# What's your favourite Christmas carol/song of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 4, 2004, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074 "2004-12-04T16:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/61 "2004-12-07T02:55:58Z")
_Oh Holy Night_ - I agree with those above, when done well, it’s about as good as it gets. Thing is, it’s butchered so often, not only by the singers, but by arrangers and conductors, that I often prefer not to hear it performed live. _Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel_ - Again, when arranged properly, and sung properly, it’s beautiful and somber. I tried to come up with a good arrangement for it to play on my classical guitar, which is OK sounding to my ears. I sometimes wonder what a _good_ guitar player would sound like playing it. _Gabriel’s Message_ The first time I heard this performed was at a small church concert in Washington D.C. Very shortly after, I heard Sting massacre the bloody hell out of it on some Xmas compilation…vocally he was OK, but there’s this goofy, totally electronic-sounding drumbeat going in the background…it sounds like a rhythm program from a $20 Casio keyboard you buy at Toys 'R Us. In the concert, it was sung by an a cappella male chorus, and the harmonies were just fantastic. I wish I could find a similar recording of it. Plus, I loved the lyrics…really evokative of the wonder of what should, I suppose, be thought of as a pretty unsettling experience for a young and virginal Mary, having an archangel tell you you will give birth to God’s Son. My understanding is it’s derived from a traditional Basque carol, and it’d be interesting to hear that, too. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/62 "2004-12-07T03:22:04Z")
I second **Kythereia** ’s recommendation of “Ding Dong Merrily On High” – I absolutely loved this melody from the first time I heard it, and never learned its identity until I posted a question on these boards fairly recently. It seems to convey to me, a lifelong atheist, what religious bliss feels like. In other words, it puts me into the emotional state of the person who created it several centuries ago. That’s the greatest thing music can ever do. At the other end of the emotional spectrum, there’s “Santa Baby”, as sung by Eartha Kitt. Hubba. ---
**Author:** ![jgroub](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@jgroub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jgroub)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/63 "2004-12-07T04:12:22Z")
I am also an atheist (of Jewish upbringing) but had a serious case of Christmas envy growing up. I married a Catholic, so now I get the tree and everything! _O Holy Night_ is definitely my favorite by far. I once heard **Jewel** sing it on Leno and almost dropped dead, it was so beautiful. On an opposite note, which is your least favorite Christmas song. For me that honor would have to go to _Winter Wonderland_. Any song that discusses conspiracies (“later on, we’ll conspire”) around Christmas time is right out. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/64 "2004-12-07T04:22:02Z")
Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas”, Eartha Kitt’s “Santa, Baby” and “Silent Night” by the Temptations. Of course, “Christmas in Hollis” by Run-DMC. (Peace out to ya, Jam Master Jay!) I do a passable rendition of the falsetto/tenor/baritone parts of the Temptations as long as I have a helium tank to suck on. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/65 "2004-12-07T13:32:11Z")
> [@jgroub](#): > > On an opposite note, which is your least favorite Christmas song. For me that honor would have to go to _Winter Wonderland_. Any song that discusses conspiracies (“later on, we’ll conspire”) around Christmas time is right out. Least favorite would have to be all those pieces of drivel performed for kids. _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ -although there’s a pop version with an extra verse wherein Rudolph calls out the other reindeer for being hypocritical pricks that I like. Don’t know who does it. _Jingle Bells_ - I like the verses, which no one sings any more. The chorus is inane shrieking over and over until I want to jam an icicle through my skull. _Away in a Manger_ - can anyone sing this without whining? It’s always, \*always \*flat on the high notes. _Deck the Halls_ - Well, Fa my La but that one gets old real quick. _Santa Claus is Coming to Town_ - nothing makes me Scroogier faster. Well, OK, I kind of like Springstein’s version, but only because the whole band is obviously WAY drunk 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/66 "2004-12-07T13:36:15Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > _Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ -although there’s a pop version with an extra verse wherein Rudolph calls out the other reindeer for being hypocritical pricks that I like. ? Now _that_ I gotta hear. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/67 "2004-12-07T13:44:18Z")
