# Favorite Non-Traditional Christmas Song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956 "2008-12-06T04:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/1 "2008-12-06T04:42:35Z")
Over in this [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=496001&highlight=christmas+carol) they’re discussing “non-christmas songs about the holidays” and here I wanna talk about what tops your list of songs _specifically about Christmas_ but that isn’t traditional. More original type programming, if you will. 😉 So to start things off, I’ll suprise everyone by admitting that this is mine: [No Man’s Land](http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/lyrics/dada.php#4) _I got a job in Atlanta in a mall playing Santa Not because of any talent but because I was the only one the suit would fit Everybody shopping, little sticky kids were hopping on my lap with their fingers in my beard, I guess they thought that I was really it She sat down on my lap and said to me “I’m twenty three and I need someone You look like someone who could play with me Stay with me, all day with me”_ Howzabout you? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/2 "2008-12-06T05:30:11Z")
“Christmas Wrapping”, The Waitresses ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/3 "2008-12-06T05:31:47Z")
“Father Christmas”, the Kinks. Who else could write a song about mugging Santa that’s far truer to the spirit of charity that the endless Christmas glurge we’re exposed to this time of year. “I Believe in Father Christmas”, Greg Lake “Christmas in Hollis”, Run DMC “Give the Jew Girls Toys”, Sarah Silverman. How could you not love a song with the line “You’ve got as much to do with Jesus as you do with Scooby Doo”? Snarky AND theologically sound. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2008, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/4 "2008-12-06T05:37:25Z")
[“Merry Christmas From The Family”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P37xPiRz1sg) by Robert Earl Keen ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/5 "2008-12-06T05:41:12Z")
My favorite Christmas song is “Merry Christmas From the Family” by Robert Earl Keen. Opening lines are “Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party…” ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/6 "2008-12-06T05:42:01Z")
Post #5 and _Fairytale of New York_ hasn’t been posted yet? For shame! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/7 "2008-12-06T05:49:29Z")
How did Tangent beat me by 4 minutes? He/She hadn’t posted that when I went to post. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/8 "2008-12-06T05:57:43Z")
> [@Ataraxy](#): > > How did Tangent beat me by 4 minutes? He/She hadn’t posted that when I went to post. Did you start the post and get called away for a few minutes? The posting time is determined by when you press “Submit”, not when you pull up the text box to reply. If you started your reply before **Tangent** , but went looking for the lyrics before you actually posted, then **Tangent** had time to post before you finished yours, and it wouldn’t show up unless you previewed before posting. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/9 "2008-12-06T06:02:34Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > “Christmas Wrapping”, The Waitresses I hate to admit it, but I came here to confess this too. But its “Rapping”. At least thats whats on the back of the CD case. She just sounds so cute yet vunerable, and full of the fears and joy of life. She is dead, now, you know. Cancer. Smoked like a chimney, she did. Merry Chirstmas! ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/10 "2008-12-06T09:07:29Z")
It doesn’t have to be that way - Jim Croce 2000 miles - Pretenders ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/11 "2008-12-06T10:44:59Z")
“The Most Offensive Song Ever” sung by Kenny McCormick and Mr. Hankey from South Park’s “Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Album.” Nope, not even going to excerpt some of the lyrics here. But it cracks me up every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/12 "2008-12-06T13:06:33Z")
Mojo Nixon’s **We Three Kings** _“We were drunk for three days straight Feeling like we were Tom Waits.”_ I also enjoy Richard Cheese’s swankified, lounge verson of the Vince Guaraldi Charlie Brown Christmas **"Christmastime is Here."** Starts out loungey then Cheese observes that it’s cold outside: _“Boys, let’s heat it up!”_ _“Yowsa!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/13 "2008-12-06T13:42:57Z")
Every year but this one, I make a Dysfunctional Christmas CD and I have a lot of favorites. A few. Since Fairytales has already been mentioned, I’ll substitute Merry Christmas (let’s not fight tonight) by the Ramones Merry Fucking Christmas from South Park Gun for Christmas The Vandals And for maximum awfulness, John Denver’s Daddy Don’t Get Drunk for Christmas ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/14 "2008-12-06T13:49:40Z")
Even thought The Vandal’s Gun for Christmas satisfies the antisocial fucker in me, their Christmas Time for My Penis is much more in tune with the spirit of the season. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/15 "2008-12-06T14:21:54Z")
[Stop The Cavalry - Jona Lewie](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EOe18JcatZo), anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/16 "2008-12-06T14:42:20Z")
I really like the version of “Linus and Lucy” on [Jingle All The Way](http://www.amazon.com/Jingle-All-Bela-Fleck-Flecktones/dp/B001EOQTOC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1228573069&sr=1-1), by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. (I know it’s not technically a Christmas song) Bela also does a beautiful version of Joni Mitchell’s “River” on the CD, if you can imagine something played on the banjo being described as ‘beautiful’. Other highlights are J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio- BVW 248 # 41 “Ich will nur zu Ehren leben” featuring Edgar Meyer and Andy Statman, and “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” in which each verse is played in a different key and time signature. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/17 "2008-12-06T14:59:33Z")
[12 Days of Phantom](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok-oV3uhdnA) from the first (1999) Carols for a Cure CD. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/18 "2008-12-06T16:49:28Z")
“Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/19 "2008-12-06T17:02:05Z")
[Thanks For Christmas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DBJRSMP8Uw) by The Three Wise Men, or, as they’re usually known, XTC. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956/20 "2008-12-06T17:09:00Z")
_Fairy Tale of New York_ and _Merry Christmas from the Family_ are definitely my favorites. [Chiron Beta Prime](http://www.jonathancoulton.com/songdetails/Chiron%20Beta%20Prime) by Jonathan Coulton also cracks me up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-non-traditional-christmas-song/475956.md?page=2)