# Screw you, Burl Ives! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 18, 2024, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833 "2024-12-18T22:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/21 "2024-12-19T13:24:21Z")
the upside is that, since it has been playing since Halloween, Christmas music will be banished to the cellar the exact instant the calendar turns to Dec. 26. It’s like a switch is flicked and poof, its gone! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/22 "2024-12-19T13:36:37Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Anyone else like Adam Sandler’s Hannukah song? [I prefer Tom Lehrer’s.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LslsgH3-UFU) ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/23 "2024-12-19T16:02:00Z")
I wouldn’t be so disrespectful to Burl Ives. He seems like a cheerful jolly Claus-esque singer, but he once [Shot his own son for being a dishonorable coward.](https://youtu.be/nQIfRCUlfz4?si=q0bKXBJg02VBEDoh) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/24 "2024-12-19T16:13:43Z")
[Or this inspiring carol](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtZR3lJobjw&t=0m55s). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/25 "2024-12-19T16:19:01Z")
> [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](#): > > Christmas music will be banished to the cellar the exact instant the calendar turns to Dec. 26. This is what really irks me. Dec. 26th is, in fact, the second of the twelve days of Christmas, and an appropriate time to be playing Christmas music, as opposed to, say, November. It’s like we use the music to inspire people to buy crap, but not for the actual holiday. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/26 "2024-12-19T16:51:25Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > It’s like we use the music to inspire people to buy crap, but not for the actual holiday. 😲 No ! I’m shocked and astounded. And also somewhat disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/27 "2024-12-19T16:58:59Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > > [@Bullitt](#): > > > > Anyone else like Adam Sandler’s Hannukah song? > > [I prefer Tom Lehrer’s.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LslsgH3-UFU) > [@Jackmannii](#): > > [Or this inspiring carol](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtZR3lJobjw&t=0m55s). Yeah those are pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/28 "2024-12-19T17:14:01Z")
Christmas lyric that always stuck in my craw was Bono’s line from “Do They Know It’s Christmas” _Well, tonight thank god it’s them instead of you_ Really showing some empathy there. I mean, holy crap, I sure am glad it’s them starving and not me. Cause if they were fed and I was the one starving, well, that would really suck. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/29 "2024-12-19T17:35:39Z")
Finally, on the 30th anniversary re-recording (Bono had also been on the 20th, and has sung the same line each time), the lyric was finally changed to “Well tonight we’re reaching out and touching you.” Which is still pretty glurgey but the song overall, to my ears at least, holds up better than “We Are The World” and “Tears Are Not Enough,” both of which are violently unlistenable IMHO. The xmas songs that make me want to poke holes in my eardrums with knitting needles are Raffi’s version of “Must Be Santa” (the other recordings of it may be just as odious, but his is the version I hear most here in Ontario) and Nana Mouskouri’s “Old Toy Trains.” And there’s a special place in hell for the director of the video for Hall & Oates’ “Jungle Bell Rock.” The list of Christmas songs I can actually appreciate is pretty slim: - “Fairytale of New York,” obviously. I’ve heard great versions by Amy MacDonald, Stars and Coldplay (it’s apparently indestructable). - “Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)” by the Ramones - “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses, but Save Ferris’ rewrite is terrific. - “I Wish it was (sic) Christmas Today” by Julian Casablancas. - “Little Saint Nick” by the Beach Boys. - “Thank God It’s Christmas” by Queen. And there were some cool covers on the old KROQ Kevin & Bean Christmas compilations. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/30 "2024-12-19T17:40:39Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > “Christmas Wrapping” by the Waitresses, but Save Ferris’ rewrite is terrific. I love the original. I shall have to listen to the rewrite. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/31 "2024-12-19T17:47:37Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > This is what really irks me. Dec. 26th is, in fact, the second of the twelve days of Christmas, and an appropriate time to be playing Christmas music, as opposed to, say, November. > > It’s like we use the music to inspire people to buy crap, but not for the actual holiday. As I remarked in another thread, Americans effectively celebrate Advent, not the Twelve Days of Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/32 "2024-12-19T18:09:33Z")
You can interpret it as “Say Hello. Not to strangers of course, but, ya know, to _friends_.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/33 "2024-12-19T18:40:08Z")
Wait! So the lyrics aren’t “Have a _jai alai_ jolly Christmas” ? ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/34 "2024-12-19T18:49:03Z")
While we’re slamming classic Christmas songs, What’s up with the circus rifts on the Beach Boys Santa Clause is Coming to Town? Sooo cringy ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/35 "2024-12-19T19:13:47Z")
I wish somebody could explain to me: If _Die Hard_ is a Christmas movie, how come “Stagger Lee” isn’t a Christmas song? ---
**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 19, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/36 "2024-12-19T19:36:29Z")
OK, my ire is officially directed to whoever it was who posted a reference to… that other Christmas song. I’m not fond of “Holly Jolly Christmas”, “Jingle Bell Rock”, or “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” (which are all the same song anyway), I get annoyed by things like “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”, I actively dislike “Last Christmas”, but …that other Christmas song… is an absolute affront to everything. It’s a horrible, insipid song, that also acts as an extremely pernicious earworm. Your only protection is the fact that, as soon as I realized what was happening, I quickly scrolled past that post, and I’m not going to risk going back to see who it was. I can only pray, as it is, that I was quick enough to avoid infection. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/37 "2024-12-19T19:53:48Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > And there’s a special place in hell for the director of the video for Hall & Oates’ “Jungle Bell Rock.” Trivia: the guy playing Santa in the video is record company exec, Tommy Mottola, who was later married to the woman responsible for arguably the most oppressively omnipresent Christmas song ever, Mariah Carey. I won’t name it because just reading the title can cause people to break out in hives and cold sweat. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/38 "2024-12-19T19:57:53Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > I wouldn’t be so disrespectful to Burl Ives. He seems like a cheerful jolly Claus-esque singer, but he once [Shot his own son for being a dishonorable coward.](https://youtu.be/nQIfRCUlfz4?si=q0bKXBJg02VBEDoh) He also had an almost supernatural sense of smell. It was so sensitive, that he could tell if a place smelled of mendacity. ---
**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:** [December 19, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/39 "2024-12-19T20:02:22Z")
And yet a tiny little tear let him down ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2024, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833/40 "2024-12-19T20:05:17Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ve also heard _Green Chri$tma$_ in a shopping mall. The person responsible for programming the mall’s Muzak was either not paying attention or was being subversively ironic. I had a similar experience while doing holiday shopping in Rite-Aid when I heard Jethro Tull’s _[A Christmas Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMGAHVoCB1w)_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/screw-you-burl-ives/1011833.md?page=3)