# Christmas songs - so many questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [December 23, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994 "2025-12-23T22:03:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/121 "2025-12-27T20:05:13Z")
> [@anny\_m](#): > > But the very next day, you gave it away I’m not familiar with this song, but curious-- would “ **threw** it away” work better? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/122 "2025-12-27T20:16:13Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I’m not familiar with this song Where have you been living for the last 40 years 😲 😄? At least you must be the record winner of Whamageddon… > **[WHAMAGEDDON](https://whamageddon.com/)** > > Avoid 'Last Christmas'. Join the fun. Last until Christmas. Become the envy of your friends and family. Enjoy being a Christmas grinch. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/123 "2025-12-27T20:24:13Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Where have you been living for the last 40 years I’m Jewish. I don’t listen to Christmas music. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/124 "2025-12-27T20:39:59Z")
I know, and I’m also not Christian, but “Last Christmas” is as secular as a song can get, and it’s almost legendarily unavoidable in December. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/125 "2025-12-27T20:44:15Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > It’s claimed that _Jingle Bells_ was inspired by sleigh races held about a half-mile away, but that seems to be somewhat disputed. I understood that it was just some guy from Massachusetts who’d moved to the South for some reason and missed certain wintertime activities. Specifically, taking girls out for a sleighride. Actually, it has nothing to do with Christmas, but just about every song about winter got roped into being a Christmas song. Others like that are _Baby, It’s Cold Outside_; _Frosty the Snowman_; _Let it Snow_; _Winter Wonderland_; and even _My Favorite Things_, which isn’t even about winter. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/126 "2025-12-27T20:45:59Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > “Last Christmas” is as secular a song can get, but it’s almost legendarily unavoidable in December. Depending on what you listen to, of course. It’s common for radio stations here in the U.S. to go to an “all-holiday” format during December, and most of them play a mix of “standards” and modern songs; “Last Christmas” is a staple in that format. Similarly, there are holiday music channels on satellite and streaming radio which will play it often. But, if you don’t listen to that sort of radio format, unless you happen to catch it in a TV ad, or hear it over the sound system while shopping or dining out, it’s easy to _not_ hear it. “Whamaggedon” seemed to have become a thing over the last few years, but I’ve not heard the song in either of the last two Christmas seasons. I listened to plenty of Christmas/holiday music, but on streaming SiriusXM holiday channels which are either (a) standards-only (i.e., lots from the '40s and '50s, but no modern acts doing non-standards), or (b) instrumental only (e.g., Mannheim Steamroller). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/127 "2025-12-27T21:14:50Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > To add on that, naming the magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar also happened long after the gospels had been written, though I don’t exactly know the origin of those names. The Gospels don’t even say that there were three of them. All we know is that they were plural, and they gave three gifts. > [@anny\_m](#): > > So Jane gave John her heart = slept with him. The next day he slept with Mary. What does that have to do with Jane’s heart, which is presumably is the “it” he gave away? > > I suspect I’m being too literal here, but I really don’t get it. From her point of view, them having sex implicitly established an exclusive and ongoing relationship between them, and that by having sex with someone else, he was betraying that relationship, i.e., “giving her heart away”. From his point of view, of course, it was just a one-night stand, and didn’t place any further obligation on anyone. Misunderstandings like this are why, if she liked it, she should have put a ring on it. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/128 "2025-12-27T21:23:46Z")
Is there a version of this song I’m not aware of? Because in the Wham! version, George Michael is a dude. Whether he slept with a dude or dudette canonically is anyone’s guess, but the jilted person in question was a man. It was the man who should have put a ring on it. I’m just confused why the genders are mixed up in this discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/129 "2025-12-27T21:28:43Z")
Maybe it’s not the Wham version, then, but I usually hear it as a woman singing. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/130 "2025-12-27T21:34:27Z")
Is it this version? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/E8gmARGvPlI/maxresdefault.jpg "Wham! - Last Christmas (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gmARGvPlI) I just someone mistaking his voice for a girl’s voice should not be surprising. Judging by the video he wasn’t out yet. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/131 "2025-12-27T21:42:03Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Judging by the video he wasn’t out yet. Correct. “Last Christmas” was released in 1984; Michael did not come out publicly until 1998. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/132 "2025-12-27T21:45:30Z")
All I know is he had the world’s best [coming out song](https://youtu.be/diYAc7gB-0A?si=I9B1bmaslMA8i5Mf). That is a _jam_. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/133 "2025-12-27T21:45:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The Gospels don’t even say that there were three of them. All we know is that they were plural, and they gave three gifts. Yep. I just read the German wiki article about the magi, and in some Christian churches, there are traditions that speak of up to 12 magi, giving them all individual names. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/134 "2025-12-27T22:04:49Z")
