Every year they seem to start earlier...love them or hate them, they're invading your ear holes right after (and now even sometimes before) Thanksgiving. Walk into any retail store, they are there. Turn on your car radio, BOOM, there again. Of course, I'm talking about Christmas music and songs.
They are everywhere for a good month and half. There's really nothing you can do to escape them, so why not just sit back and enjoy them? Even if you aren't Christian, or don't celebrate the holiday itself, you have to admit that there's at least a couple Christmas songs that you find yourself humming along to. And besides, since you can't escape them, you may as well just accept them...
Here's a list that I've complied of the ten least annoying Christmas tunes, in my humble estimation. Enjoy, share, and most of all leave your opinion and personal favorites in the comments below because I know that I've left out some "golden" standards.
10. "Gabriel's Message" - Sting
This tune comes off the very first "A Very Special Christmas" CD in 1987. The song itself is based on a 13th-Century Basque carol, translated in the 1800s. This version has a very cool, synthed-out 80s sound that I just dig. Plus, it was a hip twist on a Bible tale that I had read (and heard) about a thousand times growing up. Good job, Gordon...
9. "Snow Miser & Heat Miser" - George S. Irving and Dick Shawn
This comes from the 1974 Christmas special "A Year Without a Santa Claus" and it is still one of the greatest things ever. It's hammy and silly, sure, but that doesn't mean it is any less glorious. It's also a vicious "earworm" song...once you hear it, it will be in your head for hours. Give it a listen and you'll know that I'm right about 10 seconds in.
8. "Winter Wonderland" - Johnny Mathis
I get the love of this song from my mother. She would play Mathis' "Merry Christmas" album incessantly during the holidays, and Mathis' rendition is the definitive version, in my opinion. This song just says "Christmas" to me like almost no other.
7. "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" - Gayla Peevey
I blame my wife for me even knowing of this song's existence. I went some 32 years on this planet without ever hearing it once. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did. Now, I must hear it every holiday season or it feels lacking to me somehow. And besides, the kids love it.
6. "Blue Christmas" - Elvis Presley
This is another tune that I can thank my mother for introducing me to. I'm not a big fan of the King typically, but I do love this song. I mean, the opening lines as Elvis sings them ("AAhI'll have a blue...Christmas...without you...") are just so undeniably him that I don't know why anyone would ever attempt to do a cover of this song. I may not be a huge fan, but I do know that almost no one could "own" a song like the King.
5. "So This Is Xmas (War is Over)" - John Lennon and Yoko Ono
Written in 1971 as the Vietnam War was still raging on, the lyrics to this gem always make me stop to think when I hear them: "So, this is Christmas...and what have you done? Another year over and a new one just begun..." Followed by the haunting chant of "War is over, if you want it." There aren't too many other songs on this list that I can say that about. I hear it and I think: "What have I done this year for my fellow man?" It's usually very little and that makes me sad...but this song is so good that even those feelings and the supremely annoying presence of Yoko Ono can't mess it up. That's something to think about, as well.
4. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" - Band Aid
If you grew up in the 80s, you have to dig this tune. It's encoded somewhere in your DNA, I think. I don't think I've ever heard a song played as much as this one was during the holiday season of 1984. It was everywhere.
Still, it's hard not enjoy this heartfelt attempt by rich and privileged British rock stars to help those starving in Africa, and to "let them know it's Christmas time of year..."
3. "Christmas Wrapping" - The Waitresses
Another 80s classic that's more of a story than a song really, but I've always enjoyed a real narrative in just about anything, so hey, why not a single girl's attempt to find love during the holidays?
The lyrics here are spot on and always make me smile, as does the jaunty beat and lead singer Patty Donohue's pitch perfect delivery which is both sassy and melancholy when it needs to be. It's never officially Christmas in my house until I hear this ditty playing on the radio.
2. "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy" - David Bowie and Bing Crosby
This is taken from Bing Crosby's 1977 "Merrie Olde Christmas" special which was aired on CBS. I don't think anyone really saw or recalled that "special" until the late 80s when MTV began running this clip during the holidays. I remember seeing it for the first time rather vividly, as it was rather mind-blowing to see 70s, "Thin White Duke" era David Bowie doing a duet with a crusty old fossil like Crosby. I would have killed to be a fly on the wall for that shoot.
But damn, does this tune ever work and work spectacularly well. It never, ever fails to give me chills any time I hear it.
1. "Silent Night" - Sarah McLachlan
Yes, there are a million versions of this song and they are all typically good because you have to work damn hard to mess up this timeless song. McLachlan's version is relatively new (2006), but that doesn't make it any less awesome. Her voice has an ethereal and/or angelic quality that has always just done it for me, and she carries this classic beautifully.
Nothing says "Christmas" to me like this song. Nothing. It just seems to distill everything that is good and right and wholesome about the holiday into three minutes and 55 seconds of aural rapture. You can take that as you will.
Sleep in heavenly peace, dear readers, sleeeep in heav-en-ly peace...
