It just isn’t Christmas until I’ve heard that “Feliz Navidad” song.
But unfortunately, working in a mall for the holiday season, I’ve lost most of my joy in listening to Christmas songs. There’s only a certain number of times a day that a person can hear “White Christmas” before going insane.
I do enjoy the Porky Pig version of “Blue Christmas”, but my boss won’t let me play that one in the store. She thinks it’s weird.
“Carol of the Bells” has been my favorite for at least thirty-five years. When I first heard it, it was referred to as “Ukrainian Bell Carol.” I especially like it by a boys’ choir.
“I Wondered As I Wandered”
“God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen”
Carol of the Bells is beautiful! Just had a thought, I don’t know if anyone’s ever heard of George Winston’s album entitled “December”? It’s one of my favourites not only for the Christmas Season but at any time… The theme of that album is “Christmassy”… solo piano pieces - but his version of Carol of the Bells is truly wonderful.
The original version is a Ukrainian street carol called “Shchedrick”. Oddly enough, the lyrics have nothing whatsoever to do with bells!
The women’s vocal group Kitka (based in Oakland, California) does a wonderful performance of it – in Ukrainian – in their annual “Wintersongs” concert series. They’ve just released (Dec 1, 2003) a CD based on these arrangements, but if you want it in time for Christmas you’d need to order it from them directly rather than from Amazon.com.
The Christmas song from the movie Toys. They play it at my work and I love hearing it.
I love the religious songs that are in a minor key - they send chills up my spine. My favourites are O Come, O Come Emmanuel, What Child is This, We Three Kings, and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
secular: winter wonderland
religious: ceremony of carols - Benjamin Britten. I don’t know how widespread this is, I hadn’t heard it until my choir started singing them this year. But its these modern arrangements of old english christmas carols, very pretty.
I believe it’s called The Closing of the Year - it’s my wife’s fave Christmas song.
My favorite would be Fairytale of New York by The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl.