# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/161 "2016-12-03T01:51:47Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > And it may have been generally applicable, but you can’t say you have no idea why anyone would think it is a holiday song? _Yes!_ Since literally _everything_ Peanuts related not made in the 80s uses it (and it was used in the 80s, too, just not as consistently) - including, as has been mentioned several times in this thread, _insurance commercials_ - it didn’t originate in the Christmas special, and it wasn’t used in a specifically holiday-related context in the special. Absolutely nothing about it lends itself to being a holiday song. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/162 "2016-12-03T02:02:15Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > _Yes!_ > > Since literally _everything_ Peanuts related not made in the 80s uses it (and it was used in the 80s, too, just not as consistently) - including, as has been mentioned several times in this thread, _insurance commercials_ - it didn’t originate in the Christmas special, and it wasn’t used in a specifically holiday-related context in the special. > > Absolutely nothing about it lends itself to being a holiday song. Right, oh yeah, except for the whole reason why it became known as a great song, and for what associations were made by the quality of the work. I hear it the same as sleigh Ride or my favorite things. or baby it’s cold out side by Ray charles and betty carter. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/163 "2016-12-03T02:22:08Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > _Yes!_ > > Since literally _everything_ Peanuts related not made in the 80s uses it (and it was used in the 80s, too, just not as consistently) - including, as has been mentioned several times in this thread, _insurance commercials_ - it didn’t originate in the Christmas special, and it wasn’t used in a specifically holiday-related context in the special. > > Absolutely nothing about it lends itself to being a holiday song. Hey wait a minute. Are you saying a holiday song can’t be as happy as that? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/164 "2016-12-03T09:27:21Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The Simpsons also started with a Christmas special but no one associates their theme with Christmas. Kind of ironic that it isn’t, considering that it was written by an elfman… ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2017, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/165 "2017-11-23T15:54:14Z")
As has become my own annual tradition, resurrecting this thread to see if there is any further discussion. I discovered after the fact it had become a Spotlight thread on the main page last year which I find great. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/166 "2017-11-23T17:28:46Z")
I am going in mid-Dec to a jazz concert of the “Charlie Brown Christmas” pieces and am pretty gosh darn excited 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/167 "2018-11-25T17:07:40Z")
Resurrecting this thread for the holidays. If it doesn’t generate anything new I will let this one rest after this year probably. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/168 "2018-11-26T19:30:50Z")
Nah. Linus and Lucy is the the dang theme. It’s in every soundtrack, plus it gets licensed out to companies that use Peanuts. I’d just as soon call it “MetLife Music”. I learned many of the Guaraldi songs for the piano, and if you asked me to play a peanuts christmas song, I’d start with “Christmas Time is Here”. I wouldn’t even think of Linus and Lucy. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/169 "2018-11-26T22:52:09Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Thus, we can see that “Linus and Lucy” is not a Christmas song, as Charlie Brown explicitly rejects it as appropriate music for a Christmas play. It is, rather than being Christmas music, presented as a distraction from the Christmas spirit, something that pulls us away from the proper celebration of the holiday rather than leading us toward it. This is 2+ year-old quote - but I would point out that Charlie Brown is a blockhead, and hence perhaps not the best arbiter of what is Christmas music. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/170 "2018-11-29T21:34:45Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > Is Jingle Bells considered a Christmas song? It’s about winter, not Christmas. I bet they don’t sing it at Christmas time in Australia! (Ditto for “Winter Wonderland,” “Baby it’s Cold Outside,” and a bunch of others.) Four years late, but since the thread rose from the dead… While I can’t speak for Oz, here in NZ we certainly suffer from something of a split personality around the Christmas holidays with our seasons six months out from the traditions inherited largely from the UK. While some of the traditions have changed - food is more often BBQ and cold beer than turkey and eggnog - some of the trappings remain firmly northern hemisphere: with the temperature in the 70s and 80s (and the humidity in the same range), the malls are getting decorated in fake snow and winter finery and the speakers are belting out songs about sleigh rides, jingling bells, figgy pudding, and Good King Wenceslas heading out into a blizzard while we begin worrying about sunburn and heatstroke. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305/171 "2025-12-09T18:09:36Z")
This may be of interest: ['Charlie Brown Christmas' at 60: Charles Schulz on the 'Peanuts' holiday classic : NPR](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/09/nx-s1-5622039/charlie-brown-christmas-charles-schulz-peanuts-holiday-special-60-years) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-peanuts-theme-linus-and-lucy-christmas-music/676305.md?page=8)