Top 50 Holiday Music Countdown - Yule Be In My Heart

[Torzelbaum]

Weird that Mel’s anti-heat strategy started with fire.

Was he a Buddhist?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

44

Winter Wonderland

40 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #10 JBear (he might be confused by this but I took his “pretend I filled the rest of my list with the Randy Travis Christmas Album to heart…)​

by: Felix Bernard (Composer), Richard B. Smith (Lyricist)

Year of Release: 1934

Type:

Winter Wonderland details the glorious world covered in winter. And more specifically, a romantic couple canoodling and playing during the winter season. While the song is not particularly risqué (though you might read between the lines on what is happening by that fire) there is a more specifically kid-friendly version that changes Parson Brown to a circus clown and the allusion to getting married is replaced with more frolicking lyrics. The lyrics were written by Richard Bernhard Smith, inspired by seeing his hometown of Honesdale, Pennsylvania’s Central Park in the wintertime and wrote the song while being treated for tuberculosis. Thought technically not the first version, the one that made an impact was Guy Lomdardo’s version, which was a pretty big hit but also has been overtaken in the public consciousness by other versions.

Winter really is a season that is fun until it isn’t. Up here in Canada, it seems to last forever but for those big initial weeks of snow, it is fun, especially if you are working with kids and watching them make all kinds of cool stuff. But even for adults, there is something romantic about the initial ambiance and Winter Wonderland captures both the romance of the scenery and the romance it inspires in others, while be it playing in the snow or escaping it in the warmth of the hearth and each other’s arms. But somehow the song is romantic but not in a longing way but a jaunty one and it is a song that really can be appreciated by all ages.

Other Covers

Randy Travis

Darlene Love
Here’s an odd one

Again, Metal Christmas is not weird. But Christian metal band Stryper… always weird.

Christmas Creep take

What if the twist was the plans they made that they will face unafraid is murder?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Ad break

 

[Torzelbaum]

Winter Wonderland is a good song and I had considered putting it on my list but I realized that I only like / know some of the lyrics to the song and so I couldn't really count it as a favorite.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

43
My Favorite Things

42 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #12 Kirin​

by: Richard Rodgers (Composer), Oscar Hammerstein II (lyricist)

Year of Release: 1959

Type:

Though much of that shit is less possessable and more stuff that makes life worth living.


My Favorite Things is a song from the musical The Sound of Music. In it, Maria the nun initially sings it with the Mother Abbess early on and then it is reprised with the Von Trappe children, whom Maria is charged with looking after. The song has Maria detail some of her favourite things that help her deal when she’s feeling sad or hurt. Both the film and this song in particular, have become considered Christmas classics despite not being written as a Christmas song or a Christmas story. Favorite Things does refer to some wintery joys, which has helped and has been part of a and the film itself is known for airing every Christmas season in the US and the UK. Even before the release of the film, the song appeared on a Christmas album by Jack Jones.

I did not see the film version of The Sound of Music until much later in life. My thoughts are mainly that the story was fine, the performances are great but really it’s all about those wonderful numbers and My Favorite Things is definitely among the most memorable (I’d say second only to Do-Re-Mi, a song drilled into me at a preschool age). I’m sure someone who is more versed in music can articulate it better than I but there’s something about the music itself that doesn’t sound as buoyantly happy as Do-Re-Mi. It’s a little more… not wistful but it really does seem to be someone wanting to GET to happy who isn’t quite there yet (until the ending “SO BAD!” crescendo).



Other Covers

John Coltrane​

Here’s an odd one

Andre 3000​

This one isn’t SO weird with the added context of that Coltraine piece but it might without it.


Christmas Creep take

When the dog bites and the bee stings actually makes me feel good. Oh, not if they happened to ME…

 

[Violentvixen]

I like the old radio ad stuff by the way, fun idea.

