Top 50 Holiday Music Countdown - Yule Be In My Heart

[Pombar]

Yeah this one's a rare Xmas tune I listen to outside of the season, genuinely a good tune and the comedy works.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

24

Santa Baby

69 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #6 WildcatJF ​

by: Joan Javits and Philip Springer (song writers), Eartha Kitt (original performer)

Year of Release: 1953

Type:

Santa Baby is a 1953 Christmas song originally sung by Eartha Kitt. The song is form the point of view of a woman who seems to want Santa to be her sugar daddy, giving her all sorts of extravagant gifts like sables, rings and even a yacht. The song was written by Joan Javits and Phillip Springer. Tony Springer is also credited but that’s actually a pseudonym of Phillip in the hopes of speeding up the publishing process (I don’t get how that works but I’m not in the music industry). Initially the song was met with mixed reviews from critics, who found it too suggestive for a Christmas hit and even writer Springer claimed he was never satisfied with the song. Despite that, the song became a big hit of the era and is one of the most iconic Christmas songs.

Santa Baby one of the earliest “sexy” Christmas song and I think it works because that Eartha Kitt is effortlessly charming. I’m not going to lie, she was always my favourite Catwoman, though it is an embarrassment of riches in that department, and Eartha doesn’t overplay it in this very silly song that plays a bit like a bawdy comedy sketch. Interestingly, the song does appear in some lists of most annoying Christmas songs and I get maybe not being on board with it’s old-fashioned bits about a gold digger coming for jolly old St.Nick, I don’t think annoying is the word. If I have to guess, maybe people are annoyed by the back up singers going “ba-boom” but to me that adds to the good-natured silliness of the beast.

Other Covers

Kylie Minogue

Miss Piggy
Here’s an odd one

Michael Bublé
Bublé is a coward for trying to make this sound like two straight friends. Make a song where you want to fuck Santa for cash prizes, Mike!

Christmas Creep take

Trust me, in my experience you get a better reception from Krampus when you remind him you’ve been bad this year. Depending on what you are into, of course. Yes, I am being into thrown into a wicker backpack.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

 

[Johnny Unusual]

23

Happy Xmas (War is Over)
John Lennon and Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir

70 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #8 Adrenaline ​

by: John Lennon and Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir

Year of Release: 1971

Type:

Happy Xmas (War is Over) is a song written and performed by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The song falls in the line with the anti-war activist message they were cultivating for the previous two years. In fact, the lyric “War is Over, If You Want It” originated on a series of billboards Lennon and Ono paid for in the Holiday season (signed “Happy Christmas, from John and Yoko”). Though the song was born as a response to the Vietnam war, the song remained a beloved Christmas hit for years. In response to the success of this song and Imagine, Lennon said "Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey."

I actually misunderstood this song when I first heard it as a kid. See, it aired with World Vision ads, the humanitarian aid organization and would show pictures of malnourished people living in Africa. I assumed the song was made for the ad and that it was trying to make me feel guilty for enjoying Christmas (“What have ya done?” being “have you even helped anyone this year?”) and I was not having it. Years, later, I realized this is a more than the song in the commercial and it is a beautiful song. Now I can see it as not goading anyone, it’s just saying “look, this is achievable”. Beautiful idea, too bad politicians blah blah blah.

Other Covers

Here’s an odd one

Pooh

Hehe… Pooh…

Christmas Creep take

OK… can I also have EXTRA war if I want it? As a treat?

 

[Adrenaline]

the best holiday song by a former Beatle

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Get ready because we are about to wish U. a merry K.hristmas for today's entries!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

22

Fairytale of New York

CW: Homophobic slur

The Pogues
70 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #3 Pombar ​

by: The Pogues, Kirsty MacColl

Year of Release: 1987

Type:

But, you know the singer beat ya to it.

Fairytale of New York is a Christmas song by the Irish punk band The Pogues and features Kristy McColl. The song details an Irish immigrant being thrown into the drunk tank on Christmas eve and reminiscing of an old love. The origins of the song are disputed, with McGowan claiming he had a bet with Elvis Costello who didn’t think they could write a Christmas hit and another with their manager saying he thought it would be novel for them to write a Christmas song. McGowan devised a lot of the song in a delirious state while suffer double pneumonia but the band wasn’t entirely happy with it and put it aside for a few years. Eventually, a trip to New York had McGowan reshaping the song and his wife joined in, becoming the female voice in the final product. The song became a big hit in the UK, reaching the top 20 charts every Christmas since 2005.

