# Christmas songs that you like **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536 "2010-12-17T18:25:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/41 "2010-12-21T05:35:00Z")
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Looking back on remembered good times. Looking forward to possible great times. Present times uncertain. So have yourself a merry little christmas, now. Bitter sweet. A nice counterpoint to the all the jolly joyousness. All the more poignent that it was written in 1944. Always makes me feel thankful for what I have, now. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/42 "2010-12-21T16:43:54Z")
I’m a bad atheist because I like a lot of the tradition religious songs, mostly because I was in a folk group at church (when I went to church) and these were the songs I liked to sing. Adeste Fidelis (O Come All Ye Faithful - in Latin) O Holy Night (Can’t hit the high note but admire those who can) God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Hark, the Herald Angels Sing Carol of the Bells ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/43 "2010-12-21T17:50:57Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > O Holy Night is good, but ONLY if sung by a male. (yes it’s sexist, but women can’t sing the song for crap). Wrong, dude - [just plain wrong](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jr-2eyRtV4). Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/44 "2010-12-21T18:33:40Z")
I respectfully disagree. Dion may not be as bad as some, but [Pavarotti](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgaHj5wgKgY) wipes the floor with her and [Pavarotti and Domingo](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM4GxCyJ3jM) make her sound like a mangy alley cat with asthma. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/45 "2010-12-21T19:55:17Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Wrong, dude - [just plain wrong](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jr-2eyRtV4). > > Regards, > Shodan :dubious: Dion? I agree with the sentiment but question the example. I don’t think Pavarotti wipes the floor with any of these: [Marsh](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcqIqJ9GdJE&feature=&p=8D1112706DE0AB24&index=0&playnext=1) [Norman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-zYi82AiFk) [Church](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRqycwRFWuc&feature=related) [Price](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEi9IDV3BzA&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/46 "2010-12-21T20:24:12Z")
I also like O Holy Night. My favorites are the Johnny Mathis version and, for entirely different reasons, [the one linked here](http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2004/12/17/o-holy-night/). ALMOST any version of Carol of the Bells is good, too. (I have to say “almost” because of the Mannheim Steamroller version. It was going along OK until they put the stupidest interlude in the history of music into it.) I’m not a big fan of most Christian music, but Casting Crowns does a spectacular version of “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.” They also do a really nice original Christmas tune called “While You Were Sleeping.” A few other original tunes I like quite a bit are “Emmanuel, God With Us” by Amy Grant, “25th December” by Everything But the Girl, and “Old City Bar” by TSO. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/47 "2010-12-23T14:42:18Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > :dubious: Dion? > > I agree with the sentiment but question the example. Yes, Dion, without even a hint of apology. I think she has a spectacular voice, and I have thought so since _The Power of Love_ came out. Listen to the clip again, especially to the high note at the end. Then contrast it (if you like) to [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZFxG6-WSnI), where the singer (if you can believe it) is over-selling the song. I wouldn’t have thought over-selling was possible with _Oh Holy Night_, and to be fair to Phelps (don’t worry, it’s no relation) I think this is just his style. But compare that to the pure, unadorned beauty of the high notes in the Dion cover of the song. Just a little embellishment, just a little trace in the high note leading up to the final one, just to show that this is not all, and that there is a treat coming up when she reaches back and goes for it. And\* nails\* it. And then almost my favorite part of clips like this, in live performance - the end of the song, a half second of silence - and then the audience goes _crazy_. To have been in the presence of such beauty is to have held the hand of God. A Holy Night indeed. Merry Christmas. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/48 "2010-12-23T16:12:47Z")
In Dulce Jubilo God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen O Come O Come Emmanuel ---
**Author:** ![czarcaztic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@czarcaztic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/czarcaztic)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/49 "2010-12-23T19:07:49Z")
Oh Holy Night Carol of the Bells Ave Maria ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/50 "2010-12-23T19:59:41Z")
I like a lot of Christmas music. “Good King Wenceslas” is great IF you sing all five verses, not the first, third, and fifth. The second and fourth fill out the story, and make it plain that the king was _aware_ of his own virtue. “The Angel Gabriel to Mary Came” is one of my favorites. In church we often sing it during Advent, but the hymnal actually has it in the section for “Other Occasions”, in this case specifically the feast of the Annunciation in March. “What Child is This?” is one of my favorites, if each verse has it’s own chorus, as it was originally written. I’m ticked that our hymnal has followed the “nicey nice” trend of ending each of the three verses with the same chorus. And of course “Oh Holy NIght” which many posters have already mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/51 "2010-12-24T01:17:40Z")
I like “The Holly and the Ivy.” ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536/52 "2010-12-24T14:19:32Z")
“[Fairytale of New York](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwHyuraau4Q)” by the Pogues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christmas-songs-that-you-like/564536.md?page=2)