# Czarcasm's Definitive Christmas Album **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183 "2012-11-26T18:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/41 "2012-11-26T21:26:27Z")
Along the same lines (updated pop arrangements of corny carols) – add The Temptations version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. You’ll thank me later. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/42 "2012-11-26T21:34:02Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Eartha Kitt’s version of _Santa Baby_ is the only one worth considering. Yes, it’s sacrilege to even consider anyone but Eartha Kitt for this song. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/43 "2012-11-26T21:56:10Z")
Marry Manilow and Pamela Holt for _Baby It’s Cold Outside_, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/44 "2012-11-27T00:00:17Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Marry Manilow and Pamela Holt for _Baby It’s Cold Outside_, I think. Make that _Barry_ Manilow. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/45 "2012-11-27T00:28:59Z")
[Baby It’s Cold Outside](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS8QNMY5yGw) - Believe it or not Steve and Eydie’s version of this is absolutely wonderful. As a longtime married couple they are so comfortable together in this song it’s beyond charming. [Santa Baby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ycWObpi73Y) - I realize Eartha Kitt is going to win this one hand’s down. But Madonna’s version, coming on top of her ‘Material Girl’ mode and delivered in a baby doll voice really did some good things. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/46 "2012-11-27T00:33:56Z")
> [@Doctor\_Who](#): > > IMHO, nobody has ever outdone Brenda Lee on Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. I’ve got a CD that has a version of this song by Dion that is really pretty good. The same CD also has a surf-rock version of **Frosty the Snowman** by the Ventures. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/47 "2012-11-27T03:23:00Z")
For some nice late 80s schmaltz, Alexander O’Neal’s The Christmas Song. And my vote,\*\* Fairytale of New York \*\*by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl. Remakes? The Irish Tenors did a cleaned-up version of it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/48 "2012-11-27T03:54:49Z")
I’ve always preferred Tommy Smothers’s version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town: You better watch out, You better not cry, You better not pout - I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/49 "2012-11-27T05:30:43Z")
I’ll use this thread as an excuse to post this again: [Alison Brie as “Halie” singing Santa Baby (by Madonna).](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5cdzc3YdFI) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/50 "2012-11-27T05:36:11Z")
From the songs on your list, I like this live version a lot. _[Please Come Home For Christmas](http://youtu.be/Dv_qA2kg0NQ)_ - Holly Cole (live) This is from the same concert. It may or may not be too weirdo for you. I love MMOH to death, but her odd way of singing is for most an acquired taste: _[White Christmas](http://youtu.be/NOcT7cXk4uY)_ Mary Margaret O’Hara (live) There are tons of songs not on your list I’d love to recommend, but I have no time. Here are a few though. [“Home For Christmas”](http://youtu.be/OJRkPskito8) - Kate Bush [“December Will Be Magic Again”](http://vimeo.com/33008764) - Kate Bush (alternate [“Kate-dancing-in-a-chair-in-her-jammies Bongo version”](http://vimeo.com/33679107)) Here’s a simple, very traditional version of [“I’ll Be Home For Christmas”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIduBTlEBls&feature=share&list=UUXZiZCIyw-hYrmUUARPDCkA) by Rebecca Jenkins from that same concert above. This might be too “novelty” for you, but it always makes me smile and bounce. [“Blue Christmas”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTFITp29h8&feature=share&list=UUXZiZCIyw-hYrmUUARPDCkA) - Danielle Dax ---
**Author:** ![Rahne\_McCloud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rahne\_McCloud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rahne_McCloud)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/51 "2012-11-27T08:04:45Z")
White Christmas is a toss up between The Drifters or Barbra Streisands. Even though I’m leaning more towards Barbra Streisand’s version. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/52 "2012-11-27T13:10:12Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > This is from the same concert. It may or may not be too weirdo for you. I love MMOH to death, but her odd way of singing is for most an acquired taste: > > _[White Christmas](http://youtu.be/NOcT7cXk4uY)_ Mary Margaret O’Hara (live) Wow! Would she happen to be the daughter of Leon Redbone and Janis Joplin? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/53 "2012-11-27T19:28:32Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Wow! Would she happen to be the daughter of Leon Redbone and Janis Joplin? Ha, no, but she is the sister of the actress Catherine O’Hara. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/54 "2012-11-27T21:05:56Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Springsteen’s version of _Santa Clause is coming to town_, of course. > [@Telemark](#): > > Eartha Kitt’s version of _Santa Baby_ is the only one worth considering. > > The Roches do an amusing version of \*Frosty the Snowman \*that I’ve always enjoyed. > > Bing Crosby is the definitive _White Christmas_. > > Darlene Love for _Christmas Baby Please Come Home_. > [@Shoeless](#): > > I’ve got a Brian Setzer Christmas CD where he does a version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” with (I think) Ann-Margaret that is pretty good. What they said. “The Christmas Song” - [Bing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBTnTjpC9bo). “Winter Wonderland” - [Harry Connick, Jr.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng8zdQeSruI) “Sleigh Ride” - [The Boston Pops](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OATi34PKNPw) or any other Leroy Anderson arrangement. “Rudolph” - [Jewel](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsqeEyzW9NE) or [Bing Crosby & Ella Fitzgerald](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Ac6-zrhp4). “Silent Night” - The Music City Brass. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/55 "2012-11-28T02:38:31Z")
I think the [Jingle](http://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Santa-Claws-Jingle/dp/B000001UER/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1354069946&sr=8-2&keywords=jingle+cats) Cats do most all of these. And to preempt your criticism, the Jingle Cats are not a parody band, they are a _tribute_ band made up of deeply spiritual cats! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/56 "2012-11-28T02:58:25Z")
[This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FoQqrAyPKM) is probably the most unusual treatment of Midnight Clear I’ve ever heard. The actual singing starts at about 1:17, but the instrumental lead-in is great. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/57 "2012-11-28T03:26:58Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > _ **Frosty The Snowman** _ > > Either the Jimmy Durante version or the duo of Leon Redbone and Dr. John… Definitely agree [Frosty the Snowman](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAtZBE5XXFo) in fact the whole dang album [Christmas Island](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7JUBN1YXaA)is very good. Lest we forget… [Christmas in Prison](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ2YL62Bmfg) by John Prine. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/58 "2012-11-28T16:17:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I know what exactly what songs I want on the album-the problem is that I don’t know which version of each song I want! Each one has several popular versions, so help me choose which versions to record. If you have one that you think I should add, please do so, _but ONLY after you make your submissions for the list I already have._ The songs are: > > _Frosty The Snowman_ > _Baby It’s Cold Outside_ > _White Christmas_ > _The Christmas Song_ > _Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree_ > _Santa Claus Is Coming To Town_ > _Please Come Home For Christmas_ > _Santa Baby_(I think this one’s going to be hot-pun intended) [Frosty](http://youtu.be/e874vKfYfuU) non-traditional but nice. Baby it’s Cold, Ray Charles White Christmas Bing or nothing The Christmas Song Many to chose from, not too many people screw with it. Judy Garland. Santa Claus is Coming to Town Arthur Treacher from the old Merv Griffin Show Really puts the menace into the song. Please Come Home for Christmas Darlene Love (Baby Please Come Home?) Santa Baby Eartha Kitt. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/59 "2012-11-29T05:50:59Z")
Frosty the Snowman - from this cartoon, with an a capella pop chorus. [Frosty the Snowman - YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU3SKtJbNu8) The sound probably isn’t up to your desired standard, though. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183/60 "2012-11-29T07:13:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > _Santa Baby_(I think this one’s going to be hot-pun intended) I found [this live version](http://youtu.be/plK_oVOH0PE) of Holly Cole singing it. The music is way too jazzy for my tastes, but Holly always has fun. Disclaimer, I’m biased for Holly no matter what she sings. I met her when I interviewed her for my radio show. lissener and I picked Holly up from her hotel during a snowstorm (she was quite amused when I tried to cover her head with an umbrella. Apparently no one uses an umbrella during snowstorms in Toronto?) We went to Ann Sather’s Restaurant and the management set us up in a banquet room upstairs. We set up the audio equipment and spent about 2 hours with her. She’s so funny and sweet and warm. We had a great time! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/czarcasms-definitive-christmas-album/642183.md?page=4)