A bittersweet Celtic rock classic, A Fairytale of New York is both the kind of song you might expect from an Irish punk band (somewhat profane, raucous, darker than a lot of classic Christmas songs) and yet also a song that, while looking at a rougher side of life, is also filled with genuine warmth and poignance, even as characters are literally cussing each other out. And I don’t think it would work as well if it wasn’t also going so big. Not in an overproduced way, I think though there’s a lot of instrumentation, it also feels like it never takes more than is necessary. All of the production feels like the exciting world of the past. The song takes it’s title (and nothing else) from a 1973 book and the song itself feels like a powerful piece of literature of the time, telling a tale of the past filled with both excitement and sadness in the flames of a relationship that could not last.

Other Covers

Liane Carroll
Here’s an odd one

Mateo Oxley
Just weird to hear the fight excised from this. Real edges sanded down shit.

Christmas Creep take

Sadly, my nights in the drunk tank usually don’t include an epic song and more a sense of queasiness.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

 

[Violentvixen]

I've always liked this verse, lots to read into here:

"I could have been someone"
"Well, so could anyone"

"You took my dreams from me When I first found you"
"I kept them with me, babe I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone I've built my dreams around you"

 

[Pombar]

I've always liked this verse, lots to read into here:

Yeah, that verse really nails the transition from anger and blame to persisting mutual affection in the face of bitterness and disappointment in life.

The song has its issues but it is a rare Christmas song that to me feels raw and genuine, when so many feel phony and saccharine.

 

[pudik]

Classic choice and rip to Shane MacGowan who passed only a couple weeks ago

 

[Johnny Unusual]

21

Last Christmas

73 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #6 Adrenaline ​

by: Wham!

Year of Release: 1984

Type:

Last Christmas is a 1984 Christmas song from the British pop duo Wham! The writing of the song happened when the duo were visiting George Michael’s parents for Christmas and George wrote the song while staying in his childhood bedroom. The song was intended to have a sense of contrast with a happy rhythm track to a song about unrequited love. The long details how the singer gave the audience his love, was rejected, and now looks for that special someone. The song stayed at number two for five consecutive weeks but each time was trounced by Band-Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time?” The song did, however, be one of the UK’s biggest Christmas hits, and was the most replayed Christmas song of the 21st century in the UK until 2011 gave that mantle to Fairytale of New York.

Now for something completely different… except the UK part. In contrast to Fairytale of New York’s gritty aesthetic, Last Christmas is pure synthy pop and the emotions are pretty uncomplicated but also expressed big. It’s got a memorable hook and the music itself both echoes the sadness but also is sort of fun and warm. It definitely is a sticky song, lyrics and sound easy to lodge into your brain and it’s also a good Christmas song if you need something to help you nurse your broken heart, aside from milk and cookies.

Other Covers

Taylor Swift
Here’s an odd one

Roberto Blanco
It’s kinda great though.

Christmas Creep take

If you gave me your heart, I swear I wouldn’t give it away. Too yummy to share.

 

[Olli]

Always happy to hear a Leslie Odom Jr. holiday song.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

20

Snow Miser/Heat Miser

Dick Shawn/George S. Irving
73 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #3 WildcatJF ​

by: Maury Laws (composition), Jules Bass (lyrics), Dick Shawn (Snow Miser), George S. Irving (Heat Miser)

Year of Release: 1974

Type:

Snow Miser and Heat Miser are two songs from the television special The Year Without a Santa Claus. In it, through some adventure game-style convolution, Mrs. Claus, Jingle (an elf), Jangle (another elf) and Iggy (a human child) must convince the weather entity The Snow Miser to let it snow on the hot city of Southtown. Snow Miser would love to by that’s his brother Heat Miser’s territory, so then they need to convince Heat Miser to cede it for a time. The negotiations cause a fight between the brothers only Mother Nature can quell. Each of the brothers is introduced with a song with mirroring lyrics, though the tempos are at different speeds (Snow Miser’s is faster, Heat Miser’s is slower). Both songs are about how they love their particular temperature.

