Christmas songs that have nothing to do with Christmas

Cafe Society
21

It a common case here of folks responding to a question in a Thread Title without incorporating the fuller explanation of the OP.

Thread Title: “Christmas songs that have nothing to do with Christmas”

OP: “no mention of Christmas, Jesus, Santa, elves, the North Pole, or magic tinsel”
It’s hard to get all the details into a Thread Title, but then again it is hard for an OP to get people to dismiss the question they thought they were answering in order to then accommodate the fuller details. Such are the challenges of starting a Thread. I’ve started Threads that have failed the balance in worse extremes.

22

Yes, but obviously you’ve not aware of the structure of Handel’s Messiah. The Hallelujah Chorus is explicitly from the Easter portion of the concerto. Therefore, it has nothing to do with Christmas.

23

This is true but, as others have mentioned, it ain’t about Christmas.

24

And in fact, the entire concerto is more associated with Easter than with Christmas. It’s only a couple of selections from it, such as “Unto Us a Child is Born”, that are Christmas-related.

25

Marshmallow World

March of the Wooden Soldiers

26

Baby It’s Cold Outside

27

Well, as long as we’re doing song-plugging (love the “Drummer Boy” alternate, and bienville’s use of rhyme is really impressive!)…
I’d always hated how un-Christmas-y “Jolly Old St. Nicholas” was, with the endless list of “Give us…Give us…” No “I’d rather there be no more wars,” no “And if you can’t make my little sister walk again, at least bring her something nice,” no spirit of giving at all!
Well, if you want something done right, they say, do it yourself. So I did:

JOLLY OLD ST. NICHOLAS (21st CENTURY VERSION)
COPYRIGHT N 2011 by Sam A. Robrin. Creative Commons, blah, blah, woof, woof. Go ahead and use it (hey, I lifted the melody), but if you make a little money on it, I want some!

Jolly old St. Nicholas,
Glad to see you’re here!
There’s a special Christmas gift
That I want this year.

We live in a big, warm house,
Have three meals a day,
Clothes, and toys, and way more games
Than we’ll ever play.

You’ve been generous and kind
To our family.
Thanks for the surprises left
Underneath our tree.

But we got to worrying
When we heard about
Hungry, homeless families
Made to do without.

So we talked among ourselves;
This year, we’ve agreed—
Even my dumb brother!—To
Help the kids in need.

Skip our house this Christmas Eve—
We don’t need more stuff!
Give those children what we’d get—
For us, that’s gift enough.

28

I’m shocked no one has mentioned this yule-time classic:

Walkin’ Round in Women’s Underwear.

29

Great work there, Sam A. Robrin!

30

The Annoying Drummer Boy

What a Wonderful World shows up at Xmas time. I don’t know why.

31

There’s also the classic :Markin’ Up My Winter Wonderland"

http://www.karenshanley.com/2006/12/marking-up-my-winter-wonderland/

32

My favorite Christmas song is Sleigh Ride. As far as I can determine, no mention of Christmas is made. I like every version I’ve heard, but I’m fond of the Carpenter’s rendition.

33

Good choice. Not only does it not mention Christmas, it even includes the line “there’s a *birthday *party at the home of Farmer Gray…” which could so easily have been a xmas party. It’s like it’s an anti-Christmas carol.

34

So, are we going to be hearing lots of “Merry Christmas” this year? I didn’t hear anyone saying “Happy November feasting.” :wink:

35

According to Wiki, it was the most popular “Christmas” song of 2010 and 2011, based on tracked airplay those years.

Of course, the lyrics were an afterthought; Leroy Anderson’s original piece was an instrumental sans words.

36

Well, there’s always Joni Mitchell’s “I wish I had a river” which, although it mentions Christmas, is about as much about the holidays as “Born in the USA” is about patriotism.

37

I used to like the lyrics a lot, but now I’m not sure that I don’t prefer it as an instrumental piece.

38

And they have coffee and pumpkin pie. I’ve heard it explained as a Thanksgiving Day song.

39

Well, even in New England, taking a sleigh ride at Thanksgiving is a bit dicey, not to mention all that stuff about the weather. I simply think that the lyrics that were written to evoke generalized winter-ish images.

40

It’s the “Bright paper packages tied up with string” line that somehow qualifies it. Plus I think The Sound of Music got aired a lot around Christmas for a while and that one song somehow stuck.