Do you prefer Childrens, Traditional, or Religious Christmas Songs?

Cafe Society
1

I’m a big fan of all Christmas music. It’s a wonderful source of childhood memories.

There are dozens of songs to pick from. I’m listing only a few examples.

The kid in me loves Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride, Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town Let it Snow! Let it Snow! etc.

I also like the traditional songs, The Twelve Days of Christmas, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, I’ll be Home for Christmas, Winter Wonderland-Silver Bells, Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire), Christmas Waltz, Home for the Holidays etc.

There are the religious ones. Ave Maria, O Holy Night, Christ is Born, Silent Night, Hark! The Herald Angels Singing, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, The Wexford Carole, Don Oíche úd I mBeithil - To That Night In Bethlehem etc.

What is your favorite type of Christmas Song (Childrens, Traditional, Religious)?

Please Name your favorite song, in the three styles.

2

My answers…

I love the religious ones the best.

My three top favorites

O Holy Night, Don Oíche úd I mBeithil - To That Night In Bethlehem (Celtic Woman sings this)

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (traditional)

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (kids)

yes I picked two religious ones. I couldn’t choose between them. It’s my thread. :wink:

3

I prefer modern Christmas songs.

4

I like them all, and traditional onces can be really fun, but the religious ones move me the most – especially Christmas hymns like “Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming” or “Once In Royal David’s City” – songs you don’t hear on the radio.

5

None.

I change the radio station.

OK, maybe Dean Martin singing “A Marshmallow World.” That appears to be the only Christmasy song my brain can take now.

6

I like all kinds of Christmas music . . . and being an atheist doesn’t keep me from appreciating the religious ones (except when people are referred to as “sheep”).

And please, nothing about shoes.

And the poll left out: all of the above.

7

There is a “None, I Don’t Like” option in the Poll. For anyone that doesn’t enjoy Holiday music.

8

Or Santa’s cherry nose and long, white beard. One git always sang that one at an annual holiday party I attended.

Right!

9

Nearly all of what I do like are traditional and religious, but non-mainstream. I’m capable of liking some nontraditional and some nonreligious though.

a) Allan’s JING rule: Anything that “jings” is awful. From the OP: “Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride” … ::barfsmilie::

b) Overplayed non-jingy songs aren’t good either: Please, no more Joy to the World, Silent Night, or First Noel! And if it’s Hark the Herald Angels Sing or We Three Kings or O Holy Night it better be a damn good rendition. Silver Bells, likewise, and can we please give The Holly and the Ivy a rest for a while?

Here’s my idea of a good rotation: Ave Maria (Schubert); Gesu Bambino; the Coventry Carol; For Unto Us a Son is Given; Lo How a Rose e’er Blooming; I’ll Be Home for Christmas; I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day; I Wonder as I Wander; Good Christian Men, Rejoice; There’s a Song in the Air; Estampie Natalis; The Cherry Tree Carol; Carol of the Bells; A Star in the East; Patapan; The Wassail Song; Masters in This Hall; O Come, O Come Emmanuel; Angels We Have Heard on High; In the Bleak Midwinter; Kyrie Eleison; Jubilate Deo; Adeste Fidelis; The Gifts they Gave; Infant Holy, Infant Lowly.

Except don’t rotate them. After the last one, dip the dipper in the songbucket for another set loosely similar and play those. Don’t keep playing the same damn songs all the time.

Really nice choral arrangements and/or great solo voices count for a lot.

10

Based on your list, non-glurgey (i.e. old) religious ones, but not for the lyrical content. They just sound better. Gaudete is the best.

11

Living in a summery place makes a lot of the snow themed songs hard to reconcile, and I am not one for the whole Jesus thing, but I do like modern twists on traditional carols, like Carol of the Bells and Little Drummer Boy. They just sound pretty and evocative.

12

Most of my favorites are the children’s ones, I think. Mostly because my favorite Christmas songs are the ones Phil Spector produced versions of for his album (Sleigh Ride, Frosty, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus). Though I’m not sure where my favorite of all time, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) should be classified…

13

I prefer a mix of religious and modern. Pretty much evently split, actually.

Carol of The Bells
Last Christmas
Coventry Carol
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Come All Ye Faithful
Footprints
We Three Kings
River
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
All I Want For Christmas Is You
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
Mary Did You Know
Santa, I’m Right Here…

14

I like all categories.

I am getting old and curmudgeon-y, but there is still enough of that little kid in me who for whom Christmas was magical.

We were poor growing up and it was the one time of year we got toys. And the music reawakens that excited little boy.

I no longer am religious, but religion has produced some of the most beautiful music I know. I no longer am poor, but Santa can still make me smile.

Yeah, to be honest this time of year is rather hectic and as I get older I like it less.

But part of me still loves it. I give a little something to almost everyone I know.

15

I like religious songs, but my favorite Christmas song is “Fairytale of New York” by the Pogues.

16

I like Bob Dylan’s version of Must Be Santa. Wikipedia says it was written by Mitch Miller–who passed on last summer. And that Bob uses Brave Combo’s polka-style arrangement! Hearsome samples from the* first* Christmas album by that great group from Denton, Texas.

So I can enjoy silly, childish Christmas tunes. Plus the Old Favorites. And religious ones going back the Middle Ages. Only in good versions, that is!

(And, of course, “Fairytale of New York” rules.)

17

I much prefer the religious ones. **O Holy Night **is a good one. So is Do You Hear What I Hear? Anything with organ and cathedral choir is good.

For traditional, maybe Silver Bells? That’s a pretty one.

18

I like to have a mixture of styles, myself, though I do tend to steer clear of the overplayed favorites of the season unless it’s a unique/creative arrangement.

On the sacred side, Handel’s Messiah is an annual tradition around here (not least of which because I am part of a chorale that performs it).

My absolute favorite sacred piece (and IMO one of the most gorgeous settings of music ever, for anything) is an acapella choral arrangement by Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium

Leaning towards the more secular side of things, I generally prefer the jazzy loungey arrangements you hear in cheesy romance movies that take place during the holidays. Jazz just makes me feel good in general.

I’m also quite fond of the sillier modern pieces, such as those written by Jonathan Coulton:
Podsafe Christmas Song (A spoof of Alvin and the Chipmunks)
Chiron Beta Prime

19

IMHO, most Christmas songs are designed to be put away with the lights or dragged to the curb with the tree sometime in January. FoNY isn’t a Christmas song so much because it is awesome 365 days a year, and maybe gets extra relevance around this time.

Look for young Matt Dillon about 9s in.

20

We sang that in glee club when I was in college. I LOVED it.