# Hatin' on Christmas music! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [December 20, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897 "2023-12-20T18:18:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/143 "2025-11-10T16:36:57Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I pretty much only want Christmas music that matches the mood of a dark, snowy and cold season, with muffled sounds, fires keeping the chill and dark at bay. You do you, but as someone who grew up where the Christmas season has none of that sort of climate, those themes are the least relevant to me. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/144 "2025-11-10T16:38:31Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > You do you, but as someone who grew up where the Christmas season has none of that sort of climate, those themes are the least relevant to me. Of course! ---
**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 10, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/145 "2025-11-10T17:02:39Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Give me Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas Yes! Good jazz and very listenable. Christmastime Is Here is one of the few seasonal songs that don’t make me homicidal. ---
**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:** [November 10, 2025, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/146 "2025-11-10T17:07:45Z")
The Little Drummer Boy bugs the shit out of me with the line about the ox and lamb keeping time. Yeah, right. Plus if I was Mary and had a baby I’m trying to put to bed, I’m going to stick that kid’s drumstick where the sun don’t shine. The First Noel has a pleasant enough tune but that tortured pronunciation of “Ih-is-RYE-el” is both irritating and nonsensical. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/147 "2025-11-10T17:11:52Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > the ox and lamb keeping time. Little known fact: “Lamb” was another nickname for Keith Moon. This song is actually a reference to John Entwistle and Keith Moon keeping it together down in the manger. Pah-rum-pum-pum-pum. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/148 "2025-11-10T17:41:58Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > > [@Eonwe](#): > > > > I pretty much only want Christmas music that matches the mood of a dark, snowy and cold season, with muffled sounds, fires keeping the chill and dark at bay. > > You do you, but as someone who grew up where the Christmas season has none of that sort of climate, those themes are the least relevant to me. _[The snow was cold, and the snow was bright, and the snow was all around!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR67HSs4RPI)_ ---
**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 10, 2025, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/149 "2025-11-10T17:51:25Z")
I asked My Beloved and she sang “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart…the very next day, I burned down your house (with you still in it)…”. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/150 "2025-11-10T18:00:48Z")
Hah! That was great! (For folks wondering what’s behind the link… a short parody/commentary on different historical approaches to Christmas music. Video description: “Instead of focusing on theology, the British love meditating on snow, silence, and livestock in their Christmas hymns. Martin Luther finds this annoying.”) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/151 "2025-11-10T19:25:48Z")
I admit, I have a particular opinion. I like Christmas music that reminds me of when I was a Christmas-loving kid. Which was the late-sixties to the early 70s. I like the music I heard then. I am unashamedly attempting to recreate my lost youth. I turned to look, but it was gone, I cannot put my finger on it now. So no music newer than then. But also, no Baby it’s cold, no Santa baby, no one run over by a reindeer, and no dogs barking Jingle Bells. More Mantovani and Nat King Cole (who was a merry old soul, was he) and Mitch Miller and der Bingle, Mormon Tabernacle Choir. That sort of thing. And lest anyone laugh, to paraphrase Dr Frank Furter, “I didn’t play it…for you!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/152 "2025-11-10T19:28:49Z")
Just remember all, the day after Thanksgiving we open the Straight Dope Christmas playlist submissions. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/153 "2025-11-10T21:54:17Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Martin Luther finds this annoying Is there anything that didn’t annoy him? And back to the topic: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hGnPnWVYGE0/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGGUgZShlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLA2GPWg6t70v9SsaiwtYlm92z0MpA "Spike Jones All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGnPnWVYGE0) ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/154 "2025-11-10T22:32:48Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > > [@themapleleaf](#): > > > > 1. Baby It’s Cold Outside. Again, the melody is unimpressive, and the dialog between the woman and the man talks about a dated social dynamic. > > > > So much from me. > > Tom Cotter replies: > > [https://fb.watch/DhdW6amgPm/?mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e/](https://fb.watch/DhdW6amgPm/?mibextid=wwXIfr&fs=e/) > > Also, I repeat, I don’t mind it at all! To clarify, when I posted my comment about “Baby It’s Cold Outside” above, I didn’t mean to imply (by the “dated social dynamic” comment) that I thought the song was about toxic masculinity and that it should be banned. I don’t think so. I just _personally_ don’t enjoy a song about a period in history when women had to constantly worry about their reputation including having to worry about being seen staying over at a man’s house because “what will people say?” And the related implications (she’s probably dependent on her father till she marries and the ramifications of being caught over at her boyfriend’s house in the evening may be quite serious, and so on). Plus the melody itself does nothing fro me. I have nothing against those who choose to broadcast or listen to the song. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/155 "2025-11-10T22:44:31Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > To clarify, when I posted my comment about “Baby It’s Cold Outside” above, I didn’t mean to imply (by the “dated social dynamic” comment) that I thought the song was about toxic masculinity and that it should be banned. I don’t think so. From the Joke thread: > Twenty years from now, kids are going to think, “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is really weird, and we’re going to have to explain that it has to be understood as a product of its time. > > You see, it used to get cold outside. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/156 "2025-11-10T22:52:11Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > I just _personally_ don’t enjoy a song about a period in history when women had to constantly worry about their reputation including having to worry about being seen staying over at a man’s house because “what will people say?” That’s cool, I was just sharing (what I thought was) a funny alternative take. > [@needscoffee](#): > > You see, it used to get cold outside. That is funny. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2025, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/157 "2025-11-10T22:52:51Z")
At my work, a bit over a year ago, we finally ditched the radio and subscribed to Soundtrack Your Brand, which is Spotify, but meant for public areas/businesses. Two things that are really nice about it are 1)It’s not all or nothing Christmas music. We just put one of the Christmas stations into the mix and we end up with some, but not all, Christmas music and 2)the ability to block songs (Christmas or otherwise). It’s so much nicer not hearing the same dozen or so songs over and over and over every day for 4-6 weeks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/158 "2025-11-11T02:03:31Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > I just _personally_ don’t enjoy a song about a period in history when women had to constantly worry about their reputation including having to worry about being seen staying over at a man’s house because “what will people say?” And the related implications (she’s probably dependent on her father till she marries and the ramifications of being caught over at her boyfriend’s house in the evening may be quite serious, and so on). This is about the only fair criticism I have read about “Baby its Cold Outside”- never cared much for it either, except the Dean Martin version. Altho the Bing and James Steward version is pretty funny. Reasonable points made. As for _Santa Baby_ the ONLY version I like is Eartha Kitt, whose voice and tone promises “Santa” all sorts of dark sensual delights. It doesnt sound so greedy then. Oddly very few “Christmas” songs are religious, and about half never even mention Christmas- “Winter Wonderland”, “One Horse Open Sleigh” “Frosty the Snowman”, “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” and even one which isnt even a Christmas song at all-”A few of my Favorite things”. of course “Baby it’s Cold” isnt a Christmas song either. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/159 "2025-11-11T02:33:02Z")
Worked in retail for the Xmas rush all through law school and consequently absolutely cannot stand Xmas music. With one possible exception only because it is sufficiently subversive that it was never played in store (glossary of Australian slang supplied on request): [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/OnJ8jsw4BSo/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGHIgRChAMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDNMmnkkrx6zwGsA7vjvl3CD1Svvw "Aussie Jingle Bells - Bucko & Champs - THE ORIGINAL") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnJ8jsw4BSo) ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/160 "2025-11-11T12:25:33Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > This is about the only fair criticism I have read about “Baby its Cold Outside” For my part, until I started reading about it here, I never gave much thought to the lyrics. My gripe is that I just don’t like the song. For a duet, IMHO, it sounds like two people singing two entirely different songs and it just doesn’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/161 "2025-11-11T12:58:01Z")
I like most of the original “Christmas” songs from the 50s and 60s - mixed in with church choir classics such as Franck’s “Panis Angelicus” and Schubert’s “Ave Maria” (nothing tops Nana Maskouri’s version). But let’s get rid of any that have to do with animals (reindeer, chipmunks, hippos, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2025, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897/162 "2025-11-11T13:03:08Z")
I’d be happy with just not having to hear songs _sung_ by animals. Specifically chipmunks and pigs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hatin-on-christmas-music/994897.md?page=9)