man With the Bag” - The Brian Setzer Orchestra\* “The Marvelous Toy” - The Irish Rovers\* (much better than Peter Paul & Mary) “The Merry Christmas Waltz” - Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians with vocals by Kenny Gardner “The Nutcracker Suite” - The Brian Setzer Orchestra\* “They Shined Up Rudolph’s Nose” - Johnny Horton “This Christmas (Hang all the Mistletoe)” - Macy Gray\* “Milk and Cookies (Til’ Santa’s Gone)” - Clint Black\* “Twelve Days of Christmas” - John Denver & The Muppets “Twinkle Twinkle Little Me” - The Supremes “Twistin’ Bells” - Santo & Johnny “We Three Kings” - Spinal Tap “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” - John Denver & The Muppets “What Child Is This” - Vanessa Williams\* “White Christmas” - The Moody Blues\* “Winter Wonderland” - Harry Connick, Jr.\* “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” - The Brian Setzer Orchestra\* “You’re All I Want for Christmas” - Bing Crosby\* \*Should be available via iTMS. > [@bordelond](#): > > Can anyone recommend a version of “Silent Night” sung in the original German (“Stille Nacht”)? Choral version is fine, but I am curious if there are any definitive solo versions sung by German-speaking artists? I have a couple of choral arrangements that are sung once in the original German then switch to English. One is by Children Sing for Children and the other is John Denver & The Muppets. The latter features John Denver reciting the history of the piece. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/31 "2005-12-02T12:27:29Z")
My two favorites are: “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth” by Bing Crosby and David Bowie “Santa Baby” by Eartha Kitt (known to some of you as the Catwoman) ---
**Author:** ![percussion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@percussion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percussion)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/32 "2005-12-02T12:38:41Z")
kenny and dolly, christmas without you booya ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/33 "2005-12-02T14:05:03Z")
thank you \*\*Lute Skywalker \*\* for that awesome list - I will be downloading this weekend. \*\*Madd Maxx \*\* - as for _Santa Baby_, I much prefer Madonna’s version (and no, I did not almost type “virgin” :D) ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/34 "2005-12-02T15:46:58Z")
it occurs to me you folks can help me there is a Barry Manilow big band-y holiday song. In my head I can hear snipets of it but not enough to identify it. Does anyone knwo which song I am referring to? it’s been driving me crazy ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/35 "2005-12-02T16:34:13Z")
You just can’t beat [**A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector**](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781CDF49A97620C8852D1599E620D210DF4BF58150234558C0B73844810473FD0DA7C6CFAEF875B47CE3FE2FAE580DD9CBEE468DA1&sql=10:2rsqoawayijp)! The Crystals’ version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is especially recommended. Also, I really like the “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings” cut by Barenaked Ladies with Sara McLachlan off [this album.](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4781CDF49A97620C8852D1599E620D210DF4BF58150234558C0B73844810473FD0DA7C6CFAEF875B47CE3FE2FAE5807D9C8EB468DA1&sql=10:kq6jtr8rkl2x). ---
**Author:** ![Ensign\_Edison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ab992/32.png) [@Ensign\_Edison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ensign_Edison)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/36 "2005-12-02T16:47:36Z")
“Gabriel’s Message” - Sting ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/37 "2005-12-02T20:25:39Z")
> [@anyrose](#): > > it occurs to me you folks can help me > there is a Barry Manilow big band-y holiday song. In my head I can hear snipets of it but not enough to identify it. Does anyone knwo which song I am referring to? it’s been driving me crazy not to be a pest but - i really do want to know the title of this song surely one of you know what it is? please? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/38 "2005-12-02T21:27:47Z")
[Any of these, anyrose?](http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?userid=3U6Ncz9BSq&EAN=755174567629&ITM=1) ---
**Author:** ![Wartime\_Consigliori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@Wartime\_Consigliori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wartime_Consigliori)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/39 "2005-12-02T21:28:37Z")
**The Fairytale of New York** by the Pogues with Kirsti MacColl (sic). ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315/40 "2005-12-02T21:49:52Z")
> [@Dung Beetle](#): > > [Any of these, anyrose?](http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?userid=3U6Ncz9BSq&EAN=755174567629&ITM=1) no speakers at work - i’ll let you know when i get home thank you! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-christmas-carols-songs-that-is/333315.md?page=3)