Fifth verse of the Wassailing song:
No one’s mentioned Elton John’s Cold as Chrismas, which is good, because I don’t think anyone’s ever confused it with a Christmas song. Yet for some reason it gets more radio play in December than any other time of the year. Despite the fact that it explicitly says in the lyrics that it’s July. Go figure.
Oh, and Frosty the Snowman. Winter, certainly, no Christmas.
Where does the Die Hard Soundtrack fit?
A recent addition is White Winter Hymnal by Pentatonix.
It was a Christmas number 1 in the UK.
Very true. The 4 weeks before Christmas (technically, the Feast of the Nativity) were traditionally spent in fasting and penance, not unlike Lent, and then 12 weeks of feasting and partying instead of quickly tearing the lights off the house and putting the tree and decorations away.
So I’ve heard. I’ve seen “Only You” by the Flying Pickets (later covered by Yaz) also on British Christmas anthologies but have never been sure why or why it has a Christmas connection. I also saw “Walking in the Air” by Aled Jones and wasn’t sure of the Christmas connection on that either, then learned it was on “The Snowman” (something I never encountered growing up in the U.S.)
I’ve always associated “Hitsville U.K.” by The Clash with Christmas for some reason, although it has naught to do with Christmas, except appearing in the Christmas-themed film “Millions”. It has a kind of cheery Christmas sound to it, as well.
(O/T, is your screen name an oblique reference to Fritz Leiber?)
How about “I Was Born on Christmas Day” by Saint Etienne? It’s one of my fave dance songs ever.
While the song mentions:
it doesn’t say much about the holiday.
Nitpick. Huge edit by me.
“Only You” was written by Vince Clark and later recorded and released when he was a member of Yazoo (Yaz) in 1982.
The Flying Pickets version came out in late 1983.
The Hallelujah Chorus comes from the book of Revelation and the End of the World.
19:6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
I’ve never thought of it as a Christmas or Easter song.
The liturgical Christmas season never lasted 12 weeks, as that’d be most of the way to Easter (and hence well into Lent). And in fact there’s several weeks of Ordinary Time between the end of Christmas and Ash Wednesday.
My typo, sorry. I meant to wrote 12 DAYS, not weeks. 12 weeks of feasting would kill anybody…
It does sort of stretch past Twelthnight, though. The Epiphany is generally celebrated over the course of three Sundays, reflecting three separate Epiphany events (Jesus’ baptism, the visit from the Magi, and the wedding feast at Canae). I think that the latter of those are technically Ordinary Time, but it’s still enough of an excuse to leave the tree up for a little longer.
For anyone interested, these are the actual 12 Days of Christmas as currently practiced:
December 25th–The Nativity of Our Lord
December 26th—Feast of St. Stephen, first martyr
December 27th—Feast of St. John, apostle and evangelist
December 28th—Feast of the Holy Innocents, martyrs
December 29th—Memorial of St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury, bishop and martyr
December 30th—Feast of the Holy Family
December 31st—Memorial of St. Sylvester I, pope (in Eastern Church, this is the Apodosis, or final day of the Afterfeast)
January 1st —Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
January 2nd —Memorials of St. Basil the Great and St. Gregory Nazianzen, bishops and doctors
January 3rd —Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Jesus
January 4th —St. Elizabeth Ann Seton
January 5th —Memorial of St. John Neumann, bishop & St. Telesphorus, pope and martyr
January 6th —Epiphany (traditional)
Well, right now, easy listening radio station KKMJ (95.5 FM) is playing “Christmas” songs 24/7. Among the “Christmas” songs?
“My Favorite Things” by Andy Williams. Shoot, that’s not even (really) a WINTER song, let alone a Christmas song. It mentions snowflakes and wool mittens, but that’s about it.
“Baby It’s Cold Outside” (by several different duets). Definitely not a Christmas song.
And of course “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” could be set on any day in Winter. Heck, even in Spring or Fall, in some places!
That used to be the Feast of the Circumcision, but apparently that’s been changed some time in the past 40 years or so. It might be what Chronos meant by Jesus’ baptism, above. BTW, from Christmas to Epiphany, inclusive, is actually 13 days, not 12.
To get back on topic, how about Dan Fogleberg’s Same Old Lang Syne, which, while it takes place on Christmas Eve, is not actually about the holiday.
You would think. But following the old Jewish custom, on many older Christian holidays the “day” of the holiday is seen as beginning at sunset.
Like “My Favorite Things”, “What a Wonderful World” is increasingly found on Christmas music collections, although I don’t recall ever hearing either of them as “Christmas carols” when I was a kid.
Same idea with “Joy to the World.” The curse won’t be lifted until Christ’s second coming, as described in Revelation.
No more let sins or sorrows grow
Or thorns infest the ground.