Winter Wonderland was on my long list but got cut, don't have a specific reason for cutting it just needed to trim something!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

42

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Perry Como and the Fontaine Sisters

42 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #8 Olli​

by: Meredith Willson (Songwriter), Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters with Mitchell Ayres & His Orchestra (original performers)

Year of Release: 1951

Type:

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas is a Christmas song written in 1951 that details the singer noticing more toys in the store for kids to want. It talks about other stuff but it really does seem more focused on the childlike yearning for toys. For some reason, there’s interested in WHERE the song was written, with Yarmouth, Nova Scotia laying claim to having the Grand Hotel in the song and claim it was written there, but Meredith Wilson may have been writing of his own hometown of Mason City, Iowa. Perry Como and the Fontaine Sisters did the original version in September but only a few weeks later Bing Crosby came out with his cover that is almost as popular (it was a weird time when a song would be written and then a bunch of people would do it, rather than it being a cover on one particular singer.

This is another iconic Christmas song and while it isn’t anti-capitalist or materialist, the message is sort of “look at all this cool stuff. Kids love toys. But at the end of the day, beyond all the razzle dazzle with the pleasantness of home.” Not terribly deep but the sweetness works on me. There is also a fun marching band quality to parts of the song but the rest also have kind of a relaxing lilt to it and there’s a fun juxtaposition, just as this song juxtaposes the big stuff with that little intimate moment of admiring the Harley in your front door.

Other Covers

Michael Buble

Bing Crosby​

Here’s an odd one

I did not expect a Scott Bakula cover but… he’s not a bad singer.


Christmas Creep take

Sure, when Barney and Ben ask for a pistol, it’s old timey fun but when I do, they got to run a background check.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

 

[Johnny Unusual]

41

Christmas at Ground Zero

'Weird Al' Yankovic
42 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #7 Alex​

by: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

Year of Release: 1986

Type:

Of the nuclear winter variety

Christmas at Ground Zero is a novelty/comedy song by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic. In it, Al sings of celebrating Christmas within the fires of a nuclear holocaust. While many Al songs are direct parodies, he is also known for doing songs that aren’t 1-to-1 parodies but instead are designed to sound like a different artist and this song is meant to be a parody the style of the classic Christmas album “A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector”. Originally, Al was encouraged by his record producers to do a Christmas album but when Al returned to them with this, they relented hard. In fact, afterwards Al had to work really hard to get it released, which Scotti Bros. Records didn’t want to do, even going out of pocket to direct and produce his own music video until eventually it was released as a single and later as part of the album Polka Party!

I remember first hearing this one on a greatest hits album and Al feels it is a fan favourite. He also recognizes the public consciousness now associated “ground zero” with 9/11 and doesn’t really play it live as often because that’s more of a bummer, though on a lucky night you might here him sing it. It’s interesting to remember when this song was released, it was during the cold war and I feel like there was a real dread about the apocalypse again. Al is always great at mimicking the style of other performers and here he’s mimicking the style of a producer, the infamous Phil Spector. Before he was known as a murderer, Spector was more famous for his innovation The Wall of Sound, designed to make dense orchestral sound work better on radios and TVs. Sure enough, Christmas at Ground Zero is Al playing with the big, glossy Wall of Sound sound but mixing it with his own sense of humour, which for a musician who’s demographic at the time seemed to be teens, went rather dark at times.

Other Covers

Here’s an odd one

I mean, it’s already weird so here’s a live one.

Christmas Creep take

This one always makes me feel a little wistful. Maybe some day…

 

[Kirin]

I left Al's GZ off my list when trying to whittle down to a few parodies, not because it's not a great song, it's just that the air raid sirens mixed in kinda set my teeth on edge.

 

[Torzelbaum]

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Christmas at Ground Zero were my #22 and #23 picks.

XMas at Ground 0 is the Weird Al Christmas song that I prefer over The Night Santa Went Crazy.

Year of Release: 1956

Is that a typo or a joke?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Is that a typo or a joke?

Just a typo

 

[Johnny Unusual]

40

Mele Kalikimaka

Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters
43 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #13 Olli​

by: Robert Alex Anderson (songwriter), Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters (original performers)

Year of Release: 1950

Type:

Mele Kalikimaka is a Christmas song from a Hawaiian perspective. Writer Robert Alex Anderson was inspired by a conversation with a woman in his office who questioned why there were no Hawaiian Christmas songs, merely old hymns translated into Hawaiian. After he wrote the song, he shared it with his friend Bing Crosby, who surprised him that year with a recording of the song. Mele Kalikimaka is in fact a loan word but the language of Hawaiian transforms the phrase greatly. Here’s how it breaks down.

The phrase is derived from English as follows:

Merry Christmas

↓ Every consonant must be followed by a vowel in Hawaiian. The T is removed, since it is already silent in English.

•Mery Carisimasa

↓ C is not a letter in Hawaiian; the closest phonetic equivalent is K.

Mery Karisimasa

↓ R is not a letter in Hawaiian; it is equivalent to L. Y is replaced by E, the sound it already denotes in English.

Mele Kalisimasa

↓ S is not a letter in Hawaiian; the closest phonetic equivalent is K.

Mele Kalikimaka

Now I’ve never been to Hawaii but I’ve had a few warm Christmasses: two in Thailand and two in Austrailia. Now, in general as a Canadian I do love a cozy Christmas with a fire place tucked away and protected from the cold but man, a green Christmas can be pretty nice, too. I remember in Australia everyone heading to the beach on late Christmas morning for some boogie boarding. Mele Kalikimaka captures that sense of joy while retaining the sense of quiet pleasantness you want from a Christmas song. If anything, it brings to mind that a joyful Christmas can take place in any number of environments and why not a tropical island with bright beautiful skies and warm weather.

Other Covers

Here’s an odd one

It’s already weird to have a song claiming to be Celtic sounding for this one but… I don’t even think it sounds Celtic.

Christmas Creep take

Ah, Hawaii, home to one of my favourite spook-em Mamala, the lizard spirit known for her surfing skills. Look it up.

 

[Mogri]

It was only a couple years ago that I realized the song says "Hawaii's way" and not "a wise way."

 

[Johnny Unusual]

 

[Johnny Unusual]

39

Good King Wenceslas

A traditional choir (no extra info)

44 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #13 Issun​

by: Václav Alois Svoboda (original poet), John Mason Neale (translator/hymnwriter), Thomas Helmore (music editor)

Year of Release: 1853 (in it’s completed form. Other elements preceded it, including the melody which was 300 years older, taken from an Easter hymn),

Type:

Good King Wenceslas is a traditional Christmas carol that tells the tale of a king of Bohemia who ventures forth on the second day of Christmas (the 26th), the Feast of Stephen, to give alms to a poor peasant. On his journey, his page nearly succumbs to the cold weather but he’s spurred on by seeing the tracks of his brave king and follows them step by step to complete the journey. The tale is inspired by a Bohemian duke named Wenceslaus I, whom was sainted after his death. The song was inspired by a poem by Václav Alois Svoboda that John Mason Neele translated and worked with editor Thomas Helmore to put in the book Carols for Christmas-Tide.

This is one I feel like people tease a bit for being one where no one remembers the lyrics but the song and tune are incredibly memorable and there’s something about a carol that isn’t just about the glory of Christ but of the messages he teaches, like bravery in hardship and of giving to others. Look, I don’t know if Duke Wenceslaus in any way lives up to his legend (do they ever?) but as a song and a tale it is fairly effective. And there’s something about the tune of this one that just sticks with me.

Other Covers

Loreena McKennitt​

Bing Crosby
​

Here’s an odd one

Man, this guy was a real cultural punching bag for a while, wasn’t he?

Christmas Creep take

Sadly, the Feast of Stephen does not involve a feast of Stephen. Though I’m sure he’s yummy.

 

[Eishtmo]

46

The Christmas Song
​

Since it came up, there's a relatively famous story related to that song.

Read It Here

It's worth reading every year.

 

[Daikaiju]

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Get ready for a WONDERFUL day.

38

Wonderful Christmastime

Paul McCartney​

45 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #2 Pudik​

By: Paul McCartney

Year of Release: 1979

Type:

Wonderful Christmastime is a Christmas song by Paul McCartney released in 1979. Recorded as he was working on his solo album McCartney II, it was released just after Wings produced their final album that same year. It was also McCartney’s first solo single since 1971’s Eat at Home. Despite Wings non-involvement in the song itself, they do appear in the music video. The song itself peaked at #6 of the UK charts that year and has since been a prominent staple of Christmas radio airing. Though often criticized as one of Paul’s weaker compositions, it remains popular and often covered.

