# Christmas songs that aren't really "Christmas" songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 28, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143 "2006-11-28T23:14:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/21 "2006-11-29T06:57:05Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] “Last Christmas” by Wham! comes to mind. Apart from mentioning Christmas in one line, it has absolutely nothing to do with the season. [/QUOTE] Let’s see: “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart… This year…I’ll give it to someone special” It seems like it’s one year later, so it’s X-mas again. A little more than just one line, it’s the whole setting (seen the vid?) I must admit, all your Borealist non-Christ Xmas songs fall a little flat down South. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/22 "2006-11-29T07:39:35Z")
Movements of two of Bach’s cantatas are sometimes associated with Christmas, to the extent of being included in Christmas albums: “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” is from BWV 147 “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben.” Like Handel’s Hallelujah chorus, it is at least about Jesus, but not about the nativity. “Sheep may safely graze” is from BWV 208 “Was mir behagt is nur die muntre Jagd.” It’s a secular cantata, about hunting of all things. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/23 "2006-11-29T08:15:25Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem] _Celebrate Me Home_ by Kenny Loggins. [/QUOTE] _Home for the holidays, I believe I’ve missed each and every face, Come on and play my music, Let’s turn on every love light in the place_ ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/24 "2006-11-29T08:55:45Z")
Here in the UK, a song by Jona Lewie called ‘Stop The Cavalry’ is routinely played to death every christmas and features prominently on every ‘christmassy’ compilation. It was a hit single around christmas time in 1980, reaching 3 in the singles charts. The song has nothing, absotively posilutely _nothing_ to do with christmas, as Jona himself (who wrote the song) has confirmed many times. However, it does contain the word ‘christmas’, and it seems this is sufficient to have given the song christmassy immortality. It may also help that it’s a very catchy song with that ‘drills itself straight into the brain’ quality so essential for chart success. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/25 "2006-11-29T13:54:34Z")
**We Need A Little Christmas** – the point of the song is that it’s _not_ Christmas (but we need it to be). ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/26 "2006-11-29T14:00:36Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] Let’s see: “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart… This year…I’ll give it to someone special” It seems like it’s one year later, so it’s X-mas again. A little more than just one line, it’s the whole setting (seen the vid?) [/QUOTE] The video is irrelevant; we’re talking about the song itself. Moreover, Christmas is only mentioned in one line, and only because it’s allows one to mention gift-giving. They could have just as easily said, “On your last birthday, I gave you my heart.” The theme of the song would have been exactly the same. My point remains. Christmas is mentioned, but only in one line, and only tangentially at best. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/27 "2006-11-29T14:20:55Z")
“Song for a Winter’s Night” by Sarah McLachan. It barely mentions winter, and doesn’t mention Christmas at all. I love it, though, because it’s moody and beautiful and so unlike anything else played on the radio during the holidays. ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/28 "2006-11-29T14:25:10Z")
I dare say Emerson, Lake and Palmers “I Believe in Father Christmas”. It may sound like a Christmas tune when it is on in the background, but don’t try to sing along with it and find yourself filled with the Christmas spirit… > [@](#): > > … > They sold me a dream of Christmas > They sold me a silent night > They told me a fairy story > Till I believed in the Israelite. > > And I believed in Father Christmas > I looked to the sky with excited eyes > Than I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn > And I saw him through his disguise. > … > They said there’d be snow at Christmas > They said there’d be peace on earth. > Hallelujah, Noel, Be it heaven or hell, > The Christmas we get we deserve. At best I would call it cynical, at worst, atheist. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/29 "2006-11-29T14:47:38Z")
How about a song that mentions Christmas but not about Christmas? Such as St. Etienne’s **I was Born on Christmas Day**. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/30 "2006-11-29T14:56:15Z")
