# Is the "Peanuts" theme (Linus and Lucy) Christmas Music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305 "2013-12-14T15:02:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/1 "2013-12-14T15:02:02Z")
The 24 hour Christmas Music Radio station and the piano player at the restaurant I was at last night think so. Do you? Link [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16xNlqtZg08) if you aren’t sure what song I mean. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/2 "2013-12-14T15:13:29Z")
Although it has been played on other Peanuts specials including the Thanksgiving one, it’s most closely association with “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Therefore, IMHO, it is Christmas music. ---
**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 14, 2013, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/3 "2013-12-14T15:21:38Z")
You betcha sweet ass it is. Try listening to the opening bars and not thinking of the Peanust Christmas special. When network executives first saw the show, they wanted the soundtrack changed. Songwriter Vince Guaraldi and Charles Schultz flately refused, and the soundtrack is the best selling TV soundtrack ever. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/4 "2013-12-14T15:27:56Z")
It’s an instrumental from a children’s Christmas classic. It’s mostly heard only at Christmas time. Yep. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/5 "2013-12-14T15:34:28Z")
Yes, it features prominently in one of my all-time favourite Christmas specials. I know it was used in the others - doesn’t matter to me. This one’s a Christmas song. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/6 "2013-12-14T15:46:32Z")
Absolutely, it’s not even in question. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/7 "2013-12-14T15:48:17Z")
Lots of songs are associated with Christmas despite not really being Christmas songs. “Linus and Lucy” is far from the worst of these. Quick, somebody tell me what makes “Jingle Bell Rock” a Christmas song? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/8 "2013-12-14T15:50:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Lots of songs are associated with Christmas despite not really being Christmas songs. “Linus and Lucy” is far from the worst of these. Quick, somebody tell me what makes “Jingle Bell Rock” a Christmas song? It’s more a winter song, which also get play at Christmas (Let It Snow, Winter Wonderland, Frosty the Snowman, etc.), ESPECIALLY “Jingle Bells”. It does talk of “snowin’ and blowin”, “prancin’ and dancin” (alluding to a couple of notorious reindeer), etc. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/9 "2013-12-14T15:52:19Z")
Not explicitly, but, yes, I associate it with the holidays and Christmas. It almost always comes up on Christmas playlists. > [@](#): > > Quick, somebody tell me what makes “Jingle Bell Rock” a Christmas song? It’s a song that’s lyrically about winter? It’s as much a Christmas song as “Jingle Bells” is. ETA: ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/10 "2013-12-14T15:58:52Z")
I don’t think we have any “winter songs” that aren’t “Christmas songs” in our culture, unless they’re specifically other religious festival songs, like “The Chanukah Song.” Cultural ooze, and a good argument for the secular nature of Santa-and-presents-Christmas, as opposed to the Christian Happy-Birthday-Jesus Christmas. The Peanuts theme has a far stronger claim to being Christmas Music than “My Favorite Things,” which I hear too often on Christmas music themed collections. Makes me stabby. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/11 "2013-12-14T16:04:28Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > The Peanuts theme has a far stronger claim to being Christmas Music than “My Favorite Things,” which I hear too often on Christmas music themed collections. Makes me stabby. Agreed. Besides, Linus and Lucy was ostensibly the music for the “Christmas Show” Charlie Brown was trying to direct. It’s not what he wanted, but it’s what Schroeder kept playing. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/12 "2013-12-14T16:18:07Z")
I don’t really associate the Peanuts theme with Christmas, but I am probably in the minority. Now, the Peanuts classic [Christmas Time is Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-8giz65hkE) is just full of Christmas feels. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/13 "2013-12-14T17:00:39Z")
“Jingle Bell Rock” isn’t even directly a winter song. The only reason it’s even associated with winter is that the title and repeating lyric is a call-out to “Jingle Bells”, which is a winter song. Or to take a different approach to it, how is “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”, or Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” a Christmas song? The former is just a generically Christian song, and the latter is specifically an Easter song. Yet they have both become associated with Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/14 "2013-12-14T17:06:22Z")
If “Die Hard” can be a Christmas movie, then “Linus and Lucy” can be a Christmas song. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/15 "2013-12-14T17:09:02Z")
Why wouldn’t it be? It’s indelibly connected with a Christmas special. “Your a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” makes no mention of Christmas, either. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/16 "2013-12-14T17:45:15Z")
If you want it to be, it is. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/17 "2013-12-14T18:18:06Z")
Yes, to me. “Skating” and “Christmastime is Here” even more so (the latter obviously so). ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/18 "2013-12-14T18:21:03Z")
I want a " it shouldn’t be (by the lyrics), but it is in practice" option in the poll. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/19 "2013-12-14T20:15:24Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I don’t really associate the Peanuts theme with Christmas, but I am probably in the minority. > > Now, the Peanuts classic [Christmas Time is Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-8giz65hkE) is just full of Christmas feels. 🙂 I never thought it would be a choice. That is the Peanuts theme. It was on a lot of other Peanuts specials not just the Christmas one. Christmas Time is Here is their Christmas Song. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/20 "2013-12-14T21:07:45Z")
Yes, but personally I have an even stronger association between [Skating](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtgLCUuJEV8) and Christmas, mainly because around this time every year I’m always trying to play it on the piano. One of these years I’ll actually get it up to speed. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305.md?page=2)