I get why people give this one crap. It’s synthy sound feels fuzzy and dated and its repetitiveness almost feels like an aggressive assault (especially with that cheery message). But to me, that is also part of the charm of this oddball song. It’s very much as record of the era of music when it was made when synth was on the rise and while this feels a bit like a musician latching onto a new sound and incorporating it into Christmas. And despite the fact I feel this song is often mocked, clearly other people are still fond of it too for it to remain a Christmas staple.

Other Covers

Kylie Minogue + Mika

The Shins​

Here’s an odd one

The Monkees​

The weird part isn’t that the Monkees did a cover. The weird part is it happened in 2018.

Christmas Creep take

The choir of children practiced all year long to sing “ding dong”? Sorry, these kids might be completely hopeless.

 

[Adrenaline]

My placement of this song at the very bottom of my list was very deliberate.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

And Now an Ad Break

 

[Johnny Unusual]

37

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

52 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #8 Torzelbaum​

by: Edward Pola and George Wyle (songwriters), Andy Williams (original performer)

Year of Release: 1963

Type:

(yes, no one is drinking but let’s face it, this is all just warm fuzzy hedonism)

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year is a song that details and catalogues all the fun things about Christmas, including activities and events. Originally written in 1962 (or 1963… Wikipedia seems to contradict itself on this but 63 is more likely for reasons I can discuss in a post but it’s pretty dry), it was first performed by Andy Williams for his second Christmas episode of his television series The Andy Williams Show. It’s wild there was an era where singers just got TV shows where they sang. I feel like just that won’t fly today for a number of reasons.

Andy describes the rise of the popularity of the song as such:

George Wyle, who is a vocal director, who wrote all of the choir stuff and all of the duets and trios and things that I did with all the guests, he wrote a song just for the show – I think the second Christmas show we did – called 'Most Wonderful Time of the Year'. So I did that, you know, every Christmas, and then other people started doing it. And then suddenly it's become – not suddenly but over 30 years – it's become a big standard. I think it's one of the top 10 Christmas songs of all time now.

This is in fact true, the song managed to slowly muscle it’s way in the Christmas charts in the 2000s from 18 to it’s current position in #5.

If anything, and I say this with no intent to insult, feels both like the platonic ideal of a Christmas song and the kind people get sick of. Keep in mind, I do like this song but I get it, there’s not a lot of depth here, it’s just “here’s some fun stuff about Christmas”. And it’s downright aggressive in it’s joy. I did find it weird that he brings up ghost stories, which IS a Victorian era tradition, but one that’s mostly lost except for the most famous, A Christmas Carol. But beyond that, I think this song works; yes, it does feel like materialism fuel as you walk into Walmart yet I think it comes out big and brash in a way that is truly fun. I think the fact that Williams is clearly giving it his all sells it. There are a lot of Christmas songs that don’t stand the test of time, the kind that feel like needle drops as ironic counterpoints in Christmas themed thrillers and horror movies and it takes a special kind of production and performer to give it lasting appeal and Williams does it.

Other Covers

Here’s an odd one

OK, but it’s not proggy unless it also contains an 18 minute instrumental journey.

Christmas Creep take

I agree. Bring back scary ghost stories.

In fact…

 

[Mogri]

I thought I was losing my mind briefly on this one, but it turns out this is revisionist history.

 

[Daikaiju]

Retcons are so confusing...

 

[pudik]

yes, wonderful christmastime is the best christmas song. sir paul has done it again

 

[Johnny Unusual]

36

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Gene Autry​

52 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #18 Daikaiju and Torzelbaum ​

by: Johnny Marks (songwriter), Gene Autry (original performer)

Year of Release: 1949

Type:

But too much!



Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, both the story and the song, was created in 1939 by Robert L. May for Montgomery Ward, when they realized that they could save money by producing their own holiday giveaway colouring books rather than buying them from other places. The A decade later and Johnny Marks, May’s brother-lin-law decided to write a song about him (I’m curious how his lyrics differ from the original book since it was originally written in the same meter as A Visit from Saint Nicholas (AKA the Night Before Christmas). Marks also adds an A Visit from Saint Nicholas-style opener, which also reminds us of the other reindeer. Gene Autry recorded the first version in 1949 and the song was number one on the popcharts during Christmas of 1949. Rudolph’s popularity became even greater with the song and the character would be one of the most iconic of Christmas characters.

It’s hard to imagine a world where Rudolph doesn’t exist. He feels like he’s always been there. Heck, is he even public domain? I assumed he was but 1949 makes it seem less likely, right? As a kid, he seems up there with the great myths, not created by men but simply woven into creation itself. Yes, this is definitely an overblown take for such a very simple fable but this is a real staple of my childhood to the point where it seems even the version where everyone is adding “like a lightbulb” and “like hopscotch” after the lines is just as much a part of childhood. Rudolph is a classic “outcast makes good” story and while there’s a lot of holes to poke (so people only like him because the thing that makes him different is useful? What if it wasn’’t?), it still works on it’s original level.

Other Covers

Burl Ives

Spike Jones
​

Here’s an odd one

This came out in 2018 so the Shat is DEEEEEEP in being in on the joke of who he is and what his singing career is. Which actually hurts this one a lot.

Christmas Creep take

I’m putting it to you; Donner or Donder?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

And now, an ad break...

 

[Johnny Unusual]

35
What’s This?

Danny Elfman
53 Points, 2 Lists, Highest Vote: #8 Daikaiju ​

by: Danny Elfman

Year of Release: 1993

Type:

Though in the rest of the movie Jack wants shit… Christmas in it’s entirety.

What’s This? Is a musical number from the animated Halloween/Christmas movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. Prior to the song Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown is celebrated but Jack is so successful he yearns for something different. He soon discovers Christmastown, a world almost antithetical to his own and becomes obsessed with it. This song takes place during that discovery where he immediately becomes enamored of Christmas as he tries to piece it together. The songs were written by Danny Elfman who sang Jack’s songs and claims he felt like Jack: hemmed in by his own success (Oingo Boingo) and fearful of betraying the band and people involved with it by going to different places. To give it a timeless quality, the songs where written in an older style, inspired by three penny operas, Gilbert and Sullivan, Cole Porter, George Gerswhin and even Rogers and Hammerstein.

The Nightmare Before Christmas came out as I was starting to get into kid-friendly spooky stuff like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark? but somehow it passed me by for the first few years. It is an amazing looking film and initially there was something about those songs I thought were both good but I bounced off of. Whatever it was, I like them a lot better now and find them very catchy and Elfman is great at both capturing the sounds of Christmas and Halloween and dovetailing them into a series of truly fun numbers. There’s more than one song about Christmas in the movie, such as Kidnap the Sandy Klaws and Making Christmas and the Town Meeting Song where the monsters completely misunderstand Christmas but What’s This? really captures Jack’s immediate rush of wonder and makes it understandably why he wants to try something new.

Other Covers

Flyleaf​

Here’s an odd one

Fall Out Boy​

I will say by the metric of deeply misguided covers by Fall Out Boy, this isn’t one of their worst.

Christmas Creep take

I’m still bothered no one was throwing heads. THERE ARE JUST SO MANY HEADS! THROW ONE!

 

[Torzelbaum]

I had Mele Kalikimaka at #16. I guess I can thank National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for introducing it to me because I don't think I had ever heard it before that movie.

The Burl Ives version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the one for me because it was the version that is used in the constantly-replayed classic 1964 Rankin-Bass holiday TV special.

I’m putting it to you; Donner or Donder?

Dunder and Mifflin Blixem
Or Thunder and Lightning, if you prefer.

...

But not really. Donner is the way from my childhood so it is the only way for me.

(Here's a wikipedia link in case you're wondering what the heck Johnny and I are talking about with the reindeer names.)

 

[Daikaiju]

Two on the board! Was beginning to think all my choices were outliers.