# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/41 "2006-11-29T19:36:04Z")
“Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/42 "2006-11-29T23:38:27Z")
[QUOTE=freckafree] Around here, the public radio station seems to play the Troika movement from Prokofiev’s _Lieutenant Kije_ suite almost exclusively at Christmas tiime. Sleigh=Christmas, I reclkon. [/QUOTE] More likely because it was used in _I Believe in Father Christmas_. ---
**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 30, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/43 "2006-11-30T00:25:51Z")
[QUOTE=control-z] “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies” [/QUOTE] Once again, that’s from the ballet “The Nutcracker”, which is placed in the setting of a Christmas celebration, and the fantastical events that occur during the folloing night. By definition, _everything_ from _The Nutcracker_, and _The Nutcracker Suite_ has to do with Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/44 "2006-11-30T06:55:43Z")
There’s always the Adam Sandler Hannukah bit… ---
**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 30, 2006, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/45 "2006-11-30T09:03:14Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder] The video is irrelevant; we’re talking about the song itself. [/QUOTE] _au contraire_, these are the 80s we’re talking about, it was all about the vid. But I see Sarahfeena’s already got my back. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/46 "2006-11-30T14:31:33Z")
Wouldn’t “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” be an example of this? Though it has Christmas in the title, it comes from the movie Meet Me In St. Louis. Judy Garland is singing not about the holiday season, but about missing friends and family. Plus, it is damn depressing. And they even cleaned it up a bit so people wouldn’t jump off a bridge after seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/47 "2006-11-30T15:19:28Z")
[QUOTE=JpnDude] How about a song that mentions Christmas but not about Christmas? Such as St. Etienne’s **I was Born on Christmas Day**. [/QUOTE] Call me when someone starts playing “Levon” during the holidays 😃 ---
**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 30, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/48 "2006-11-30T15:22:19Z")
[QUOTE=middleman] Wouldn’t “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” be an example of this? Though it has Christmas in the title, it comes from the movie Meet Me In St. Louis. Judy Garland is singing not about the holiday season, but about missing friends and family. [/QUOTE] In this vein, I nominate “We Need a Little Christmas,” from the play _Gigi_. IIRC, the song is about the characters putting together a Christmas celebration in July, in order to inject something positive in their lives, and to distract their attention from the desperate situation they were in. You can almost hear the desperation: “Yes we need a little Christmas **Right this very moment!** ” ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/49 "2006-11-30T20:20:31Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] In this vein, I nominate “We Need a Little Christmas,” from the play _Gigi_. IIRC, the song is about the characters putting together a Christmas celebration in July [/QUOTE] 1. It’s from _Mame_. 2. It’s a week before Thanksgiving, as the lyrics say. 3. It’s in post #25, above. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/50 "2006-11-30T22:28:34Z")
Dan Folgleberg’s _Same Auld Lang Syne_. I just heard it today and realised that I only ever hear it this time of year. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/51 "2006-12-01T13:00:21Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] 1. It’s from _Mame_. 2. It’s a week before Thanksgiving, as the lyrics say. 3. It’s in post #25, above. [/QUOTE] Well, it looks like I’m wrong on three points. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/52 "2006-12-01T20:49:35Z")
“Put a Little Love In Your Heart” by Al Green and Annie Lennox. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/53 "2006-12-02T09:25:12Z")
[QUOTE=HeyHomie] “Yes we need a little Christmas **Right this very moment!** ” [/QUOTE] **“minute”**. Sorry to be picky, but I’m in Germany and there’s no snow and I’m in a pissy-ass mood. 😃 Just kidding. Quasi ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143/54 "2006-12-02T13:46:33Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem] Sorry to be picky, but I’m in Germany and there’s no snow and I’m in a pissy-ass mood. 😃 [/QUOTE] Dude! I’m in freakin’ _Norway_, it’s December 2nd, and the grass is still G-R-E-E-N. The ski resorts are bellyaching because even in the mountains it’s too cold to fire up the snow guns and fake it. Weirdness. Maybe (she says in a desperate attempt to get this back on topic) that’s why I haven’t started listening to Christmas music yet. Well, that, and the fact that it’s not Advent until tomorrow so all my neighbors haven’t put the obligatory Advent stars in the windows yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-arent-really-christmas-songs/382143.md?page=2)