I’m gonna come out and say it; I personally don’t think The Year Without a Santa is a particularly strong special. I’m not a big Rankin-Bass fan anyway, though (except Santa Claus is Coming to Town) but this one is a bit odd, which I respect, but it’s wonkiness works against it (BTW: do @ me, I rarely like to say anything negative in these things and would love to hear from Year stans). But I LOVE this song. A big, cheesy vaudeville-style musical number (complete with strawboaters) that’s also really catchy. The Misers aren’t evil, per se, though they are a bit jerky (I mean, they are misers) but this is a classic villain-ish song and in every capacity, the Miser Bros are the best part of the special.

Other Covers

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Kitten Sneeze and Bbyam
​

Here’s an odd one

On!Air!Library!

Christmas Creep take

Gonna come out and say it; more of a Snow Miser guy.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

 

[Johnny Unusual]

19

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

76 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #7 Adrenaline and Johnny Unusual ​

by: Hugh Martin (Composer), Ralph Blane (Lyricist), Judy Garland (original performer)

Year of Release: 1944

Type:

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was a song written for the film Meet Me in St. Louis. The scene in which it is sung is a sad but hopeful one as one-character comforts their little sister on Christmas Eve, on the heels of the news they will be leaving their beloved home to be in a new place right before the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. Originally, the song was sadder but there was insistence from the studio to make it more hopeful. . For example, the lines "It may be your last / Next year we may all be living in the past" became "Let your heart be light / Next year all our troubles will be out of sight". In 1957 Frank Sinatra wanted to do the song and make it even more upbeat, with the line “we’ll try to muddle through somehow” with “hang a star from the highest bough.” In 1944, the song really hit home with soldiers far from home on Christmas and her performance at the Hollywood Canteen apparently brought many soldiers to tears.

It’s funny that they made the song more and more upbeat but, in the end, I think you can’t help but hear, if not sadness, then wistfulness. It’s a song that’s not only intimate but has a sense underneath the singer is feeling the wait for something, even as they comfort. I’ve never seen Meet Me in St. Louis, but I can see why this particular song left an impact far beyond the source material. If anything, it make me think the hugeness of Christmas may have stemmed from hordes of soldiers really wanting to plunge into the comfort of Christmas post-war.

Other Covers

Renee Zellweger

Frank Sinatra
Here’s an odd one

Kenny G
It’s less the music and more the video

Christmas Creep take

Have a great Christmas everyone… IT MAY BE YOUR LAST!!!

 

[Violentvixen]

Two good ones I didn't really think of! Rankin-Bass is fun times, weird nostalgia there in a good way.

 

[Adrenaline]

Meet Me in St. Louis is a good movie. It's a good song on its own, but it's elevated by its presence in the story.

 

[Daikaiju]

Rankin-Bass is fun times, weird nostalgia there in a good way.

Life and Times of Santa Claus allowed the stop motion department to cut loose in a way only the cel animation guys usually did. It is a feast for the eyes.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Get ready because today doesn't just have a theme. Today has a song!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

18

The Little Drummer Boy

76 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #3 Adrenaline ​

by: Katherine Kennicott Davis (songwriter)

Year of Release: 1941

Type:

Originally referred to as “Carol of the Drum”, The Little Drummer Boy is a song written in 1941 and may have loosely been based on an old Czechoslovakian Christmas carol, Hajej, nynej (or The Rocking Song). The song was inspired by a French song as well, Patapan about the shepherds making music with simple instruments like flutes and drums. Listening to the song, Katherine Kennicott Davis translated it in her mind to pa-rum-pa-pum-pum. She decided to use it as material for Girls’ Choirs and the song ended up getting the attention of the Trapp Family Singers, who released it as a single. The song details a young drummer who appears during the Nativity scene and with no gift for the Messiah, he simply plays his drum, which turns out to be a worthy gift.

As a kid, The Little Drummer Boy was, bar none, my favourite song. I wanted to hear “pa-rum-pa-pum-pum” and chance I got, which is clearly the best part of the song. As an older man, I still care for this one, I love the way it builds and the way the drumming sound gives it… propulsion? If that makes sense. The tale therein is fine but to me it’s the way the song moves. It’s so simple and almost, to me at any rate, primal, as basic as a thumping in the chest. I feel like there are a bunch of ways to do this one because the throughline is so strong on this one.

