# Worst Christmas song version in your opinion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 18, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659 "2010-12-18T23:04:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/21 "2010-12-20T00:45:13Z")
I had never actually heard this Christmas Shoes song until recently. I don’t know that it’s actually THE WORST, but it is, in fact, terrible. What makes it even worse is that there’s a (I’m guessing) craptastic Hallmark movie based on it. If you really hate yourself, [the video of the song with scenes from the movie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNsvE33pRSw). For bonus lulz, read the youtube comments. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/22 "2010-12-20T03:06:05Z")
> [@maplekiwi](#): > > He sang more than one??? :eek: Well, the stink factor to that one carries over to the next one that he _may_ do! Best wishes, hh ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/23 "2010-12-20T04:02:40Z")
Worst, I can’t say, but it still sticks in the memory after a few years. There is a restaurant in the U.S. called “Chuck E. Cheese.” It’s pizza, video and arcade games, and robotic stuffed animals performing on a stage - entertainment of its sort for kids under twelve, whose parents (and friends of the family - my role) get whined into taking the young un’s there. The namesake of the food place (low values of ‘food’) is a rat, not a mouse. Well, okay. This was at Christmas time, and the curious performance was by the cutsie-wootsie animals on stage singing holiday songs. The song was “Can You Hear What I Hear.” On stage, the animal singing the lead was a cutsie-wootsie baby chick. The voice doing the singing was strong, and rich, and that of a quite adult woman. Cognitive dissonance. Severe. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/24 "2010-12-20T19:05:24Z")
[quote=“handsomeharry, post:3, topic:564659”] Santa Claus is coming to town by Michael Jackson/Jackson 5, I think it is. /QUOTE] Even more annoying, if possible, is the Jackson 5’s version of “[Up On the House Top](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEUk1W7ib94)”. A horrible, manic treatment that seems to go on forever. ---
**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 20, 2010, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/25 "2010-12-20T19:20:35Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Know how I know you’re gay…? 😕 Not really. What do I have to promise you so you don’t tell my wife, though? 😃 ---
**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 20, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/26 "2010-12-20T19:24:30Z")
The first time I heard _Baby it’s Cold Outside_ was in the movie _Elf_ with Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschannel singing. I thought it sounded great and they did a great job. Then the other night I heard some gal (Kat Edmonson) and Lyle Lovett signing it on Letterman. Lovett made it sound reaaaally creepy in a stalker sort of way. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/27 "2010-12-20T19:31:39Z")
Elvis doing Blue Christmas. Really his back up singers. ---
**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 20, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/28 "2010-12-20T19:37:55Z")
I had never heard Barbara Streisand’s version of Jingle Bells, so I just looked it up on Youtube. That was … different. Never heard the Christmas Shoes song before, either. Sounds like standard overwrought sappy dreck, from what few seconds I listened to. I think I’ll go with the Streisand version of Jingle Bells as worst. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/29 "2010-12-20T19:46:44Z")
For me it’s Michael Bolton’s version of White Chistmas. At the end he sounds like he sounds at the end of every song I’ve heard him sing: like his spleen is being torn out. I have been fortunate enough so far to have missed the Jingle Bells everyone is voting for. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/30 "2010-12-20T20:06:43Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > [“Deck the Halls” by Mannheim Steamroller](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn45Uucq-AI&feature=related). > > If you like this, you are NOT MY FRIEND. I’m not your friend, I guess. But I’m kinda puzzled: Mannheim Steamroller has several albums of Christmas music. They’ve got a very distinct style, and their “Deck the Halls” is quite representative of it; it really doesn’t stand out from the rest in terms of goodness, badness, or Mannheim-ness. So it’s not like this can be the worst version of a Christmas song without being in about a 40-way tie for the, um, honor. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/31 "2010-12-20T20:15:48Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > I’m not your friend, I guess. > > But I’m kinda puzzled: Mannheim Steamroller has several albums of Christmas music. They’ve got a very distinct style, and their “Deck the Halls” is quite representative of it; it really doesn’t stand out from the rest in terms of goodness, badness, or Mannheim-ness. So it’s not like this can be the worst version of a Christmas song without being in about a 40-way tie for the, um, honor. Oh, I’m aware. All of their songs sound exactly the same, and uniformly horrible. ---
**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 20, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/32 "2010-12-20T20:31:36Z")
Mannheim Steamroller is another one of those things that makes the “Things White People Like” list. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/33 "2010-12-20T21:09:10Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > 1. Barbra Streisand’s “Jingle Bells” I’ve never had a panic attack, but when I listened to that song for the first time, I got a really good glimpse of how that would feel. That frenetic attack on the melody actually scares the hell out of me. I’m not even really comfortable thinking about it to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/34 "2010-12-20T21:10:54Z")
I’ll toss in another vote for Streisand’s “Jingle Bells”. If you’ve never heard it, imagine a Christmas song performed by someone who has never heard a Christmas song, and then imagine a song three times worse. There! Something for people who hate “Christmas Shoes”: [Patton Oswalt rants about “Christmas Shoes”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq10bz3PxyY). ---
**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:** [December 20, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/35 "2010-12-20T21:45:15Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > I’ll toss in another vote for Streisand’s “Jingle Bells”. If you’ve never heard it, imagine a Christmas song performed by someone who has never heard a Christmas song, and then imagine a song three times worse. There!. I think that’s too vague. Imagine a Christmas song performed by someone who has never heard a Christmas song and sings as if they have severe mood swings between the verses and the chorus. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/36 "2010-12-20T23:00:08Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Santa Baby, by Madonna > Baby, It’s Cold Outside, by James Taylor and somebody or other > [Bob Dylan](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SF9Y8E/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B002MW50KO&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0Y9MZ74FKTXVD2B2155D) (you pick) I agree totally on the first two and most of the third but only Dylan’s version of [Must Be Santa](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8qE6WQmNus) is the only version of that song I can stand. He also does a good “Christmas Blues”. Anyone besides Wizard who does “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” should get coal in their stockings. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/37 "2010-12-20T23:06:54Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Any Christmas songs by Mariah Carey. She sounds like a wounded moose at best, let alone with the classics. Concur. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/38 "2010-12-20T23:16:16Z")
No hate for anything from _Alvin and the Chipmunks_? Listening to AatC makes teh baby Jesus cry. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/39 "2010-12-20T23:29:17Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Elvis doing Blue Christmas. Really his back up singers. You know, I never really thought about it, but you’re totally right. They sound like they’re attempting to yodel under the influence of oxycontin. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2010, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659/40 "2010-12-21T08:28:40Z")
Quote: Originally Posted by maplekiwi He sang more than one??? > [@handsomeharry](#): > > Well, the stink factor to that one carries over to the next one that he _may_ do! > > Best wishes, > hh Phew! Don’t scare me like that! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-christmas-song-version-in-your-opinion/564659.md?page=3)