[QUOTE=xnylder] “Song for a Winter’s Night” by Sarah McLachan. It barely mentions winter, and doesn’t mention Christmas at all. I love it, though, because it’s moody and beautiful and so unlike anything else played on the radio during the holidays. [/QUOTE] Ms. McLachlan’s version of the song is ethereal – simply gorgeous. Gordon Lightfoot’s version of the song he wrote is beautiful in its own way – folkier, of course, but still a wonderful listen. He wrote it on a rainy night in Cleveland, apparently, with no thoughts of Christmas at all, and it too was the first song I thought of in response to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/31 "2006-11-29T15:11:54Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] Or church music, like Schubert’s _Ave Maria_. The _Ave Maria_ is simply the Rosary in Latin. [/QUOTE] It’s not the whole rosary, it’s the _Hail Mary_. That’s a bit like saying that the _Gloria_ is simply the Mass in Latin. It’s only a piece of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/32 "2006-11-29T15:46:22Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] The video is irrelevant; we’re talking about the song itself. Moreover, Christmas is only mentioned in one line, and only because it’s allows one to mention gift-giving. They could have just as easily said, “On your last birthday, I gave you my heart.” The theme of the song would have been exactly the same. My point remains. Christmas is mentioned, but only in one line, and only tangentially at best. [/QUOTE] True, but considering what they named the song, and the fact that it has jingle bells jangling throughout, I think it was MEANT to be a Christmas song. This is a little different from, say, “My Favorite Things,” which was not written as a Christmas song, or have anything to do with Christmas whatsoever in its original context. I never got “My Favorite Things” as a Christmas song, either. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/33 "2006-11-29T15:48:01Z")
“The Prayer” by Josh Groban & Charlotte Church (or, if you prefer, Andrea Boccelli and Celine Dion :rolleyes: ). Nothing Christmas-y about it, except its platitudes about everyone having someone to love, peace on earth, etc. Yet it’s played on at least two stations around here that do all-Christmas formats this time of year. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/34 "2006-11-29T16:11:05Z")
[QUOTE=Gordon Urquhart] Ms. McLachlan’s version of the song is ethereal – simply gorgeous. Gordon Lightfoot’s version of the song he wrote is beautiful in its own way – folkier, of course, but still a wonderful listen. He wrote it on a rainy night in Cleveland, apparently, with no thoughts of Christmas at all, and it too was the first song I thought of in response to the OP. [/QUOTE] I didn’t even know that was a Gordon Lightfoot song. Thanks for making me a better-informed Canadian! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/35 "2006-11-29T16:35:44Z")
[QUOTE=Kizarvexius] It’s not the whole rosary, it’s the _Hail Mary_. That’s a bit like saying that the _Gloria_ is simply the Mass in Latin. It’s only a piece of it. [/QUOTE] Ah, good point-you’re right, it’s the “Hail Mary” in Latin. Feel free to whap my knuckles with a ruler. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/36 "2006-11-29T16:57:27Z")
I have a set of Christmas music CDs that includes “The Bells of Saint Mary’s”. Now, admittedly, I’ve never seen the movie of the same name. Maybe the movie has some Christmassy association that I’m missing? (The IMDB page for the movie doesn’t hint at any, nor does my mother, family expert on movie musicals, recall any Yuletide connections.) But the only seasonal reference in the song itself is distinctly autumnal: > [@](#): > > And so my beloved, > When red leaves are falling > The love bells will ring out, ring out, > For you and me Falling red leaves don’t really put me in a Christmas mood. Your mileage may vary. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/37 "2006-11-29T17:56:53Z")
What if they’re from a poinsettia? ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/38 "2006-11-29T18:42:29Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] _Home for the holidays, I believe I’ve missed each and every face, Come on and play my music, Let’s turn on every love light in the place_ [/QUOTE] Oh, so we’re gonna be **picky** about it, huh? 🙂 J/K. I stand corrected, and thanks for that extra little bit of decorating, there, **Walloon** Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/39 "2006-11-29T18:54:19Z")
[QUOTE=cantara] I dare say Emerson, Lake and Palmers “I Believe in Father Christmas”. It may sound like a Christmas tune when it is on in the background, but don’t try to sing along with it and find yourself filled with the Christmas spirit… At best I would call it cynical, at worst, atheist. [/QUOTE] Incidentally, this is about my favorite Christmas song ever, perhaps following Jethro Tull’s eponymous Christmas Song. And, incidentally, it quotes the aforementioned Kijie suite by Prokofiev. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/40 "2006-11-29T19:02:59Z")
The lyric to _What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?_ suggests that the invitation is being extended well advance of New Year’s Eve, perhaps as long as a several of months. And yet it still gets airplay on KOST-103-FM during the All Holiday Music, All the Time weeks preceding the 25th of December. Of course, it’s all subject to interpretation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143.md?page=3)