Other Covers

Harry Simeone Choir

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
​

Here’s an odd one

Boney M.​

I had trouble finding an “odd” one so instead, this is the one I grew up with.

Christmas Creep take

Serious, they never did a muppets cover? Animal is, like, right there!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

 

[Daikaiju]

Bowie & Bing

 

[Johnny Unusual]

17

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy

David Bowie and Bing Crosby
79 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #5 Kirin ​

by: Katherine Kennicott Davis (Little Drummer Boy songwriter), Ian Fraser, Larry Grossman and Buz Kohan (“peace on Earth” songwriters), David Bowie and Bing Crosby (performers)

Year of Release: 1977

Type:

Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy is a 1977 duet by David Bowie and Bing Crosby. The duet occurred on Bing Crosby’s Merrie Old Christmas special wherein Crosby and family are invited to a distant relative’s home in England. In the sketch, David Bowie is Crosby’s neighbor and the two exchange banter about old and new music and agree about loving Little Drummer Boy. While Crosby sings that, Bowie sings the song Peace on Earth and the two come together. Behind the scenes, there are reports that the Peace of Earth section came up because Bowie hated Little Drummer Boy and/or his voice wasn’t fit for it, so Fraser, Grossman and Kohan hurried made the song in an hour. Quotes have Crosby being complimentary of Bowie (“He sings well, has a great voice and reads lines well”) while initially Bowie appreciated Crosby’s musical talent and sense that he was naturally rock and roll, his later comments imply he was “not there at all.” Though really, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

This is both a beautiful song and a complete Christmas oddity. Bowie admits doing it in the space between him in his art rock phase and his mainstream hitmaker phase of the 80s where he was trying to normalize his career (and also, he says he did it because his mom liked Crosby). The sketch itself feels awkward but that’s part of the charm, as is seeing these VERY different performers doing a song together (Crosby claimed he loved the challenge of the sudden new half of Little Drummer Boy). Yeah, it’s weird but it’s one of those wonderful oddities that the world is richer for having.

Other Covers

Here’s an odd one

Christmas Creep take

Remember in Christmas specials where everyone would just have celebrity neighbors? No? I’m a million years old.

 

[Violentvixen]

Huh, I don't think I've ever seen that duet.

 

[Kirin]

I came across this duet like a year ago when my wife and I were looking up material for a Bowie themed party with friends, and I was just delighted that such an odd thing exists. The sketch *is* super awkward but also kind of endearing. And it’s just a really nice duet.

I also had Have Yourself a Merry on my list largely on the strength of hometown pride, as I grew up in ol’ Saint Louie.

 

[Daikaiju]

Okay did not expect my specific choice to get it's own ranking.
Huh.

 

[WildcatJF]

I haven't commented much but this has been really fun to read!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Today is "Character song" day! Get ready for it!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

16

Frosty the Snowman

Gene Autry
79 Points, 3 Lists, Highest Vote: #3 Torzelbaum ​

by: Walter Rollins & Steve Nelson (Songwriters), Gene Autry (original performer)

Year of Release: 1950

Type:

…man

Frosty the Snowman is a 1950 song written by Walter Rollins & Steve Nelson and originally performed by Gene Autry. The song details a snowman who magically comes to life and then melts as the weather gets warmer, promising to return one day. Frosty the Snowman is considered a Christmas song but the song makes no mention of the Holiday in any capacity. Surprisingly, unlike most of the songs on this list, Wikipedia actually has few details of what inspired the song. Though the character had an animated TV special in 1969, It was actually preceded 19 years prior by a TV animated short.

Frosty is one of those childhood favourites and I mostly associate the character with the Rankin-Bass special. I actually don’t have too much to say on this one except it’s easy to remember and while it could have easily been an also-ran (it feels like the 40s and early 50s were heavy with character-based Christmas songs), something about it clung to the minds of everyone, putting Frosty in the same tier as Rudolph, to the point where Rankin-Bass teamed them up for a New Year’s Special (Rankin-Bass specials would get progressively weirder).

Other Covers

The Cocteau Twins​

Here’s an odd one

This is amazing

Christmas Creep take

“I’ll be back again” could be a comforting promise or a threat.