# Christmas music I can do without: 2011 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2011, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536 "2011-11-20T08:33:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/81 "2011-11-24T16:33:44Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > I can also do without the Little Drummer Boy. Is there anything about that song that makes the least bit of sense? Of course, the pa-Rum-pa-pum-pum part! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/82 "2011-11-24T17:05:24Z")
First place: I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas Second place: nothing even comes close I first heard that song five years ago. Why couldn’t I have gone my whole life without hearing it? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/83 "2011-11-24T18:04:50Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Christmas Shoes.** [Patton Oswalt put this much better than I could.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq10bz3PxyY) I watched that video and thought it was funny, but I’m with several other posters on here who said they’ve never actually heard the song “Christmas Shoes” before. I looked it up on YouTube and found it. Listened to about a third of it before having to turn it off. It’s pretty bad, but how much airplay does it get? Because I’m 39 and I’ve never heard it before. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/84 "2011-11-24T22:06:51Z")
Actually, the “Through the years we all will be together if the fates allow” is from Meet Me in Saint Louis, set around 1900, and Judy Garland’s singing it to her little sister, who’s depressed because they’re going to move. This thread reminds me of the time a woman chose a song on a jukebox to play called “Here Comes Santa!” The lyrics run like this: “Here comes Santa with his sack of s#%! His sack of s#@!” Over and over. She was appalled, but it was kind of funny. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/85 "2011-11-25T00:24:51Z")
That toneless thing about “Chet’s nuts roasting on an open fire” (or something like that). Either the Bing Crosby _or_ the Mel Torme version. And Bing Crosby’s “Jingle Bells”. Come to think of it, just about anything by Bing puts my teeth on edge. And why has nobody yet added Springsteen’s “Santa Clause is comin’” to their hate list? Allow me the pleasure of being first. One song that always grates is Ray Charles’ “Little Drummer Boy”. I like Ray Charles on other songs. And I like “Drummer Boy” by other singers. But somehow the two together just don’t work. “Rudolph the red-nosed Reindeer”, a la Gene Autry is so corny it’s almost (but not quite) likeable. On the other hand, put me in the ranks of folks who happen to love “Mary’s Boy Child” by Boney M. In fact it’s one of my favorites. SS ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2011, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/86 "2011-11-25T02:42:26Z")
We have the album of Christmas music by Jim Reeves that includes “Mary’s Boy Child.” I’ve always loved it. It was especially endearing to me the first Christmas after our son was born. At a Christmas pageant at my kids’ school, one class based their performance on “Mary’s Boy Child,” but did a rock-n-roll rendition. Bleah. (Before the taxpayers stage a First Amendment revolt, it was a parochial school.) ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Tess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@Tess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tess)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/87 "2011-11-30T10:07:06Z")
“It’s the Holiday Season.” At least I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s called. How lazy do you have to be to write a song where 2/3 of the lyrics are gibberish? The part that drives me up the wall is the “words” “doop ee doo and dickery dock/don’t forget to hang up your sock.” Sock? The songwriter apparently couldn’t come up with a rhyme for stocking so he used sock and still couldn’t think of a real word. It’s not that hard. Off the top of my head-flock, dock, block, frock, smock. Quick! Someone put this to music. Throw in some sleigh bells and we’ll have the next Christmas hit. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/88 "2011-11-30T18:23:54Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Feliz Navidad.** In my office they have piped in music in the bathrooms, and I have now heard **four** different versions of this song. It’s not even December yet. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/89 "2011-11-30T18:49:40Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > **Any of Bob Rivers’ ‘Twisted Christmas’ songs.** This kind of humor stopped being funny to me around the time I outgrew the Disney Channel. Unfortunately, since Bob Rivers’ home station is right near here in Seattle, it’s a given that I will have to listen to “I am Santa Claus” and “Walkin’ 'Round in Women’s Underwear” and “It’s the Most Fattening Time of the Year” over and over again. Weird Al would be spinning in his grave if he were dead. Seconded. As for Weird Al, I find “Christmas at Ground Zero” and “The Night Santa Went Crazy” effective when I need to purge the glurge from my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/90 "2011-11-30T19:13:38Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Here’s the rule of thumb. EVERY non-religious carol SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS. > > A goodly number of the religious carols are less than stellar, but most of them are OK, at least in moderation, and some are outstanding. > > This, by the way, is a musical judgement, not an opinion based in my own religious belief or lack thereof. This right here, with the exception of Carol of the Bells. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/91 "2011-11-30T19:28:03Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I also kind of like “We Three Kings,” particularly the verse that goes, “Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume, breathes a life of gathering gloom, sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in a stone cold tomb.” Cheery! (Probably I like it because I rarely hear that verse, wonder why not?) I linked [this](http://youtu.be/_39CvxinT7M) version in the “favorite Christmas songs” thread, and not only does it include that verse, it’s sung by the basses. Badass. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/92 "2011-11-30T20:22:46Z")
I have a Xmas Pandora station and before even knowing it’s him, I vote down every Kenny Rogers Xmas song. ---
**Author:** ![missinformation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@missinformation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missinformation)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/93 "2011-12-01T00:24:16Z")
Christmas in Killarney (with all the folks at home) First year working retail at Sear’s, main cash wrap. Working 7a-4p…go to work in the dark, go home in the dark…no windows… and that song got stuck on loop for 9 hours that day…I was ready to take a hostage!!! ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/94 "2011-12-01T03:59:05Z")
_Up on the Housetop_: I hate, hate, HATE this song. Hate the melody, hate the unbelievably stupid lyrics. _Jolly Old St Nicholas_: sounds religious, but it’s really about the smug self-righteous narrator demanding to know what Santa’s bringing him/her because they’re Santa’s favorite, don’t you know. At least that’s what it sounds like to me. _Santa Baby_: I always thought she was more of a whore than a gold-digger. Also hate _Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer_, but I’d listen to that any day rather than the others. Those of you who hate _12 Days of Christmas_, Google \*The 12 Days After Christmas \*as therapy. The melody is different, and the lyrics begin “One the first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight. And so I chopped the pear tree down, and burned it just for spite. And with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge…” Hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/95 "2011-12-01T04:00:38Z")
> [@missinformation](#): > > Christmas in Killarney (with all the folks at home) > > First year working retail at Sear’s, main cash wrap. Working 7a-4p…go to work in the dark, go home in the dark…no windows… > > and that song got stuck on loop for 9 hours that day…I was ready to take a hostage!!! I hate stores with endless looped background noise being played over the loudspeakers, be it ads, music, whatever. I always feel sorry for employees who have to listen to it all day. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/96 "2011-12-01T05:50:19Z")
> [@Kemanchi](#): > > I think it’s [Same Old Lang Syne](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same_Old_Lang_Syne)🙂 I think you’re right. I still don’t think it’s a Christmas song. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/97 "2011-12-01T07:19:12Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > Those of you who hate _12 Days of Christmas_, Google \*The 12 Days After Christmas \*as therapy. The melody is different, and the lyrics begin “One the first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight. And so I chopped the pear tree down, and burned it just for spite. And with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge…” Hilarious. No, you don’t get it. The precise reason people hate 12 DoC is because there are so many insipid fill-in-the-blank overplayed parodies out there. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/98 "2011-12-03T04:31:42Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > I hate stores with endless looped background noise being played over the loudspeakers, be it ads, music, whatever. I always feel sorry for employees who have to listen to it all day. It might actually not be that bad. I’ve worked in places with shitty music playing all day, and after awhile it just sort of…ceased to register. I’ve literally had customers ask me “boy, don’t you ever get tired of this music?” and I’d have to think about it for a minute, because music? What music? Oh yeah, that music. I guess it _is_ a little annoying, now that I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/99 "2011-12-03T22:33:50Z")
While we’re all bitching about Christmas, does anyone here understand these lyrics from Do You Hear What I Hear? > [@](#): > > A Child, a Child > Shivers in the cold > Let us bring Him silver and gold > Let us bring Him silver and gold 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536/100 "2011-12-03T22:38:44Z")
It’s supposed to be a poetic description of the Wise Men’s journey, not a “kid is chilly = bring precious metal” problem/solution. This infant went from warm in his mother’s belly to born and laid to rest in a stable’s manger. The Wise Men will be traveling with precious gifts to honor this very special baby. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-music-i-can-do-without-2011-edition/603536.md?page=6)