# Have a Public Domain earworm Christmas **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 3, 2005, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282 "2005-11-03T13:08:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/21 "2005-11-07T01:57:16Z")
> [@Coil](#): > > May I recommend [A very scary Solstice](http://www.cthulhulives.org/Solstice/index.html). > . Coil, I think I love you… ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/22 "2005-11-07T02:06:42Z")
> [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#): > > Who here works retail? > > We have it _way, way, **way** _ worse. On top of the screaming idiots who wait until the day before the buy everything and act as though they were unaware that Christmas Eve may not be the best day to buy wrapping paper, we get 10 - 12 hours a day of nonstop Christmas music. I’d just like to take this moment to bow down and worship at my boss’s feet for letting me control the music at the store when I’m working. Too bad I can’t control every other store in the area… ---
**Author:** ![JimSox5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JimSox5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimSox5)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/23 "2005-11-07T02:16:45Z")
I misread “earworms” as ear **th** worms the first few times in this thread. I was very confused for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/24 "2005-11-07T03:31:57Z")
> [@look!ninjas](#): > > I’d just like to take this moment to bow down and worship at my boss’s feet for letting me control the music at the store when I’m working. > > Too bad I can’t control every other store in the area… I hate you. During the regular seasons and depending on the manager-in-charge at the time, it’s either disco nightmare (which I despise) or mid-70s heart & soul (which is a little better) with some terrible 80s and 90s thrown in for flavor. Hell month it’s Christmas. We can’t win, really. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/25 "2005-11-07T04:26:05Z")
I know **panamajack** said it first, but how can it be a public domain earworm Christmas if all the songs are copyrighted? And don’t start writing your own- it’ll just lead to another crappy _Simpsons_ episode. ---
**Author:** ![Obsidian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/51bf81/32.png) [@Obsidian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obsidian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/26 "2005-11-07T04:29:07Z")
> [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#): > > The month that runs from Thanksgiving+1 until 12/26 is one I must steel myself for every year. I HATE this music. What’s sad is, you’re lucky! I was at the mall on Friday (Nov. 4) and while purchasing my sandwich, I hear “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” coming from a speaker behind me. The only thing I could think of was, “Dear God, those poor employees.” ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/27 "2005-11-07T07:38:06Z")
> [@Obsidian](#): > > What’s sad is, you’re lucky! I was at the mall on Friday (Nov. 4) and while purchasing my sandwich, I hear “Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas” coming from a speaker behind me. The only thing I could think of was, “Dear God, those poor employees.” I know. I feel the same way when I go into a mall around here and some of our locations as well. These locations are managed by horrible, horrible people who have already put it on Sounds of the Season, but my boss is kind enough to wait for the company-prescribed Thanksgiving+1. Thank the Lord for small mercies. ---
**Author:** ![DogMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@DogMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DogMom)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/28 "2005-11-07T18:09:47Z")
I hear ya, **Bambi**. I worked for four Christmas seasons, 4.5 years in the retail business. _Every single year_ the company I worked for decided to park the “Christmas Display” _right across the fucking aisleway from my station_. That was hell, I tells ya - Christmas music starting on October 1 and lasting through the January Return Season. Not to mention which, it wasn’t _just_ the crappy Christmas songs that were playing - no, they were _really horrible-sounding MIDI versions_ that were playing. Why? Because we had to demonstrate the NOVELTY CHRISTMAS LIGHT STRINGS, which played Christmas music and BLINKED in time with the music, that’s why! _Every. Fucking. YEAR._ Oh, the horror, the horror… ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/29 "2005-11-07T19:36:58Z")
I think it was about August 28th and in the garden section of Walmart, they had the fake Christmas trees up and the racks of holiday music CD’s and ornaments, etc. etc. I went through the check out lane and cheerily wished the cashier a Very Merry Christmas…if looks could kill, that cashier would be doing life and I would be having earworms and earthworms gnawing on my body right now. Oh, and thanks everyone for now having my brain scanning every Christmas song I know…I was humming “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas…” on the way to the photocopier. I hate you all. . ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/30 "2005-11-07T19:51:00Z")
Gotta love that holiday spirit… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Feydeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Feydeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feydeau)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/31 "2005-11-07T20:36:06Z")
I’m wondering if the OP meant “public domain” in the sense of public gathering places as opposed to the copyright sense of the phrase. Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/32 "2005-11-07T21:15:55Z")
No - I thought anything so all-pervasive and godawful was all out of copyright. The thought that someone is still getting royalties for “Jinglebell Rock” is as disturbing as if some bioengineer had developed a new, nastier mosquito and we have to pay everytime one bites us. ---
**Author:** ![Feydeau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Feydeau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feydeau)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/33 "2005-11-07T21:37:58Z")
I stand corrected. ---
**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 7, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/34 "2005-11-07T22:18:49Z")
> [@Bambi Hassenpfeffer](#): > > Who here works retail? > > We have it _way, way, **way** _ worse. On top of the screaming idiots who wait until the day before the buy everything and act as though they were unaware that Christmas Eve may not be the best day to buy wrapping paper, we get 10 - 12 hours a day of nonstop Christmas music. My chain’s official rule is that the day after Thanksgiving, we switch to the Christmas station, for our 6 versions of Frosty, 5 Jingle Bells, a couple of really, really awful Deck the Hallses (including Mannheim Steamroller’s! Hooray! :mad: ), and of course shit like “So This is Christmas”, “Feed the World”, “I Saw Mommy…”, “Last Christmas”, and all the Bing and Fred and Judy you can shake a stick at. > > The month that runs from Thanksgiving+1 until 12/26 is one I must steel myself for every year. I HATE this music. IIRC, one Sunday strip of For Better or For Worse last year featured Elly asking a retail clerk why the Christmas music wasn’t making the clerk more cheerful. The clerk said something along the lines of “I lost cheerful three weeks ago.” ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/35 "2005-11-07T22:53:30Z")
This is going to my first Christmas season working retail. Heeeeeeelp meeeeeeeee… ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/36 "2005-11-07T23:02:56Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > This is going to my first Christmas season working retail. Heeeeeeelp meeeeeeeee… Eeee. I think the Christmas music is going to be the least of your worries. I’ve heard horror stories about working retail at Christmas. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/37 "2005-11-07T23:27:32Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > Eeee. I think the Christmas music is going to be the least of your worries. I’ve heard horror stories about working retail at Christmas. :eek: As have I. But, there’s these bills that need paying…it’s a good thing I already have a therapist, because I have the feeling by January I would be needing one if I didn’t already! ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/38 "2005-11-08T03:38:02Z")
Ah, there’s only one source of music for the holidays: [Twisted Tunes](http://www.bobrivers.com/audiovault/tunes/) ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/39 "2005-11-08T13:47:47Z")
As far as music goes, I like my Dr. Demento Christmas CD. I can break it out of storage once Thanksgiving gets here, too. I suspect it’ll help keep me sane… ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282/40 "2005-11-09T16:42:10Z")
The best Christmas song…the BEST Christmas song is “Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas” by Joel and the Bots on MST3K. All other songs are earworms. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-a-public-domain-earworm-christmas/329282.md?page=1)