> [@Moody Bastard](#): > > ? > > Now _that_ I gotta hear. 🙂 It sounds a lot like Barenaked Ladies, perhaps it’s on their Christmas album. ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/68 "2004-12-07T13:55:07Z")
_The Twelve Days of Christmas_ by **Bob and Doug Mackenzie** …and a beer in a tree. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/69 "2004-12-07T14:12:57Z")
Another\* O Holy Night\*, here… but also… Very few people I know seem to like this “sequel” to Winter Wonderland… but it makes me giggle whenever I hear it: _Marshmallow World_. I don’t know how many people have sung it, but there’s a version I hear often on the radio, sung by a man, and whenever he says “_take a walk with your favourite girl_”, I crack up. It’s something about the way he says it, I guess you’d have to hear it for yourself to know what I mean. Also, _Ava Maria_, but it must be done by someone who has the vocal chords to handle it… when it’s done right, it’s wonderful. Another vote for _Good King Wencelas_, and _What Child Is This?_ And, just for jollies - _Oi To The World_, by the Vandals. And a special place in my heart is reserved for _I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas_, since it’s my father’s favourite, and my mother bought him a little toy hippo one year and stuck it in his stocking. This delighted him to no end, and it is still sitting on his computer monitor at his office at work, for all to see. ---
**Author:** ![PookahMacPhellimey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pookahmacphellimey/32/3175_2.png) [@PookahMacPhellimey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PookahMacPhellimey)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/70 "2004-12-07T15:20:48Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > For me I always have a soft spot for [Gaudete](http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/emusic/lyrics/gaudete.html) a beautiful renaissanse hymn. Oh yes! I forgot about that. Love Steeleye Span’s version. Also, I’m a bit embarrassed about this, but I like that _Walking in the Air_ song. Of course you can’t beat _Fairytale of New York_. It’s gets played a bit too much here in Ireland around Christmas, but even that hasn’t managed to ruin it. If we are talking really stunning though it has to be Mormors Julstjarna from Swedish trad band [Triakel](http://www.triakel.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=6&Itemid=27) who recorded an whole album of gorgeous Swedish Christmas music: Vintervisor. I tend to play that all year round as I don’t speak Swedish so the Christmas aspect doesn’t impact too much and the music is just too lovely to only play once a year. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/71 "2004-12-07T21:25:48Z")
Harry Connick Jr’s version of Ave Maria Charlotte Church singing O Holy Night is awesome. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/72 "2004-12-08T00:30:21Z")
friend anastasaeon > [@](#): > > Also, _Ava Maria_, but it must be done by someone who has the vocal chords to handle it… when it’s done right, it’s wonderful. i once heard shubert’s ave maria performed by frederica von staade with the mormon tabernacle choir. beautiful barely describes this recording ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/73 "2004-12-08T03:16:01Z")
I like some of the more obscure/older carols. _In Dulci Jubilo_ sung by a boy choir really does it for me. _The Wexford Carol_ and _Rorate_ are two others I just adore. I always think of _Once, As I Remember_ as a handspinner’s carol, since one verse says Ox and ass around him Courtier-like did stand. Fair white linen bound him Spun by Mary’s hand. As a handspinner, I love a verse like that! ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/74 "2004-12-08T04:20:15Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > It sounds a lot like Barenaked Ladies, perhaps it’s on their Christmas album. Nope, I was wrong. There is a \*Rudolph \*on that album, but not the one I was thinking of. I’ll have to listen for a name next time I hear it on the radio. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2004, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074/75 "2004-12-08T05:29:41Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Glad to see I’m not the only one who loves “Carol of the Bells” > > And to see it played out in bells is absolutely phenomenal. Takes my breath away. I wish I could find an all bell version of the song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favourite-christmas-carol-song-of-all-time/278074.md?page=3)