“The Holly and the Ivy”: Every verse starts out by mentioning, well, holly and ivy. And then it goes on to say something about holly. What does the ivy do? Why is it even in the song? ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/135 "2025-12-27T22:44:37Z")
“Up on the housetop, reindeer paws” Even as a kid, this bothered me. What kind of weird-ass reindeer have paws instead of hooves? Re: the Geroge Michael song “Last Christmas,” I couldn’t figure out who he was going to give his heart to this year. He says he’ll give it to someone special but apparently doesn’t have a girlfriend yet, and it’s almost Christmas. I saw a Professor of Rock video about the making of the video. Apparently, there was a whole lot of drinking going on, and at some point, the entire cast was running around nekkid in the snow. Andrew Ridgeway almost came to grief doing a naked hurtle over a stone wall. Everyone was hungover during the snowball fight. > [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > > > naming the magi Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar also happened long after the gospels had been written > > Way, way after. An Armenian gospel written in about 500 CE, is the earliest known source and gave their names as Melkon, King of Persia; Gaspar, King of India; and Baldassar, King of Arabia. ([source](https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2022/12/22/who-were-the-magi/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20the%20magi%20are,and%20Baldassar%2C%20King%20of%20Arabia)) As a child, I admired Gaspar (I never did call him Caspar because that name belonged to a friendly ghost.) the most because in our creche scene, he was very tall and elegant, with coffee-colored skin and a beautiful deep blue cloak. The other two magi were sort of blah-looking. > > For true Chicagoans. Thank you! I was disappointed when I grew up and traveled and found people weren’t familiar with this. I looked forward to seeing this every year. Was it on Garfield Goose? > [@HeyHomie](#): > > Why on Earth would Parson Brown be at all interested in whether or not two children/teens are married? No, no, they make a snowman and pretend it’s Parson Brown. They pretend the Parson Brown snowman asks if they’re married. That’s how I’ve understood it. > [@Chronos](#): > > In “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, why presents on the tree? In the 19th century, people often hung presents on the tree. The presents were smaller, of course. You couldn’t put an Easy Bake Oven on a tree branch. I remember asking about this when I read one of the _Little House_ books, where the Christmas tree at church (I think) had presents hanging on it. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > How about “Later on, we’ll perspire, cause we put one two many logs on the fire.” We sang, “Later on, we’ll perspire/and use Ban by the fire.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/136 "2025-12-27T22:52:52Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > I looked forward to seeing this every year. Was it on Garfield Goose? The Ray Rayner show, I think, but it may well have aired on Garfield Goose, too. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2025, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/137 "2025-12-27T23:02:25Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > “Up on the housetop, reindeer paws” > Even as a kid, this bothered me. What kind of weird-ass reindeer have paws instead of hooves? How about “reindeer pause”? Like maybe they were making a racket and then paused when Santa jumped out of his sleigh? Maybe? > [@nelliebly](#): > > Re: the Geroge Michael song “Last Christmas,” I couldn’t figure out who he was going to give his heart to this year. He says he’ll give it to someone special but apparently doesn’t have a girlfriend yet, and it’s almost Christmas. There’s a line in there about finally finding someone but it’s petty deep. I never paid much attention to the lyrics at all until this thread. They aren’t great. > A face on a lover with a fire in his heart > A man under cover, but you tore me apart > Now I’ve found a real love. You’ll never fool me again But I do like the song. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/138 "2025-12-28T03:43:51Z")
I watched both, so it might have been Ray Rayner. It seems to me I saw it after school, though. The other Christmas cartoon I loved was “[Susie Snowflake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEe6KOWdbUs&list=RDFEe6KOWdbUs&start_radio=1).” I wonder which kids’ program featured that one? ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/139 "2025-12-28T03:49:01Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > There’s a line in there about finally finding someone but it’s petty deep. I never paid much attention to the lyrics at all until this thread. They aren’t great. Yes, I saw that, but toward the end of the song, he sings: > Maybe next year > I’ll give it to someone, I’ll give it to someone special Which is it, George? This year? Next year? I love the idea of a reindeer pause! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2025, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994/140 "2025-12-28T03:53:55Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > The other Christmas cartoon I loved was “[Susie Snowflake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEe6KOWdbUs&list=RDFEe6KOWdbUs&start_radio=1).” I wonder which kids’ program featured that one? My recollection is that, whatever kids’ show WGN ran “Hardrock, Coco and Joe” on, also ran “Susie Snowflake” – I think that they alternated days during the run-up to Christmas. When we were kids, my mom bought me the 45 of “Hardrock, Coco and Joe,” and the 45 of “Little Susie Snowflake” for my sister. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-so-many-questions/1025994.md?page=8)